May 9 2007
In Israel the celebration period of Yom Haatzmaut commences with the commemoration of Yom ha-Zikaron la-Shoah v'la-Gvura (Yom Hashoa), Holocaust Martyrs' Remembrance Day, which takes place on the 27th of Nisan, eight days before Yom Haatzmaut. The date of Yom Hashoa was fixed in 1959 and chosen because of its proximity to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising on the first day of Pesach, the 15th of Nisan, and Yom Haatzmaut. Beginning this period of celebration of Israel’s independence with the commemoration of the Holocaust and culminating in Yom Haatzmaut reflects the important narrative that links the important existential existence of the State of Israel to its role of being a refuge for the Jewish people. Every Israeli child who is educated in the State system studies this narrative during each and every year of his/her schooling. Every Israeli soldier is taught the importance of defending Israel to ensure that there should never again be a holocaust and every visiting diplomat to Israel visits Yad Vashem upon arrival so that they should understand the link between Israel’s fight for survival and the collective memory of the Holocaust.
Israel as a response to the persecution of the Jewish people is a paradigm that is not only nurtured in Israel. In the Diaspora millions of dollars are raised annually in response to this paradigm; great efforts are sought to find persecuted Jews and channel them towards aliyah, be they in the FSU or Ethiopia, and the “March of the Living” to Eastern Europe culminating in a visit to Israel continues to be a popular educational program among educators and funders alike.
The paradigm of persecution marks a “victory” for the Zionism of Herzl, an assimilated Jew, who was motivated to build a Jewish State following the Dreyfus trial. At this trial Herzl understood the importance of a country of refuge for the Jewish people and this became the core of his Zionist motivation.
The weakness of the “paradigm of persecution” is that it is reactive in nature, i.e. Israel is important because of the ongoing threat to the Jewish people. While this paradigm may be necessary it is certainly not sufficient. It is compelling in times of trouble yet in times of prosperity Israel becomes a tough “sell” both internally to its youth and externally to the Jewish people at large.
What is required therefore is an additional paradigm, one that articulates a social vision. It is critical that we nurture a paradigm of prophecy, one that focuses on the importance of the Jewish state as being the home of the Jewish people that strives to build an exemplary society. It is critical that Israel utilizes its rich human resources not only for scientific and military innovation but for social innovation as well. It is this vision that inspired the prophets in our ancient past and it is the negation of this vision that led to our destruction.
A focus on the paradigm of prophecy would view Yom Haatzmaut as a link to ‘Hag Hashavuot that take place a month later. As we read in Exodus 19:6, it was during the third month (Sivan) that the Jewish people were invited by the Divine to be a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation”. Thus independence should not be viewed as a culmination but rather a stepping stone to a future social vision.
A paradigm of prophecy is not a novel suggestion. Among the early Zionist writers, particularly A.D. Gordon among the secular Zionists and Rabbi Kook among the religious Zionists, the striving towards a social vision was the essence of Zionism. However with the collapse of the kibbutz movement and the focus of Rabbi Kook’s followers on the struggle for Israel’s geographical expanse, the paradigm of prophecy has fallen into the distant background.
This paradigm of prophecy calls for Israel to revaluate its priorities. It calls for the election of leaders who are not only master politicians but moral champions as well. It calls for major initiatives to nurture values of altruism and social responsibility and to set achievable goals in the areas of social justice.
This paradigm has the potential to inspire Jews in Israel and the world over to invest and support Israel. This paradigm could be rallying flags for all those who are seeking the challenge to build a society that attaches priority to social commitment and to making this a better world.
May this Yom Haatzmaut be the turning point towards the development of the paradigm of prophecy!
