ISRAEL: A WORK IN PROGRESS
By Glenn Yago
The Jewish Journal of greater L.A
id=19395
May 15 2008
CA
>From the birth of the Zionist movement more than a century ago through
its 60 years as a Jewish state, Israel has come of age amid a vastly
changing world: two world wars, the technological revolution and
economic globalization with all its attendant challenges.
The creation of Israel is a paradigm for the way people without
sovereignty embrace and transform their history through freedom. That
ongoing struggle of humans trying to find their place in the universe
unfolds over time, but it requires a place.
Israel also represents a unique laboratory — and not just for
defining itself for its residents but also for addressing global
crises. Every problem on this planet is refracted and amplified
here: Having resettled and grown in the land, how can we conserve
its environment? Can we halt our addiction to oil and achieve energy
independence? If we level the field in information and technology,
can we overcome the limitations of size and space and become a player
on the global stage? If Israel can answer questions like these,
it will achieve a secure position among nations and obtain its peace.
As President Shimon Peres said, the objective of this 60th anniversary
year should be to bring Israel to the world and the world to
Israel. Our experiment, through shifting events and the failures and
challenges they bring, is one that results in the covenant renewed. And
looking back through the decades from our founding, we can find four
lessons that resonate globally. They also inform 21st century hopes
for our survival, based on the merging of ancient truths with the
ever-present task of national renewal. These are lessons that will
sustain all global communities from the chaos of our times:
Lesson 1: Diasporas need homelands.
Today, the United Nations reports that more than 300 million people
in this world live in Diaspora communities that struggle to maintain
homeland ties. The Rwandans, the Armenians, the Guatemalans and, yes,
the Palestinians long for their place among the nations. For many
nations, Diaspora remittances are sometimes far greater than foreign
direct investment, portfolio flows and foreign aid combined. The
contributions of Israel’s Diaspora and its transformation through
the creation of the State of Israel have been a lesson well studied
by others.
Lesson 2: Nations need security.
Imminent threats, beginning before the Holocaust, informed not only
the Zionist movement but also the Jewish concept of state defense. No
nation can survive while its people live in exile.
The captive Hebrews in Babylon lamented, "How can we sing the Lord’s
song in a strange land?" In revolting against its history, Israel
rejected centuries of subjugation and developed a national defense
based on the doctrine that homeland building can tolerate many risks
for peace — but never the catastrophic risks that unite senseless
hatred with regional imperialism.
This is what links the Eichman trial to Entebbe to Osirak to last
fall’s strike against the Syrian reactor facility. Yet the world
has seen genocide spread to Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur. The lesson of
homeland security is ignored at great peril.
Lesson 3: Language and cultural revival are key.
Jewish cultural identity — expressed through art, music and, most
important, through the revival of Hebrew from its strict liturgical
usage to an official state language — has been key to our national
renewal and rebirth. Where else in the world has a language no one
spoke, but which was common to all, emerged as a national language?
Like archaeological discovery and conservation of cultural capital, the
protection of language is essential for national cultures throughout
the world. While not promoting linguistic exclusivity (Israel,
after all, has three official languages), the protection of communal
language promotes a multilingual access and a cultural infrastructure,
encourages the safekeeping of minority languages and culture and
their ultimate restoration as part of our international heritage.
Lesson 4: Unity exists in diversity.
>From the microcosm of Israel’s rebirth as a modern nation, this
is perhaps the most profound lesson for a global future. Israel’s
Jewish-majority population can boast more than 120 nations of origin,
along with significant local minorities of Palestinian, Druze and
Bedouin Arabs. As a result, Israel is one of the most diverse countries
in the world.
Integrating this pastiche into a democratic republic that protects and
celebrates diversity through unity remains a remarkable achievement. It
is also becoming a common challenge for nations around the world.
Absorption is the means to achieving true national self-interest. It
puts the emphasis on integration, rather than on full assimilation
and the triumphalism of a majority. In Israel, frankly, there is
no majority — not Ashkenazim, not Sephardim, not political, not
religious. It is our challenge to grow from the particular to the
universal without comprising the richness and uniqueness of diversity.
Ultimately, these lessons underscore the celebration of Israel’s
rebirth. Let us reaffirm our particular attributes as a nation by
reaffirming our universal values. That was the lesson of the prophets.
These lessons and inspiration place Israel, a small country, on
the global stage in a unique way. They offer enormous advantages
in global trade and provide the basis for both military power and
peace incentives. They provide the basic formula for an open society,
global ties and national security. They enable Israel to renew and
repair both itself and an endangered world in troubled times.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
