The Hebrew Bible stands unique among the Abrahamic faiths, and really among all faiths, as having a sustained body of Prophetic material, stamped with the phrase “Koh ‘Amar YHVH” (Thus says YHVH), running many pages, and often sequential.
There is little doubt that 1967 is the benchmark of Biblical Prophecy and the Last Days (see Restoring Abrahamic Faith, pp. 92ff). That, along with the dates 1917 and 1947 seem now confirmed in history and the chronologies of Daniel, plus the Kislev 24 connections.
What one finds in the Prophets are shorter “snippets” or overviews, such as Jeremiah 30-31, Psalm 83, Psalm 104-106, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Haggai 3, and so forth, but of even more fascination are the longer sustained prophecies that seem to actually offer a sequential treatment taking one to the day when YHVH will be King over all the earth and YHVH’s name ONE. Of course the sequence of events is a varied one, from war, death, and destruction to redemption, life and joy.
Among these are of course Zechariah 8-14. However, these chapters are divided by “Oracles” into 8-11 and 12-14, and it seems likely that these are two “takes” on the same period, from two different standpoints. That would mean that the “battle” of 12 is not the same as that of 14, which seems obvious in terms of outcome. There is good reason to think that current events in Israel, since at least 1967, fit well into Zechariah 8, but not into the events of chapters 12-14. However it should be noted there are also “flashbacks” and “asides,” such as 13:7-9, usually set off by “white spaces” so one must look at the Hebrew text.
Isaiah 24-35 is another longer and sequential prophecy, quite complex, but the “white spaces” give the proper divisions. Also there is Isaiah 40-66 and of course Ezekiel 37-39. Then there are the oracles to the nations in Jeremiah 46-52 and Ezekiel 24-36.
In terms of Gaza there is something really interesting in Ezekiel 39:11-16. Please note the location for the permanent burial of Gog and Magog! As it turns out this was never an area that Israel was to occupy or will occupy, as it is reserved for this final fate.
Despite many 19th and 20th century apocalyptic expectations, particularly made popular in American and Britian, the wheels of “fulfillment” seem to turn rather slowly, not in a decade or even a Jubilee, but often several centuries. Hence, witness the 300 year history of “Zionism,” or the Return to the Land by the Jewish people. Even more unsettling to standard Christian apocalypticism, that tends to expect things to be solved quickly, and from heaven, with one fell swoop, is that any reading of the chronology of the Masoretic text indicates that the 6000 year mark was passed somewhere between 1997 and 2002. So the “Millennium” is here, but not with a bang or even a bust, but more of the gradual shifts, changes, and struggles, that Maimonides associated with the Messianic age.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/opinion/03oren.html
June 2, 2010
An Assault, Cloaked in Peace By MICHAEL B. OREN
Washington
PEACE activists are people who demonstrate nonviolently for peaceful co-existence and human rights. The mob that assaulted Israeli special forces on the deck of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara on Monday was not motivated by peace. On the contrary, the religious extremists embedded among those on board were paid and equipped to attack Israelis — both by their own hands as well as by aiding Hamas — and to destroy any hope of peace.
Millions have already seen the Al Jazeera broadcast showing these “activists” chanting “Khaibar! Khaibar!”— a reference to a Muslim massacre of Jews in the Arabian peninsula in the seventh century. YouTube viewers saw Israeli troops, armed with crowd-dispersing paintball guns and side arms for emergency protection, being beaten and hurled over the railings of the ship by attackers wielding iron bars.
What the videos don’t show, however, are several curious aspects Israeli authorities are now investigating. First, about 100 of those detained from the boats were carrying immense sums in their pockets — nearly a million euros in total. Second, Israel discovered spent bullet cartridges on the Mavi Marmara that are of a caliber not used by the Israeli commandos, some of whom suffered gunshot wounds. Also found on the boat were propaganda clips showing passengers “injured” by Israeli forces; these videos, however, were filmed during daylight, hours before the nighttime operation occurred.
The investigations of all this evidence will be transparent, in accordance with Israel’s security needs.
There is little doubt as to the real purpose of the Mavi Marmara’s voyage — not to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, but to create a provocation that would put international pressure on Israel to drop the Gaza embargo, and thus allow the flow of seaborne military supplies to Hamas. Just as Hamas gunmen hide behind civilians in Gaza, so, too, do their sponsors cower behind shipments of seemingly innocent aid.
This is why the organizers of the flotilla repeatedly rejected Israeli offers to transfer its cargo to Gaza once it was inspected for military contraband. They also rebuffed an Israeli request to earmark some aid packages for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held hostage by Hamas for four years.
In the recent past, Israeli forces have diverted nine such flotillas, all without incident, and peacefully boarded five of the ships in this week’s convoy. Their cargoes, after proper inspection, were delivered to non-Hamas institutions in Gaza. Only the Marmara, a vessel too large to be neutralized by technical means such as fouling the propeller, violently resisted. It is no coincidence that the ship was dispatched by Insani Yardim Vakfi (also called the I.H.H.), a supposed charity that Israeli and other intelligence services have linked to Islamic extremists.
The real intent of breaking the embargo is to allow rockets to be transported to Gaza from Hamas’s suppliers in Syria and Iran. Israel has already intercepted several such ships laden with munitions. Since Israel’s disengagement from Gaza in 2005, Hamas has fired more than 10,000 rockets and mortars at our civilian population. This week, two Hamas rockets exploded near Ashkelon, one of Israel’s largest cities.
Israel has a right and a duty to defend itself from Hamas and its backers. Our struggle is not with the people of Gaza but only with the radical regime that overthrew the legitimate Palestinian Authority and has pledged to seek Israel’s destruction. Each day, Israel facilitates the passage into Gaza of more than 100 truckloads of food and medicine — there is no shortage of either. We, too, want a free Gaza — a Gaza liberated from brutal Hamas rule — as well as an Israel freed from terrorist threats.
Israel will scrupulously review the events surrounding the Marmara’s interception. But Israel will also persist in denying advanced weaponry to Hamas. At the same time, the Israeli government will vigorously pursue peace with the Palestinian Authority, which shares our need for defense against armed extremists. The real peace activists are those who support our vision of a two-state solution, not those supporting the terrorists bent on destroying it.
Michael B. Oren is Israel’s ambassador to the United States.
(c) 2010 New York Times
Even though the Israeli celebration of Independence Day, based on the Hebrew calendar (Iyyar 5) was celebrated this year on April 19th, there is something profound about May 14 on the Gregorian Calendar that really acts as a marker of great events of the last century.
Just to think, on this very date, in 1948 these great and momentous things happened. One very interesting fact is that if you follow an “observed” Jewish calendar for 1948 and don’t add the 13th month that year, it moves everything one month back–that is “Adar II becomes Nisan, Nisan becomes Iyyar, and Iyyar becomes SIVAN–which makes the establishment of the State of Israel fall on Sivan the 5th, the evening of Shavuot or Pentecost. That would mean the establishment of the State of Israel in some way echoes the Standing At Sinai in the days of Moses, and the giving of the Torah, also celebrated in Jewish tradition as falling at Sivan 5/6th. It is certainly uncanny that both the former and latter “national” founding of Israel would correspond to this festival of “Weeks.”
One can not help but think of Isaiah’s ancient query:
Is. 66:8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? shall a nation be brought forth at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
There is a nice set of articles on the Aish HaTorah Web site dealing with the history of Israel and Zionism more generally:
http://www.aish.com/holidays/Israel_Independence_Day/holiday_page.asp
In this day and time when “Zionism” is used by so many as some kind of ugly word, it is refreshing to capture some of the Spirit that the true “returnees to Zion” really had 60 years ago. The founder of United Israel World Union, David Horowitz, was one of those “pioneers,” who moved to what was then called “old Palestine,” in July, 1924. You can read more about his experiences and life with photos of those times in a previous Blog post here: Remembering David Horowitz.
An very nicely done illustrated “Timeline” can be found here:
http://www.zionism-israel.com/his/Israel_war_independence_1948_timeline.htm
For those a bit “rusty” on the history, here is a crash course Crash_Course_in_Jewish_History:
Crash Course in Jewish History Part 65 – The State of Israel
by Rabbi Ken Spiro
After the British brutally turned away Holocaust survivors from Israel, the UN voted to partition the land.
The British broke promise after promise to the Jews while they created new Arab countries out of the land of the former Ottoman Empire. In addition, because of Arab revolts and pressure, the British even barred entry to the land of Israel to Jews fleeing the Holocaust. (See Part 64.)
Even when the full scope of the Holocaust was known, and thousands of Holocaust survivors were stranded in refugee camps (DP camps), the British refused to relent.
One of the most egregious of the British actions involved the refugee ship, Exodus, which the Royal Navy intercepted in 1947 in the Mediterranean Sea with 4,500 Jews aboard. The ship was brought into Haifa port under British escort; there the Holocaust survivors were forcibly transferred to another ship and returned back to Germany via France.
Abba Eban, who was then the Jewish liason to a special UN committee — called Special Commmitte On Palestine or UNSCOP — persuaded four UN representatives to go to Haifa to witness the brutality of the British against the Jews.
Historian Martin Gilbert includes Eban’s account of what happened there in Israel: A History (p. 145):
“[In Haifa] the four members watched a ‘gruesome operation.’ The Jewish refugees had decided ‘not to accept banishment with docility. If anyone had wanted to know what Churchill meant by a “squalid war,” he would have found out by watching British soldier using rifle butts, hose pipes and tear gas against the survivors of the death camps. Men, women and children were forcibly taken off to prison ships, locked in cages below decks and set out of Palestine waters.’
“When the four members of UNSCOP came back to Jerusalem, Eban recalled, ‘they were pale with shock. I could see that they were pre-occupied with one point alone: if this was the only way that the British Mandate could continue, it would be better not to continue it at all.’”
UN PARTITION OF PALESTINE
The British also wanted out of the problem. They had 100,000 soldiers/police trying to maintain control with a total population of about 600,000 Jews and 1.2 million Arabs. (Interestingly, they had the same size force controlling India with a population of over 350 million!)
And so it came to pass that the British turned the matter over to the UN which decided to end the British Mandate over what was left of “Palestine” (after the creation of the country of Jordan) and to divide the remaining land among the Arabs and Jews. The proposal called for the Jews to get:
a narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean coast, including Tel Aviv and Haifa
a piece of land surrounding the Kineret (Sea of Galilee), including the Golan Heights
a large piece in the south, which was the uninhabitable Negev Desert
The Arabs were to get:
the Gaza Strip
a chunk of the north, including the city of Tzfat (Safed) and western Galilee
the entire West Bank of the River Jordan and the hills of Judea and Samaria
Jerusalem was to be under international control.
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted for this partition plan. Of those voting, 33 nations voted yes, including USA and USSR; 13 mostly-Arab nations voted no; 11 nations abstained.
Hard-hearted to the end, the British did not vote yes; they abstained.
As disappointed as the Jews were with the portion allotted for the Jewish state, they felt that something was better than nothing after all the waiting and the pain.
However, the Arabs, always maximalist in their demands, rejected the UN resolution. The next day Arab rioting began, and two weeks later soldiers from surrounding Arab countries began arriving into Palestine.
The British, happy to be out of the situation, were packing up to go and turned their backs on what was going on. Writes David Ben Gurion in his Israel: A Personal History (p. 65):
“The British did not lift a finger to stop this military invasion. They also refused to cooperate with the UN committee charged with supervising implementation of the General Assembly resolution. At the same time, the Arabs living in the district destined to become part of the Jewish state began evacuating their homes and moving to the Arab states neighboring Palestine at the orders of the Arab High Committee.”
In the midst of confusion, the rioting continued with almost 1,000 Jews murdered by Arabs in the ensuing four months.
One of the worst incidents occurred on April 13, 1948. A convoy of 70 doctors and nurses making their way to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus was ambushed by Arabs. This happened 200 yards of a British police station. After a seven-hour shoot-out, during which the British did nothing, all the doctors and nurses were killed. Afterwards, the Arabs mutilated their bodies.
JERUSALEM UNDER SIEGE
In all of this, the British encouraged the King of Jordan, Abdullah, to invade and annex the Arab sections to his kingdom. To Abdullah this was not enough. He wanted Jerusalem too.
As a result Jerusalem came under siege.
The focus of the struggle during April and May 1948 was the road to Jerusalem which passes through the mountains. The vehicles on that road are completely exposed to gunmen up above. It was on this road that all supplies to the Jews of the city had to come. But they could not get through.
Hunger reigned. The residents of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City were completely cut off.
And then an amazing incident happened. A young Yemenite Jew, who was not known for his shooting skills, almost accidentally killed three Arab men in the hills. One of these men was the Arab leader, Abdul Khader el Husseini. Demoralized, the Arab forces abandoned their positions to attend his funeral.
As a result a huge convoy of 250 trucks of food was able to re-supply the city. Writes Berel Wein in Triumph of Survival (p. 397):
“[On Shabbat, April 17, 1948] Jews left their synagogues and, with their prayer shawls still draping their shoulders, helped unload the convoy. The siege of Jerusalem was broken for the moment. The Arabs, however, mounted a strong counter-attack, and by the end of April once again cut the Jerusalem road… for the next seven weeks Jewish Jerusalem was isolated.”
A NEW STATE IS BORN
The official date given by the United Nations in their partition vote for the creation of the two new entities was May 15th, 1948.
Thus, May 14th was to be the last day of the British Mandate. At 4 p.m., the British lowered their flag and immediately the Jews raised their own.
It was a flag designed in 1897 by the First Zionist Congress. It was white (the color of newness and purity), and it had two blue stripes (the color of heaven) like the stripes of a tallit, the prayer shawl, which symbolized the transmission of Jewish tradition. In its center was the Star of David.
Thus on May 14, 1948 at 4:00 p.m., Hay Iyar, the 5th of Iyar, Israel declared itself a state.
After 2,000 years, the land of Israel was once more in the hands of the Jews.
David Ben Gurion read the Declaration of Independence over the radio:
“The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here the spiritual, religious and national identity was formed. Here they achieved independence and created a culture of national and universal significance. Here they wrote and gave the Bible to the world…
“Exiled from Palestine, the Jewish people remained faithful to it in all the countries of the dispersion, never ceasing to pray and hope for their return and restoration of their national freedom.
“Accordingly we, the members of the National Council met together in solemn assembly today and by virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish people and with the support of the resolution of the General of the United Nations, hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine to be called Israel…
“We offer peace and amity to all neighboring states and their peoples and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all…
“With trust in the Rock of Israel, we set our hands to this declaration at this session of the Provisional State Council in the city of Tel Aviv on Sabbath Eve, 5th Iyar 5708, 14th day of May 1948.”
(Note that the Declaration of Independence of Israel — unlike the American Declaration of Independence — does not mention God. This is because the hard-line secularists that dominated the Jewish Agency opposed any such thing. “Rock of Israel” became a compromise.)
Everyone was dancing in the streets. But not for long.
Almost immediately five Arab countries declared war and Egypt bombed Tel Aviv.
Restoring Abrahamic Faith, a “must read” for all Christians, see the latest review by United Israel Vice-President Ralph Buntyn:
http://genesis2000.org/endorsements-links/
Become a Fan of Restoring Abrahamic Faith on Facebook, join discussions, post comments and hear from other readers:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Restoring-Abrahamic-Faith/270825473323?ref=ts
In this combination of two photos, Israeli army paratroopers Zion Karasanti, left, Yitzhak Yifat, centre, and Haim Oshri, right, stand next to the Western Wall, Judaism holiest site, in Jerusalem's Old City after it was captured during the Six Day War on June 7, 1967, left, and 40 years later, May 16, 2007. The image on the left is etched in history - an iconic photo that captured Israel in its most triumphant moment. Three young, battle-worn faces gazing up in wonder at the Western Wall, moments after capturing Judaism's holiest site in the Six-Day War.
Some of us are old enough to remember June, 1967, where we were, and how deeply affected we were over the incredible crisis of the war with its amazing, truly miraculous, results. For me it was one of the defining events of my life and of my generation. I was 21 years old, living in Texas, and like so many others was glued to the television 24/7 as the fate of Israel hung in the balance. None doubted that the shrill words over Egyptian, Jordanian, and Syrian radio about finishing the job that Hitler began would be carried out in full should it be militarily possible. The ancient words of Psalm 83 and Psalm 124 seemed uncannily relevant, as if history does indeed repeat itself in some strange cycle of protagonists.
Today on the Hebrew calendar is called Yom Yerushalayim, Iyyar 28th, which commemorates the liberation of the city of Jerusalem, putting it back in Jewish hands after 2300 years of what the prophet Daniel calls the trampling of the nations (Daniel 8:13-14). Despite all the directions things have gone since that fateful day in terms of Israeli and Arab conflicts over the city of Jerusalem and its holy places I am convinced that we will look back someday on this date in history and know it is one of the most important and significant in world history.
Here is a video that captures the moment:
Over the past 20 years I have made 40 trips to Israel, nearly always for purposes of archaeology and research. Many of my friends, family, and associates, including readers of my books that I have never met, have asked me if I would ever consider leading a tour. I have never seemed to find the time to work that in until now. I am now able to officially announce such a tour. The dates are October 25 through November 5, 2010. You can find details at my personal TaborBlog, and if you are not a subscriber to that one feel free to sign up:
http://jamestabor.com/2010/05/04/prof-tabor-to-lead-israel-tour-in-fall-2010/
When I was at UNC Asheville last February, giving the lecture on “What Kind of a Jew Was Jesus” I did a fairly comprehensive interview for UNC Asheville TV on that topic but a wide range of related issues. You can listen to it or download at:
Our upcoming United Israel meeting is this weekend (April 16-18) at the Mariott Hotel in South Park, Charlotte, North Carolina. See the tab above (April meeting) for details. The tentative program is:
“Our American Hebrew Heritage”
Friday, April 16th Rexford Room
3:00pm-5:00pm Registration and informal greetings
Dinner Open
7:00pm-9:00pm Welcoming Shabbat & Opening our Annual Meeting
“United Israel: A 1944 Vision Revisited
–Dr. James D. Tabor
Saturday, April 17th Rexford Room
9:00am-10:15am
“So Strange our Paths”
–Dr. James D. Tabor
10:45am-12:00pm
“Our Hebrew American Heritage”
–Ralph Buntyn
2:00pm-3:15pm
“The Enduring Judaic Legacy of Jesus”
–Jeffrey Bütz
3:45pm-5:00pm
“A Great Nation: Moses and the American Spirit
–Ross Nichols
Dinner and Evening Open
Sunday, April 18th Terrace Ballroom
8:30am-9:30am Annual UIWU Business Meeting
9:30-10:45
“Ancient Israelite Emblems and National Symbols:
Is There A Connection?
–David Tyler
11:00-12:15
“Goshen in American”
–Web Hulon
Lunch Open
2:00-3:00pm
Topical Round Table Discussions led by various facilitators
3:30pm-7pm
Informal Music and Hebrew Dancing
Was the Last Supper a Jewish Passover Seder? Millions of Christians who are happily and profitably discovering their “Hebraic roots” by studying, participating in, and even reenacting “Passover” services have equated it with the final evening meal Jesus had with his disciples. Indeed, many so-called “messianic” groups have developed an extensive interpretation of the traditional Jewish Passover Seder that finds all sorts of Christological meanings reflected in the ceremonies, including the death and resurrection of Jesus for the sins of humankind.
All four of our gospels report that Jesus ate a last meal privately with the Twelve, on the “night he was betrayed,” as Paul puts it. However, the Synoptics (Mark, Matthew, Luke) and John report things differently in so far as whether this meal took place on the night of Passover, or the night before. Although many have attempted harmonization, the differences in the two reports remain stark and and can not be ignored. Scholars have exhaustively argued out every possibility pro and con.
I argue in The Jesus Dynasty (chapter 12 “Last Days in Jerusalem”) that the final meal was not a Passover Seder and offer a revised chronology in which Jesus dies on a Thursday, rather than a Friday, with the Passover Seder falling at the beginning of the 15th of Nisan, after sundown, Thursday night with that Friday, in the year AD/CE 30 being a “high day” sabbath, followed by the weekly Sabbath.
In a thoroughly comprehensive general article just published in the latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review (March/April, 2010) titled “Was Jesus’ Last Supper a Seder,” Boston University professor Jonathan Klawans explores the issue in a clear and compelling way, concluding that the last meal of Jesus was most likely not a Passover Seder. I am pleased to say you can read it on-line here, but hope you will consider subscribing to BAR magazine as it continues to bring us quality articles of this type.
N I have chosen as a “Last Supper” illustration the etching by the incomparably great Albrecht Dürer in which the “beloved disciple” is sleeping as a small child, next to Jesus.
Theodor Herzl, the visionary Austro-Hungarian Jew is often seen as the “founder” of the secular Jewish State of Israel. This Op-Ed by Natan Natan demonstrates clearly that his life and motivation were far from secular, though he was not conventionally religious. I wanted to pass it on as it contains much of interest in terms of setting the historical record straight. As David Horowitz, a pioneering Zionist of the next generation, said so often, “HaShem moves in mysterious ways.”
A Blessed Rosh Chodesh and Rosh HaShanah to all!
Op-ed : by Natan Natan
“ARBEIT MACHT FREI” & THEODOR HERZL’S “ULTIMATE DREAM”
Theodor Herzl wrote in his diary (September 1, 1897) :
“Were I to sum up the Basel Congress in one word, it would be this : at Basel I have founded the Jewish State. If I were to say it publicly today, I would be answered by universal laughter. Perhaps in five years and certainly in fifty, everyone will recognize it.”
Theodor Herzl’s grandfather, Simon Loeb Herzl, was a fervent disciple of Rabbi Judah Alkalai (1798-1878) who, for most of his life, had been a preacher in Semlin, near Belgrade. This Rabbi astounded his congregants when, among other pronouncements, he published a textbook declaring that establishing Jewish colonies and a Jewish State in the Holy Land was the necessary prelude to the Redemption of Israel and to the Restoration of the Temple of Jerusalem for the coming of Messiah. Thus, this Sephardic Rabbi Judah Alkalai, along with, for instance, the Ashkenazi Rabbi Zvi Kalischer of Prussia were representatives of a very tiny minority of European and American Rabbis who supported the religious concept of the Jewish people returning progressively to Palestine in order to recreate Israel and to restore the Temple.
However the vast majority of Rabbis (and religious Jews) opposed violently this view and were divided (to simplify matters with modern vocabulary) between “Reform Jews” and “Orthodox Jews” :
- The “Reform Jews” insisted that the Jews must integrate as loyally as possible any Nation where they found themselves, and that they do not need their own Land because they are, exclusively, a religious community.
- The “Orthodox Jews” and “Hasedim” (=”ultra Orthodox”) insisted (to summarize) that the Jews could not have a State of their own and rebuild their Temple in Jerusalem, until Messiah comes (although the Jews did not wait Messiah to rebuild the second Temple (Joshua and Zerubbabel) after their return from exile in Babylon (520 BCE), and although, also, the Jews did not wait Messiah to restore (20 BCE) the third Temple, rebuilt by Herod after he had completely destroyed the second Temple (including its foundations).
The Orthodox Jews’ belief of the necessary waiting of Messiah before recreating Israel and restoring the Temple of Jerusalem was mainly based on a Midrash Aggadah “The three Oaths” which is found in the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Ketubot 111a ( a tractate dealing mainly with the laws relating to marriage and married life). “The three Oaths” are a mystical Aggadic interpretation of a refrain in the Biblical carnal love Poem Song of Songs (2/7 , 3/5 , 8/4) :
I adjure you, O Daughters of Jerusalem,
By the deers and by the gazelles of the field
Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.
The Rabbis in Tractate Ketubot 111a gave the following mystical interpretation of this refrain :
(R. Jose son of R. Hanina said :) ‘What was the purpose of those three adjurations (oaths) ?
- One, that Israel shall not go up [to restore Jerusalem all together as if surrounded] by a wall, the second, that whereby the Holy One, blessed be He, adjured Israel that they shall not rebel against the nations of the world ; and the third is that whereby the Holy One, blessed be He, adjured the idolaters that they shall not oppress Israel too much.
This Aggadic interpretation of Ketubot 111a became progressively the steadfast cornerstone of the mystical leitmotiv of the diasporas Rabbis and their communities :
For instance, the Maharal of Prague (Rabbi Betzalel Lowy who lived in the 17th century) declared :
“Even if the nations wanted to kill the Jews with terrible torture, the Jews are forbidden to change the applicability of the “three Oaths’. This is relevant to every one of these ‘three Oaths’ and must be understood. Therefore, not only is it forbidden to leave the Exile even with the permission of the nations, but even if they force the Jewish People to do so under pain of death, it is forbidden to violate these ‘three Oaths’ in the same way it is required to give up one’s life rather than accept another religion.”
And one of the most renowned German Jewish leader of the nineteenth century, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch wrote :
“During the reign of Hadrian when the uprising led by Bar Kochba proved a disastrous error, it became essential that the Jewish people be reminded for all timesof an important, essential fact, namely that the people of Israel must never again attempt to restore its national independence by its own power : Israel has to entrust its future as a nation solely to Divine Providence (to the Messiah).” Incidentally, the Rabbis had also to resort rather laboriously to a similar Aggadic interpretation of the same Biblical love Song of Songs, in order to explain why the Jews stand in the wrong axis (west to east) when mourning and praying at the “Wailing Wall” in Jerusalem…)
In August 1897 , at almost the same time as the First Zionist Congress organized by Theodor Herzl took place, the Central Conference of American Rabbis adopted a resolution totally disapproving of any attempts for the establishment of a Jewish State. And in the same spirit this Conference of American Rabbis, which met at Richmond, Va., on Dec. 31 1898, declared itself as opposed to the whole Zionist movement on the ground (as one of the members stated) “that America was the Jews’ Jerusalem and Washington their Zion…” The “Reform Advocate” in Chicago even suggested editorially that the real object of Theodor Herzl was to possess himself of the savings of their poorer brethren.
Isaac M. Wise, president of the Hebrew Union College, thought that the Zionists were “traitors, hypocrites, or fantastic fools whose thoughts, sentiments, and actions are in constant contradiction to one another” (Hebrew Union College Journal Dec., 1899) ; while Rabbi Samfield wrote in the “Jewish Spectator” that “Zionism is an abnormal eruption of perverted sentiment.” Prof. Louis Grossman held that the “Zionistic agitation contradicts everything that is typical of Jews and Judaism,” and that the “Zionistic movement is a mark of ingenuity, and does not come out of the heart of Judaism, either ancient or contemporary” (Hebrew Union College Journal, Dec., 1899). In fact, the Rabbinical authorities had led the Jewish communities of the World for nearly 2,000 years.
The rise of Zionism was (as they wrongly thought) a distinct threat to their authority, power, revenues and their teachings. Besides, the prominence of secular Jews in the movement and the emphasis on settlement in Palestine made them (wrongly) fear that the center of Judaism would move away from their local Yeshiva and Synagogue. Moreover, the entire world’s incredulity at Theodor Herzl’s dream was such that an anecdote cited by Theodor Herzl in his Diary gives the full scope of the uphill battle he had engaged. In the Neue Frei Press (The Viennese newspaper where Theodor Herzl worked as journalist) they had a feuilleton by Flammarion: “Is Mars Inhabited ?” At the office they were discussing Mars. Bacher said to me in a superior tone : “Maybe you can set up your Jewish State on Mars.” Laughter among the smart boys.
(Hertz Diary, 28 January 1897)
For all these reasons (Jewish and non Jewish), one can understand that, despite all the superhuman organization efforts and the phenomenal diplomatic activity of Theodor Herzl -aimed at recreating politically a State of Israel which would have been recognized by the main international Powers- it took (after ceaseless pogroms and other similar anti-Semitic persecutions) the immense revulsion of the civilized world caused by the Shoah-Holocaust to convince a core of the secular Jewish community that, in order to survive, the Jews definitively needed their Jewish State, whatever the price would have to be paid for it.
Meanwhile, in this crucial History of Judaism, and although Theodor Herzl had lived as a secular, largely assimilated Jew and had been fluent in neither Hebrew nor Yiddish, his main mystical motivation and inspiration have been singularly and scandalously eclipsed. According to the account which he gave to the Hebrew writer, Reuben Brainin, less than a year before his death (which makes his confidence most significant), Theodor Herzl was attracted to the Messiah legends of the Jews from early adolescence. At the age of twelve, he had a “wonderful dream,” which he recounted as follows :
The King-Messiah came, a glorious and majestic old man, took me in his arms and swept off with me on the wings of the wind. On one of the shining clouds we encountered the figure of Moses. The features were familiar to me out of my childhood in the statue by Michelangelo. The Messiah called to Moses: “It is for this child that I have prayed !” And to me he said: “Go and declare to the Jews that I shall come soon and perform great wonders and great deeds for my people and for the whole world !”
That Theodor Herzl had been, all is life, emotionally guided by his grand-father’s imprint is also revealed, for instance, by the following experience which he confided in his Diary, 6 September 1897 : In deference to religious considerations, I went to the Synagogue on Saturday before the Congress of Basel. The head of the congregation called me up to the Torah. I had the brother-in-law of my Paris friend Beer, Mr. Markus of Meran, drill the “brokhe’’ (traditional Blessing recited upon reading the torah) into me. And then I climbed the steps to the altar : I was more excited than on all the Congress days. The few Hebrew words of the ‘’brokhe’’ caused me more anxiety than my welcoming and closing address and the whole direction of the Congress proceedings.
But most of all, is is The Old New Land (or Altneuland in the original German) is autopian novel published by Theodor Herzl in 1902. which outlined specifically Herzl’s vision for a Jewish State in the Land of Israel. Altneuland became, in fact, Theodor Herzl’s intimate Legacy to the Jews.
Altneuland was translated into Yiddish by Israel Isidor Elyashev. and translated intoHebrew as “Tel Aviv” (Hebrew: תֵּל־אָבִיב) by Nahum Sokolow – which directly influenced the choice of the same name for the Jewish-Zionist Jaffa suburb founded in 1909 which was to become the major Israeli city. Hereafter is the conclusion of this premonitory Vision and Dream of the State of Israel by Theodor Herzl :
Altneuland – Book Five- Jerusalem (extracts)
They (the heroes of the visionary novel) reached the Temple (of Jerusalem). The times had fulfilled themselves, and it was rebuilt. Once more it had been erected with great quadrangular blocks of stone hewn from nearby quarries and hardened by the action of the atmosphere. Once more the pillars of bronze stood before the Holy Place of Israel. “The left pillar was called Boaz, but the name of the right was Jachin.” In the forecourt was a mighty bronze altar, with an enormous basin called the brazen sea as in the olden days, when Solomon was king in Israel.
Sarah and Miriam went up to the women’s gallery. Friedrich sat beside David in the last row downstairs. “When the places were assigned,” said David, “I chose the very last row. I wanted nothing else.”
Jews looked different now simply because they were no longer ashamed of being Jews. It was not only beggars and derelicts and relief applicants who professed Judaism in a suspiciously one-sided solidarity. No ! The strong, the free, the successful Jews had returned home, and received more than they gave. Other nations were still grateful to them when they produced some great thing; but the Jewish people asked nothing of its sons except not to be denied. The world is grateful to every great man when he brings it something ; only the paternal home thanks the son who brings nothing but himself.
Suddenly, as Friedrich listened to the music and meditated on the thoughts it inspired, the significance of the Temple flashed upon him. In the days of King Solomon, it had been a gorgeous symbol, adorned with gold and precious stones, attesting to the might and the pride of Israel. In the taste of those days, it had been decorated with costly bronze, and paneled with olive, cedar, and cypress,-a joy to the eye of the beholder. Yet, however splendid it might have been, the Jew could not have grieved for it eighteen centuries long. They could not have mourned merely for ruined masonry; that would have been too silly. No, they sighed for an invisible something of which the stones had been a symbol. It had come back to rest in the rebuilt Temple, where stood the home returning sons of Israel who lifted up their souls to the invisible God as their fathers had done upon Mount Moriah.
The words of Solomon glowed with a new vitality:
“The Lord hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
I have surely built Thee a house of habitation,
A place for Thee to dwell in forever.”
Jews had prayed in many temples, splendid and simple, in all the languages of the Diaspora. The invisible God, the Omnipresent, must have been equally near to them everywhere. Yet only here was the true Temple…
At last Friedrich put a question, and every man answered it after his fashion. “We see a new and happy form of human society here,” he said. “What created it ?”
“Necessity!” said Littwak the elder.
“The reunited people !” said Steineck the architect.
“The new means of transportation !” said Kingscourt.
“Knowledge !” said Dr. Marcus.
“Will Power !” said Joe Levy.
“The Forces of Nature !” said Professor Steineck.
“Mutual Toleration!” said the Reverend Mr. Hopkins.
“Self-Confidence !” said Reschid Bey.
“Love and Pain !” said David Littwak.
But the venerable Rabbi Samuel arose and proclaimed: “God !”
EPILOGUE
But, if you do not wish it, all this that I have related to you is and will remain a fable…
Now, dear Book, after three years of labor, we must part. And your sufferings will begin. You will have to make your way through enmity and misrepresentation as through a dark forest. When, however, you come among friendly folk, give them greetings from your father. Tell them that he believes Dreams also are a fulfillment of the days of our sojourn on Earth. Dreams are not so different from Deeds as some may think. All the Deeds of men are only Dreams at first. And in the end, their Deeds dissolve into Dreams.
“If you will it, it will not be dream but reality”
Theodor Herzl
February 2010, the author, Natan Natan, a French Jew, is the Author of “The Real History of the Temple of Jerusalem” on-line at http://www.jerusalem-4thtemple.org/