Israel's Past at 70: The Twofold Attack on the Zionist Historical Narrative

Seventy years have passed since Israel achieved its independence following about another 70 years since the initiation of the Zionist movement. During these 150 years, the emerging and evolving Hebrew society constructed a national historical narrative. The narrative told and invested meaning in the life experience of the Jewish people over time, leading to the creation of the Zionist movement and ultimately to the establishment and endurance of the state of Israel as the sovereign nation state for the Jewish people. I characterize the essence of this narrative and argue that after 70 years of Israel's existence such a narrative faces a twofold challenge from diametrically opposing directions: civic post-Zionism on one hand and religious redemptive-Zionism on the other. Though these challenges do not completely eradicate the meaning of the Zionist historical narrative—still used as catchphrase by politicians, journalists, social activists, educators, spokespersons, diplomats, and other Israelis—the cumulative effect of this twofold attack has severely eroded its significance and harmed its inspiring and motivating dimension. Thus, the Zionist historical narrative appeared to most Israelis as worn and overused—incapable of providing passion and bereft of its sublime value.

THE ZIONIST NARRATIVE—RETURN FROM EXILE TO SOVEREIGNTY

History is shown in the declaration of Israel's independence as multifaceted. Viewed as the point of departure and founding origin of the Jewish people in ancient time, it is also perceived as a tragic setting for rootless, persecuted Jews in the recent past. This awful situation provides historical right and legitimation to the present existence of Israel; however, it also entails teleological lessons for the Zionist project by its progression toward future culmination and even redemption. History thus is viewed as a point of departure, tragic arena, source of present right, and fulcrum for future lessons and judgments.

Within such a multidimensional historical consciousness the Zionist narrative was constructed as a tragic-heroic story of "returning from exile to sovereignty" wherein the Jewish collective performs and functions in history as victorious victim. The tension between the suffering object of history in exile and the triumphant subject and agent of history in a sovereign state, made such a narrative both moral and powerful. Within the paradigm of "returning from exile to sovereignty", the State of Israel constituted both the beginning of the process of national salvation and a formative educational tool that would ensure that process's continuation. Israel appeared both as the onset of modern Jewish national revival, as well as a historical expression of a primordial process of Jewish redemption.

Such a paradigm based its historical outlook on the following incompatible grounds. On one hand, the Zionist historical narrative viewed Zionism as a revolutionary act and even as a breakthrough of Jewish history. It cultivated an archetypal "new Jew" who revolts against the fate that traditional Judaism imposed upon him, thereby transforming himself into an active agent of history and part of modern progress. Consequently, it interprets the sovereignty of the State of Israel as an indication of establishing normal relations between the Jews and the rest of the world. We can define this attitude as "Revolution toward universal Normalcy".

On the other hand, the narrative emphasized the Jewish historical everlasting relationship with the old-new homeland known as the Land of Israel. It regarded Jewish tribulation in history as an inevitable stage that lent moral validity to Zionist actions against any anti-Jewish menacing forces of evil. It even looked at the course of Jewish history as an unfolding revealing process, tantamount to the vision of redemption. I term this attitude as "Evolution toward particular Anomaly".

Such contradictory attitudes toward history perceived the return from exile to sovereignty and the creation of the state of Israel as a phenomenal shortcut to the future, which also entailed certain dimensions of renaissance of the past. This leap of time aimed to construct historical sequence by integrating primordial events, like the Biblical Kingdom of David, the Maccabean revolt against the Greek-Syrians, or the heroism of Masada, with modern heroic events such as the story of Tel Hai...