by Rabbi S. Yosef Veitzen, translated by Hillel Fendel
Just like we don't rely totally upon the State to build Yeshivot, so too we cannot rely blindly upon it to actualize the values of Zionism.
Our Sages noted that the period of the Footsteps of Messiah will see some very difficult phenomena, some of which we are experiencing these very days and years. [Ed. note: For instance, for whatever reasons, the government of Israel has destroyed Jewish communities – large ones, such as in Gush Katif in 2005, when this was written, and much smaller ones, such as Maoz Esther in Binyamin just last month]
How are we to relate to the State, to the government, to the army, and to the nation, in light of such events? Should we view them as simply evil? How do these things come about? Should we declare "war" on our State, government, and army?
Let us diagnose certain root aspects of this sad situation. First, we must recognize that although the Gentiles agreed at one point or other to Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel, this did not suddenly render them lovers of Israel. Some of them, in fact, are making every effort to reverse the process. The Muslims continue to see us as a foreign element in the area, and wish to uproot us altogether. The Europeans have a different approach, by which they work together with leftist organizations to turn Israel from a Jewish state into a "state of all its citizens." They thus wish to destroy us from within. Among the Americans, some of them like us and are happy to see us thrive - but this is conditional on Israel remaining small and non-threatening to their interests. American would like to keep us at a "comfortable" size, somewhere around "medium." They will not allow us to become a superpower in any area – not economically/materially, and not spiritually and values-based.
The international coalition that sees us as just another state established by a human nationalist movement, places us on an equal footing with the "Palestinian nation" – as if there ever was such a thing.
For us to stand up to the strengths of the nations, we require, primarily, great faith. Whoever doesn't realize that the existence of the State of Israel must be attributed to G-d, and does not believe that He lives in our midst – will be unable to stand up to the entire world.
Western Values
Western culture floods us with its own values, many of which are foreign to our own. A chief "truth" in Western thinking is that there is no absolute truth or absolute justice: No one is master over the truth, and whatever anyone thinks or says is his own subjective view and does not obligate anyone else. This despair of faith and of absoluteness leads mankind to give up on ever reaching truth and genuine values.
This thinking has some positive results as well, such as the increasing importance of the values of freedom and mutual respect. But the world will never be able to be redeemed if it suffices with that alone! Where there is no true cooperation between people, all networks and systems simply disintegrate. And where there are no values and no justice, selfish interests take over. Already now, man's appreciation for his nation, society, and family is dwindling and disappearing.
This is how we explain the Mishna that says that during the period of the Footsteps of Messiah, "royalty becomes minut, apostasy" – because minut removes the foundation of the eternal and absolute nature of values; everything becomes relative and adaptable to man's needs.
The world's reigning kingdom – America, "capital" of the West – disseminates the philosophy that takes from the world its ability to stand behind absolute values. When there are no absolute ethical values, a great vacuum is caused – and this paves the way for yet another negative phenomenon that the Mishna tells us is experienced during the approach of the Messiah: "The meeting place of the Sages will become a place of promiscuity." The lack of values enables all powerful parties with ulterior motives to take advantage of the situation for their own good. "Someone has to be in power and enjoy its fruits," they say, "so why not us?"
The meeting place of the Sages becomes a site of promiscuity in the sense that there is no eternal and absolute system of values by which judges must pass judgement. Instead, the values on which justice is based are detoured in favor of personal ideology and needs.
Values Set Against Each Other
We know that many of the soldiers involved in these demolitions have a great and true love for the nation and the land. Their national spirit is alive and well. However, when their Zionist values were forced to stand up to the religion of democracy, the "rule of law" defeated them – either because they truly accept the values of the West and thus have no ability to stand behind their values in an absolute manner, or because their own commitment was weak.
The Alternative
We, the people of faith, present an alternative to the religion of democracy. Perhaps some nations can survive and endure with an external and dry regime – but the Nation of Israel cannot, nor does it want to, be empty of its own values. The People of Israel cannot follow the highway traffic rule of "Don't be right; be smart." For Israel, if we are not "right" and not just, then our wisdom too will depart from us – as we see these very days, to our great sorrow.
It is good that this public debate about whether soldiers should/may refuse orders to evict residents from Gush Katif is happening now. This is a clear point of testing. The fact that we are witness to tens of thousands of soldiers fulfilling orders that many of them know are patently illegal shows us to what extent this confusion has seeped into all our frameworks. An Israeli soldier cannot be cold and unmoving, fulfilling orders that he cannot identify with. We must educate an entire generation that is loyal to its values, even at the price of breaking the external social order which is betraying the internal values-based system on which the nation is founded.
If the "religion of democracy" prevails over that of Jewish values and faith, the very soul of the Jewish State is liable to be uprooted. We face the threat of a "democratic" erosion of all Jewish hallmarks from our country. Against this peripheral "religion," we must field an inner, values-based religion that does not break down in the face of a dry, external order, so foreign to our nation's nature.
We have educated an entire generation to merge with the society at large and share in the responsibilities of fighting in the army and contributing in every field, and to place its trust in the Divine process that is being revealed via the State and its institutions. It is now incumbent upon us to grant this State an inner "soul" – and this we can do only by remaining part of its inner values, and not by being part of its external, dry and foreign structure.
We must internalize that just like we don't rely totally upon the State – we build Talmud Torah schools, and we establish private funds by which to fund yeshivot and the dissemination of Torah – so too we need not rely totally upon the State to actualize the values of Zionism. We cannot blindly count on the State.
Yes, after Gush Katif we have become somewhat suspicious of the State. We will continue to work in partnership with it, but it will be limited – it will be a partnership based on the actualization of nationalist ideas in which we believe. We will go to the Jews of the United States and convince them to contribute to private funds that agree to fulfill and perpetuate the Zionist enterprise, rather than to the State itself.
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