Israel is going through the final stage of its degradation, after which it will achieve its final redemption. This is thesis of a book I am presently writing and, with God?s help, will finish in the not-too-distant future.
Any sensitive soul knows that Israel is daily suffering humiliation. The murder or maiming of every Jew bears witness to this fact. But the murder and maiming of Jews is the consequence, directly or indirectly, of the degraded character of Israel?s government.
By the degraded character of Israel?s government, I mean two basic things. First, the un-Jewish, inept and corrupt character of Israel?s political leaders. Second, the un-Jewish, inept and corrupt character of Israel political and judicial institutions.
But the character of a nation?s political leaders and governing institutions is very much a reflection of the character of its educational institutions. Hence, there must be something fundamentally defective about Israel?s universities and academies of Jewish learning. Neither one nor the other educates students to become Jewish statesman. Neither one nor the other offers courses in Jewish statesmanship. But this is not all.
Israel?s rebirth in 1948 occurred in the wake of a Holocaust that palpably signified the decline of Western civilization, a decline that gentile philosophers such as Kierkegaard and Nietzsche foresaw in the nineteenth century. Jewish philosophers like Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch and Abraham Isaac Kook were also aware of this decline, but of course they understood that all this was preparation for the rebirth of Israel.
Go to almost any university in the United States or Europe, and you will find post-modernism or nihilism in ascendancy. Apparently, the University of Michigan now offers a course on how to be gay; and why not, since gay marriages are au courant in much of the West?
Islam, a decadent religion, is over-running Europe only because Europe itself is steeped in decadence. America does not lag far behind: It would soon collapse were it not for the low price of Arab oil ? a rather slippery foundation for the greatest power on earth. Neither China nor India is in line for global supremacy, nor is Russia with its declining birthrate.
The decay of the West has all the basic ingredients of the decay of the Roman Empire: Hedonism, Skepticism, the irrelevance of the gods. A spark from Zion in the form of Christianity saved Rome from utter barbarism. But Christianity failed to prevent the barbarism of Nazi Germany. It will not save the West from further decay.
And this is why Israel was reborn in 1948. Its founders, however ? all due honor to them ? were not men of comprehensive vision; they had no conception of Israel?s world-historical function. They were nowhere equal to the task prescribed in Isaiah: ?This nation I have created to relate My praise.? They were not Torah-oriented. To the contrary, they strove to separate the Torah from the domain of public law and limit God to the synagogue and the family, hence to replicate the basic shortcoming of Christianity.
Indeed, they imported into Israel the decadence of the West, the secular democratic state. The hedonism and skepticism and the irrelevance of God that ruined Rome entered Israel via America and Europe. But all this was foreordained. The Jews who flocked to Israel from a hundred different nations were not yet qualified for Israel?s ultimate redemption. They still worshipped the gods of their origin. And reigning above all those gods is Democracy.
Pitted against the democracy in Israel is the democracy of the United States. It is time for Jews to understand what this says about democracy. Pitted against the democracy in Israel is the tyranny of Islam. It is time for Jews to understand Islam?s function, which is to prevent Israel?s success as a secular-democratic state. Pitted against democracy in Israel is democracy itself. For the democratic principle of one adult/one vote, coupled to Israel?s burgeoning Arab population, promises to terminate this secular democratic state.
But meanwhile, it is becoming apparent to more and more Jews that this secular-democratic state cannot even provide for the security of its people. Sooner or later, Jews will recognize that relegating the Torah to the synagogue and the family has emasculated the State vis-a-vis Israel?s enemies. But seeing that religious parties have aided and abetted this godless state of affairs, sooner or later, a different kind of Jew ? neither ?religious? nor ?secular? ? will arise and take the first clear step toward Israel's final redemption.
Any sensitive soul knows that Israel is daily suffering humiliation. The murder or maiming of every Jew bears witness to this fact. But the murder and maiming of Jews is the consequence, directly or indirectly, of the degraded character of Israel?s government.
By the degraded character of Israel?s government, I mean two basic things. First, the un-Jewish, inept and corrupt character of Israel?s political leaders. Second, the un-Jewish, inept and corrupt character of Israel political and judicial institutions.
But the character of a nation?s political leaders and governing institutions is very much a reflection of the character of its educational institutions. Hence, there must be something fundamentally defective about Israel?s universities and academies of Jewish learning. Neither one nor the other educates students to become Jewish statesman. Neither one nor the other offers courses in Jewish statesmanship. But this is not all.
Israel?s rebirth in 1948 occurred in the wake of a Holocaust that palpably signified the decline of Western civilization, a decline that gentile philosophers such as Kierkegaard and Nietzsche foresaw in the nineteenth century. Jewish philosophers like Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch and Abraham Isaac Kook were also aware of this decline, but of course they understood that all this was preparation for the rebirth of Israel.
Go to almost any university in the United States or Europe, and you will find post-modernism or nihilism in ascendancy. Apparently, the University of Michigan now offers a course on how to be gay; and why not, since gay marriages are au courant in much of the West?
Islam, a decadent religion, is over-running Europe only because Europe itself is steeped in decadence. America does not lag far behind: It would soon collapse were it not for the low price of Arab oil ? a rather slippery foundation for the greatest power on earth. Neither China nor India is in line for global supremacy, nor is Russia with its declining birthrate.
The decay of the West has all the basic ingredients of the decay of the Roman Empire: Hedonism, Skepticism, the irrelevance of the gods. A spark from Zion in the form of Christianity saved Rome from utter barbarism. But Christianity failed to prevent the barbarism of Nazi Germany. It will not save the West from further decay.
And this is why Israel was reborn in 1948. Its founders, however ? all due honor to them ? were not men of comprehensive vision; they had no conception of Israel?s world-historical function. They were nowhere equal to the task prescribed in Isaiah: ?This nation I have created to relate My praise.? They were not Torah-oriented. To the contrary, they strove to separate the Torah from the domain of public law and limit God to the synagogue and the family, hence to replicate the basic shortcoming of Christianity.
Indeed, they imported into Israel the decadence of the West, the secular democratic state. The hedonism and skepticism and the irrelevance of God that ruined Rome entered Israel via America and Europe. But all this was foreordained. The Jews who flocked to Israel from a hundred different nations were not yet qualified for Israel?s ultimate redemption. They still worshipped the gods of their origin. And reigning above all those gods is Democracy.
Pitted against the democracy in Israel is the democracy of the United States. It is time for Jews to understand what this says about democracy. Pitted against the democracy in Israel is the tyranny of Islam. It is time for Jews to understand Islam?s function, which is to prevent Israel?s success as a secular-democratic state. Pitted against democracy in Israel is democracy itself. For the democratic principle of one adult/one vote, coupled to Israel?s burgeoning Arab population, promises to terminate this secular democratic state.
But meanwhile, it is becoming apparent to more and more Jews that this secular-democratic state cannot even provide for the security of its people. Sooner or later, Jews will recognize that relegating the Torah to the synagogue and the family has emasculated the State vis-a-vis Israel?s enemies. But seeing that religious parties have aided and abetted this godless state of affairs, sooner or later, a different kind of Jew ? neither ?religious? nor ?secular? ? will arise and take the first clear step toward Israel's final redemption.