Sunday 29 April 2012

Yom Ha'atzmaut

The big question used to be whether or not to pray Hallel on Yom Ha'atzmaut - Israeli Independence day, thanking God for creating the State of Israel. Charedim generally do not do this either because they don't see the State of Israel as a blessing or because of more technical objections to liturgical innovation.

I always said Hallel because I liked the State of Israel and considered it very important.

However, following my skepticism, I stopped doing this because I decided it was against the true spirit of Yom Ha'atzmaut. Yom Ha'atzmaut is a human day. The Zionist pioneers decided to leave God behind in Europe and start new lives and become new Jews. They decided that the Messiah would not come by sitting in shuls fervently praying for a heavenly savior. Rather the redemption could only be brought about by human means. It was these people who led the re-creation of the Jewish State, and started the third commonwealth.

Yes, Religious Jews did take part in the Zionist enterprise and until this day believe that human endeavor and divine intervention can mesh together, however they were neither the leaders nor the majority of the Zionist movement, (though today things are changing).

Although obviously religious Zionists will disagree with me, to me Yom Ha'atzmaut is testament to human struggle and victory, the power of a dream, and the secular "redemption" of the Jewish Nation. It is not about divine intervention, the Jewish God or heavenly victory.

The Secular Zionists sang "who can praise the victories of Israel, who can count them?"

This replaced a Biblical verse which read "who can praise the victories of God, who can count them?"


4 comments:

SQ said...

"The Zionist pioneers decided to leave God behind in
Europe and start new lives and become new Jews.
They decided that the Messiah would not come by
sitting in shuls fervently praying for a heavenly
savior."

Keep in mind that this was happening mere moments after the Holocaust...

Jewish Philosopher said...

Clearly Zionism is a basically atheistic movement. Modern orthodox Judaism is a syncretic blend of atheism and judaism.

ksil said...

excellent comment.  I;m going to use this one....

Althuogh, to many, it was an "obvious" miracle that Israel won in 1948 (and 1967) - so they view the independence as direct, explicit devine intervention, worthy of hallel - jsut like the splitting of the red sea or chanukah

Zenscientist said...

Secular Zionism was obviously the strongest driving force to the creation of the modern Jewish Homeland that is the State of Israel, however one cannot deny that the Jewish people and Tradition exist at all at the very least because of history and experience that began with an intimacy and struggle with G-d.  Thus, as a believer, one can argue that G-d was involved by the sheer fact that there were Jews (regardless of their devotion to Halacha or religious observance) who had the passion and desire to risk and/or give up their lives in the names of Jewish self-determination and autonomy. 

The fact that Secular Zionism was required for modern State formation could be evidence that depending on the conditions (like that of a Hor'at Sha'ah, emergency situation) it may be necessary to relinquish Jewish Law as a primary value for at least  a temporary period in order to provide for a human-driven action and a future time that creates the space and capacity for a renewal and re-dedication of the Jewish people to the Tradition (and the Land) in a way that is more relevant, authentic and meaningful.  

I find it very interesting that without the Haskala there would likely have been no Secular Zionism movement and thus there would likely be no Israel. 

However, I do think Religious Zionism's role as it relates to the state of Israeli society is only increasing in importance. 

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