Dr. Chaim C. Cohen has a PhD. from Hebrew U., is a social worker and teacher at the Hebrew Univ. School of Social Work, and Efrata College. He lives in Psagot, Binyamin.
The current war means that G-d has placed us on a long historical march. A decisive military victory is not near.
Rav Kook wrote, so prophetically and so truly, that "The eternal nation does not fear a long journey".
Rav Kook's wisdom here aptly summarizes our current socio, geo political trap for two reasons. One, For the foreseeable future, the radical, Iran backed Islamic forces surrounding us will be weakened, but continue to threaten us in a deadly manner. Two, and probably more important, horrific worldwide antisemitism will only grow every day, and this antisemitism will make every effort to take away our diplomatic-military ability to defend us.
There are several, commonly uttered aphorisms, that express this (yes, pessimistic) viewpoint, such as "We have become an 'Am Miguyeset', a permanently mobilized nation'; 'We are under a semi-permanent siege'; ' We find ourselves in a semi-permanent state of war', and 'We have become the Jewish version of ancient Greek Sparta (a city state defined by an ongoing state of military prowess').
As will be elaborated at the article's end, the current surge in worldwide antisemitism has given these aphorisms new life.
But I want to conclude this introduction on a note of deep religious faith, by emphasizing the eternal truth: that G-d has given us the divine spiritual-national gifts with which we can make sure that our current, long march, one that demands great self-sacrifice, will end in Redemptiion.
Our 'Victory' will be determined more by the degree of our national resilience than by the military weakening of our enemies.
Everyone is asking now, 'To what extent have we won a victory over Iran' and then they try to answer this question by determining to what extent have we had military success in stymying the Iranian nuclear program, in lessening their missile threat, and increasing the plausibility of regime change.
This article argues that yes, military successes are very, very important. They determine the physical survival and growth of the Jewish People. And Israeli military successes are very precious to G-d.
But from the perspective of our divine historical destiny, military successes ultimately play a secondary role in defining 'Jewish victory'. The degree of the resilience, quality, and renewal of our spiritual and national resources are a more important determinant of 'Jewish Victory'.
This means that military success, unaccompanied by a greater forging of our spiritual and national strengths, provides 'only' a 'transient Victory' from the perspective of Jewish destiny.
The necessary, but 'transient' nature, of even our great military successes is shown if we look at Israel's 78-year history. This overview supports a fairly accurate axiom that Israel has had a chronic, historic problem of translating military gains into spiritual and national renewal.
For example, in 1956 Eisenhower forced us to withdraw from all our military gains in Sinai, and the only 'benefit' of the war was that it deterred for ten years military excursions into Israel by Egyptian backed Palestinian Arab guerrillas. The military victory of the Yom Kippur war was translated into a military withdrawal from all the Sinai, the destruction of Jewish settlement in the Sinai in return for a diplomatic peace settlement. Also, with regard to the Oslo agreement there was a great disparity between our military power and a very false, illusionary diplomatic 'settlement'
And, if we adopt a long-term perspective of divine historical destiny, we can even see how tragic periods in our history have actually given birth to divine gifts. For example, the destruction of the second Temple and the ravaging of our Land gave birth to the Mishnah and Talmud, and thus made Rabbinic Oral Law the basis for our relationship with G-d during our 2000-year exile.
Similarly, the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Jews in 1492 had a strong connection with the establishment of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah in Tzfat in the mid-16th century. Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook said that the Holocaust,despite its unbearable cost, had connection with the birth of the State of Israel.
In summary, military accomplishment should be understood as a 'means' and not the ultimate end. The ultimate 'end', and 'justification' for the courageous sacrifices of soldiers, should be defined by the degree of the renewal and growth of our spiritual and national resources that our soldiers' sacrifices have given birth to.
What are the spiritual-national resources that we must mobilize so we can continue to travel the path of our divine historical destiny?
First, I want to make absolutely clear that the 'spiritual -national resources' that I am about to describe can be equally derived from both secular and religious sources. I truly believe that both Ben Gurion and Rav Kook would agree with my following explanations. In my eyes, both Ben Gurion and Rav Kook were 'Zionist prophets'. The spirituality inherent in the Belief in, and Sacrifice for, the historical destiny of a Jewish State is the heritage of both secular and religious Jews. Secular Zionism is in reality a deeply spiritual belief.
The following spiritual-national resources are absolutely necessary for Israel to continue advancing on our historical, destiny march
One, our most basic 'national destiny' 'resource' is that the sense of belonging to the Jewish People become a key, determining factor in formulating our self-identity and self-fulfillment. It is of course understood that one can be proud to be Jewish, and simultaneously also critical of many aspects of current Jewish life.
Two, a second important 'national destiny' resource is our ability to understand our personal life as a particular stage in our People's thousands of years old historical march. And this understanding should hopefully bring one to feel committed to the ongoing successful progress of our march.
A person of religious beliefs will probably want to interpret the Jewish People's historical march as one of Divine Redemption. A secular person will base his commitment on being knowledgeable of Jewish History, and subsequently marveling at its uniqueness, one unlike no other national/ethnic group on the earth.
Three, a third important 'national destiny' resource is the building of multi-generational families. Self-identity and commitment to the historical continuation of the Jewish People can be best nurtured in multi- generational families, where values and commitment are passed from one generation to another.
Four, a fourth important 'national destiny' resource is the building of communities characterized by solidarity, sacrifice, and self help.
There is a bonding of mutual support between the resources of multi-generational families and community solidarity and self-sacrifice. Specifically, muti-generational families best flourish in tight knit communities which share similar values and family histories. And, in turn, communities are strongest, and most capable of helping, when they are composed of healthy, well-functioning multi-generational families.
Five, a democratic political system is an essential 'national destiny' resource. People will freely commit and sacrifice only if they feel they have active input into strategic national decision making. They must feel that their values and opinions have significant representation in the decision-making process.
It is imperative that we understand our current geo-political dilemmas as a particular stage in destiny march of our Jewish People
Two basic factors determine Israel's current geo-political situation, and thus help us define Israel's current position in its historical 'march of destiny'.
One, Israel finds itself in semi-permanent stage of siege. In a chaotic world order, a permanent peace, or decisive miliary victory, are not 'around the corner'.
The hope that 'peace is around the corner', the hope that most of the Arab world will accept the legitimacy of a Jewish state in its midst, the hope of a decisive military victory, and the hope that America and the Western world will remain 'staunch allies of the Jewish state, are all becoming increasingly unlikely and unrealistic. Our post Oct. 7th world has turned the geo-political hopes/dreams of ten years ago into very bitter illusions.
More specifically, Israel, at present and in the near future, will not be in a constant state of war, but rather find itself in a 'state of geo-political siege', a 'war of attrition on a low flame'. We will experience periods of more conflict, and periods of reduced conflict. We will form meaningful geo-political alliances, but they will be sustained only as long as they are in the self interest of both parties, and not because of any special identification with Israel's historical legitimacy (as has been with America over the last half century).
Israel finds itself in this 'twilight zone' because the whole world geo-political order is becoming increasingly destabilized and chaotic Causes of instability are the polarization of the political dialogue and instability of the political regimes in America and Europe, and the power given to extremists by digital social media. When a Houthi tribe in Yemen can disrupt world order by obtaining and hiding a thousand missiles, peace is not around the corner for anyone.
Two , but the main reason for Israel's semi stage of siege is growing , virulent, world wide historical antisemitism.
Most Jewish political and social commentators still underestimate the role of historical antisemitism in determining Israel's current geo-political situation. I do not. They unfortunately try to ignore the bitter truth. To state it bluntly, for 2400 years historical antisemitism has determined the Jewish people's geo-political, social fate. After a post-Holocaust hiatus, discomfort, dislike and hatred of the Jewish people is again determining how the geo-political world relates to us.
Throughout history whenever the Jewish people lead a distinct, cohesive, resilient, independent way of life, the host countries have felt very uncomfortable, and literally just 'do not know what to do with us'; as in 'they cannot swallow us, and yet cannot cough us up'. And the result is usually horrible persecution.
And that is our situation now. The world just does not know how to accept, and constructively cooperate, with a self-confident, powerful, prosperous Jewish state 'stuck in the middle of an Arab-Muslim territory' and located at the cross roads of three continents.
The result is that world order has put us under the siege of a double standard of morality that no country defending itself can abide by and still survive. Deep inside, the world order would like to get rid of this ongoing 'Jewish State problem' and see us 'disappear'. This analysis sounds hauntingly familiar, does it not?
Conclusion: We again find ourselves in the midst of a long, historical march of divine destiny.
Thus, as Rav Kook taught us "the Eternal nation does not fear a long march".
Thus, we should try to attain as much military superiority as we can. But 'even more important' we must develop the spiritual-national resources discussed above. These resources are G-d's gift to us, and that no non-Jewish nation or alliance can take them away from us. Our development of our spiritual-national resources is our truest, most lasting 'life insurance' as a nation. They are our most meaningful Victory. These resources are our 'down-payment' on our ultimate redemption at the end of our long historical march.