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| MKs Benny Elon (L) and Zevulun Orlev Photo: Gil Yohanan
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Time for disengagement
Right-wing merger confirms nationalist takeover of religious Zionist camp
Lea Klibanoff
It could have been different. At times, we thought it would be different; there were moments where we hoped there is still a chance. On my way out of the ultra-Orthodox education I received, there were phases where I felt I could find a home, even a partial one, within the religious Zionist community. Yet the deeper I dug the more commonalities I discovered – some said one thing, and others said something else, yet ultra-Orthodox society and the religious Zionist community were so similar to each other. Both were convinced that they, and only they, were right; they are the only ones who clearly know what the Creator wanted; they are the only ones to grasp his message.
And today, what are we left with?
En route to unwavering nationalism, religious Zionism left behind whole worlds of knowledge, morality, and truth-seeking; worlds of values and creation were dismissed without a second thought. As its breadth continuously shrunk, religious Zionism collapsed in the face of nationalism that places national rights and aspirations above all. On its part, religious Zionism granted nationalism a priceless gift – a kosher stamp for all its demands and aspirations; God’s kosher stamp.
The absolute conviction that this is the right path averted the need to stop, examine, observe, and ask questions. After all, how could anyone dare ask when faced with the words of God, so clear, and sharp, and righteous. Yet all those worlds of wisdom and mercy, the foundations we grew up on, the religious life that used to constitute an emotional home for us, have all become part of that same superior and trampling nationalist world, which has no interest at all in the dignity and life of “the other.”
And now it appears that this process has been completed. The merger
between the National Religious Party and rightist parties granted the official and final confirmation of religious Zionism’s burial within the clutter of raging nationalism. Although perhaps this is a good thing, as now things are clear and defined. The process has been completed, and only few pockets of resistance remain, seeking to scream out that Judaism can have a different face too.
Some will say that the Bible features violence and nationalism, persecution and revenge. Indeed, this is true. Yet in the Bible we can also find the deep recognition of the dignity of a person, whoever he is, as well as modesty and humanity in respect to all of God’s creatures. This is both our blessing and our curse, the fact that we can find everything in the Bible, and there is no way for us to avoid listening and seeking the voice of God within us, in order to discover His intensions and desires.
Nobody knows whether they found the truth, yet there are those who use the words of God to always justify their actions and permit themselves to hurt others without limit. Yet those who by listening to God’s voice always end up seeing their own rights are suspected of merely listening to themselves; and those who find lies in everything that is different than their own opinion or path, are suspected of actually listening to lies.
Indeed, this is the face of religious Zionism today; suspected of forging the words of God, whose name it carries in vain.
So perhaps the time has come for disengagement. Disengagement from the affiliation with the national-religious community; disengagement from those who took ownership of God and are acting on His behalf, on behalf of the Torah, and on our behalf, without bringing any light or mercy.
Perhaps the time has come to declare that we do not belong with them; to act on the force of God’s presence in our life, as far as we can see and belief, with inner honesty that knows its limits. Perhaps the time has come to seek peace and justice.
And in the name of God, we will do and succeed.
Lea Klibanoff is a writer, editor, and member of the Realistic Religious Zionism movement
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