dear readers and fellow educators,
anyone involved in teaching in israeli schools now, as i am, will have the phrase 'mi'shoah le'tekumah' all over the walls-with pictures and posters of the shoah, side by side with pictures and posters from the establishemnt of the state-in one of the schools i teach in there is a magen david spilt in half-one half blue and white and the others half yellow and black, in another school, i saw posters of soldiers who faught in the war independence with numbers on their arms from concentration camps.israeli media-tv and radio programmes, is replete with programmes talking about yom hashoa and yom ha'atzmaut-inextricably linking the 2 days and events.
there is an obvious link between the shoah and the establishment of the state-the establishment of a jewish state gave the jewish people a sense of pride and identity, after the horrors of the shoah-it gave us a sense that we had a future and a national project to work towards after a third of our people were murdered-on a theological level-after the period of 'hester panim'(G-d hiding his face) of the shoah, through the state, G-d ended that period of hester panim, and showed us that the relationship was back. obviously the state was also a place where the survivors and refugees could flee to, and rebuild their lives.harav amital zt'l saw the establishment of the stae of israel in terms of a 'kiddush hashem', after the terrible 'chillul hashem' of the shoah.
at the same time i feel as educators, whose role it is to make our students think, reflect and analyse, and not just think in terms of slogans and simplistic phrases and soundbites,we need to be aware of the dangers and problems of linking the shoah and the establishment of the state for the many reasons, including:
1) eretz yisrael is the historical and cultural homeland of the jewish people, and was promised to us in the torah, and spoken about throughout the tenach-it was not a result of the shoah, although ofcourse the shoah demonstrated we need and deserve a homeland of our own.we can't present jews as victims and the state as a 'miklat'-a shelter-eretz yisrael is our bilblical homeland.
2)even though the shoah was the worst period of persecution-jews were persecuted since the fall and destruction of the first temple, and if the establishment of the state is linked to us being persecuted, it should be linked to the whole of jewish history, and not just the shoah.
3) the survivors and refugees from the shoah, who came to israel during and after the shoah were treated very badly by large sections of the jews living in israel and were treated as outsiders and second class citizens.they called them 'sabonim'-soap bars-mocking them saying they were over passive and did not stand up to nazis-as a result alot of the survivors and refugees were unable to function in israel and had to leave as soon as they could.
4) as documented, the jews living in eretz israel during the shoah, did not do as much as they could have to help the jews who were being persecuted in europe. (even though as there was no state yet, they were limited as to how much they could practically do-unlike the jews in america who also largely remained passive during the shoah and could have done much more if they wanted.)
5) even though the state of israel has achieved wonderful things,to say that in a certain way it compensates or makes up for the shoah is impossible to claim- the survival of the state in the wars etc.. is a miracle, but to say it somehow makes up for the destruction of quantatively a third of the jewish people, as well as qualatively the destruction of the torah world of europe- the yeshivot, the brisk dynasty etc.. cannot be claimed.
6) the process of the establishment of the state and modern zionism started well before the shoah, in the 19th century, even though it had a major impact on the votes in the UN afterwards in the second half of the 1940's.
7) to say 'never again'-that the fact we have a state and army etc.. the shoah cannot happen again, is not a religious approach-the ramban in parshat emor, states that in eretz yisrael, the jews are judged on much higher standards, and that we will be forced to leave the land if we do not live up to these higher moral and ethical standards-since the establishment of the state in 1948, over 50,000 jewish israelis have been killed either in wars/terror attacks or in traffic/road accidents, tragically,far more jews have died in israel since 1948 than in the diaspora.as religious jews we believe as the ramban states that our continued survival in the state depends on G-d, and is not in our hands-although ofcourse having an army, is a religious duty and is an expression that we want to take responsibilty for our destiny and survival.
8) when teaching about the shoah we also need to teach out students that survivors and refugees also arrived to the diaspora, and not just israel, and created wonderful communities, with schools, yeshivot and shuls- in many cases these communities in the diaspora,were/ are currently, far more successful in producing orthodox, religious jews, than their parallel communities in the state of israel.
following the shoah, the establishment of the state, gave the jewish people a sense of hope and pride-an opportunity to take responsibilty for our destiny into our own hands.but at the same time, we need to teach our students that the connection between the shoah and establihsment of the state is complex and not straightforward, as the slogans,pictures and posters on the walls in some of our day schools often suggest.
yom atzmaut sameach,
benjy
