Page 15 - Issue 20

Zionism and Socialism

I know of no society where the meaning of life in
that society is as much part of everyday
conversation as it is in Israel. Wherever you go, the
topic is eventually raised: ‘What are we doing
here?’, 'What is the purpose of our lives?', ‘Where
are we going?'.

The fact that the subject is discussed at all, never
mind the frequency and intensity of debate,
reveals an apparent contradiction in Israeli society.
After all, for a better part of this century most Jews
have argued that the case for an independent
Jewish homeland is indisputable. Now, it is one
thing to need to convince others, but why - 36
years after Israel's birth, nearly 70 years after the
Balfour Declaration and 100 years after the first
modern Jewish settlement in Palestine - why still
spend so much energy trying to convince
ourselves?

Two reasons spring to mind. The first is the chronic
Jewish incapacity to leave well alone. A singularly
important component of the Jewish collective
psyche is the sense that, whatever the
appearances, matters are always more complex.
Whether one looks at the punchlines of Jewish
jokes or at the earnestness of Talmudic discourse
the underlying theme is the same - nothing is what
it seems, everything contains an infinity of
meanings, anything can mean its opposite, the
world is even absurd. In short, don't take anything
for granted.