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US anti-Semitism superseded by civic foundations

Contrary to European anti-Semitism, the recent episodes of anti-Semitism in the US – such as hundreds of white supremacists, bearing torches and giving the Nazi salute – represent a negligible American minority, religiously, socially, ethnically and politically.  These episodes defy the civic, moral and religious foundations of the US, as well as the US political, media and civic discourse, which have demonstrated high esteem for Judaism from the era of the early Pilgrims, through the Founding Fathers until today.


The
Colonial Origin of the American Constitution, by University of Houston Prof. Donald Lutz, highlights “the continuity from the [November 11, 1620] Mayflower Compact to the American state and national constitutions of the late eighteenth century, [which] clearly evolves from basic symbols in the Judeo-Christian tradition…. Protestants writing [constitutional] documents viewed their work as equivalent to the Jewish biblical covenants… between God and his chosen people…. The political compact eventually evolved into what we now recognize as the American form of constitutionalism….”

For example,
The 1641 Massachusetts Body of Liberties – the first modern day compilation of civil and religious liberties – which inspired the 1791 US Bill of Rights, “drew heavily on the Pilgrim Code of Law proposed by John Cotton in 1636, which was based on Mosaic principles….”  

In fact, this week’s Torah portion (“Shoftim,” Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9) inspired a cardinal distinction of the US constitution: a government of laws, not of men. Moreover, the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy inspired the 1629 Salem Covenant, the 1637 Providence Agreement, 1650 Connecticut Code of Laws, the 1680 New Hampshire General Laws and Liberties, the 1701 Pennsylvania Charter of Liberties and additional codes of civil liberties compiled by the early Pilgrims, setting the Founding Fathers on the constitutional course.

In 2017, conservative Republican Vice President
Mike Pence revealed that his faith is largely guided by the Jeremiah 29:11 verse, which hangs above his mantle: “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

In 2014, liberal Democratic President
Obama quoted Exodus 22:20 (“You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt”), in order to justify his decision to act unilaterally in deferring deportation of up to five million illegal immigrants.

In 2017, there are eight statues and carvings of Moses and the Ten Commandments in the US Supreme Court, in addition to similar monuments in the Chamber of the US House of Representatives, the US National Archives and additional government offices throughout the US.  The Library of Congress features Micah 6:8 in its Main Reading Room: “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God.”

The Story of Hebrew
, by Dartmouth University Prof. Lewis Glinert, indicates that the first book written and printed (in 1640) in the New World, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was Bay Psalm Book, a translation of the book of Psalms, documenting the prominent stature of the Old Testament and Hebrew among the early Pilgrims. “Familiarity with Hebrew was quite common among the intelligentsia and the better-trained of the clergy…. Harvard’s first two presidents were Hebrew scholars, as were the first president of King’s College (later Columbia) and Ezra Stiles, the seventh president of Yale… a world-renowned intellectual, the leading American-Hebraist of the era and a prominent supporter of the American Revolution…. The study of Hebrew marched hand-in-hand with the enlightenment principles of the American founding…. [President Stiles] learned much about Hebrew from his friend, Rabbi Hayyim Carigal from [the original] Hebron….”


While there is only one Hebron in the Land of Israel – King David’s first capital – there are
18 Hebrons in the US, representing the thousands of locations in the US bearing Biblical names.  This reflects the state of mind of the early Pilgrims and the Founding Fathers, who considered themselves to be “the modern-day Chosen People” and viewed the New World as “the modern-day Promised Land.”

They established the 400-year-old foundation (since 1620) for the special affinity of the American people for the Jewish State, and America’s high esteem for the Old Testament, which dwarf the significance of supremacists and any other form of anti-Israel or anti-Semitic sentiments.




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*Israel’s primary national security challenge is the reinforcement of education on the 4,000-year-old Jewish/Zionist roots in the Land of Israel, through the bolstering of the Jewish/Zionist identity (self-determination), vision (the reestablishment of the Jewish State in its Homeland) and destiny (the Jewish Ingathering/Aliyah to the Land of Israel).

*These core values are currently threatened by a cosmopolitan and post-Zionist worldview – in addition to the anti-Zionist worldview, that is dedicated to Israel’s physical destruction – which aims to play-down, misrepresent and replace Jewish/Zionist roots and values with multicultural and universal values and institutions.

*Post-Zionism considers Jewish/Zionist identity, vision and destiny as a major obstacle on the way of advancing its top goal: being embraced by the international community.

*This post-Zionist worldview, also, reflects battle fatigue. It refuses to accept the reality of Zionism as a multi-generational uphill marathon-like mission; deluding itself that Zionism is a sprint-like undertaking.

*Post-Zionism is eager to abdicate the colossal responsibility entailed in being the only Jewish State (e.g., securing physical and spiritual Jewish survival and combating anti-Semitism).

*Moreover, post-Zionism wishes to escape the, supposedly, frustrating reality of an ongoing Jewish/Zionist struggle against clear and present lethal threats in the inherently unpredictable, violent, despotic, intolerant and anti-“infidel” Middle East. It wishes to replace the inconvenient Middle East reality with the convenient make-believe “New Middle East,” which professes cancel-culture, cancel-history and dramatic Israeli land concessions, which are the cradle of Jewish history, culture and religion, and critical to the national security of Israel.

*Jewish/Zionist identity, vision and destiny – which represent Judaism as a historic, cultural, linguistic, religious and territorial entity – are not merely intellectual issues. Rather, they are at the foundation of Israel’s national security and spiritual and physical steadfastness. The stronger the Jewish/Zionist identity, the stronger the resolve to defy the military, diplomatic and intellectual challenges facing the Jewish State and the Jewish People.

*History-driven identity, vision and destiny are fixed and durable components of national security.  On the other hand, political, diplomatic, defense, economic and peace accords are variable and tenuous components of national security, whose durability is tenuous due to the systematically changing regional and global leadership, policies and relations.

*The stronger the resolve and steadfastness of Israel, the more compelling is its contribution – as a force and dollar multiplier – to the US economy and defense, and the more productive is the mutually-beneficial US-Israel two-way-street. Bolstered US interests are advanced by bolstered Jewish/Zionist identity, vision and destiny, which inspired the US Founding Fathers.

*In the pursuit of bolstered Jewish/Zionist identity, vision and destiny, contemporary leaders of the Jewish State should adhere to the legacy of David Ben Gurion, Israel’s Founding Father, who was the iconic leader of Israel’s Labor Party: “…. Our commitment to our history is a prerequisite to Israel’s political and military steadfastness in the face of our continued military struggle…. It is impossible to comprehend Jewish history and struggles, if one is not aware of the unique Jewish vision…. Jewish/Hebrew education is the precondition for Jewish unity and attachment to the Land of Israel…. The Jewish nation is not merely a national and political entity. Since its inception, it has possessed an historic vision [the Ingathering of Jews to their Homeland]…. The very small Jewish nation was able to defy major powers due to its determined spiritual and moral uniqueness…. While the ethnic, cultural and political environment of the Middle East has changed dramatically during the last 4,000 years – since the dawn of the Jewish people – the Jewish people has retained its language and culture, notwithstanding 2,000 years of exile…. The retention of the unique Jewish national character has served as a magic-vitamin, sustaining Jewish survival and independence and the power to withstand threats, challenges and temptations…. The establishment of the State of Israel has not ended the struggle for Jewish uniqueness and destiny…. The Ingathering is our central undertaking; it is a prerequisite to our independence…. Jewish history did not start upon the 1948 establishment of Israel or the 1897 First Zionist Congress.  Jewish history is a 4,000-year-old wealth of values, culture and heroic events, which are based on the Bible and the Land of Israel. It must be shared with the Jewish youth” (Ben Gurion, Uniqueness and Destiny, 1951).

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