National independence as the people’s cultural identity

Submitted by Rabbanit Leah Shakdiel

On Shabbat Hanukkah, we read from the Prophets the chapter that inspired Israel’s national emblem, the Menorah with two olive tree branches, including the verse that was suggested at a certain point to be included at the bottom of that emblem: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, said the Lord of Hosts” (Zechariah 4, 6, the JPS translation).

The prophet addresses this proclamation to President Zerubbabel and to High Priest Joshua, as a blueprint for the renewal of national sovereignty in the land of Israel, after the return of the exile from Babylon. What is the “spirit” that must inspire us at such an historical junction, and why is it juxtaposed to “might” and “power”?

In fact, the same approach is expressed in the first paragraph of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, in the last draft that bears the stamp of Ben Gurion’s vision:

“The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books”. (Official translation by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs). What marks the sovereignty of the people is not the government, not the bordered territory nor the army. What marks it is not even the Torah, the religious law. What marks it is the unique achievement of the people as a multi-generational collective in the land, the creation of cultural values that have national significance and at the same time also universal significance. This collective cultural creation is an undeniable fact for its fruit is a book, the Book of Books, the Biblia. And the attribute of the book that makes it unique is its ability to be completely ours, and at the same time a gift to humanity. Its value as our national treasure is not decreased by the fact that we share it with all mankind, it is increased thereby.

So the establishment of the State of Israel in our own times resonates with the return to Zion in Zechariah’s time, and once again, what counts is the spirit, not the might or the power. Our strength does not derive from building a fortified, armed “villa in the jungle”, our strength derives from aligning our national identity and cultural production in the universal context of the greater good, the good for all nations and all humans.

I propose that we take seriously the context that gave birth to the State of Israel, by zooming in to some quotes from The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is not by coincidence that this document was issued only a few months after the Israeli declaration. Both these events derive from the same insight, following the collapse of empires and two horrible world wars – that international protection is needed for the preservation of not only individual human rights, but also of the rights of human collective societies.

Consider the following articles from that UN declaration:

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

There are indeed individual copyright issues that need protection of their owner’s “intellectual property”. However, the majority of human creation is the fruit of interpersonal relationships, of collectives organized within national ethnic or religious groups, of responses of those collectives to their historical, political, and physical circumstances.

Hanukah is an opportunity to throw more light on our agenda not only as Israelis but also as Jews committed to nurturing vibrant, vital Judaism of all shapes and colors: nurturing Torah in the bosom of a dynamic discourse among individuals and groups, concerning their rich and diverse cultural identities. No culture ever stands still. All cultures are dynamic and continue to grow and change right here and now. Therefore Yiddishkeit and Jewish activism is about individual and collective empowerment, by way of contact with diverse texts, Jewish and universal, and the creation of new texts that add up all the time. We are all authors of our world.

This is the process that the UN declaration aims at protecting. And this is our understanding of the spirit of our renewed sovereignty in our land. This is how we progress from Bayamim Hahem to Bazman Hazeh.