Agudah Adopts Zionism
Nearly 60 years after the establishment of the State of Israel, Agudath Israel has, finally, joined the masses of observant Jews - including many who identify as charedi - who long ago embraced Zionism.
Indeed, during Thanksgiving Weekend, at its 85th annual convention, Agudah adopted a resolution calling for Jerusalem to remain undivided. The resolution expressly states that it is not based only on security considerations, but also on "the singular place Jerusalem has always occupied in Jewish religious and communal life." (emphasis added.)
Can it be too long before a new zemer is heard in the streets of Flatbush, perhaps something along the lines of:
Kol od balevav, p'nimah, nefesh yehudi homiyah...
Previously, Agudah's position has always been either an anti-Zionist position - particularly prior to the formation of the State, and since then when it has provided a convenient excuse to bash Israel - or a non-Zionist position, which it adopted as its general policy following Israel's establishment. The non-Zionist position, while never at all coherent, is essentially that Agudah is concerned about the people and the holy land, but not about a secular state maintaining sovereignty over that land. That position is, of course, completely inconsistent with demanding that the very same state maintain sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, and, if that were not enough, basing that shift upon Jerusalem's unique status among Jews and in Judaism.
Even though Agudah's embrace of Zionism is only implict and will never be admitted by its leadership, it is a good thing. That's because Agudah's resolution got it right both in its call for an undivided Jerusalem, and in its explanation for the resolution's bases. In doing so, it left the remaining vestiges of Orthodox anti-Zionism to certain chasidic sects and the Friends of Ahmadinejad crazies at Neturei Karta.
posted on 12/04/2007
