[Be-Ahavah U-Be-Emunah – Vayikra
5773 – translated by R. Blumberg]
Question: What is
the path of Religious Zionism? How is it possible to be hanging between two
worlds?
Answer: Seemingly,
the one world is Zionism and the other world is religiosity, and Religious
Zionists are torn between the two. It is true that in practical terms, these
represent two different worlds. There are irreligious nationalists and there
are non-nationalist religious Jews. Truthfully, however, it is all one world,
for what is the essence of Zionism? The Jewish Nation’s rebirth in its Land.
This includes the Jews’ moving to Israel, settling the Land and taking
sovereignty over the Land. Obviously, sovereignty over the Land includes having
an army. Yet all this is written in the Torah countless times – that
Eretz Yisrael is our Land, that we have to live there, build it and occupy it.
In other words, we must fashion national ownership over it, or in other words,
a state and an army.
See Ramban
in his Addenda to Rambam’s Sefer Ha-Mitzvot, Positive Precept 4, where Ramban
reduces the Mitzvah of Eretz Yisrael to three parts: 1) living in the Land 2)
not leaving the Land desolate, i.e., settling the Land, and 3) not leaving the
Land in the hands of any other nation, i.e., occupying the Land and
establishing a state.
The essence
of Religious Zionism is the rebirth of the Jewish Nation in its Land, living
according to Torah law. And truthfully, it is all one. Yet since we were
prevented from dealing with the nation’s rebirth for two thousand years,
we forgot. There is nothing new here. Rather, there is something old
that has been forgotten. Our sages, at the beginning of Tractate Megillah
coined such an expression: “They forgot about it, and then they once more
established it.”
There is
nothing new here. It is all old. It is just that we have to re-accustom
ourselves to it, since we forgot it. It is true that at the start of the
renewal of settlement in the Land, between the nationalists and the Charedim
reigned not only hostility but apathy – what occupied the one did not interest
the other.
Yet
gradually, through their living together, they began to know each other and to admire
each other, and to cooperate. The Zionists became more religious, and the
religious became more Zionistic, and the Religious Zionists stand in the breach
and represent the fulfillment of the Torah to perfection. Perfection! “All that
G-d has said, we shall do and obey!” (Shemot 24:7).
Also in
Religious Zionism, itself, there are various hues. Some are more Zionistic and some
are more religious.
That is
the proper path. It can be likened to the relationship between body and soul.
One cannot
survive without a body, otherwise the soul will depart. Neither can one survive
without a soul. The body will be lifeless.
The truth
is, however, that when a Jew says, “I am religious,” that itself makes him a Zionist,
even if he is unaware of it.
The Charedim
are Zionists, even if they are unaware of it. And when someone says, “I am a
Zionist,” that itself makes him religious, even if he is unaware of it.
All
of this is explained in depth in Rav Kook’s work “Orot”.
