Was The Re-establishment Israel Of Based On A Lack Of Vision?

Confusing Ben-Gurion with Olmert?

Think Big
by Rabbi David Bar-Hayim

Getting Israel and Judaism back on track.

Clueless Leaders
Israel is lost and directionless. Its political leaders lack vision and aspire to nothing.

Judaism is lost and directionless. Its rabbinical leaders lack vision and aspire to nothing.

Revisionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky once illustrated his criticism of mainstream Zionism with the following analogy:

It was the acceptance of the armistice lines of 1948 that "clarified" for most Zionists where the Land of Israel for which they had fought actually was.
"I see a man limping down the street, using only one leg, even though it is apparent that nothing is wrong with the other one. I turn to him and ask: 'Why don't you walk on both legs?' He replies: 'Is there something the matter with the one that I am using?'"

Jabotinsky referred of course to the policy of "one more dunam, one more goat," whereby the Zionist establishment focused on building up the land piecemeal, living from day to day, all the while refusing to enunciate its vision, the goal for which it was ostensibly striving: a sovereign state for the Jewish people in their historical homeland within clearly defined borders. Thus, the most fundamental issues - what kind of state the Jewish people were demanding, where its borders would be, and within what time frame - remained unaddressed. Jabotinsky's insight was that the leadership preferred it that way, like a man who opts to use only one of his legs.

The result of this (lack of) policy was that the typical Zionist spoke fervently of the Jewish people's right to the Land of Israel, but could not explain even to himself where the borders of his beloved homeland lay or on what basis he defined that territory. In the end, observed Shabtai Ben-Dov, it was the acceptance of the armistice lines of 1948 that "clarified" for most Zionists where the Land of Israel for which they had fought actually was. It was only "logical," therefore, for one-time Education Minister Shulamit Aloni to refer to Hebron as hutz laaretz ("overseas"), and for the post-Six-Day-War Left to view a return to the very heart of our homeland as an "occupation."

Read the whole thing.

I think the problem with the article is that it lacks a historical context of what was going on at the time. Thus, Rabbi Bar-Hayim writes:

Israel lost its way not in 1967, but in the 1920s, '30s and '40s, before there was an Israel, by thinking small, by refusing to see the big picture, by denying the Jewish nation's destiny. By choosing mediocrity over greatness.

To imply that Ben-Gurion, who was the driving force then, lacked a policy is off the mark. I'm finishing up 2 biographies of Ben-Gurion by Bar-Zohar and Dan Kurzman, and the actions taken back then were driven by Ben-Gurion's vision and strong actions.

Creating a Jewish state, both politically as well as agriculturally, was not done by 'thinking small.' In addition, while Ben-Gurion both before and during 1948 took into account how the US, Great Britain and the UN would react, on more than one occasion he defied them and worked around their objections and demands. It is not at all clear that Jabotinsky's philosophy of moving quickly and establishing a state would have worked.

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