{"id":66508,"date":"2019-12-04T14:51:53","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T12:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=66508"},"modified":"2023-06-28T17:42:39","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T14:42:39","slug":"can-a-zionist-honor-isaiah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/can-a-zionist-honor-isaiah\/","title":{"rendered":"Can A Zionist Honor Isaiah?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[384,539,436,638],"acf":{"old_id":"66508","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33992,"related_cahpter":"365","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Pray if you want, but learn to shoot - and never stop adhering to the strictest standards of Jewish morality\u00a0","content":"

Here\u2019s the rub: on one level, Zionism represents a rejection of two thousand years of Jewish political disengagement. If the classical Jewish stances toward troubling social or military developments is prayer, fasting, and renewed faith, then Zionism intentionally walks away from that response. Instead of the traditional pieties, Zionism enters the maelstrom of statecraft, diplomacy, military strategy and sheer force.<\/span><\/p>\n

Isaiah has a pretty sharp critique of that secular approach. He attacks this realpolitik as a disaster in the making: <\/span><\/p>\n

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and who rely on horses; they trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, and they did not depend on the Holy One of Israel and did not seek out the Lord.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the prophet\u2019s words, there is a stark dichotomy to select from: either rely on alliances and power (and be doomed) or turn to the God of Israel (and be saved). The Lord is portrayed as a roaring lion over his prey, and the military props are mere whining shepherds who are powerless to stop the lion\u2019s predation.<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem, thousands of years later, is that we know how the story ends: Jerusalem isn\u2019t saved. Prayer doesn\u2019t do the job. Temple sacrifice doesn\u2019t do the job. The city falls and Jews are exiled. At least twice. And we continue to wander, responding to each new catastrophe with prayer, fasting, lamentations. And endless cycles of pogroms, rapes, disputations, inquisitions, and extermination.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Zionist revolution, frankly, is to choose the other end of a gun for a change. Pray if you want, but learn to shoot.<\/span><\/p>\n

So how does someone who loves the tradition, reveres Isaiah, but recognizes the need for the Jewish people to also risk the assertion of power and self-determination, how is that person to manage this chapter (and so much of Jewish scripture)?<\/span><\/p>\n

Can we choose to hear Isaiah as telling us that even in our use of power, we must continue to rely on the God of Israel? That means that we cultivate a powerful Defense Force to protect our survival, but insist that they adhere to the strictest standards of Jewish morality in the implementation of that power. We develop extensive standards for just war, noncombatant immunity, rights of prisoners of war, all to assure that our imposition of power is limited to what is necessary for self-defense and may not cross the line into oppressing those who are under our sway.<\/span><\/p>\n

To revere Isaiah and Zion is to hold ourselves to a higher standard than is comfortable or popular. It is to demand that we not only use our might for just ends, but do so with compassion, restraint, and self-policing our own to demand that we treat others as we would want to be treated.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":66509,"id":66509,"title":"is31-soldier","filename":"is31-soldier.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is31-soldier.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/can-a-zionist-honor-isaiah\/is31-soldier\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is31-soldier","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":66508,"date":"2019-12-04 12:51:32","modified":"2019-12-04 12:51:49","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1226,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is31-soldier-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is31-soldier-300x192.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":192,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is31-soldier-768x490.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":490,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is31-soldier-1024x654.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":654,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is31-soldier.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":981,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is31-soldier.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1226,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is31-soldier-1200x766.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":766,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is31-soldier-658x420.png","home_baner-width":658,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Can A Zionist Honor Isaiah?","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Pray if you want, but learn to shoot - 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