Dr. Chaim C. Cohen, whose PhD. is from Hebrew U., is a social worker and teacher at the Hebrew Univ. School of Social Work, and Efrata College. He lives in Psagot, Binyamin.
Introduction: This article may seem pessimistic and discouraging at first reading. But for those who read it carefully the article should be encouraging and uplifting. The article argues that our ‘little Jewish State of Israel’ is existentially destined by our G-d to be in a long term state of struggle for survival and self definition.
However, just as our Jewish bravery and faith, and G-d’s providence, has converted our existential struggles, over the last 76 years, into a glorious Jewish State, they will continue to convert our current, difficult struggles of survival and self definition into an ongoing, ever deepening spiritual renaissance of our people in our Land.
In common political parlance, G-d is beckoning us to forge a Second War of Independence , a ‘war’ of spiritual Renaissance
Post Simchat Torah massacre (Oct. 7th), and seventy six years after Israel’s founding, our Jewish State finds itself in a revolutionary stage of existential dilemmas
I believe that the Simchat Torah massacre of 1,200 Jews by the Hamas began a new chapter in the history of the Jewish State, and thus probably a new chapter in the history of the Jewish people.
Lets begin to understand this new chapter in Jewish history by noting that we now confront the exact same existential questions that our forefathers encountered in 1948. During the last 76 years we, and G-d, have ‘not yet resolved/solved them’.
Let us simply list four basic, unresolved, revolutionary existential challenges with which we must actively cope
One, we are still constantly/permanently engaged in an ongoing military battle for survival. Our physical survival is almost as vulnerable as it was in 1948. For example, since the founding of the State the basic tension between us and the Arab world has systematically erupted in a major military conflict every ten years. The format of the conflict has changed, from standing armies to an ever present threat of terrorism, cyber warfare, drones and missiles. As opposed to 1948 our actual physical/existential existence is probably not in danger, but the need to constantly focus our national energies on military matters is just as central to our national well being as it was in 1948 .
Our current increased military vulnerability is primarily due to America and the West’s unwillingness to use military conflict to prevent Iran to becoming the dominant geo-political player in the Mid East, and Iran’s relentless plan to spread a militant, violent Islamic Jihad in the area.
Two, we are still diplomatically isolated and vulnerable in a diplomatically hostile world, and are diplomatically currently dependent on one country, America. Again this situation closely mirrors our position in 1948. And the world holds us to standards of international behavior totally different than that of any other country, an attitude probably based on three thousand years of anti Semitism. All signs indicate that the world is destined over time to become more hostile to the idea of a Jewish state in a Middle Eastern Muslim world.
Most significant, after 76 years, we have no internationally accepted borders. Our national geography is defined by 76 years old cease fire lines.
And probably the saddest, most tragic existential dilemma is that a true, permanent peaceful resolution of our conflict with the Arab world (particularly with the Palestinian Arabs) seems more impossible than ever. Right now ‘Peace seems to have little chance’ in the Middle East.
Over the last thirty years we have made consistent efforts to establish a ‘less belligerent co-existence’ with the Arab world (Oslo Accords, complete withdrawal and destruction of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and Lebanese security zone, autonomy and economic betterment for Palestinian Arabs) and the ‘conceptions’ behind these diplomatic moves all ‘blew up in our face on Oct.7th.
Three, after 76 years, we still do not have a constitution. A constitution serves to ‘define the rules of the game’ by which a country defines itself and resolves conflict. And in Israel many of ‘the rules of the game of our sovereignty’ have yet to be defined. The most glaring (and probably most pressing) is the question of ‘church and state’, in our case the relationship between ‘democracy’ and Jewishness/Jewish Law. After 76 years we still have not established the ‘rules of the game’ in this area.
The result is that, lacking a constitution, the relationship between the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government are completely unresolved. This issue is very important because it very much relates to the degree of influence that public opinion/’populism has on national decision making.
Four, the successful integration of significant ethnic sectors of the population has yet to be resolved in a stable, definitive manner. There are three glaring examples of this serious existential dilemma. One is the integration of immigrants. I think we can say that after four generations, there has finally been a satisfactory integration of European and Arab country immigrants. However we are still struggling to integrate 100,000 Ethiopian Jews and even the successful immigration of middle class, educated Jews from Western countries will be challenging.
However much more serious are the yet to be resolved integration of almost two million Arab Israelis and Bedouin, and 700,000 haredi Jews. Their integration is very complex because of these ethnic groups are ‘caught up’ in serious questions of communal self identity, and their difficulty to identify and feel allegiance to a primarily secular and Jewish state. The glaring difference is, of course, that the Israeli Arabs and Bedouin have a loyalty issue but haredim are loyal to the state and are even beginning to serve in the army
Summary, in order to creatively function and grow on an everyday basis , we have more often than not taught ourselves to ignore and self deny these ‘ ticking time bombs’ of unresolved challenges to our national Well Being.
But then G-d suddenly , in His wisdom, sent us a ‘wake up call’ last Simchat Torah and we suddenly find ourselves in panic to deal with issues that we knew we had to deal with, but just felt we did not have the social strength to do so successfully.
Our wonderful, precious Jewish State finds itself now ‘fighting battles of existential survival’ on the multiple existential fronts detailed above.
Out of our Jewish State’s current existential vulnerability, we must forge a Second War of Independence
We must act like Ben Gurion in 1948
Every existential crisis (i.e. a heightened sense of vulnerability and uncertainty) is an invitation for a re-understanding and rebuilding of self definition and self development. The greater the sense of existential vulnerability, the greater is the potential for existential growth.
Before the Yom Kippur War of 1973 , our leaders were overly confident in their conceptual thinking, and did not feel ‘existentially vulnerable’, and that contributed to 2500 Israeli soldiers dying in the war.
Before October 2023, our leaders were overly confident in their conceptual thinking concerning Islamic/Arab aggression, and did not feel ‘existentially vulnerable’, and close to 1700 Israeli soldiers and civilians have already died.
In contrast , in 1948, Ben Gurion simultaneously realized both the Jewish settlement’s potential for achieving independence, and at the same he very strongly realized the Jewish settlement’s ‘existential vulnerability'. He correctly used both understandings to proclaim a state, and forge a patriotic, ‘willing to sacrifice’ society and army that succeeded in defeating five regular Arab armies, and establish an independent Jewish State for the first time in two thousand years. (yes, at the cost of over 6000 Jewish lives)
We are now called upon to act like Ben Gurion and fight our Second War of Independence. In this Second War of Independence, like Ben Gurion of 1948, we must both realistically understand our State’s present ‘existential vulnerability’ cited above, And at the same time realize and appreciate the tremendous, national resources with which G-d has endowed the Jewish People throughout our three thousand year old history.
What will be the components of our Second War of Independence?
One, we must conceptually free ourselves from the conceptual thinking of western liberal universalism, one that holds that the ‘tribal’ conflict between us and the Arab world will be solved by mutual concessions written on a diplomatic piece of paper.
It is painful and difficult for me to write such a statement, but the history of the last thirty years forces me to do so. The cruel historical facts, that every time we ceded sovereignty and territory, (Oslo, Gaza, southern Lebanon) the territory was seized by Palestinian Arab nationalists and Islamic Jihadist backed by Iran, and used to actively continue their ongoing attack on a Jewish State in the Middle East. And this occurred when America was ‘the world’s policeman. And now America is more isolationist (no boots on the ground), and Iran is ‘roaming the Mid East range, spreading terror in every corner.
I turn to my dear liberal friends, and say ‘sorry, Western liberal universalism has tragically failed us four times. A ‘Palestinian State’, at this time in history, is a sword directly aimed directly at our heart. Our sanity and desire for survival will not allow us to continue down this dead end road.
Or to put it in other words, if you want Israel to take the existential risks of real concessions, first confront and ‘defeat’ Iran. Only after that it will be ‘safe’ for Israel to make concessions. As long as Iran ( and no longer America) is paramount in the Middle East all Israeli diplomatic concessions will be an act of suicide.
Two, In view of the above analysis, and the world’s growing anti-Semitism, Israel must diplomatically, psychologically, and spiritually prepared to live with a much higher degree of diplomatic isolation and ‘unpopularity’. For the foreseeable future, ‘we are going to have to go at it alone’.
This does not mean not cooperating in diplomatic moves to lessen tensions, but it does mean being very skeptical and reluctant about diplomatic concessions. And it also means understanding that despite whatever concessions we may have to make, most of the diplomatic world will ‘ still conclude that they are insufficient, still isolate us, still refuse to take seriously our need for survival, and continue to show great antipathy to the idea of a Jewish State in the Middle East. Israel- the Jewish State is going to continue to be ‘diplomatically unpopular’ for a long time.
Three, we must prepare ourselves for fighting a long, ongoing war of attrition on our borders. G-d is asking us to ‘live by the sword’ for the near future’. In simple terms, ‘when world opinion and diplomacy puts Israel on the defensive, this means Israel has to go on the offensive’
This is not because we are an ‘inherently aggressive country’. This is just because Iran’s growing Mid East dominance is causing too many countries to say “Having a Jewish State in the Middle East is no longer a good idea, it causes too many international problems”. This leaves us with only one option, ongoing military actions of self defense.
Four, we must realize that our civilian population will have to bear a much greater burden for attaining and maintaining our military/security needs. Before Oct. 7th we spent 3.5% of our GNP on defense. We will now have to double it to 6.5%. (Western Europe spends less than 2% of GNP on defense. ) We have to increase weapon production and procurement (and sales abroad) so that we will totally minimalize our military dependence on America. As already announced conscripted service of our youth will return to three years. Reserve duty will be stricter and increase until 45 days a year. Internal investments in education, health, social services, economic infrastructure will decrease, and taxes will increase. Seemingly, in order to fight our ongoing war of attrition, we will have to sacrifice an element of our State’s material quality of life.
Five, in order to successfully fight this Second War of Independence we must pro actively create an educational and social cultural agenda that emphasizes extracting an historical sense of purpose and morale from our Jewish tradition, religion and history. We can only succeed in our ongoing war of self defense, and survive our diplomatic isolation, if our people are strengthened every day by a sense of national patriotism and religious faith.
Summary: We will win our Second War of Independence
This is an optimistic article. We will win our Second War of Independence. We are a unique People, with a unique history. We have successfully fought a ‘three thousand year "war of attrition” in the Land of Israel and in exile, in over one hundred countries. This war of attrition impelled us to create a unique, spiritual way of life, a unique body of spiritual-national wisdom, and make unique contributions to universal human history.
We survived the loss of six million Jews, one third of our nation, and went to establish an independent Jewish State in our ancestral homeland.
All of this has been accomplished only because of G-d’s divine Providence.
Given such a history, it is obvious we will win our Second War of Independence, and in the process create a renewed spiritual-national Renaissance.
As promised in the Passover Hagaddah, “In every generation they have raised up against us, and (in every generation) G-d has (always) saved us”, and in the process spiritually.
So should be His Will in our generation.