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Authentic Jewish Leadership For Israel |
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Our Views Education: Transforming our National Dream by: Moshe Feiglin First and foremost, we are in the midst of a war of the Jews against themselves. This is a war of dreams – a war of the new Israeli dream against the old Jewish dream. As of now, the new Israeli dream is winning. It is the dream that has been leading the State of Israel since 1948. The new Israeli dream is the original, Herzelian dream. It is the dream of being a "nation like all other nations" that establishes a state like all other states – not necessarily in the Land of Israel – and lives in peace and serenity with its adopted Western "progressive" culture. In the short term, this dream may have won. We have established an exemplary state of Hebrew speakers who have nothing to do with Judaism. But the dream is poised to defeat itself. The dream continues to foster the illusion that we must make peace with Arafat. In truth, it is easy to defeat Arafat. He is not the real enemy. All that we need to do to rid ourselves of Arafat's threat is to pull out his plug: stop giving him money, cut off all his phone lines, cut off his water and not allow the Arabs to work here or travel here. That's all that is needed. We do not have to use even one soldier to win the war against Arafat. So why doesn't Israel follow these easy steps? Why does Israel continue to bleed slowly to death, just like Rabbi Herling, may G-d avenge his blood? The answer is that Arafat is the State of Israel's lifeboat. Arafat plays a central role in the Israeli dream. He is supposed to prove that we really can live here as if we were a nation like all other nations. Arafat is supposed to prove that this entire conflict is nothing more than a simple dispute between neighbors that can be solved with all sort of creative tricks: Arafat will get the mountain and we will get the tunnel inside. Any ludicrous idea will do – as long as it keeps our Israeli dream from shattering. Arafat's job is to take all the Jewish identity-laden regions away from us. He must take Jerusalem, Hebron, Rachel's Tomb and Shechem. In exchange, he will allow us our comfortable normalcy: the sushi and hi-tech of the Philistine lowland, where there are no enemies that remind us of our Jewish-ness – and our uniqueness. That dream is shattering right now. But our leaders from both Right and Left still attempt to ignore the blood. They still try to make us forget the lynching in Ramallah and the horrors that we have just recently witnessed. They ignore the acts of terror that do not reach the public eye in the hope that nobody will notice and then they will not have to react. They bury their heads deep in the sand hoping that if all of us shut our eyes tight, we will be able to continue to dream. But the dream has shattered. And a nation cannot exist without a national dream. To open our eyes and deal with the current war (all we need to do is pull out Arafat's plug, remember?), we must surrender our current dream. But to do that, we need a different dream. Where are dreams created? In the educational system! Our educational system needs a complete overhaul. It must imbue our children with immense love and respect for their Jewish identity. It must give our children broad knowledge of Jewish history, culture and thought. It must impart in-depth knowledge of the Written and Oral Torah and knowledge of Israel's geography and topography. Israel's educational system must nurture our children's love for their homeland and their feeling of having a common destiny and mission. Our current educational system couldn't be farther from these healthy goals. The role of the teacher also has to change. Teachers must be the most honored and valued people in our nation. Their salaries must be increased accordingly and in proportion to the extra hours that they study and teach Jewish subjects. If there is not enough money to fund their salaries, it can and should be taken from the security system – which has proved incapable of providing security – and from the regular bribery money that we pay Arafat so that he will be so kind as to continue to talk to us. True, the educational answer is a long term answer. But it is important to understand that no incidental tactical solution will help if we do not have a new dream. The small tactical answer hinges from top to bottom on the greater dream. Moshe Dayan did not remove the Israeli flag from the Temple Mount because of international pressure. He did it because he – and the entire leadership of the State of Israel since its establishment – had a different dream. The Chief of Central Command did not flee from Joseph's Tomb because he couldn't secure it. He did it because his dreams are different. Rabbi Herling, may G-d avenge his blood, was not left to die on Mount Eval because it was impossible to save him. The army's tactical actions on Mount Eval were the product of a different dream, planted deep in the psyches of Israel's high ranking officers. When we win the war of dreams – the tactics will be obvious.
Now it's time to hear you!
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