In search of the Jewish soul

Hatikvah (or “The Hope” in Hebrew) is one of the few national anthems written in minor key. Mournful in tone, the song tells the return to the homeland of a nation from exile. Generations of Israelis have walked the long walk they were required to walk with both grievances and hope. But this journey to the Holy Land is not impossible as long as “in the heart, a Jewish soul still yearns.” From the very start, Israel had faced a Herculean mission: A daring project to unify a nation, to establish a new state, to install a trustworthy leadership, to create formidable borders from sketch. Against all odds, Israel survives its embryonic stage and evolves into a stronger country than ever. Its success is remarkable, its strength undeniable, its soul indomitable. The Jewish soul, throughout the Holocaust experience, remained morally courageous. But is it starting to dissolve?

1967 is a watershed year. The Six-Day War has fundamentally reshaped the region: Political maps were altered and the Israeli psyche experienced a shift. The country, after the stunning victory, was filled with euphoria and hubris. It was a Pyrrhic victory regardless. The completeness and swiftness of the triumph intoxicated Israel with a sense of grandeur that led to the colonization of the occupied territories: “A greater Israel” in defiance of international law. After capturing the lands, Israel assured the international community that the wounds of Holocaust would inform the state to establish a truly “enlightened occupation”. But the relationship between the occupier and the occupied will always be based on doubt and fear, violence and resentment, oppression and suffering; “enlightened occupation” is only an empty slogan. For Palestinians, Israel is an alien entity that deserves no place in the land. Israel’s illegitimate occupation of a foreign people becomes a moral burden for a vibrant and intellectual country that is painfully aware of its brutal history. “This is what the Occupation does to Israel’s soul,” Silverstein laments, “It kills it in the most mundane of ways.”

A woman holds a sign reading: ‘With occupation, there is no hope,’ during a protest march against the Netanyahu government, Tel Aviv, October 24, 2015. (photo: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

“Who is Israel?” is not an easy question to answer. A victim of the past. An oppressor of the present. Israel is now at odds with itself. The illegitimacy of the occupation taints the Jewish state. It is viewed as a colonialist power, and in the twenty-first century, there is no room for colonialism. The demand to end the occupation is greater than ever, but so are the risks. But it is this struggle to balance security and morality that makes up the very essence of Israel's soul, which is, in Halevi’s words, “the ability to sustain paradox.”