The Good News

 

 

by Raphael Israeli

                                         

On this day of June, 2009, two little-noticed news items came to brighten the Israeli horizon and  raise a smile on the lips of many Israelis. The American State Department announced that Israel was ranked second worldwide in the battle against the trade with women; and Morgan Stanley Capital Index   has upgraded Israel’s economy from “emerging market” to “developed market”, thus admitting this tiny and  embattled country to the top league of developed nations, with a similar market weight to Denmark and Belgium, and preceding Norway, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal and Greece.

 

These remarkable achievements, which add to the marvel of Israel  in its 61 years of existence, are all the more laudable when compared to the malaise which threatens Israel’s neighbors with backwardness, unrest, instability and poverty. Indeed, while Israel has been reaping Nobel Prizes  these past few years and developing its medical, microchip and nano-technologies, Saudi Arabia has been banning its children from their  “un-Islamic” teddy-bears, Egypt has ordered a slaughter  of its swine population to counter its swine-flu, Syria  spends its time educating for hatred and conspiring against others, the Palestinians accusing the entire world save themselves, and the Hamas and Hizbullah plotting their next terrorist act.

 

Israelis tend to be so absorbed with their  blessed self-criticism, and so preoccupied by their perennial concern for security’ in addition to the current economic crisis that they have no time to compare themselves with their neighbors, let alone with the advanced societies of the West. Those of us who travel have long ago come to the conclusion that very often even those civilized, free, advanced  and affluent societies, which we like to visit and admire, do not always compare favorably with us. Yes, there are more peaceful, like Holland or Denmark; more affluent, like the US and Canada, etc; but each one of those countries is also afflicted by enormous insoluble problems like crime, drugs, teen-age pregnancies, youth delinquency, social discrimination, poor medical coverage, cultural fatigue, socio-political exhaustion, the loss of vision and identity and of the will to fight, surrender to waves of immigrants and capitulation to multi-culturalism, and what have you.

 

We cannot find any cluster of 7 million people, anywhere in the world, which combines all the outstanding qualities which make living within the Jewish community of Israel a unique  experience. It is not only affluence, social security, personal  safety, excellent medical services, high tech,  a promising science, a good climate, dynamism and a permanent quest for improvement, freedom, democracy, cultural output, vibrant media, theater,  creative art, music, innovation, inventiveness and publishing; what distinguishes Israel from the lot, and permitted it to catapult itself to the forefront of nations within two generations, are two major attributes of the Jewish people: a sense of responsibility and an innate impulse for solidarity.

 

In the Jewish sources, far from throwing accusations on others following the disasters which were inflicted on Jews throughout history, the concept of “due to our sins we were exiled from our land” was elaborated one generation after another, impelling them to take responsibility and seek self-improvement. This is what permitted  Jews in nascent Israel to roll up their sleeves and labor, to absorb their destitute kin and advance them, to develop the land and make it flourish, and to attain so much in so little time. Palestinians, by contrast, resign themselves to their status of permanent refugees, refuse to leave the camps, cultivate delusions and day dreams, and heap all the accusations for their state on others.

 

The issue of solidarity is even more dramatic. In all nations, just like  the ancient Chinese, where a thin layer of literati created and perpetuated  Culture and provided the elites and leadership of that great empire,  a low percentage of the upper  classes is the carrier of culture, civilization, leadership, advancement and innovation, followed by the masses who share the fruits thereof. The Jews, as manifested in Israel today, as well as in their various diasporas, the numbers of concerned individuals, who care, improve themselves, share  responsibility, feel committed to the public good and  are prepared to sacrifice for their country, is unusually higher than elsewhere. All one has to do is to count the countless numbers of volunteering individuals and groups who donate money to the poor, bring solace and counsel to the sick and the elderly, collect food for the have-nots, invite the disadvantaged for holiday meals, absorb new immigrants and engage in all manner of social activities, both for Israelis and for the misfortunate in other disaster areas of the wolrd.

 

Where can one find the like of  Yad Sarah, that magnificent all-volunteer  society which provides medical implements to the sick; or the Zaka volunteer group, on call at all times, to collect the remnants of ripped apart victims of terrorism? Where else is an entire country mobilized behind its military in time of war,  the welfare of its soldiers and its prisoners and missing in combat? What other nation invests so much in rescuing its nationals who have incurred any mishap within the country and abroad? What other country provides such a shield of protective anxiety, care, concern and interest for victims of its wars, for bombarded populations or refugees from  areas touched by hostilities. Israeli citizens have given shelter to  Sudanese, Jordanian, Palestinian, Vietnamese and Bosnian refugees, whose countries have been  sometimes at war with Israel, and have generously collected funds and sent medical and physical assistance to areas destroyed by tsunamis, earthquakes, starvation and war.

 

For decades the few percentage points of kibbutz members  constituted the hardcore or Israeli pioneers, who settled desert  and border areas,  provided the command and elite of the military, and participated  as a model to emulate in the leadership of the country. Following its attrition under the weight of years and erosion, a mirror-image of that elite emerged  in the heart of Orthodox Judaism, which today fills all those positions of pioneering, settlements, military command, political and social leadership, vision and total commitment to see it implemented. Thus, in spite of the many difficulties Israeli presently experiences in the economic, social , political and security domains, we can still hold our heads raised and our hopes high, knowing that an enough number of us is engaged, committed and responsible to keep this boat afloat and to navigate it to safer shores.

 

 

Raphael Israeli is a professor of Islamic history at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem

 

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