Writing on this subject is very tricky. “Destiny” implies something far more than a mere political analysis. The truth is, the more I think about it, it is the destiny of the people of Israel that I am meant to pay attention to.
But before I go further, I need to set down some definitions, so that you, the reader, know exactly what I’m talking about. Otherwise the semantic confusion can prevent you from understanding either the meaning or the import of this article. In addition, I would like to express my thanks to Rabbi Yehoshua Friedman for fine-tuning certain points of Jewish law.
So, here we go.
I. Defining the terms
1. Zionist movement: a largely secular movement to bring Jews home to the Land of Israel.2. State of Israel: the political expression of the Zionist movement.
3. Children of Israel: the descendants of Jacob (Israel), son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of TeraH, a high priest in Sumer, in the city of Ur, who left for the city of Paran when the king he served died. After a period of time, Abraham, commanded by G-d, continued westwards to the Land of Canaan.
4. People of Israel (Hebrews): the descendants of the sons of Israel, who were divided into a number of tribes.
5. Land of Israel: territory designated by the Torah [BaMidbár/Numbers 34:1-15] or the Tana"kh [Ezekiel 47:3-23, 48:1-35] as the territory that G-d has given the People of Israel.
6. Kingdom of Israel: This has three definitions.
a) the Kingdom of Sha’úl (Saul), David, and Shlómo (Solomon) which extended as far as the Euphrates River at the height of its power;b) the secessionist kingdom of ten tribes that separated from the tribes of Yehudá (Judah) and Shim'ón after the death of Shlómo (Solomon) and accession to the throne of his son ReHavám. With time, this kingdom weakened and the territory of the tribe of Benyamín became part of the southern kingdom of Yehudá (Judah);
c) in messianic times, the Kingdom of Israel will be the entity that succeeds the State of Israel and any other entity that rules here.
7. Jews: Originally, the descendants (tribe) of Yehudá, one of the sons of Israel. With time, the tribe of Shim'on merged into the tribe of Yehudá, and with time, the tribe of Benyamín merged as well [Scroll of Esther 2: 5-6]. At the time of its fall, the Kingdom of Yehudá represented the tribes of Yehudá, Shim'on, Benyamin and those people of the tribe of Leví who lived within the borders of the kingdom. The descendants of these people are the Jews mentioned in definition #1.
a) According to Halakhá (normative Jewish law), a Jew is the child of a Jewish mother, or a convert to the religion who accepts the entire corpus of 613 commandments of the Torah. If male, the convert needs to be circumcised. All converts are required to immerse in flowing water or a mikvá (ritual bath). According to the rules of the Rabbinate, the official Jewish religious body in Israel, the forgoing definition is the only definition of who is a Jew.
Article comments
1 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Now, we see some of the weaknesses of the new format of Blog Critics Magazine. This article, which is very political in nature, and therefore ought to have been filed under "Politics," as I indicated when I submitted it, was instead filed under "Culture." I realize that this was an editorial decision, and bow of course, to the decisions of the editors.
But the amount of traffic this article will get, and its value thereby, will be severely influenced by the department it has been put in.
2 - Christopher Rose
Yes, it was all random chance, Ruvy, and your "interpretation" of "events" is an odd conflation of wishful thinking and outright delusion. Nice try but no cigar!
3 - troll
wouldn't ya know it - !
now I can add the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan to my list of reasons why I wish that the People of Israel would all just go home
4 - Mark Schannon
Despite Troll's desire to keep life safe in the swamp, I -- for completely objective reasons -- was fascinated, especially by part iii.
Christopher is right in that with something this controversial, you need a lot more to support it, but I assume you're working on that.
Oy, my brother, the Taliban. At least I now have a beard.
In Jameson Veritas
5 - Ken Edwards
What does the new format at Blogcritics have to do with anything? I have been here for at least three years, and that hasn't changed.
6 - sr
Excellent Ruvy. All that is left is to watch the the army pass through the Sea of Ignorance and drown in liberal stupidity.
7 - Mohjho
Yes Ruvy, you are very important, god loves you, and your life has meaning.
8 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Shavua tov,
It was a relatively peaceful Sabbath, and now I'm back.
Mohijo, we're all important, something too many people miss. Even a slip of a girl taking orders in a coffee shop is important, something we tend to miss because we only see the side of her that takes our order. Don't believe me. Ask Drew Barrymore.
Does G-d love me? Haven't got a clue. By the way, that is something I never pray for. But we eat regular and have a roof over our heads, and I'm happy for that.
And we all have a meaning in life, even the autistic kids who can't recognize that we exist.
So aside from attempting to be nasty, what are you saying?
Chris, what is and isn't chance is all perception. Based on my experience in life, I'd be an idiot to assume that this is all chance. It is all predestined? Of course not.
Mark,
Yeah, there is a lot more work to be done, but I'm not the first person to realize that we and the Taliban are close relatives. With G-d's help, I'll get to go to India to help Dr. Aafreedi if I can. That is the first time since I've come from America that I have even been interested in going overseas for any reason.
Thanks for the kind words, sr.
Dan, the new format here divides things into departments. Unless something is spotlighted for some reason at "home at blogcritics.org", you need to choose to go to the department on your own to find it. The destiny of the People of Israel is a very political issue. So, of rights, this belongs in "Politics." But, because most of its elements appear to deal with culture, the editors have assigned this to the cultural department. Go look at Desicritics.org, where this is also published, to understand my point.
Troll, let's just hope that miracles can be worked...that the People of Israel will be re-united as is written in the Book of Ezekiel.
9 - MAOZ
Ruvy:
(1) Congratulations on becoming more conscious of Hashgacha Pratit.
(2) Not all of us had come to think of Shevet Yehuda as the only remaining Children of Israel, with the other tribes being irretrievably lost. Remember the passage we recite every day (just winging it right now on the translation): "Even if you are dispersed to the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there HaShem your G^d will gather you and bring you in to the Land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it." That's from Sefer Devarim (Book of Deuteronomy) -- i.e., it was addressed to ALL the tribes. G^d forbid that G^d, or we, should forget His promise!
(3) Shavua tov and Chodesh tov -- Have a good new week and a good new month!