The past months have been difficult not only for Israel but for its supporters across the Diaspora.
There are the issues of policy and of politics. On the one side, many in and out of Israel profess concerns about reforms that they say will limit democracy. The other side says the reforms will enhance democracy; speaking of which, the results of a democratic election should be respected.
There is the issue of demography, an Israel grappling with a religious ascendancy, a dramatic change for a country where secularists have always held power. How to meld these disparate groups and points of view without marginalizing either sidelooms as the most difficult internal task for Israel at age 75.
For decades, many in the Diaspora said they would not meddle in Israel’s internal affairs when a critique of Israeli politics would arise. That seems no longer to be the case. Groups must measure their words carefully, certainly not meddling, But weighing in is beneficial because an Israel in chaos bodes ill for Diaspora Jewry, too. It is horrible enough for Israel to fight off terrorists and other enemies from without, who are set on destroying the Jewish state. But chaos from within is a state of affairs that neither Israel nor Diaspora Jewry can live with. Every Jew around the globe needs Israel, whether we acknowledge it or not.
An entire generation has come and gone since Israel’s founding, 75 years ago this week. The vast majority of Jews on this planet have no recollection of a time when a Jewish state did not exist. The security that Israel brings to world Jewry is largely taken for granted. Almost none of us can truly understand what it would be like for us without a Jewish state.
For millennia, the Jewish people lived only as a minority group, subject to the whims of rulers. In some countries, conditions were relatively benign — until they weren’t. For example, in most of the Middle East and North Africa. In other areas, Europe in particular, Jews were subject to drastic and demeaning discrimination, not to mention massmurder, whether by Crusaders, Cossacks, Inquisitors or Nazis.
Even in the “benign” Arab countries, when Israel came into existence, expulsion of Jews and theft of Jewish property ensued.
The Jewish state has meant a refuge — physically and psychologically — for world Jewry. When we in the Diaspora weigh in on internal affairs, from whatever viewpoint, let it come from a place that first and foremost recognizes the vital importance that Israel plays in the continued existence and culture of the Jewish nation.
Our joy at Israel’s 75th is not tempered by current events, as the State of Israel is so much more than its politics of the moment. It is our Jewish homeland. More than anything, on Israel’s blue sapphire anniversary, we are grateful.
Copyright © 2023 by the Intermountain Jewish News
