Israel at the Crossroads

Since childhood I’ve always felt privileged because I was a Jew who was born and raised in Israel. The privilege was not one of rewards or honor – it was born of the biblical obligation to be unique; to serve as an example of human decency and compassion. It was the knowledge that in Israel one was supposed to be fighting for justice and for the establishment of a nation from which justice would flow.

The Land of Israel was where my great grandfather, Samuel Bloom migrated at the beginning of the 20th century and where he built new Jewish industry. Where he supported his friend, Haim Nachman Bialik, and helped him on his mission to introduce beautiful, poetic Judaism to the Friday nights of secular Tel Aviv, creating the famous Oneg Shabbat.

A letter from the author’s great-grandfather, inviting his grandparents to join him in Tel Aviv in 1934.

In 1934 my grandfather, Rabbi Dr. Harry Davidowitz and his extraordinary wife, Ida, joined him in the Land of Israel. A former Lubavitch Hassid and Conservative Rabbi, my grandfather was the first to translate all of Shakespeare’s works into Hebrew. Remarkably, he also helped write the first draft of Israel’s Declaration of Independence.

My Grandmother served as Henrietta Szold’s assistant in the ‘Aliyat Ha’noar.’ She was also the first theater critic of the then Palestine Post and a part-time spy for the Haganah. Following the foundation of the State of Israel, she was offered the second seat for the Liberal Party in the first Knesset.

In 1948 my father Trygve Johannes Maseng, a Norwegian Lutheran bomber pilot during WWII, volunteered for Israel’s War of Independence. He fell in love with Israel and with my mother, Eve, and converted to Judaism, remaining in Israel for the rest of his life. He was a squadron commander in the Israeli Air force, a test pilot, and a commercial pilot. His love for the Land of Israel was visceral.

The author’s father, Trygve Maseng, commander of Squadron 69 in the nascent Israeli Air Force.

All of these people believed fervently that the Jewish people had a mission and, by extension, so did the State of Israel. They believed that Israel was to be a light unto the nations, as the prophet Isaiah had stated more than two millennia ago.

Whether or not one believes in God or believes the Bible is God’s word – the Bible is our people’s narrative, our foundational text, and it says we are a unique people (who it makes painfully clear are not better than anyone else). What makes us unique is our obligation to do right, to be compassionate and just, to remind the entire world that we are all created in the image and likeness of God. We are a people “chosen” to be obligated.

Israel has tried over the years to live up to these lofty ideals. I am proud of our poets and writers, our judicial system, imperfect as it may be, our technological innovations which have benefited the entire world. I am proud of my friends and classmates who bravely served as leaders in the IDF and labored obsessively to be moral and compassionate in their actions. I am proud of the fact that Israeli doctors and medics are always among the first to arrive on scene at natural disasters around the world.

My pride and love, however, have not blinded me to what has transpired in my homeland. Years of somnolence by successive Israeli governments, on the right and on the left, have led to an ever-growing chasm between the Hawks and the Doves; the ultra-orthodox and the secular; the ultra-nationalists and the universalists; between those who would justify intimidation, and even murder, against Palestinian Arabs and those who believe in the words of Israel’s Declaration of Independence.

There is no one group to blame here – too many have participated in the deterioration of public discourse, in the coarsening of the Hebrew language, and our politics. Willful ignorance has fed the growing distrust, whether it be ignorance of secular ideals or ignorance of the Bible and three thousand years of extraordinary Jewish theology, philosophy, and history.

The author performing in Israel circa 1971.

Disdain, contempt and hatred have been legitimized within Israeli society and the Jewish community in America. ‘Right’ and ‘Left,’ ‘Religious’ and ‘Secular’ have become either badges of honor or marks of Cain when referring to those with whom you disagree.

Alarming, as well, has been how oblivious, even dismissive, the State of Israel has become towards the sensitivities of the Jewish diaspora concerning the global implications of Israeli policies. Considering the State of Israel declares itself to be the homeland of The Jewish People, ignoring the effects its policies have on world Jewry is, in my opinion, reckless.

Whatever one may believe about Judaism and the place of the State of Israel among the nations, history tells us a great deal about the consequences of Jews forgetting how to behave towards each other; the strangers amongst us, and the nations of the world. Without fail, the consequences of the blind hatred and fanaticism we are now witnessing in Israel’s pseudo-messianic right have been catastrophic.

Which brings us to October 7th. The horror visited upon Israel by evil men on a mission from hell is too overwhelming and painful to fully grapple with even after ten months. The knowledge that hostages, whose only crime was that they were Jewish or perceived as siding with Jews, have been tortured, murdered and kept from their families for over three hundred days, is agonizing. Hamas had not only murdered and kidnapped Jews, but Bedouins, Filipinos, Thais, and other innocents. Among them, were Israeli advocates for Palestinian rights, and those who’d worked tirelessly for peace.

And yet, despite my firm belief that Israel has not only the right, but the obligation to defend itself, I find myself stunned by the devastation visited upon civilians in Gaza. That Hamas purposely imbeds itself in the civilian population does nothing to assuage my grief and sorrow for children and women dying horrible deaths at the hands of soldiers sent by the government on what has become an increasingly quixotic quest for ‘Total Victory.’

The war has awakened a dark impulse for murderous revenge among the religious extremists in the West Bank settlements. I recently listened on Facebook to a Torah study group on the West Bank, praying to God “for a revenge, the likes of which the world has never seen.” The Rabbi leading the discussion advocated killing Palestinians in Gaza, “with love.”

The Rabbi anchored his teaching in Genesis, chapter 34, in which Levi and Shimon, Jacob’s sons, murdered the men of Shchem in retaliation for the defilement of their sister, Dina. They were rebuked, and later cursed, by Jacob for this act. This gentle-mannered Rabbi explained that Levi and Shimon were, in fact, not cursed for the murder – they were cursed for “killing the men in anger instead of doing so out of love for the sanctification of God’s name.”

The author with Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan at the Abraham Geiger College in Germany, 2008.

There are now members of the Knesset who are followers of Meir Kahane, whose political party was outlawed for promoting terrorism, as well as sympathizers of Baruch Goldstein, who murdered 27 Palestinians praying in the Cave of Machpelah.

Israel is at a crossroads. Israel is in existential peril, not only because of its external enemies but because of enemies from within. “Your despoilers and destroyers shall come from within you…” Isaiah, chapter 49, verse 17.

Cries for unity sound from all corners of the Jewish world. Those cries are genuine and understandable. I would suggest, however, that those cries are not what is needed at this moment. Not because unity isn’t desirable, but because no unity is possible when both sides cannot agree on fundamental truths.

The Kotzker Rebbe once had a falling out with the Ishbitzer Rebbe, a longtime friend. Later, Hasidim from both communities approached the Kotzker Rebbe and asked him to restore peace between the two. The Kotzker replied: “Peace – over truth!?”

Some view the Kotzker’s response as utterly stubborn and inflexible. But I believe the point the Kotzker was making was that if there is no agreement on what is true – there can be no reconciliation. No unity is possible when bigots and terrorists sit as ministers in the Israeli government. No unity is possible when thugs, encouraged by those same officials, attack IDF bases to controvert the rule of law.

The author leading a tour group from his synagogue in Tzfat, 2017.

Unity can only be achieved after true self-examination on an institutional level, both in Israel and abroad. We must clarify what is legitimate interpretation and expression of the Jewish faith and culture, and what is beyond the pale. We also have to examine the corrosive and corrupting influence of political power and money on religion, and the injustice of superimposing religion on a secular citizenry. We have to answer the question of what the founders of the State of Israel meant for it to be and what it should be – today and into the future.

But you cannot persuade religious people by making secular arguments that deny the validity of their religious worldview and you cannot sway secularists by insisting that adherence to God’s will is the only solution. Each camp needs to be addressed on its own terms, either by a leader who understands and respects both positions, or by a consortium of highly articulate leaders who can work together towards this goal.

I am not so utopian as to imagine we might eradicate fanaticism and blind hatred in one fell swoop. But what can and must happen is the diminution and marginalization of radicalism. Religious fanaticism must be addressed by religious leaders who can see the truth — that fanaticism and extremism are harmful to Jews and Judaism.

So too must knowledgeable secular leaders communicate that to not believe in something, you have to know what you’re not believing in. Ignorance of the breadth of Jewish wisdom, even on a basic, introductory level, leaves a Jew unmoored in a world hostile to them for simply being Jewish. It also renders them incapable of making their case intelligently to the other side.

I am convinced that failing to act will inevitably lead to open civil war. In fact, I would suggest that a civil war already began simmering in Israel since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

Three millennia ago we embarked on a journey – a mission to be a holy nation; to love our fellow human beings as ourselves. To pursue justice. To love the stranger who dwells among us. If we do not correct our course, we will destroy all the efforts and sacrifices made on our behalf by generations of visionaries – believers and non-believers – who brought us to this moment of reclaiming our homeland. Let us be deserving of this miracle. Let us affirm the privilege of our obligation.