NGL I kinda want to have open, honest, soulful conversations with people about Zionism in today’s world and the shared future of Palestinians and Israelis, and record them and release them as a podcast The Z Word.
Israel
The state, the society, the war, the present hour.
Reviving the National Court
When people think “Halakhic State” they usually think Haredistan or settler apartheid state.
How Ever:
If we had a revived National Court (“sanhedrin”), it probably would have authorized the initial strikes against Hamas after Oct 7 as a necessary and legitimate war of self-defense, and required everyone, including Haredim, to serve in the military – but then at some point it would probably have prohibited the continuation of the war with the same tactics, without a clear strategy of self-defense and victory.
There’s something to be said for collectively choosing to be led by a large, diverse body of our nation’s wisest people – and there’s a reason the visibly-religious current leadership does not actively work towards reviving the National Court.
🧐
No Moral Default
Very happy to see how many people are sharing the Orthodox rabbinic letter on Gaza and the state of religious Zionism today. Not surprised by the knee-jerk backlash they’re all facing in the comments …. But the public sharing itself is important.
People should be confident in the stance that religious Judaism does not recognize moral default.
A Declaration of Emuna
Honestly, with the world 🌍 the way it is right now – with our country 🇮🇱 the way it is right now – bringing a child into it is a declaration of emuna:
“Ribbono shelaOlam! Your world is broken and we did not break it! But we believe! – that it can be fixed, it can be healed, it can be made whole again! That neither the world nor we are condemned to brokenness! That we each can play the part You have given us in redeeming ourselves and in redeeming this world! That with each soul we bring into this world together with You – this world is brought one step closer to its redemption and perfection!”
Yes, with the exclamation points. 😉
30 Days
30 days.
Either come up with a plan for defeating Hamas and rescuing the hostages, or end the war.
Either way, let in as much food, medicine, and baby supplies now, as the combined logistical might of the Israeli military can facilitate.
But it’s been almost two years.
So.
30 days.
Two Men’s Words
On the one hand, there is this French politician who said some stuff about recognizing a state with no leadership, no funding, no borders, and probably no military.
On the other hand, there is this guy called Rambam who had some really deep insights into human civilization and the marriage of reason and religion, that have remained true even as the scientific edifice upon which he built his beliefs about the world has in many ways been overturned.
I’m not saying there’s really much of a connection between the two men, but I figure if you’re thinking about the first now you can think about the second, too.
And decide for yourself which man’s words are worth thinking about. 😀
Pro-Israeli, Pro-Palestinian
The older I get and the deeper this country’s ethos seeps into my bones, the more convinced I become of two things:
– Socialism has a lot more going for it than Capitalists would like to admit
– To be truly pro-Israeli is to be pro-Palestinian, “and vice versa”
And yet my libertarian preferences have not only survived intact but strengthened in the wake of these growing convictions. 😉
A Transmission on an Alternative Frequency (Arabic)
بث على تردّد مختلف… مش كل الكلمات كلماتي، بس هذا أكيد هو #صهيونيّت … صهيونيّتي
“يا إخوتي، يا أخواتي، يا جيراني
ما بحكي معكم بكلام فاضي، ولا بلسان دبلوماسي مصقول، بحكي بنار بدمي واسم الله على شفايفي. ما إجيتكم لا كغزّاة، ولا كمدافع، ولا كغريب—إجيت كواحد من أولاد هالأرض القديمة، عم بيتوجّع وبدور على طريق لقدّام
أنا يهودي
أنا صهيوني
آه، صهيوني
بس مش صهيونيّة الأسلاك والحواجز
مش صهيونيّة الهدم والمحو
أنا صهيوني الأنبياء والرعاة، صهيوني إبراهيم وأولاده، صهيوني الحلم إنو هالأرض تضيء من جديد بالعدل والحكمة والسلام
ما بنكر وجعك
ما بنكر تاريخك
وما بطلب تنسى، ولا تستسلم
بعرف شو انأخذ منكم
بعرف الزيتونات اللي انقلعت
بعرف المفاتيح اللي معلّقة ببيوت جدودكم
وبعرف أسامي القرى اللي صارت ذكرى، وعايشة بدمكم
إنتو مش مخفيين
إنتو مش منسيين
وإنتو مش أعدائي
إحنا تمزّقنا على إيدين إمبراطوريات حكمتنا سوا
اتفرّقنا بالغربة، بالحروب، بالخوف اللي تكاثر مثل الظلال
بس إنتو أولاد عمنا. وكثير منكم إخوتنا
إنتو أولاد الأرض اللي ربّت أنبياءنا
دمكم، ترابكم، حكاياتكم—كلها بتنفس ذكرى إسرائيل، مش الدولة الحديثة، بل الشعب، والنداء، والعهد
الصهيونيّة، بالحقيقة، مش تفوّق
ولا نفي لإلكم علشان إحنا نرجع
ولا جدران وأعلام وحدود
هي رجعة شعب—كل شعب هالأرض—لرسالة مقدسة
الصهيونيّة مش كاملة
ولا منتهية
ولا بتصير كاملة إلا لما إنتو—آه، إنتو في الخليل، ورهط، ونابلس، وأم الفحم، والناصرة—تكونوا جزء منها
مش كضيوف. ولا كغرباء مقبولين
بل كشركاء. كجيران. كبنّائين لمستقبل واحد
ما إجينا نمحي إسلامكم
منحترمه
صلواتكم الصادقة بتردّد صدى النداء للوحدة والعدل
شعركم بغنّي للأرض مثل المزامير
إيمانكم، كرمكم، وضيافتكم—مقدّسين
وبنعرف إنكم بتدوروا على شي أعمق من كرامة مادية
زيّنا، بتدوروا على معنى
على انتماء لأشي أكبر
على نهاية للتشريد، للشك، للرفض
فخلّينا نشارك بعض فعليًا
نحكي الصدق عن الماضي—كلّه
نسمي الجراح—جراحكم وجراحنا
نرثي موتانا سوا، وندفن سلاحنا بالأرض
نعلّم ولادنا أسامي أنبياءنا
ونفتح قلوبنا لأحلام بعض
ما عندي كل الحلول
بس بعرف هالشي
هالأرض بتساع كل ذكرياتنا
وهالقصة غنيّة بكل أشعارنا
وهالعهد عميق وكبير ليحمل محنّا وإيمانّا
مش لازم تصيروا زينا
ولا إحنا نصير زيكم
بس سوا، فينا نصير شي ولا واحد منّا بقدر يكون لحاله
مجتمع ضمير
مملكة سماويّة
حضارة تبني نصب تذكارية للسلام كعمل مقدّس، مش كهدنة مؤقتة بحرب مالها نهاية
أنا دايمًا بآمن بصهيون
مش كقلعة—بل كبيت
مش كانتقام—بل كرجعة
مش لمجموعة وحدة—بل لكل الناس المتجذرين بهالتراب والمشدودين لهالنور
أنا بآمن إنو رح نبني هالصهيون سوا
وبدعوك—مش للقتال، ولا للاستسلام. بل للرجعة
رجعة لوعد أقدم من أعلامنا
رجعة لقصة بعدها ما خلصت
رجعة لنكتب مستقبلنا مش بـ”إحنا وهم”، بل بـ”نحن
نحن، شعب الأرض
نحن، طالبي السلام والعدل
نحن، أولاد شي قديم عم ينهض من جديد
بالخير والشر، العالم دايمًا بيطلع علينا، وبيستنى يشوف شو رح نعمل بعدين
خلّيهم يشوفوا معجزة
“
A Transmission on an Alternative Frequency
A transmission on an alternative frequency… Not all my words, but definitely my #Zionism…
“Brothers. Sisters. Neighbors.
I speak to you not with empty words, not with the polished tongue of a diplomat, but with fire in my blood and God on my lips. I come before you not as a conqueror, not as an apologist, not as a stranger – but as a fellow child of this ancient land, aching for a way forward.
I am a Jew.
A Zionist.
Yes, a Zionist.
Not the Zionism of wire fences and checkpoints. Not the Zionism of erasures and demolitions. I am a Zionist of prophets and shepherds, of Abraham and his children, of the dream that this land will shine again with justice, wisdom, and peace.
I do not deny your pain.
I do not deny your history.
I do not ask you to forget, or to surrender.
I know what was taken from you.
I know the olive trees that were uprooted.
The keys that hang in your grandparents’ homes.
The names of villages that exist now only in memory and in your blood.
You are not invisible. You are not forgotten. You are not my enemy.
We were torn apart by empires that ruled us both.
We were separated by exile, by wars, by fears that multiplied like shadows.
But you are our cousins. Many of you are our brothers and sisters.
You are the children of the land that raised our prophets.
Your blood, your soil, your stories – all breathe with the memory of Israel, not the modern state, but the people, the calling, the covenant.
Zionism, as it truly is and must be for both of us, is not supremacy.
It is not exile for you so we can return.
It is not walls and flags and borders.
It is the return of a people – all the people of this land – to a sacred mission.
Zionism is not finished.
It is not perfect.
It is not whole until you – yes, you in Hebron and Rahat and Nablus and Umm al Fahm and Nazareth – have a place in it.
Not as guests. Not as tolerated outsiders.
But as partners. As neighbors. As builders of the same future.
We do not come to erase your Islam. We respect it.
Your dedicated prayers echo the ancient cry for unity and justice.
Your poetry sings of the land like psalms.
Your devotion, your generosity, your hospitality – they are holy.
And we know you seek more than material dignity.
Like us, you seek meaning. You seek to belong to something greater.
You seek to end the curse of wandering, of suspicion, of rejection.
So let us truly share our society.
Let us tell the truth about the past. All of it.
Let us name the wounds. Yours. Ours.
Let us mourn the dead together and bury our weapons in the ground.
Let us teach our children the names of our prophets.
Let us make room in our hearts for each other’s dreams.
I do not have all the answers to the problems that we need to solve.
But I know this:
This land is big enough for all of our memories.
This story is rich enough for all of our verses.
This covenant is strong and deep enough for all of our trials and our faith.
You do not have to become me.
And I do not have to become you.
But together we can become something that neither of us can be alone.
A society of conscience.
A kingdom of heaven.
A civilization that makes monuments to peace as a sacred act, not just a pause in the endless war.
I will always believe in Zion.
Not as a fortress – but as a home.
Not as revenge – but as return.
Not for one group – but for all people rooted in this soil and drawn to this light.
I believe we will build that Zion together.
And I invite you – not to fight. Nor to surrender. But to return.
To return to a promise far older than our flags.
To rejoin a story that is far from finished.
To rewrite our future beyond “us and them,”
but in which we instead say “we.”
We, the people of the land.
We, the chasers of peace and justice.
We, the children of something ancient rising again.
For better and for worse, the world is always watching us, waiting to see what we’ll do next.
Let them see a miracle.”
Arabic in Our National Future
Tally Gotliv wants Arabic speakers to feel unwelcome in our country and in the halls of our government.
Sorry Tally, Arabic is part of our national heritage as Jews and it is part of our national future as Zionists, and the millions of Arabic speakers in this country should speak loud and proud, until and beyond the point when it is restored as a national language and our children learn it together with Hebrew from elementary school onward.
The forces of racism and fascism traffic in fear and intimidation, and they’re desperate to hang on to the power we give them.
It falls on us especially, those committed to our laws and traditions, to ensure that our service and our work do not unintentionally sustain the forces of evil subverting those very laws and traditions.