As a teenager I enjoyed a special privilege. A mentor of mine, Abe, would take me to NBA basketball games and allow me to sit with him on court – front row.
There is no better way to watch NBA basketball than sitting a few feet away from the players as they battle it out on the court. Witnessing the action from the front row is a completely different experience than watching it from a few hundred feet away or from home on a screen.
Sitting front row makes you a part of the game, the words you cheer, yell, or even suggestions you offer can influence the players’ mindsets. Sitting from afar, especially from the bleachers, makes you a mere observer.
Living in Israel today provides me the same sense of being a part of history and not merely observing it from afar.
Traditional Judaism doesn’t preach that Jews are better or superior to Gentiles; the idea of a “chosen people” refers to a responsibility that Jewish people are charged to fulfill – maintaining a moral lifestyle that acts as a light unto the nations.
Throughout 2,000 years of exile the Jewish people were hampered from fulfilling their destiny. Without the ability to determine their own future and being victim to constant persecution, the Jewish people couldn’t model their moral behavior for the world to observe.
Zionism, and its eventual achievement, the State of Israel, reversed the exile’s handicap and provided the Jewish people the vehicle and stage they needed to fulfill their national destiny.
Zionism and Israel have rejuvenated Jewish history
For decades Jewish history has been experiencing a rejuvenation. As the representative of the Jewish people, the leaders of the Jewish people, and the place of refuge for troubled Jews, Israel has revealed itself to be the fulfillment of thousands of years of Jewish dreams, hopes, and prayers. The Zionist dream has produced a Jewish state that acts as a light unto other nations.
The wandering people of the book now have a land to call home. The books they have studied, taught, and written now have practical applications in the land they were designed to be practiced in.
The Judaism that for thousands of years was studied and only dreamed about, with its rich agricultural laws and national policies, is now almost fully practiced. This new Judaism, with its obligatory tithes and sabbatical rests, would seem unfamiliar to an Eastern European or Moroccan Jew of 500 years ago, but it is the authentic Judaism they dreamed of living. Today’s Jewish farmers and consumers practice this Judaism every day.
Israeli Jews have proudly taken the torch of Jewish tradition passed to them by the remnants and survivors of European and Arab ancient Jewish communities. Israeli Jews have become keepers of the flame, challenged with ensuring Jewish safety, security, and continuity today and tomorrow. Israeli Jews are responsible for maintaining Judaism for generations to come. This responsibility carries historical significance.
Carrying out this new responsibility isn’t easy. Early Zionists had to uproot themselves from comfortable cities and countries they had lived in for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
They settled and developed a barren, malaria-infested, and unforgiving land. These pioneers fought off enemies and dealt with a tyrannical colonial British Empire that tried to hinder Jewish growth in the land of Israel. Making aliyah to Israel was challenging and full of sacrifice, and while it’s significantly easier to make aliyah today, it isn’t without its challenges.
These pioneers built a country, the first Jewish commonwealth in thousands of years. This new nation purified a people contaminated by persecution, assimilation, and dependency.
The Jewish State of Israel and its government allowed religion to grow freely, ethics to flourish, and human compassion and rights to find its first home in the Middle East. Education, healthcare, and social welfare found a place they could call home in Israel.
From generation to generation, Israel’s youth have consistently accepted the mantle of responsibility to grow and develop Israel into a stronger and more developed country.
Whether drafting into the military or volunteering for national service, Israel’s youth have played a significant role in Israel’s destiny. Young Diaspora Jews who visit Israel frequently comment on Israeli youth’s sense of responsibility.
Zionist giants like Rav Abraham Isaac Kook and Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin, and Chaim Weizmann and Ze’ev Jabotinsky, all modeled the new ethical Judaism that Zionism ushered in with the advent of the State of Israel.
The elected leaders who set Israeli policy in the Knesset have not always been perfect, but they’ve set national priorities and policies they felt best reflected Zionist and Jewish values.
Today’s Israel is faced with the challenge of staying loyal to traditional Jewish values. Judaism is fluid and succeeds best when its people debate future policies rigorously. These debates can sometimes present themselves as division, but they unify the nation.
The lesson of the Jewish division that caused the destruction of the Jewish Temples isn’t that the Jewish people shouldn’t debate, but rather they must debate civilly.
Living in Israel provides a front-row seat to Jewish destiny. The future of the Jewish people is being shaped by Israeli Jews. Living in Israel allows today’s Israelis to play a role in the future of the Jewish people.
Today’s Jewish rejuvenation is historic, but unlike many historic moments in Jewish history, the revival of the third commonwealth is ongoing and being shaped anew every single day.
It is a privilege to be able to sit “front row” and influence future events and the destiny of the Jewish people.
The writer is a senior educator at numerous educational institutions. He is the author of three books and teaches Torah, Zionism, and Israeli studies around the world.