Published: 31 March 2018
Last updated: 4 March 2024
I have spent my entire Jewish life in religious Zionist institutions. At my school we wore blue and white on Yom Ha’azmaut and we were visited by wounded Israeli soldiers. At every synagogue I have belonged to the Prayer for the State of Israel was recited, and at The Great Synagogue, where I currently serve, we say Hallel with a blessing on the morning of Israel's Independence Day.
I remain a proud religious Zionist, inspired by Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik and Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits among others. But there remains a paradox: I am a Diaspora Jew, leading a Diaspora community, and I expect I will spend the rest of my working life in the Diaspora.
There is an obvious tension in that situation. I will remain in the Diaspora, and I want the Diaspora to remain. A religious Zionist wants to see strong aliyah, with many Jews going to Israel to build up the country and create a thriving centre of world Jewish life, but I hope they do not want to see every beautiful community and powerful institution of the Diaspora close down. If every synagogue in Europe, America and Australia vanished, if Yeshiva University, the Jewish Theological Seminary and Hebrew Union College all shut up shop, would there be nothing to regret?
One could argue that is the messianic hope and should be embraced. We might even hasten the redemption by all going to live in Israel. I am not sure that Israel would want us to test that hypothesis. Although its ability to absorb immigrants has been nothing short of remarkable, there are limits to its capacity.
Perhaps more importantly, Israel continues to need the Diaspora as a source of funds and political support. Without indulging wild and anti-Semitic fantasies about the Israel lobby, it is important that there are strong defenders of the State of Israel making Israel’s case around the world.
My fundamental answer to the tension of being a Diaspora Zionist comes down to two different theological stances within religious Zionism. The followers of Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook adopted an explicit messianic view of the State of Israel. They saw it as the beginning of the redemption (Chief Rabbi Herzog referred to it, more tentatively, as the beginning of the flowering of the redemption), and leading only in one direction.
That led to a very strong stance on expanding the borders of Israel, settling any captured territory and a determination not to give it up. According to this point of view, the Diaspora ought to dwindle, and as quickly as possible, that would complete the ingathering of the exiles and quicken the arrival of the Messiah.
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Another school of thought, deriving from Rabbi Soloveitchik, Rabbi Berkovits, and more recently Rabbis Ahron Lichtenstein and Rabbi Yehudah Amital, sees the State of Israel as a Divine gift, a blessing to the Jewish people, worthy of support and celebration, in some senses miraculous, but not a proto-messianic state. that means that while it is important that Israel be secure, there are values other than the possession of land, which means that captured land could be given away if it would lead to true and lasting peace.
Room has to be preserved for religious and secular, right wing and left wing, political and cultural forms of Zionism.
It also means that while it is a positive move for Jews to emigrate to the land and State of Israel (in religious, Zionist and religious Zionist terms) there continues to be a role for the Diaspora. Rabbi Soloveitchik spent his whole career outside the Land of Israel, and made just one trip, in 1935.
He trained many rabbis, most of whom remained in the United States and served (indeed transformed) the American Orthodox community. Though a religious Zionist, it is arguable he did more to nurture the intellectual viability of the Diaspora than any other figure.
This is the religious Zionism I have adopted. I want a strong State of Israel and a strong Diaspora, with strong relations between them. There is no doubt that Israel is a powerful source of a proud and enduring Jewish identity.
The many extended visits to Israel that Jewish students in Australia undertake, with the financial support of the community, indicate that we believe in the ability of spending time in Israel and exposure to its achievements, to bolster Jewish loyalty.
But the future of the Diaspora will also lie within the Diaspora. Engineering Jewish identity too largely in relationship with the state of Israel, where most Jews currently in Australia will never live and infrequently visit, will also make it fragile. Zionism and the state of Israel have to be part of a whole range of ingredients of a Diaspora Jewish identify, if it is going to be durable.
That collage of Jewish elements will include religion, culture, sport, philanthropy, personal and social connections, to include those who will make their lives outside the State of Israel, and as many of them as possible. Each part can and should include an Israeli element, but there will be other aspects too, which will be focused more particularly on Australia, or in whatever country the Jewish community happens to be based.
When there is engagement with Israel, there also has to be leeway for a range of approaches to the Jewish State. Zionism has always been a big tent and a strong connection with Israel for as many Jews as possible requires that to be maintained. Room has to be preserved for religious and secular, right wing and left wing, political and cultural forms of Zionism.
As Israel reaches its 70th year, and until the final redemption, we should continue to work for a secure and prosperous Israel and a robust Diaspora. Each needs the other and it will be most useful to Israel, as well as to the Jewish people around the world, for the Diaspora needs to retain its own vitality and energy, as it has done for two thousand years.
