Diaspora Judaism is an anachronistic extension of the experience of exile, and lacking both a stable national existence (let alone the social institutions of a nation) and a coherent collective identity, can not hope to adequately address itself to the full condition of humanity. Land Judaism was revived in the image of Diaspora Judaism and while it arguably includes a stable national existence and some modern national institutions, ignores the bulk of its collective heritage and has yet to develop a coherent collective identity of its own. Idolizing either Judaism in its present form is a path beyond continuing irrelevance to eventual national suicide.
What it means for the Jewish future:
A holistic Judaism must re-emerge in order to address the full human condition and for Israel to resume its place in the human family. The Diaspora must find its collective identity and stability in the Land, and the Land must find a coherent identity not only of its own but that includes the reality of the Diaspora. The Diaspora must become an organic extension of the reality of the Land and the Land must breathe political, intellectual, ethical, and spiritual life into the Diaspora.
Perhaps the ingathering of the tribes, a necessary part of Israel’s process of decolonization, can be described in this light, as part of the natural act of respiration – inhale. Exhale. Inhale…