Israel and the American Dream
Op-ed: Jewish state cannot continue to be preserved unless its citizens are guided by a very different ethos than that of US
Because the ways in which a person survives in a country are profoundly shaped by the society in which that person resides, they must be to some degree altered if that person is to subsist – or better yet, thrive – in another land.
Yet for the American immigrant, such adaptation may seem less relevant than for other immigrants, as since the victory of the United States at the close of World War II, the mother tongue of the US has continued to become universalized while the country’s business practices, pop culture, social and familial behaviors, and other aspects of its society that have been driven under the influence of a thing known as the “American Dream” have to some degree been emulated by many other nations, including Israel. However, the Jewish state cannot continue to be preserved unless its citizens are guided by a very different ethos than that of the US.
The origins of the American Dream can be found in the opening of the US Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed that “all men are created equal” and “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Of these “unalienable Rights,” none has weighed so heavily in defining the American Dream as “the pursuit of Happiness” – with the idea that “all men are created equal” being disregarded right from the start – while the meaning of “Happiness” within the definition of the American Dream has been refined to personal wealth.
Simply put, to achieve the American Dream is to go, as they say, “from rags to riches.” This, however, has proved to be an incredibly elusive dream, as not only are the overwhelming majority of Americans not wealthy, but in a society of (among other things) easy loans and high interests, idle wages, inflated properties, non-subsidized and exorbitant college tuition fees, insufficient health care coverage, and a contagious desire to achieve if not wealth then at least the appearance of it, many have actually accrued far more debt than wealth.
But what is most relevant to my argument is not the elusive but the selfish nature of the American Dream. While the American Dream may be shared by many, its realization belongs exclusively to the individual who has achieved it. For not only is this kind of individual pursuit of personal wealth accomplished without regards for the commonwealth, but it is very often carried out at the expense of the others.
Thus, when President John F. Kennedy famously stated in his inaugural address, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country,” his suggestion seemed entirely new to the American people. And – as attested to by the countless instances of securities fraud, the razing of small businesses and farms, the expansion of the prison- and the military-industrial complexes, the escalation of prescription drug prices and dependencies, the sweeping growth of a culture and entertainment industry exclusively catering to and encouraging the lowest common denominator, and other abuses to the physical and intellectual well-being of citizens that have continued to be carried out for the sake of maximizing personal profit – the famous words of Kennedy are at least as new to the people of the United States today as they were when they were first spoken.
Yet such domestic instabilities are not a grave threat to the international security of the United States, as the country is protected by an extraordinary geopolitical position and an enormous military. Not only is the US flanked on both of its sides by the two largest oceans in the world, but it is longitudinally buffered by the heavily impoverished republic of Mexico and the fractured South America, whose people seek little more from the US than employment and citizenship, as well as the frozen state of Canada, which has largely avoided international conflict.
Furthermore, the US, in spite of its geopolitical security, was – and arguably still is – one of the leading competitors in the nuclear arms race, it has a massive defense budget, and its enormous all-“volunteer” armed forces are never short of young men and women eagerly seeking employment and financial aid for college under the G.I. Bill.
Thus, no matter how much the internal conditions of the US continue to worsen, the giant ship of state—with its intellectuals and other outcasts safely locked away in some dark cabin below, and its circus of stock market billionaires, teenage pop singers, sports heroes, statesmen/Hollywood movies stars, and other celebrities standing at the bow as definitive proof that anything is possible in America – will continue, however lost it may be, to drift along.
However, the geopolitical position of Israel within the Arab-Muslim world and the manner in which it is regarded by the Western world are so unlike the geographical situation and international relationships of the US, that no matter how advanced the military of the Jewish state grows, the en masse following of the American Dream by Israeli citizens would not just lead them into cultural and socioeconomic decay but into oblivion.
For to comprehend Israel’s standing within the international community is to acknowledge why the Jewish state was established, i.e., in order to provide a permanent shelter from anti-Semitism. And to believe that anti-Semitism has safely waned since the Holocaust is to assume that the geographically minute state of Israel has aroused so great a frenzy in the media and served as an object of constant ire for no other reason than the alleged displacement of an Arab-Muslim minority whom the overwhelming majority of people from these morally incensed regions of the world – many of which have committed numerous acts of genocide and persecution – know very little about and rarely, if ever, do anything to help them other than providing endless condemnations of Israel.
Spirit of commonwealth
In an era of political correctness, lambasting the state of Israel and rejecting its legitimacy solely on behalf of the Palestinians has become the most publicly acceptable form of anti-Semitism, the frequency of which bears evidence that the Jewish state has few, if any, friends among the vast regions that surround it.
Because of this unparalleled antagonism that so many countries relentlessly express toward the Jewish state, the people of Israel, in order to continue to merely exist, must continue to exercise extraordinary solidarity. Yet if guided by the self-serving and mutually damaging ideology of the American Dream, neither solidarity nor the preservation of the Jewish identity, culture, spirituality and ethics can be maintained.
Contrary to the dominant attitude among Americans that each individual is only responsible to himself, Israelis can never forget that they are responsible for the welfare of each other, and in turn, their country. And indeed, the spirit of commonwealth has prevailed in Israel, as can be seen in such things as the universal health care system, more financial aid and absorption services for immigrants than exist in any other part of the world, countless charities, full subsidization of postgraduate studies, mandatory military service for all young adults, the very noticeable accommodations and dignified inclusion of people with disabilities, numerous museums and public parks, rabbis that open the doors of their private homes to anyone looking for a meal on the Sabbath, and a general intimacy between people that is altogether foreign to most Americans.
Nevertheless, trademarks of the American Dream have of late been cropping up throughout the State of Israel. Marketplaces teeming with animated local merchants are being far outnumbered by shopping malls filled with chain stores and listless employees. Lottery ticket kiosks stand throughout every public square and shopping center to offer passersby the hope of sudden, unearned and personal wealth. The media is becoming laden with celebrity gossip, witless comedy, superficial drama, “talent” shows, rootless pop music, and game shows offering its contestants better odds than the ubiquitous lotto booths. And the rise in costs of living accompanied by stagnating wages have already incited public protest, while the income disparity is continuing to grow wider than ever before.
To the average American, such occurrences may be simply dismissed as the price of the freedom to follow the American Dream. However, to the Israeli, whose survival depends upon the solidarity of his state, which is essential to domestic stability, such occurrences cannot be anything other than what they are, i.e., unchecked greed, which is the true face of the American Dream.
While it is essential that Israel not emulate the central ideology of the US in order to preserve itself and its founding principles, in no way does this need to be accomplished through the wholesale rejection of everything that is American. It can be argued that every country has something physically, intellectually, or spiritually edifying to offer other nations.
And Israel, which continues to be formed by people returning to the land of their genealogical, cultural, and spiritual roots from every part of the world, is in full possession of the same opportunity held by the United States, a country also largely made up of disenfranchised immigrants, i.e., the chance to learn from everyone else – to avoid the mistakes and abuses of others while building upon the best of what they have to offer humanity – in order to create something not only new but admirable.
Many US citizens for whom the American Dream has thoroughly eluded them may eventually decide to look for it elsewhere. And if they are entitled to expatriate to Israel, they may indeed encounter the American Dream in not only the personal ambitions of many recent immigrants from all over the world, but also in many of the aspirations of native Israelis. Yet not only will they be met by an ideology that seeks to escalate the welfare of the individual only by improving of the well-being of their society, but it may help them to realize that the American Dream has no relevance for the Jewish state.
For Israel has its own dream, one which does not belong to the individual but to the entire nation; and Israelis have no need to be in constant pursuit of it, for the true dream of Israel has already been fulfilled by the mere existence of its people.
And in order to continue this existence in the face of global enmity, Israelis must maintain this spirit of commonwealth, however much it may only increase the animosity of those who already despise Israel; for, as can be attested to by its disproportionately numerous accomplishments, this is the history of the Jewish people – being forced to thrive in order to merely exist, and then being further distrusted for their overachievements.
For many, this condition imposed upon the Jewish people may seem like a curse, but for the sake of preserving Israel and its people, it must prove to be a blessing.
