Our opening speaker talked about early Zionism and Israel as the Jewish homeland. Some of his points were quite interesting.
The first thing I noted was when he made a statement about why different peoples make aliyah. He referred to their decisions in terms of a push to make aliyah and a pull. The images of Zionist youth and hippy kibbutznikim are conjured up for me in the pull category. The push category are immigrants from Former Soviet Union, Ethiopia, South Africa and many of the residents I encountered this summer at the absorption center. Here is a paragraph from an article that I wrote for the Jewish Community News, I ended up revising the article and leaving this paragraph out (I was afraid the cynicism wouldn't be well received for my first article):
During my two month stay I met young adults from all over the world who had just made Aliyah. These new Israelis have a totally different story than their tourist friends. They often attend a 5 month intensive Hebrew Ulpan and then attempt to support themselves by finding jobs. Their support networks consist of other new and usually English speaking olim (immigrants) and beginning their new lives is often a less than glamorous process. They find that with their minimal Hebrew skills their degrees from home are almost useless and they take jobs anywhere they can get. What surprised me the most about my interactions with new olim was that they didn’t fulfill my stereotype of the typical Zionist immigrant. These people were my 20 something friends from home, confused about the next step in life and looking for some answers. Why not come to to find yourself? After all, Aliyah is only a semi-permanent commitment these days.
The last sentence was about how many of these people told me they were in Israel until they could move to the next place, or even back home. The feeling was definitely that Israel was a semi-long term commitment, but not a forever.
The speaker used Fiddler on the Roof as his hook for discussing Judaism as both a religion and a nationality. He argued that before the French Revolution, Judaism could only be a religion, and if a member of the community did something to get themselves cut off, they could be effectively excluded from the rest of the Jewish world. This conformity to tradition was revolutionized with the rise of Nationalism in the late 18th century. Jews could pledge allegiance to their countries and effectively assimilate into the culture.
So once we have a paradigm for nationalism, a natural progression of Zionism can occur. A longing for a homeland where Jews can be safe and secure as well as religious or secular and also be the same as everyone else.
At this point I raised my hand to comment on American Judaism and how growing up I always enjoyed being unique. In fact, only once I was surrounded by Judaism in New Jersey and Israel did I feel less compelled to be observant.
He noted my point, but brought up the many other countries where this is not the case.
He ended his talk by saying that Zionism is one of a multitude of answers for how can modern Jews connect to their Jewish identity.
This I can whole-heartedly agree with, while still considering that it might not be a defining factor of my personal Jewish identity.
*As a side note, we watched a documentary today about an Israeli mother who contacts the mother of the girl who executed a suicide bombing that her daughter was killed in. The Palestinian mother kept saying that Jews aren't Israeli, they are Russian, Ethiopian, Romanian etc. Judaism as both a religion and a nationality is something that is unique to us, and therefore makes it difficult to explain to others.
