Page 19 - HaMizrachi Pesach 5783 USA

outlook. There exists an eternal hatred for the Eternal of Ezra was in effect “in its own time and for all time”
Nation, which neither Sholem Asch’s Nazarene nor (Rambam, Hilchot Terumot 1:5), and so he cannot despair,
the Institute of Jewish Affairs will defeat. But this is a for “You, O L-rd, are enthroned forever, Your throne
faulty ideological basis for such a powerful movement endures through the ages.” Even if many White Papers,
as that which seeks to return to Zion. filled with antisemitism, seek to shatter the divine
throne, they will not prevail. “Hatch a plot – it shall be
First, this is an outlook that is foreign to the Anglo- foiled; agree on action – it shall not succeed. For with
Saxon Jew generally, and to the American Jew spe-
cifically, who believes that, notwithstanding various us is G-d!” (Yishayahu 8:10).
periodic antisemitic outbursts, the majority of the (The Parchment Is Consumed, but the Letters Fly Free, Jan-
American population will not allow itself to be led uary 1944)
astray by antisemitic demagogues. True, the Ameri-
can Jew knows that social antisemitism will always All of the dreams about a secular Judaism in America
exist, but he does not believe – and I likewise do not have shown themselves to be false, hollow dreams. Not
believe – in the possibility here of the type of bestial even Zionism will be able to exist here if it takes on a
antisemitism that can be found in Europe. Especially completely secular form. The fact that the second gen-
after Hitler gets his just deserts, antisemitism will not eration of American Jews are committed to Zion despite
assume zoological proportions, despite all the dark being distant from Judaism proves nothing. They were
forces at work in America… raised in Jewish homes. Their parents brought the Zion
Morai ve-rabbotai, no great ideological movement can be ideal with them from the old country. As a result, these
founded upon dread. It is too lowly an emotion to serve fundamentally religious sentiments passed to their
as the basis for great ideals and a national movement. children. They demonstrate their sense of religious
Such an ideology and worldview must draw on more belonging through their loyalty to Zion (“Moses only
elevated sentiments than fear: on love, on moments of became wealthy via the waste of the tablets” [Nedarim
spiritual uplift, on a drive toward holiness… 38a]). The third generation, which is not frum, already
lacks this relationship with the Land of Israel.
The ideology of building the land can only be based
upon the ideology of the land’s holiness. A Jew who (Questions Posed to the Mizrachi as a Servant before the King,
believes in the land’s holiness knows, too, the halachah November 1955)
that the second sanctification of the land in the days

On the Western

Infatuation with

the Arab Cause

There is a certain tendency among all the great powers
to flatter the Islamic world. Europe is in ruins, its cul-
ture in decline; it is weak and insecure, and it seeks the
favor of the East. Esau joins forces with Ishmael; in the
meanwhile, Jacob is entirely repudiated. Whatever the
reasons – imperial interests, economic concerns – the
Arabs are now the darling child of the Western world.
Society ladies prance about them.
(Recognition of the Present and Vision for the Future, June
1945)

Right: The Return to Zion: Addresses on Religious Zionism and American Orthodoxy,
soon to be published by OU Press in partnership with World Mizrachi.

| 19