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the course of Jewish history. The first But Jewry has not yet reconstituted itself So there is a Zionism of Torah, just as
Zionist Congress, convened by Theo- as an edah, a people under the sovereignty there is a Zionism of land and state. It
dor Herzl, was an unlikely gathering. It of G-d, whose constitution is the Torah. follows the latter as Shavuot follows
brought together religious, non-religious, We have not yet had a second Shavuot. Pesach. That is the historical process at
and even anti-religious Jews from across Despite this, there have been remarkable whose beginning we stand. Sadly, we will
Europe. What united them was a common developments in the past 30 years. Three lose many Jews on the way. We will lose
threat – antisemitism. them spiritually, as a previous generation
institutions have appeared which have lost them physically. We will lose them for
The term “antisemitism” was itself no precedent in Jewish history. Today, essentially the same reason – that we are
coined in 1879. Two years later, a series there are hesder yeshivot, where Israeli an obstinate people.
of pogroms broke out in Russia, followed soldiers devote half their time to Torah
by a spate of anti-Jewish legislation, the study. There are ba’al teshuvah yeshivot for We will be slow to recognise the impera-
May Laws. By 1894, the Dreyfus affair in young Jews returning to their heritage. tive of the second Zionism just as a pre-
France had convinced Herzl that even the And there are seminaries where, for the vious generation was slow to recognise
assimilated Jews of Western Europe faced first time, women are studying Torah at the imperative of the first. The current
the same danger. The only answer lay in a the highest level. These represent a rare disagreements about continuity programs
second exodus, a new journey across the burst of spiritual creativity. mirror arguments a century ago about
wilderness to the promised Land. Herzl Zionism.
believed that, at Basel, he had laid the Throughout the Diaspora, Torah study The first Zionist Congress was held in
foundations of a new Jewish state and is flourishing in ways that would have Switzerland because virtually the entire
that it would be a reality within 50 years. astonished previous generations. In Brit- German rabbinate refused to allow it to
He was off by only one year. ain, adult education programmes are take place in Germany. Today, yet again,
over-subscribed. In the United States, Jews seem more intent on fighting one
The 100 years between 1897 and today communities that a generation ago were another than on heeding the call of his-
have been the century of the nightmare on the edge of eclipse, today boast yeshivot
and the dream – the nightmare of the and kollelim, institutes of higher Talmu- tory. But we will survive, because deep
within the hearts of many young Jews is
Holocaust, and the dream of Jewish dic learning. In Australia, later this year, the knowledge that we are more than a
sovereignty restored. We have seen the thousands of Jews will gather to celebrate community of fate.
renaissance of the Hebrew language, the the completion of daf yomi, the seven-year
ingathering of exiles, the rebirth of the cycle of daily Talmudic study. Jews are not the only people to have been
Jewish people as an independent nation persecuted. We are not the only people to
in its own land, the rebuilding of Jeru- A new Zionism is in the making, just as have fought for freedom, to have sought
salem. But the Jewish journey does not it was a century ago. But this time, it is independence, sovereignty, a land, and
end there. Pesach is the beginning of a focused not on Pesach but on Shavuot. It a state of our own. These are part of the
process, not the end. The destination is is about Jewish identity not as an am but Jewish story. But they cannot account
Shavuot. as an edah. for the unique influence we have had on
the civilization of the Western world. Nor
The Zionist movement and the State of The first Zionism was about the journey can they explain the tenacity and pride
Israel have revitalized Jewry as an am, a from slavery to freedom. The new Zion- with which Jews passed on their identity
people of shared fate. For the past cen- ism is about the journey towards becom- to their children across four millennia.
tury, most Jews throughout the world ing the people of Torah.
have been united by a sense of kinship “Zion” does not mean only “place.” It is We are ultimately the people of Torah. To
in the face of antisemitism, the Holocaust, also related to the Hebrew word for “sign- be a Jew is to be part of a nation which
and the struggles and triumphs of Israel. post,” something that stands out from defines its very identity in terms of serv-
ing G-d, translating revelation into society
The young Jews today who participate in its surroundings and signals a direction. and the choreography of daily life. That is
the March of the Living, witness the con- Zion thus became a metaphor for the the journey which our best young people
centration camps, and go on from there to Jewish people. They, too, were distinc- are pioneering today – and more will join
Israel, are tracing out the path of modern tive. They stood out from the surrounding with every passing year. It will dominate
Jewish history as a journey from slavery culture. Their role was to serve as a moral the Jewish agenda for the coming cen-
to freedom. They are reliving the Pesach and spiritual signpost at the crossroads of tury. The Jewish people await its second
of our time. human civilization. Shavuot.

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