This may be a long, dry post, so I apologize in advance. We'll get back to sports and silliness straight away, but I've got a few thoughts buzzing around in my little melon which I want to liberate. And what else are blogs for, right?
I just finished Ariel Sharon's autobiography, which is a good, not great, account of the life of a man who became great. I'm glad I read it and recommend it to anyone who wants to know a bit more about the major events in Israel's modern history as well as what makes a real difference-maker tick.
It's not the book I want to discuss so much as Sharon's epilogue. The summation of his story does not deal with any particular event or set of personalities. Instead, it focuses on Sharon's view of what makes Israel special and absolutely vital to the survival of Judaism as a race and religion.
Before I go any further, I need to clarify how I'm going to write the following. Sharon finished his book in the mid-1980s, before he rose to Prime Minister and, of course, long before his catastrophic stroke earlier this year. Since Sharon wrote his epilogue in first-person present tense, I'm going to write my thoughts about him in third-person present tense. This seems fitting to me, even though he's clearly not in the present tense now, nor will he be ever again.
Onward.
Sharon thinks Israel has become a Western nation in almost every sense of the word. It's secular, successful, a place where industry, education, medicine, and technology thrive, and it's people have become interested in living their lives as individuals.
With this "Westernization", Sharon also sees a lessening of the fervor displayed by the early immigrants to Israel. The population has begun to question the legitimacy of Israel's borders. "Have we unjustly displaced others for our own gain?" has become a recurring question amongst young (and not so young) Israelis.
The idea of Israeli "Manifest Destiny", so apparent in the early history of the State of Israel, has faded a bit.
In addition, "Westernization" has brought about thoughts of "inclusion". Sharon, throughout his book, stresses his belief that Jews and Arabs can live side by side, and that Israeli Arabs should be citizens of Israel with all the rights and responsibilities thereby implied (they are not today - Israeli Arabs pay much lower taxes than Jews, and are exempt from military service, among other differences). However, Sharon expresses a strong belief that Israel must remain a "Jewish State", that, at its core, it must adhere to Jewish law, custom, and culture.
"Westernization", in other words, is not good news from Sharon's perspective.
What makes Israel unique, and critically important to the Jewish people, is it's foundation as a Jewish state.
No other nation-state on Earth, now or at any time in history, has existed as a small (very small) island in a sea of hundreds of millions of enemies. Israel was willed into existence despite the best efforts of just about every surrounding nation and survived (thrived) despite continued attempts to destroy it, both from outside (the Arab League) and within (Palestinian terrorism).
What has enabled this survival and success is the realization of it's people that it's this or nothing. Failure to succeed (for lack of a better term) will result in destruction and no second chances. If Israel were to falter, there would be no other possibility for a "Jewish Homeland". And destruction of Israel would quite possibly spell the end of Judaism around the world. Judaism survived the Diaspora in large part due to the incantation, repeated every year, for nearly 2,000 years, at the Passover Seder, "Next year in Jerusalem" - the hope/belief/expectation that Jews would return to their Home in the Holy Land. Without that hope, I suggest Judaism would wither and fade away.
When Sharon talks about "Israel's people", he's not only talking about those who reside within the borders of the state. He's referring to Jews everywhere. In this, I tend to agree. While not all Jews feel this way, I think most do feel a special connection to Israel. Jews in the West and elsewhere, both secular and religious, have supported Israel via political pressure, publicity, and cash since the early days of Zionism in the late 1800s. Israel would never have existed without this support.
So, when Sharon sees the "Jewishness" of Israel, the belief that Israel is the Promised Land, and the sense of obligation Jews everywhere feel towards its continued existence start to fade, he sees ominous things for the future of his/our State and Homeland.
There is quite a bit of irony to be found in Sharon's words, of course. Sharon will be remembered for his unilateral efforts to redraw Israel's borders and to cede control of Gaza and parts of the West Bank to the proposed Palestinian State. He will be further remembered as the guy who once said, "There is already a Palestinian State. It's called Jordan.", then proposing to create a new Palestinian State in parts of the West Bank. I think it shows what kind of a realist the guy is/was, and is very much to his credit. We'll see how history judges him, however.
As I've become older and (one hopes) a little wiser, my feelings of attachment and obligation to Israel have become stronger. I think it's for this reason that I admire Sharon so much, and why his words resonate so strongly with me.
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