Page 26 - Issue 20

all facets of oneself in a process of exploration and
development. And if being Jewish (or Hindu or
black or left-handed) is an important dimension of
one's 'total being', so that without it one's being is
not complete, then a means has to be found for
expressing one's Jewish (or any other)
identification. It therefore makes complete sense
from a socialist point of view that Jews should be
able to express their collective identity in a way
which extends and satisfies their lives as Jews. If
the Jews choose to do it by means of
concentrating themselves in a particular region
and living in a predominantly Jewish culture then
that is their prerogative. If socialism is about
individualism within societies then
it is equally about pluralism
between societies.

It should not be assumed
for one moment that actual
implementation of the above principles is easy.
Two general difficulties arise. First, there are the
external forces that affect Israel's existence
(relations with the Arabs and with world Jewry,
Israel's strategic significance and place in
superpower rivalry, the effect of international
economic processes). And second, there are the
contradictions inherent in Jewish culture - for
example, some aspects of the Jewish religion,
such as the kind of male-female relationships it
prescribes, are anathema to socialism.

A further and extremely important issue is the
question of how the Jews set about expressing