On Monday, we woke up in the presidential palace. A ceremony in honor of the prime minister of Israel was held in an enormous plaza, and the prime minister of India watched. Cavalry and soldiers dressed in the finest Indian uniforms marched, and for a few moments, we felt like we were in a period film about the 19th century. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was treated like a king, nothing less.
Later he said that during the ceremony, he was thinking about where we were 73 years ago at the end of World War II – a shattered, scattered nation that was gathering what remained of itself and using the last of its strength to resurrect itself. And now, a nation of over a billion and a quarter citizens is devoting an entire week to a country of fewer than 9 million and treating its prime minister with the honor reserved for leaders of superpowers. When you read the pitiful attempts of some in the Israeli media to play down the historic importance of the visit, I am reminded of ancient words from our sages about how often miracle workers do not recognize their own miracles.
Later, we hurried to Raj Ghat, the place where the father of modern India, Mahatma Gandhi, was cremated after he was murdered two weeks short of 70 years ago.
As per his request, Gandhi's ashes were scattered on the largest rivers in the world. An eternal flame burns in front of the black marble memorial and visitors take off their shoes. Gandhi was a symbol of nonviolent resistance and managed to oust the British from India and bring the country its independence. In the 1930s he expressed his opposition to Zionism, because he saw the Jews as members of a religion rather than a nation, and rejected any Jewish ties to the land of Israel. He urged them to stand up for their rights in the countries where they were living. This approach was rooted in his desire to unite the Hindus and Muslims of India and the fear that supporting Zionism would cause the Muslims to draw away from him.
In 1936, Moshe Sharett [then a Jewish Agency official, later the second prime minister of Israel] asked the Jewish architect Hermann Kallenbach, who was a close friend of Gandhi, to visit him and try to change his opinion of the Zionist movement.
Apparently, thanks to Kallenbach, Gandhi changed his mind about the Jewish people's historic ties to their country, but his desire for a Hindu-Muslim rapprochement prevailed and he found it hard to speak up in defense of the Jews' struggle for independence in their homeland. Gandhi did not fully understand the Nazis and encouraged the Jews to fight them using his nonviolent method. From a historical perspective, we know what he didn't: that his nonviolent resistance was appropriate for the Indian culture to use against the British, but missed the mark when it came to waging war on the Nazis, as well for the Jewish people's war for independence in their ancient homeland.
It appears that anyone who wants to understand the impressive personality of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the historical perspective with which he is leading the Indian people to the revolutionary changes he mentioned in every speech we heard – has to look at the immense ties between him and Gandhi (both, by the way, were born in what is now Gujarat). Modi wants to open a new horizon for the Indian people, just like Gandhi did.
Yesterday, after a delay of 70 years, the prime minister of the Jewish state arrived at Gandhi's memorial and laid a wreath on his grave, as if seeking to put an end to that chapter of the ties between the two peoples and launch a new era. After thousands of years of these two ancient civilizations not maintaining any significant relations, the door has been opened for a diplomatic and cultural connection whose economic fruits could already be seen at an event Monday evening for the Israeli economic delegation and Indian businesspeople. It looks like the biggest fruits of this cooperation will be enjoyed by future generations.
