 |
| Pâ•qidꞋ Yi•rᵊmᵊyâhꞋu |
2008.12.07 1100 – An article last week in The Jerusalem Post (Religious Affairs: "Burying the Jew-Israeli distinction?" 2008.12.04) evinces a distinction that often eludes the casual observer: In some ways Zionism contradicts, and is incompatible with, ْجهةّبن.
"The Zionist state's goal, in contrast [to ْجهةّبن, religious or spiritual factors], is to "normalize" the Jewish condition. [emphasis added] By providing the Jewish people with its own territory, Zionism's founding fathers hoped to transform the wandering Jew of the exile into a nation like all other nations… Secular Zionists argued that with the creation of a Jewish state there would no longer be a need for [Ha•lâkh•âhꞋ], which served the sole purpose of maintaining Jewish unity as a "portable homeland" in the Diaspora. A new, more normal Jewish identity would be created, and the old Diaspora baggage could be dropped." (ibid.)
Thus, the birth of the modern State of Israel was accompanied by a definition of Zionism that was secular; independent, indeed scornful of, and frequently in open enmity against, ْجهةّبن. The founders of modern Israel desired to produce a "Jewish State" that would be a home—like all of the goy•imꞋ nations of the world—for "Jews"—as defined not by ْجهةّبن but by Hitler and the Nazis.
More recently, there has been a movement toward linking Zionism to ْجهةّبن: "Religious Zionism". This is the movement with which the Nᵊtzâr•imꞋ have been sympathetic. However, the wide acceptance of the Nazi—racist-genetic—definition of "Jew" continues to obstruct efforts to build a truly Biblically-based Judaic-Jewish, i.e., ْجهةّبن, nation… and the Nᵊtzâr•imꞋ loyalty is strictly to ْجهةّبن.
"HISTORICALLY, [Khabad], like other [Kha•reid•imꞋ], virulently opposed secular Zionism, because its ideology proposed to replace Judaism with nationalism." (ibid.)
The Nazi definition is racist, including secular genetic "Jews," homosexual genetic "Jews," atheist genetic "Jews," and so on ad nauseum. These non-ْجهةّبن, often anti-ْجهةّبن, "Jews" are miso-Judaic "Jews"; often openly disdainful and at enmity with ْجهةّبن, and dedicated to building a non-ْجهةّبن (i.e., secular) state like all of the goy•imꞋ nations of the world. This is why Arabs are included as voting citizens, deciding, along with the miso-Judaic "Jews," the future of this state. Prospects of a ْجهةّبن nation emerging from this misguided and perverse marriage of miso-Judaics is zero.
The Nᵊtzâr•imꞋ unreservedly combat secular Zionism. The Nᵊtzâr•imꞋ are neither identified by, nor loyal to, any racist definition of "Jews" originating from miso-Judaics; whether they be Nazis, Mumbai terrorists, "secular (racist) Jews" or "Ultra-Orthodox Kha•reid•imꞋ (racist) Jews."
"In 1903, Rabbi Shalom Dov Ber Schneerson, the fifth rebbe of [Khabad], elucidated his staunch opposition to Zionism in a famous letter. "They think nationalism has replaced religion, and that Zionism is now the best means for the preservation of Jewish society, and not ْجهةّبن and mi•tzᵊw•otꞋ," he wrote. "Zionists are more dangerous than the maskilim, because they believe that they are no longer obligated to the ْجهةّبن, and that one is a proper Jew in that he is a loyal nationalist." … The seventh and last [Khabad] rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who staunchly opposed territorial compromise and was adamantly pro-Israel, nevertheless was careful never to use the term "State of Israel," always referring, instead, to the "Land of Israel." … In a 1969 letter to former MK Geula Cohen, he explained that one of the reasons he refrained from using the word "state" was because "it implied a general approach and program among Jews to be like all the goy•imꞋ… For Schneerson, the nationalist aspect of Zionism represented a potential spiritual danger. Jews were liable to believe that a secular Israeli identity patterned after gentile nations would supplant authentic Jewish identity." (ibid.)
Ergo, it is essential to distinguish between the anti-ْجهةّبن (which is identical to "secular") State from the ْجهةّبن Land & People – living and practicing ْجهةّبن; excluding secular-racist and Ultra-Orthodox ritualist "Jews" while including all practicers of ْجهةّبن: practically all (non-Ultra-) Orthodox Jews, countless non-Orthodox Jews and geir•imꞋ).
This is another differentiation between the Nᵊtzâr•imꞋ from Khaba"d: while the Nᵊtzâr•imꞋ uncompromisingly reject and oppose secular Zionism, in agreement with the Kha•reid•imꞋ, at the same time we reject and oppose the backward mentality, medievalism and superstitious beliefs that are no less intrinsic to the definition of Kha•reid•imꞋ and Ultra-Orthodox—which includes Khabad.
R. Shalom Schneerson made a good point that the Nᵊtzâr•imꞋ should adopt, however: we should express no more than conditional loyalty to the "State" of Israel, only insofar as it becomes a ْجهةّبن state. Instead, we should express our loyalty solely to é‑‑ن and His ْجهةّبن – namely, "ËrꞋëtz Yi•sᵊrâ•eilꞋ" and "Am Yi•sᵊr•â•eilꞋ."
 |
|
 |