For over 2000 years the Jewish people have put their faith in God as Redeemer and Saviour. In the face of persecution and death, they trusted in the Almighty. Such religious commitment is at the core of the Jewish heritage. Century after century the Jews held fast to the belief that God providentially guides their destiny, and will reward the faithful in the World to Come.
According to tradition, God revealed the law to Moses on Mt Sinai. The 613 commandments in the Hebrew Bible were later expanded by rabbinic scholars in the Mishnah and the Talmud and subsequently collected together in the Code of Jewish Law. Through the centuries the Jewish people revently observed these legal requirements in obedience to God's will.
In modern times, however, such religious commitment has been eclipsed by a new vision of what it means to be Jewish. No longer is the belief in a providential Lord who watches over his chosen people predominant. Instead the vast majority of Jews worldwide (with the exception of the strictly Orthodox) regard the state of Israel as their only hope for salvation. A geo-political reality has fundamentally reshaped Jewish life and thought.
Such a shift in orientation occurrred in the 19th century with the emergence of the Zionist movement. Faced with the rise of antisemitism in Europe, thinkers such as Leon Pinsker argued that hatred of Jews is inevitable. No form of emancipation can rescue the Jewish people from antisemitism. Jews will always be regarded as aliens. Hence Jews have no choice but to reconstitute themselves as a separate people. What is needed is a national homeland.
Another early Zionist, Moses Hess similarly argued that Jews will always remain strangers among the nations—nothing can alter this state of affairs. The only solution to the problem of Jew-hatred is for Jewry to come to terms with their national identity. The great champion of such a vision was Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism. In his view there is only one solution to the problem of Jew-hatred—the creation of a Jewish commonwealth. In The Jewish State he wrote:
We have tried everywhere to merge with the national communities In which we live…it is not permitted us….
In Herzl’s view Jewry must constitute themselves as one people in their own land.
Initially the Zionists were small in numbers. Across the Jewish spectrum, the majority of Jews—Orthodox, Reform and Secular—were not in favour of the creation of a Jewish state. But all this changed with the Holocaust. The murder of six million Jews by the Nazis had a profound impact on Jewish consciousness. In the past Jews believed in a providential God who guides and protects his chosen people. But where was God in the death camps? How could He have allowed the Jewish people to be destroyed by the Nazis?
Despite the fact that Jewish religious institutions continue to function around the globe, there has been a fundamental shift in Jewish perception. No longer do the vast majority of Jews believe in a providential God who intervenes in human history. Prayers in synagogues remain the same. Jews recite the liturgy as they did in previous centuries. But in a post-Holocaust world they have lost their meaning. The Jewish religion—with the Lord of history at its centre—has been eclipsed by the belief that the state of Israel is the Jewish people’s ultimate protection. Zionism has replaced God as the only hope for the Jewish nation.
In the past Jews regarded themselves as God’s chosen people. As recipients of God’s law, they were to be a light to the nations. Through the centuries the Jewish people prayed to God for protection and deliverance. In the post-Holocaust world, however, such a religious vision has disintegrated. Such emptiness has been filled by the conviction that Jews alone must defend themselves from destruction. No longer do Jews look to the Deity for salvation. Instead they believe the State of Israel is their only safeguard against destruction.
This is the end of Judaism as a religious tradition. In its place is the belief that Israel is the Jewish people’s only hope for survival. The entire religious structure of the past has been replaced by a new vision. It is the State of Israel which will ensure Jewish survival, not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Such a fundamental revision in Jewish life—-placing the Jewish state at the centre of Jewish consciousness—has had a deep impact on the way Jews view events in the Holy Land. The battle against Israel’s enemies is
perceived as a battle for survival. It is not God who will save his people from annihilation. It is Israel alone with its armaments and nuclear weapons that can safeguard Jews from annihilation.
In the modern world Jews live in the shadow of the Holocaust. Scenes of suffering and death haunt Jewish conciousness. For Jewry worldwide the State of Israel is perceived as their only salvation.This is the background for understanding the Jewish community’s reaction to recent events in the Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas’ onslaught against Israel on October 7 is perceived as another Holocaust.
For Jewry what at stake is nothing less than Jewish existence. This means that the moral framework for Jewish living and the compassionate concern for all human life has been eclipsed. This has led to a blindness about the suffering and terrible loss of life of Palestinians in this battle. In Israel and the diaspora Jews perceive Israel's war against Hamas as a life and death battle. And in ths quest, the religious heritage that sustained Jews through their earthly struggles has been left behind.