In most major world religions, the founding figures and events remain their ultimate authority. For example, the life events and teachings of Jesus Christ in Christianity, of Mohammed in Islam, of Buddha in Buddhism remain the most fundamental aspect of the religion. In Judaism, there is ongoing weightiness of the founders, Abraham, Moses, etc. and the core redemption event, the Exodus. Still the tradition teaches that the ultimate achievement of world repair (= messianic era) will “outdo” the founders and founding events.
The State of Israel is the Exodus event of our millennium. Therefore, we must look at it seriously as the possible fulfillment of messianism or, at least, as the possible initiation of the ultimate worldwide redemption.
The classic prophets promised that a later Exodus will outstrip the original Exodus that was the foundation of the Jewish religion and civilization. Thus, Isaiah says that, unlike the original Exodus when “you left the land of Egypt in haste” (see Deuteronomy 15:3,) where there was no time to prepare proper food for the journey (see Exodus 12:11, 39,) the ultimate Exodus will be unlimited without “haste” or “flight.” Similarly, the Talmud weighs the possibility that since the final redemption events will dwarf the post ones, then the traditional holidays of redemption (Pesach, Sukkot, etc.) will become passe.
All this means that we must take the State of Israel seriously as a religious phenomenon. Leaving Egypt was the great liberating moment of the Biblical period and the Bible centers on it. Defeating intended genocide (Purim) was the great redemption event of the rabbinic period – so the Talmud treats Purim as a renewal of the covenant (Tractate Shabbat 88a.) We can project that since Israel is the Exodus of our millennium, it will be at the center of the developing Jewish culture going forward.
Modern Exodus
THE EXODUS of our time dwarfs the classic Exodus. The Torah speaks of 600,000 going out of Egypt. If we count that as the number of adult fighters, then we are talking about two million people, liberated from slavery and genocide. Compare: Israel’s Exodus. In 1948, the population of the Yishuv (pre-state settlement) in Israel, 600,000 strong, was saved from annihilation.
Within ten years, 250,000 Holocaust survivors were brought to freedom. Then 800,000 Jews were rescued from Arab lands where rampant nationalism and antisemitism threatened their existence. Between one and a half to two million Russian Jews escaped oppression by coming to Israel over the past half century. Some 150,000 Ethiopian Jews were given new lives here as well as tens of thousands from all over the world. That makes Israel, in sum, the greatest Exodus of all time.
The 7,200,000 Jews now living in Israel are the largest Jewish country population of all time. Modern rebuilt Jerusalem has a multiple times larger population than the city in any of its classic periods. Conclusion: the Exodus of our time outdoes the Biblical event quantitatively.
It also excels qualitatively. In substance, the swing from the depths of Auschwitz and degradation in the Holocaust to the heights of rebuilt Jerusalem and national independence is greater than the Biblical generational movement from slavery and outsider status in Egypt to citizenship and homeland in Eretz Yisrael.
Is the State of Israel, then, the fulfillment of the messianic promise? There are groups and political figures, especially in religious Zionism, who make this assertion. The problem is that this claim leads them to support policies that overreach – such as excessive military actions and annexation of territories that are politically unsustainable. These policies alienate moderates and Israel’s allies, and undermine Israel’s standing in the world. They assume that God is on their side and will produce miracles that will totally crush the opposition and enable Israel to go it alone in the world.
However, Zionism achieved restoration of homeland by going against this irresponsible thinking. Zionism rejected haredi (ultra-Orthodox) calls to wait and let Messiah bring a new miraculous, irresistible Exodus. Together, Zionists of all stripes showed that realistic policies and step-by-step building could achieve miracles in the real world.
After the Holocaust, it is crystal clear that the supernatural Messiah is not going to come. Those that draw upon traditions and fantasies to push for irresponsible policies will only squander the Zionist achievement and endanger the nation.
There is a more responsible messianism that envisions a total national transformation, but one achieved by prudent, incremental policies and political goals that do not overreach. The present Israel, being produced by the alliance of religious and secular Jews together with Muslim and Druze Israelis, represents a scale of redemption and scope of building society that is monumental – but is attainable by supreme effort. It is messianic in that it represents the restoration into history of life, justice, and society-building of such proportions as to match the scale of evil and death produced in the Holocaust.
Independence Day is the affirmation of a real-life Israel – what the prayer for the State of Israel calls modestly “the beginning of the flowering of our redemption.” Like the original Exodus process, Israel runs into enemy actions and setbacks and even periods of despair. But the people, Israel, have the commitment and the determination to press forward toward completing the Zionist goal.
It is important that this generation knows that it is writing the script of a new Scriptures of redemption for the world. We need to arise from the tragedy of October 7 and the worldwide outburst of antisemitism and anti-Zionism, and persevere. If we do, we can achieve miracles beyond those already wrought. We can build a just society and a model for the world even beyond what was accomplished in the last seventy-five years.
The fate of the covenant and of the covenant people is in the hands of this generation. If it can act realistically but restrainedly, if it can show compassion for Palestinians in this necessary war, if it can respect our allies without being naive, the Jewish state can press on to become the greatest Exodus of all time.
The writer is an oleh, an activist and a public intellectual in America, and author of The Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Jews and Judaism (Jewish Publication Society, forthcoming.)