1.
The month of Iyar is the month of national holidays. Special times such as these have the power to elevate us above the wars of the Jews and the endless arguments among ourselves to the sphere of eternity so that we can remember from where we came (the covenant of fate) and where we are going (the covenant of destiny). The debate over the place of the Supreme Court and the reforms it needs to undergo will ultimately be solved. Our life truths will remain, and it is important to draw strength and encouragement from them so as not to fall into despair and hopelessness.
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A year after witnessing the humiliation of Alfred Dreyfus and a month before his revolutionary book "The Jewish State" was published, Herzl wrote in January 1896 in The Jewish Chronicle: "It is remarkable that we Jews should have dreamt this kingly dream throughout the long night of our history. Now day is dawning. We need only rub the sleep out of our eyes, stretch our limbs, and convert the dream into a reality. Though neither prophet nor visionary, I confess I cherish the hope and believe that the Jewish people will one day be fired by a splendid enthusiasm."
Herzl spoke about a change in the consciousness of the people. Consciousness leads to action when it is full of hope, but it can cause people to lose the will to act when it is disheartened. This holds true also for the complex system of a people, especially the Jewish people, where conflict, controversy, ideological wars, and the shattering of false idols were the foundation of its existence, development, and survival.
2.
Herzl understood that he could not take on by himself this enormous endeavor of resurrecting a people and restoring the Jewish state. He continues: "For the present, however, I would appeal calm words to the common sense of men of practical judgment and of modern culture. A subsequent task will be to seek out the less favored, to teach and inspire them. This latter task I cannot undertake alone. I shall take my part in it, in the ranks of those friends and fellow workers whom I am endeavoring to arouse and unite for a common cause." He immediately clarifies that he is not referring only to his close circle: "No. it is a national movement, and it will be a glorious one, if kept unsullied by the taint of personal desires, though these desires took on other form than political ambition." Herzl goes on to reveal the ideas that he would later publish in The Jewish State.
At the time Herzl's article was published, about 1800 years had passed since the Bar Kochba revolt failed and our last political movement for independence was crushed amid heavy bloodshed. Following the rebellion, which inflicted severe losses on the Roman army, and following a rebellion of the Diaspora about twenty years earlier, Emperor Hadrian decided to erase the land of Judea from memory (Damnatio memoriae). He ordered that in all official documents, the name "Judea" be replaced with "Syria Palaestina." The name was likely taken from Herodotus, the Greek historian of the fifth century BCE, who wrote about the Philistines, a seafaring people who invaded the land of Israel around the twelfth century BCE and fought with the Hebrews for control of the land until they disappeared around the seventh century BCE. Hadrian believed that this would make the Jews forget their land and not rebel again.
3.
Century after century, the number of Jews in the Land of Israel dwindled as they were scattered to the four corners of the earth, especially after the Muslim conquest in the seventh century CE which made life difficult for non-Muslims. The Land of Israel became an object of a dreamy desire, and the national idea was forgotten in favor of religious existence. The national consciousness fell into a deep sleep for many centuries. More than once, as I told my children the story of Sleeping Beauty, I imagined Israel and its leaders and shepherds in every generation lying unconscious. We waited for the kiss of a handsome prince that would awaken us from our national slumber.
The Vilna Gaon described in the late 18th century what had happened to our national consciousness: "We are in exile and the dry bones are scattered… Since the Temple was destroyed, our spirit and our crown departed, and only we remained, the body without the soul. And exile away from the Land is a grave. Worms surround us there, and we do not have the power to save ourselves from the idol worshippers who devour our flesh. In every place, there were great Jewish communities and yeshivot, until the body decayed, and the bones scattered, again and again. Yet, always, some bones still existed, the Torah Scholars of the Israelite Nation, the pillars of the body – until even these bones rotted, and there only remained a rancid waste which disintegrated into dust – our life turned into dust…... and now we hope for the resurrection of the dead: 'Awaken from the dust and arise.'"
The resurrection of the dead that the Vilna Gaon spoke of, was primarily the resurrection of the national consciousness that had melted away in the fog of history."
4.
This is an ancient tradition in our culture, especially during challenging times from a national perspective. The prophet Ezekiel, who lived during the first exile in the sixth century BCE, struggled with collective despair and inaction. The idea of national death in the form of dry and scattered bones that appeared in the Vilna Gaon's writing was mentioned thousands of years earlier in the prophecy of Ezekiel: "O mortal, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone; we are doomed.'" At first glance, there is no hope for our future. This is the known recipe for defeat, assimilation, dissolution, and disappearance from history. They needed a change of consciousness.
Ezekiel calls on the people not to despair. Our hope is not lost, he promises: "I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the countries, and I will bring you back to your own land." For this to happen, he adds, "And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit into you (this is the change of consciousness): I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh." A "heart of stone" represents a fossilized consciousness, intransigent despair, and lack of faith that can change and be transformed. Ezekiel continues: "…and I will put My spirit into you… and you shall dwell in the Land." In the process of returning home to Zion, the spirit within us, which had until then been dormant, is awakened.
5.
It is fascinating to think about the fact that the first Zionist settlement established during the modern era was named "Petah Tikva" (the opening – or the gate – of hope). In 1878, the pioneers of the "mother of the settlements" – as Petah Tikva is called - opened a gateway to hope within the dormant national consciousness. They taught us that it was possible to leave the walled cities and conquer the barren land, and most importantly, to make a living from the soil of the good land rather than rely on charity. After Petach Tikva, the other settlements of the First Aliyah followed, and an echo chamber reinforced the message of change. And then, at the First Zionist Congress, twenty years after the establishment of Petach Tikva, when Herzl said to the astonished delegates, "If you will it, it is no dream," the fallen tabernacle of David began to be rebuilt, pioneers made the Land bloom and dreamed dreams of a kingdom.
Between the time of Herzl and the present era we experienced the greatest disaster in history, and then, three years later, our boundless joy, "the only miracle": the establishment of the state. If one of the exiles from Babylon had landed among us, he would say: "nothing has changed." Like the exiles, some of us are still mourning and lamenting: "Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone; we are doomed." But the exiles from Babylon spoke like this after the great destruction, while we hear these voices at a time when the Jewish people are experiencing an unprecedented flourishing in their history.
In this month, it is important to reflect on the amazing process of revival that we have undergone in what is in historical terms only recent and to put the difficulties and seeds of despair in the right perspective. We are only at the beginning of the ascent. Patience is required of us. And faith.
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