by Emmanuel Navon
A few weeks ago, a reader posted the following comment on my blog: "I perceive that young liberal U.S. Jews (i.e., the vast majority) are uncomfortable with the idea of a Jewish "nation" - just as they challenge the ethnic identification of nations generally. This is only natural for an American whose allegiance is to a legal document (the Constitution) and a flag, not a people. How do you make the argument to young Jews who are two generations removed from violent anti-Semitism, attracted to the "tikkun olam" worldview, and skeptical of nationalism generally, that Jews need a separate nation of their own that is worth killing and dying for? I think this is a serious issue that is already manifesting itself in the ever weakening support of Israel among under 40, non-orthodox U.S. Jews."
Most nations today define themselves ethnically. This is true of the Japanese, of the Germans, of the Russians, or of the Swedes. Indeed, it is because of ethnic differences that a civil war broke out in Yugoslavia in the late 1980s and that Czechoslovakia broke apart twenty years ago. And it is because of ethnic differences that the Québécois keep trying to break apart from Canada. Nationalism and national identity are a fact a life, whether you like it or not. Many academics have tried to de-construct and to de-legitimize nationalism and national identity, but it is a fact that most people identify with a nation, and that most nations define themselves ethnically.
I can understand that some people feel uncomfortable with the fact that many nations, indeed most nations, define themselves ethnically. But nations are entitled to define themselves however they want. And it is illiberal to be judgmental on how they define themselves. So people cannot on the one hand call themselves "liberal" and on the other hand denigrate the way other people wish to define their identity. Why is there such tolerance for gender and ethnic differences within American society, but at the same time such intolerance for ethnic differences within the international community?
It is true that American national identity is not ethnic. But the fact that Americans do not define themselves ethnically does not mean that other nations are not entitled to do so. The way America defines its national identity is the exception rather than the rule. And Israel happens to be part of that exception.
Israel, as a nation, does not define itself ethnically. Being Jewish does not mean being part of an ethnic group. Walk on the street in Israel, and you'll see for yourselves that there are Jews of all types of ethnic backgrounds: Black Jews from Ethiopia, fair-skinned Jews from Eastern Europe, dark-skinned Jews from Yemen, and red-head Jews.
Until the nineteenth century, with the emancipation of Jews in Europe and the emergence of modern nationalism, most if not all Jews defined themselves religiously. Being part of the Jewish nation and of the Jewish religion was the same thing. It meant being the descendants and inheritors of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and of the children of Israel who left Egypt, received the Torah at Mount Sinai, built the Kingdom of Israel, and were dispersed by the Babylonians and by the Romans. In exile, being Jewish meant living according to the Torah and its commandments and always aspiring to return to the land of Israel.
Secular Zionism tried to redefine Jewish identity in purely ethnic terms by downplaying if not removing the religious content of Jewishness. But you can't write off three thousand years of Jewish history. I know this is going to shock you, but the opening sentence of Israel's Declaration of Independence fails the test of evidence and scrutiny. It says that "The Jewish people was born in the land of Israel." Really? That's certainly not the way the Bible records the birth of the Jewish people.
According to the Bible, the Jews became a people the moment they received the God-given constitution called the Ten-Commandments. The Bible does not describe the land of Israel as the source of Jewish identity, but as a means to build a society according to the principles of the Torah. Ethnic national movements see their land as the origin of their identities. The ancient Greeks regarded themselves as the original occupants of their land. The French talk about mère patrie (motherland) and the Germans about Vaterland (fatherland). But in the Bible, the land in neither mother or father. It is God-given and the Jews deserve it only if they honor their contract with God by keeping His commandments.
Ben-Gurion tried to depart from the traditional Jewish narrative by adopting an ethnic definition of Jewish identity. But this simply doesn't hold water, because the Jews do not constitute an ethnic group. Indeed, Israel's citizenship law contradicts Ben-Gurion's definition of national identity. If all you need to become Jewish and to enjoy the right of automatically becoming an Israeli citizen is to convert to Judaism, how exactly is Jewish nationality divorced from Judaism?
The fact that most Jews and most Israelis are not strictly observant doesn't mean that their identity is not, ultimately, rooted in the Bible. According to a recent survey, 98% of Israelis have a mezuzah on their front door; 85% participate in a Passover seder every year; and 71% always light Hanukkah candles.
In recent years, many Israelis, who received a strictly secular education, have been exploring their Jewish roots. Very often, they travel to the Far East after their military service and then realize that you don't have to fly to India to find spirituality. You can just take a bus to Jerusalem. I recently read the story of an Israeli student who had just returned from a trip with her school to America. When she was asked about her trip, she said she was angry at her parents and at her teachers. When asked why, she replied: "Because as a Jew who grew up in Israel, I shouldn't have to go to America to see havdalah for the first time in my life."
We are the People of the Book. The Nazis killed six million Jews not because of the color of our skin or because of some common genes. They killed us because of the ideas and ideals we stand for. They burned our books because they knew that our identity and purpose as a people are rooted in a book. And they didn't send Jews to gas chambers according to their level of religious observance. Our enemies realized what many Jews seem to forget: That whether or not we are observant, whether or not we are religious, our national DNA is the Book of Books.
This Book of Books is the bedrock of Western Civilization. It gave birth to three monotheistic religions and inspired the US Constitution. So if young American Jews can relate to the fact that the source of American nationality is a 200 year old Constitution, surely they can relate to the fact that the source of Jewish nationality is a 3,000 year old Constitution. Not only is our Constitution older; it is the original. America's is the copy. Young American Jews who feel that national allegiance can only be to a document are the ones who have to explain why it's OK when this allegiance is to the copy, but not when it's to the original.
Emmanuel Navon
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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