Religious Zionism in the Test of Time - Moshen Ishon (English)Entered: 12/Aug/2004 |
"Zionism of Mizrachi is religious nationalism. Religion and nationalism go hand in hand and they cannot be separated and distinguished. Not only do they need to be combined, but Jewish nationalism is incomplete without religion and the heritage of our forefathers. Jewish religion and Jewish nationalism, according to the Mizrachi worldview, are one and the same. Mizrachi cannot profess religious Judaism on its own, just as it cannot profess religious nationalism on its own. In our opinion, nationalism that is totally stripped of religion is superficial and religious Judaism without a touch of nationalism is no more than half –Judaism, and can never be complete Judaism. True Judaism is national religious Judaism that combines religion and nationalism to form one complete unit." - These are the words of Rabbi Yehuda Leib HaCohen Maimon Z'L at one of the first conferences of the Mizrachi Movement, when determining the foundations of World Mizrachi's ideology.
The basic tenet of Mizrachi as determined over 100 years ago has not changed at all to this day. Torah and Zion are joined together and Torah and work have become symbols of this belief since the establishment of Hapoel Mizrachi over 75 years ago. However, we are currently witnessing the attempts of specific sectors in the religious world to separate religion and state. This is not the majority and most of the religious population is not supportive of this trend.
In the political arena, we are still witness to the fact that those who follow the religious-Zionist path, strictly emphasize their loyalty to the vision of their predecessors – that religion and nationalism are joint together, as announced by Rabbi Maimon, Z"L. However, we also need to be aware that in past years, there have been great changes in the relationships between religion and state; not only between the religious and the secular, but also between the observant themselves. These changes call for an internal examination, in order to reassess our position and make any changes if necessary.
It has to be admitted that the national religious population is caught in a peculiar situation. On the one hand, we are witness to a significant increase in the number of national-religious participants in several spheres in society that has not been experienced in previous years. In the education arena, there has been a significant increase in the number of religious students, not only in the primary and secondary schools, in the yeshiva high schools and Ulpanot, but also in the number of university graduates. There has also been a great rise in the number religious doctors, engineers and other advanced professions. A sharp rise has also been recorded in the number of religious graduates in military officers courses – this figure has reached approximately 40%. Likewise, this trend also exists in the navy and air force.
There is clearly an increase in the number of national religious participants in all facets of public life, however this trend is not reflected in election results for the Knesset and local councils. This fact has to be examined by the religious leadership who need to provide an answer as to why there is such a vast gap between the facts on the ground and the (non) success in the election results. The answer to this question will not be found in a superficial examination. The real question is whether the national religious political leaders are even prepared to perform such an internal soul searching and examination or not.
In theory, we can assume that everyone will agree to have such an examination performed. However, the question remains whether they are ready for it in practice. Unfortunately, we have been witness to not very encouraging previous attempts at internal reform. We all remember the commission headed by Judge Sara Frish, who presented her recommendations to reform the NRP. The recommendations were never implemented. The party was not revamped. The leadership continued to run the party just as they did in the past, and the arguments regarding elections within the party continue….
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Who knows how long these arguments will continue. There is a continuous flow of 'objective' reasons that justify postponing the elections. It is not easy to argue against those who postpone the elections, especially when the reasons are 'justified'.
The question is whether the solution is only elections. This is where there is disagreement. In order to return religious Zionism to its previous glory, technical elections for a new committee is not enough – a total revamp is required is order to open the gates of the National Religious Party to the masses, as was suggested by Judge Frish. She suggested a new beginning, while combining the old and the new. The commission also recommended, amongst other things, the essentialneed of rejuvenation, and also the opening up of the ranks. The commission also drew attention to a number of failures that were performed by the outgoing leadership, which are said to have caused the downfall of religious Zionism in the Knesset elections.
The commission drew special attention to the urgent need of revamping the list for the Knesset and the rest of the representative institutions. The report, as recalled, was not revealed and its recommendations were not even partially implemented.
Leading up to elections to the committee, if they ever take place, there are no signs of rejuvenation. According to the party's leadership, however, every thing is open; but according to the plans as they are being laid out, it seems that what was, will remain. No great changes can be expected on the national religious political map. This is not only discouraging, but also does not send a positive message about the future of religious Zionism. All is not lost, however, there is still hope that things might change.
If the religious Zionist population would care for the movement, it would help lead the party into the forefront of public arena in general, and the national religious society in particular.
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Rabbi Yehuda Leib HaCohen Maimon Z'L defined a Zionist as one who combines his Judaism and Zionism together. He stated that these two elements couldn't be separated. He also added that one couldn't separate religion and Zionism. According Maimon, if a religious person is not a Zionist, then his religion is incomplete; just as Zionist who is not religious believes in a Zionism that is lacking…
The words of the founder of Mizrachi are extremely important today, in a time that we are witnessing the collapse of both Zionism and religion in society. On the one hand, since the establishment of the State of Israel, there is talk of a period of post-Zionism; while on the other hand, we are witnessing the collapse of Judaism in the secular camp – as if the State of Israel has become a replacement for spiritual values that have been known as Am Yisrael's identity card.
Even within the religious population group, we are witnessing the breakdown of religious values in public life. The national religious seem to be ignoring what is happening with the broader public, whereas in the past, religious Zionism was greatly involved in public life. This is currently reflected in parliamentary and municipal legislation. The political power of religious parties has also decreased over the past few years – both parliamentary and municipally. The political parties may have increased their numbers, but their influence has greatly diminished.
A serious campaign with well-known figures is needed in order to bring the National Religious Party back to its previous glory. This is not a simple mission, especially because many of the rabbis consider the era of religious political parties to be behind us.
A few weeks ago, an article was written by Rabbi Arie Stern, one of the senior rabbis at Mercaz Harav. The article claimed that because of the penetration and involvement of religious politicians to the Likud, they are able to have more influence over religious affairs within a large secular party, than in the framework of smaller religious political parties.
Rav Stern is not the only one who thinks like this – lately there have been other well-known rabbis who expressed similar opinions regarding the involvement of religious politicians in the Likud.
In reality, things are different. The Likud does not warmly welcome religious politicians into its midst, but rather the opposite. Only because of the existence of religious political parties does the Likud have any consideration for the religious public, even if it is during a time of political pressure. This happened during the recent coalition negotiations when Prime Minister Sharon had to look for coalition partners in order to untangle himself from the web he caught himself in, because of internal political bickering in the Likud.
The mission upon the national religious public is not a simple one. However, we should not be afraid, these difficulties can be overcome, on one condition – if we manage to present the ideas while combining Torah and Zion as one complete unit, as presented by Rav Maimon Z"L in the founding statements of Mizrachi; and if we believe that ours in the true path for everyone.
The writer, Moshe Ishon, ex-chief editor of "Hatsofeh" newspaper, member of the Mafdal's Central Committee, member of several committees of World Mizrachi, member of the Central Critics Committee of the Journalist Union, member of the Journalists Council. Winner of the Shapira Prize, honoree citizen of Tel Aviv….
