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Rabbi Amital On Religious Zionism and the Redemption

A few weeks ago, I posted about the reference in the prayer for the State of Israel recited by most modern Orthodox shuls to reishit tzmichat g'ulateinu, the first flowering of our redemption.

Rabbi Yehuda Amital, who heads Yeshivat Har Etzion together with Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein (and who was the subject of an interesting feature in last Friday's Haaretz on the eve of his retirement) gave a superb lecture on the topic last month on Yom Haatzmaut. Rav Amital's lecture should be seen as among the definitive statements of a moderate, rationalist religious Zionism.

In response to the ideological crisis experienced by some religious Zionists in the wake of Prime Sharon's unilateral withdrawal plan, Rav Amital starts by pointing out that even the establishment of the State of Israel occurred together with tragedy. Indeed, "the day the State of Israel was declared, the fifth of Iyar, 5708 (May 14, 1948), was a day of God's anger, for we received the bitter news of the fall of Gush Etzion and the many victims who were slaughtered here." Yet, R. Amital writes, "I danced and rejoiced on the fifth of Iyar 5708, when the State was declared without Gush Katif, without Jaffa, without Nahariya, and without the Old City of Jerusalem, so should I not rejoice today? We cannot deny that the current period is a bitter one, but then, too, when we heard about the fall of Gush Etzion, it was bitter, and nevertheless we rejoiced! Therefore the problem is more emotional than substantial."

Rav Amital correctly states that the current ideological crisis mainly "stems from the fact that among various groups, doubts have begun to arise concerning the expression, "reishit tzemichat ge'ulateinu, the beginning of the flowering of our redemption." He explains that the students of Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook insisted that "the beginning of the redemption refers not to the Jewish nation dwelling in the Land of Israel, but rather to the absolute sovereignty of the Jewish nation over all parts of Eretz Yisrael... According to this understanding, if a major aspect of the purpose of the State is the fulfillment of the command to exercise sovereignty over Eretz Yisrael, then a State that hands over territories betrays its purpose, and we must question whether it is still 'the beginning of the flowering of our redemption.'"

Rav Amital strongly rejects this approach, stating: "I danced on the 29th of November 1947, at Be'erot Yitzchak, even though the U.N. had partitioned the land, and likewise in 1948."

As for "the beginning of the redemption," Rav Amital explains that the use of this phrase predates the State, that indeed, since 1874 there have been rabbis "who spoke about the 'beginning of the redemption,' the 'revealed end,' the 'footsteps of the Messiah' and a few years later came the greatest Holocaust that had ever happened in all of Jewish history." As a result, Rav Amital calls for a more moderate understanding of the words reishit tzmichat g'ulateinu.

He explains that even if we are not living in a messianic era, "there is still great importance to the political freedom of establishing a State. Rambam writes that one of the reasons for the festival of Chanuka is that 'Jewish sovereignty was restored for more than two hundred years' during the period of the Chashmonaim (Hilkhot Chanuka 3:1), even though we know the low moral standing of the many members of the Hasmonean dynasty." Thus, Rav Herzog proclaimed that Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel is - particularly after the Holocaust - a form of redemption, albeit an incomplete redemption.

Rav Amital concludes that the messianic view of the State took hold among religious Zionism only after the Six Day War. Some, he explans (critically), insist on retaining all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza despite the demographic and political obstacles, arguing that since we are in a messianic era, "there is no need to worry about the pragmatic, actual ramifications of our actions."

The Six Day War and its ramifications from the perspective of religious Jews is itself an important subject, about which I hope to offer detailed thoughts in the next few weeks.
posted on 6/16/2005