Thread by @GREENESJ333

Roger Froikin @rlefraim wrote, "REMEMBERING THE ISRAEL Independence Day. - A BIT DIFFERENTLY

It might seem strange that I worded the title of this comment as I did.
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For Israelis, this year, remembering will be difficult because of the continuing Covid-19 panic. Same with many in the Diaspora. It will not be a time of parades and parties.
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For most it will be just another day, sitting at home, watching something on NETFLIX or some other streaming service, or maybe, if you’re old like me, reading a book (yes a real book with pages to turn).
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But maybe it can be a time of thinking about what it means to have an independent, Jewish Republic, of its importance, so we can help insure that it will never disappear, not in battle, not because of demographics, and (this is one not discussed) ...
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NOT in some Globalist conformist sameness copying someone else’s cultural pattern that ultimately ends Israel’s raison d’être.

A. And that means understanding why a unique Jewish Republic is good for Jews in Israel and the Diaspora.
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I am not going to try to define where Jewishness is going to go. Our Sages could have hoped we would could continue as a people 2000 years ago, but they never would have predicted what we as a people have become, the things that divide us today.
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But, I do know that the existence of a Jewish Republic has done 3 important things that changed our history as a people.
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(1). It has provided us again with a cultural center, as we had 2000 years ago and before, a place where Jewish culture can develop and flourish without having to make the kinds of cultural and behavioral compromises and choices that minorities have to make...
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when under the rule of another culture to survive and maintain an identity. The process has not gone smoothly, but in time I have confidence not will. I just wish I could live long enough to see how it goes.
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(2). It has provided safety and relative security - both to a growing Jewish population in the land and to Jews elsewhere via being able to have a place to go, something we suffered as a people from not having for so long.
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(3). The existence of a Jewish State that defends itself, that fights, that acts on the world stage, that is economically a success and an example to much of the world, has helped Jews everywhere. In what way?
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Look at the statistics on anti-Semitism internationally from the 1930’s to the 2000’s. In every part of the world, the rate of anti-Semitism, and the chances of it being violent, have declined precipitously.
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Yes, we hear about antiSemitism increasing, but it is today mostly a function of religious and racial minorities in Europe and the West, while the majority is not really so infected. And sure, people believe cliches about Jews that are not true, ...
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and that some Jewish organization claim is “anti-semitic”, but compare to the 1930’s, and see that the kinds of beliefs, the intensity of such beliefs, and what kind of behavior people think is appropriate in response to hate beliefs, has changed radically.
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So Diaspora Jews who discount Israel are fools. And Israelis that discount Diaspora Jews or misunderstand them are fools as well.
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B. That the State of Israel has to develop as a Jewish Republic with a unique culture drawn from its past, its cultural experiences and its Torah. That means, not trying to be European and aping every fashion and trend that appears in European magazines and TV.
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It’s frankly disturbing to see Jews w/tattoos & haircuts on men that look like they want to shave it all off except for a bunch on top, a fashion that started with American Blacks and on non-Black people it is frankly ugly, & I would never hire anyone who looked like that.
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It also means not defining “Judaism” by forms of Judaism and by institutions of Judaism that developed in the Diaspora, especially not those that enshrined assimilation into Western ways and not those that subscribe to complete rejection of the modern world.
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The cult of rejecting Judaism in the name of modernism that has solved no problems and the cult of rejecting the world to isolate in some recreation of the European Stetl, are simply wrong and counterproductive.
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The Jewish People as a whole needs Jewish culture to develop for Jewish reasons, not in reaction to the goyim.

The fact is that there will always be more financial and other difficulties to live at the East end of the Mediterranean Sea, far from Israel’s major markets.
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And unless Israel has something special, unique to offer its youth, a culture that is Jewish in character, respectful of our history and our beliefs, our uniqueness as a people, whatever that is to be,
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and if Israel becomes nothing more than a Levantine version of Poland or France culturally, or a nation in fear of anything post-18th century, there will be nothing to hold young people home, and nothing for Diaspora Jews to look to as an example and center.
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Israel needs more to survive long term than being a tech hub for now and having an army.

C. And finally, Israel needs to solve problems that have percolated for 72 years, problems which divide rather than unite.
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I have a lot of things to say about this, but for another time and place, but for now, think about things you would like to change and write me about them. That means politics that are more connected to the voters than to the party leaders,
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a free press that is about informing, not pursuing political agendas, people thinking inclusively, rather than like competing tribes at war, and understanding that our Sages emphasized the idea of good behavior toward one another...
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and an end to the needless hatred of false characterizations and assumptions.
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This next year will be crucial. Changing US Administration policy toward Israel and the region, European pressures trying to influence Israeli policies, may be a reason for a lot of changes in security and trade considerations. Nothing stays the same.
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In short, celebrate as well as you can, wherever you are. Next Year will be better. Much better.

And be healthy."
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