Religious Zionism is in crisis … again. Or so we are being told. In the aftermath of the tragic allegations concerning Rabbi Mordechai (Motti) Elon, religious Zionists are bemoaning yet another crisis in the movement. It’s a crisis of trust in charismatic rabbinic leadership, some are saying. Others are asking whether the movement holds its leaders up to standards of such perfection that it is virtually impossible for any high-profile person to acknowledge misdeeds and to ask for help. Still others focus on what this latest round may do to the image of religious Zionism among rank-and-file Israelis.
Important though these issues are, they are not the real crisis. The true crisis, which is wholly unrelated to Rabbi Elon, is that religious Zionism has long since had very little of importance to say to Israel at large. Sadly, the Elon storm is but a tempest in an increasingly irrelevant teapot.
Religious Zionism irrelevant? “How could one possibly say that?” its adherents will ask. True, “irrelevant” is a strong word, possibly too strong. But it is hard to deny that religious Zionism has not lived up to the huge opportunities of religious creativity that the State of Israel has made possible.
After all, the world in which we in the religious Zionist camp are raising our children is a radically different world from the social, political, cultural and security realities of Eastern Europe before World War II. Our children are part of the majority culture, not an oppressed minority. While we still face threats from the outside, our children are growing up with a sense of day-to-day security that the Jews who sent their sons to the Yeshiva of Volozhin could not have even imagined. No longer do we fear the stranger on the street, a gentile government or pervasive anti-Semitism among our immediate neighbors. Nor do we confront the fear of assimilation that so deeply defines the contours of much of American Judaism.
THE MIRACLE of the State of Israel is that it has changed the very existential condition of what it means to be a Jew. Given this radical change in the condition of the Israeli Jew, it’s astonishing that for all intents and purposes, the curriculum of Israel’s great yeshivot is not all that different from what was taught in the yeshivot of Europe before the Shoah. Yes, Israeli yeshiva students probably learn a bit more Bible than did yeshiva students before the war, and yes, the methodologies of Talmud study differ from place to place. But the guts of what a yeshiva education is all about have changed scarcely at all, even though the world for which we are educating our children is radically different.
The true disappointment of post-independence religious Zionism is that it hasn’t produced any creative religious thinkers of the likes of Abraham Joshua Heschel, Abraham Isaac Kook or Joseph Dov Soloveitchik, to name but three. Each of those three, radically different from each other, bequeathed to their followers a radically new way of seeing the enterprise of what it meant to be a Jew. From Heschel, we inherited the notion of a dynamic, deeply personal relationship with God that could be achieved through a critical but loving read of Judaism’s canonical texts. With Kook, we got the first serious sense that the return to Zion might actually be the beginning of redemption, but Kook died 13 years before the state was created. And from Soloveitchik, in whose giant shadow much of the very best of modern Orthodoxy still learns and labors, we got a sense of the profundity possible when exacting Jewish learning and the demands of Jewish law are coupled to the rigors of Western philosophy.
But where are the Heschels, Kooks and Soloveitchiks of our day? Who are the brightly shining stars of post-independence Israeli religious Zionism who are equipping us with courageous, out-of-the-box, revolutionary ways of thinking about the tasks before us?
After all, for religious Zionism to really matter, it must produce the next generation of religious leaders for Israel, people who must have something to say not only to the yeshiva world, but to the Jewish, democratic society that is Israel. What might happen, for example, if the great yeshivot studied John Locke’s Two Treatises of Civil Government or A Letter Concerning Toleration (or Michael Walzer’s much more recentOn Toleration, for that matter) alongside the tractate Sanhedrin, or Thomas Hobbes’sLeviathan alongside Maimonides’s Laws of Kings and Wars? What does one need to know, and how does one need to learn to study and think, in this new, uncharted and exciting era of Jewish independence? And who in the world of religious Zionism is asking those questions?
GONE ARE the days when religious leaders can conceive of themselves as offering spiritual insight and guidance to people only in their own narrowly defined religious community. Like it or not, genuine religious leadership in the now independent State of Israel requires people who have what to say to secular Jews as well, who know how to expose them, no less than their natural “flock,” to the profundity and richness of the Jewish tradition. Secular Jews, after all, are also searching for meaning. Today’s Israeli religious leadership has effectively convinced them that the place to search for genuine spiritual depth is in India, or in Nepal. Could there be a more devastating indictment of the lack of creative discourse that is today’s religious Zionism? How seriously do today’s yeshivot take that responsibility?
In addition to everything else that it is, the State of Israel is an enormous religious and spiritual opportunity. It is the moment in which we might conceive of a Judaism born not out of fear, but of confidence. It is our chance to conceive of the outside world not as a challenge, but as a complementary source of wisdom. It is our moment for speaking to Jews across the spectrum, not only those who happen to register in our yeshivot.
The Chinese, in their wisdom, use the same symbols for “crisis” and for “opportunity.” We face both. The personal tragedy unfolding in religious Zionism today has healthfully restored a sense of doubt to this essential community. We’ll have made the most of this crisis, and of this opportunity, if we look far beyond the personalities involved, and ask ourselves what we would like our community to bequeath to the Jewish people, given the unprecedented richness of Jewish experience that the State of Israel now makes possible.
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Dr. Daniel Gordis is Senior Vice President of the Shalem Center, where he is also a senior fellow. The author of numerous books on Jewish thought and currents in Israel...
The Jewish State must end, say its enemies, from intellectuals like Tony Judt to hate-filled demagogues like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Even average Israelis are wondering if they wouldn't be better off somewhere else. 
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks just published a book ” Future Tense” whose bottom line is reflected by your article. It’s really a call for the religious to return back to basics & from the position of liberty that we enjoy in the West & independance that we enjoy in Israel to go forth & create the sort of equitable society which so much of the Torah is geared to developing. He also makes the obvious point that this is more effective coming from a position of influence & not of political power ie grass roots good deeds & fighting for justice, the poor & the underprivelidged wherever we may be.
“Who are the brightly shining stars of post-independence Israeli religious Zionism who are equipping us with courageous, out-of-the-box, revolutionary ways of thinking about the tasks before us?”
Try Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo. He is one of those shining stars.
It’s always kind of annoying when outsiders start claiming they have the best interests of another group at heart and start giving advice.
Rabbi Lord Sacks is indeed a great and profound mind; but I think Dr.Gordis is looking for a thinker from within the ‘Yishuv’. For my money, the most original thinker within the religious -Zionist community was Harav Shag’ar z’l- Shimon Gershon Rabinowitz. Perhaps the Shalem Center would sponsor some translations of his books? Only some are available inEnglish. See http://www.siach.org.il
Not sure what Nachum’s problem is. Gordis puts out some ideas. We can agree or disagree … I happen to think that he’s refreshing and very interesting. But Nachum (who tellingly didn’t have the courage to fill in his last name), reflecting the very worst of the community that Gordis is describing, would rather diss the person than engage his ideas. Looks like religious Zionism has even more trouble than Gordis suggested.
Daniel – Great article.
We just need to look directly across from the Kotel at Aish HaTorah.
Rabbi Noach Weinberg, z”l, saw the need and created a Yeshivah whose primary purpose was to teach traditional Judaism and to send his students out into the secular Jewish world to bring Jews back to Judaism. They did this by making Jewish education relevant and meaningful.
His vision, committment, and teachings clearly make him the type of leader that Daniel Gordis seeks in this generation.
Many of those that have been inspired by Aish HaTorah are now leaders in their communities supporting Judaism and Zionism.
This is a great and disturbing article. I think you are right on the mark. I myself started out on a journey to India in my youth in search of spirituality. I had no idea, at the time, that Judaism and Spirituality could be spoken in the same sentence. Israel was but a stop on the journey, but Hashem had other plans. Having been brought up completely secular, I enrolled in the then very new women’s yeshiva where Rabbi Nathan Lopez Cordoza was teaching. We were only about 12 young women – and it changed my life forever. I never made it to India – and found my nourishment in Judaism. I was one of the lucky ones.
I am a great fan of Dr Gordis’ writing, but this one missed the mark.
It may be true that the subject matter in yeshivot is still primarily that of the great pre-war institutions. But that is, in fact, a a great strength, not something to bemoan. There are innumerable teachers who ply their craft in a way that helps students see how the ancient wisdom IS relevant to the modern world, and have created an amazing generation where Torah study is flourishing in quantity and quality in ways not seen in hundreds of years. One does not have to be a “radical” thinker to have a large impact. Our strength is out timeless wisdom, whether or not it is coupled with Locke or Hobbes. There are some, like Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, who do couple secular knowledge with Talmud more, and some who do not.
What cannot be denied though, is that tens of thousands of Israelis have joined the ranks of chozrim btshuva, because they have found the message compelling and very relevant.
And this of course is the tragedy of Rav Motti Elon, who was, perhaps, the brightest star in the religious Zionist firmament, in terms of his ability to make Traditional Torah learning profound, compelling, and relevant. This debacle is a huge loss for the entire Jewish people.
Very interesting article. Once again, Daniel Gordis challenges us to think about important issues facing world Jewry.
Am I the only one who finds the font annoying and difficult to read? Please change to a different font!
Despite being subject to more suppression, censorship, and demonization than any Jewish thinker of the 20th century Rabbi Meir Kahane emerged as a great religious zionist thinker.
Whether he will admit it or not, Danny Gordis was influenced by Rabbi Kahane and in Gordis’ latest book he actually speaks about the possibility of a need for Arab transfer.
The reason that Rabbi Kahane was so controversial was precisely because he was the kind of thinker who articulately posed the difficult questions that most people do not have the courage to face. But the polls in Israel showed that Rabbi Kahane was popular and if he had not been banned he would have been a serious voice in Israel.
If Religious Zionism is not producing the leaders that Gordis is looking for it is only because the Israeli government is against religious Zionism and will even suspend democracy to suppress it as they did in the case of Rabbi Kahane.
Truly a great article. This has needed to be said for a long long time. I am sure you are familiar with I>L> Peretz’s story THE TREASURE. Why do we have to keep looking for a such a leader as suggested in the article,when the answer lies in the article. What’s wrong with you R. Gordis taking the lead ?? Others will surely follow. We have to start somewhere.
The treasure lies in our own backyard.
B. Roth
Perhaps one of the reasons the yeshivot is unchanged is that modernization could not escape a serious theological account of the Shoah.
Heschel, Kook and Soloveitchik, were, dare I gasp the word, “liberals”.
Each looked at ideas in fresh ways, including from outside disciplines.
What we have lost, I bemoan, is our liberal heritage.
Until liberal – religious is no longer an oxymoron, if not an epithet, we will not see a return of the leadership of these three towering figures of the last century.
Enjoy a Shabbat Shalom U’Mevorach and a Chag Purim and Shushan Purim Sameach.
I must agree,to an extent, with the last commentator( Moishe)). Liberal-religious is an oxymoron these days. Increasingly, my friends and relatives point to the world situation, and the Jewish plight vis-a-vis the rest of the world, as proof that there is no God and religion is “clap trap”- (especially, the latter). I feel like some sort of throwback….
The answer to the leadership vacuum you describe is Manhigut Yehudit’s Moshe Feiglin.
Thank you, Amos Cohen. My last name is above.
Dr.Gordis put the issue squarely, but he failed to offer any sulution. I suggest that the solution lies with the Orthodox who fail to consider any other point of view. When sincere Jewish groups advance approaches to obversances that are not “Orthodox” why are they rejected out of hsnd? Reform and Conservative practices are taken sincerely in the desire to continue Judaism among many followers who do not agree with rigid orhodoxy. The ball is in the court of the Orthodox rabbinate. Let them follow their traditions, but let them alao recognize other approaches as valid.
We have two problems here. One is the media and the other is Israeli religious phobia. If there are great leaders and there are many, their opinions and ideas will not be published in the general media. Only specific religious or right wing publications will publish these ideas and the general public does not read them.
As for the religious phobia just look what happened to Rabbi Avi Ronsky. He was a highlight in the army and the soldiers in the rank and file loved him and followed him. However the powers that be jumped up and screamed “Alehom” and he was soon moved out.
Look what they did to Aharon Abu Chatzira, Arieh Deri, Yaacov Neeman to name just a few. And what did the media tell you of The Rav Motti Elon until there was a scandal to report? AND BOY DID THEY REPORT IT with all sorts of way-out claims which haven’t been upheld anywhere.
If you raise a generation without any religious education you will have goyim speaking Hebrew and not Jews and they will have the same antisemitic traits as the goyim elsewhere and it will be directed against the orthodox/charedim or whatever is seen as being “More Jewish” than themselves.
Dr Gordis correctly identifies the problem but not the root cause. Religious Zionism has little to say to secular Israel because about 40 years ago it decided to stop talking. In the wake of the 6th Day War, it decided that real estate was the primary focus of Religious Zionism and responsibility for all other aspects of religious life largely were abdicated to Sefaradi and eventually Haredi parties.
Religious Zionists were the bridge of Israeli society. People like Yosef Burg and Yerach Wharhfactig may not have been the Heschels, Kooks and Soloveitchiks of their day, but they were still able to talk to and connect with secular Israel. Rav Goren could connect and inspire secular Israel until his focused shifted to ISrael’s new real estate as well.
When your flagship political part merges out of existence the National Union, Tkuma and Moledet, lack of familiarity with Locke is the least of your problems.
History is eerily repeating itself. About 60 years ago, Dan Gordis’s grandfather, Robert Gordis, a respected rabbi, philosopher and Bible scholar,made a similar plea for a rejuvenation of religious Zionism. It never happened, because his application for membership in the Mizrahi organization was rejected by the little leaders of the movement, on the grounds that he was not sufficiently Orthodox. Those same little leaders, and their successors, still control the apparatus of the Religious Zionist movements in Israel and elsewhere. Good try, Daniel, but it’s deja vu all over again.
“The Chinese, in their wisdom, use the same symbols for “crisis” and for “opportunity.””
This is a mangling of a common myth, itself false.
First, the actual urban legend is that the Chinese word for crisis combines the terms for “danger” and “opportunity”.
Second, even this is basically wrong. See here:
http://www.pinyin.info/chinese/crisis.html
– Just so you know.
Ruti Mizrachi!…good to see you reading good people! R. Nathan Lopes Cardozo, BTW became disillusioned with the Charedi sphere and approach after decades at a BT yeshiva, and founded his own independent Cardozo School. He stated and explicated his disaffection on an audio file available on his website.
R. Heschel was a light unseen by many who learned in lived in the Jewish word – even the Arabic-reading world had an opportunity! He helped finance an edition of “Israel; an Echo in Eternity” in Arabic. His consciousness of a dynamic Jewish “trinity” – Torah and revelation measured out by the Revealer in human history, a People fluctuating in self-definition, an Land of shifting borders and occupancy – Rav Kook shared an openness to recognizing this dynamism;
http://www.torahmitzion.org/pub/ravKook/ross.pdf
…But this is not the Rav Kook many of his “messianic Zionist” talmidim learn. Some previous edition of his work even expurgated sections regarding evolution – ironic when read in context!