Today’s turmoil—and what caused it: Rabbi Wein

In this, the seventh lecture in the series “The Jewish World 1880-1914”, Rabbi Wein focused on “Zionism, Socialism and Tradition”, looking at concepts and philosophies rather than geographical considerations. He actually structured his lecture around not two but three mainly Jewish movements that opposed the continued existence of Jewish life: Zionism, Marxism and Secularism. All three of these movements, he noted, are still around today but exercise a much lower level of influence on traditional Judaism than was the case a century or more ago.

Jews have always had a utopian, messianic world view: while this is the mainstream view, it was not share by Rambam. In his view, the messianic era would provide for is a world that continues much as it always has done. There will be no messianic revolution; instead, there will be an independent Jewish state, freed from the shackles of foreign domination. This view is in stark contrast with the world promised by the prophet Yishayahu, a world in which there will be no wars or illnesses, a world in which the lion lies down with the lamb. For Rambam this is all allegory: if the lion lies down with the lamb, quipped Rabbi Wein, the result will be lamb chops. Rambam’s view was not, and is not, popular. The traditional view was always optimistic, only to be eternally disappointed. Jewish religious leaders could offer no solution to our problems except to tell us to “grin and bear it, keep on praying—and wait”. This advice had been accepted for 1,800 years, but many felt that, at the end of the 19^th century, this was simply not good enough: many Jews were disappointed with false promises and fake messiahs.

Many traditionalists gave up waiting for messiah and looked at three possible substitutes:

1.      Secularism: the secularists held no belief in God or Heaven, rejecting the prospects of a world to come and of an afterlife. Up till then, even among traditionalists there were varying degrees of personal observance—but hitherto there had been no official movement away from God and religion. In the wake of the secularist movement, entire generations of pure secularists were born, scientifically oriented and holding the belief that utopia would be achieved only through knowledge. In the 19^th century, scholars believed they could achieve ultimate knowledge. Now, Rabbi Wein noted, they accept that, the more they know, the less they know.

How did this secularism affect the Jewish world? It began with the growth of the Haskalah, with acculturated Jews asking: “How can you be in the modern world without music, literature, art?” Kashrut and Shabbat were jettisoned on the basis that they had no relevance in modern world, being replaced by goals such as gaining entry to universities where people could obtain a truly secular understanding of the modern world in which they lived--a scientific world.

2.    Socialism and Marxism. In 1846, a Jewish apostate, Karl Marx, came up with a new philosophy based on the premise that all human history reflected class struggle, not national or religious differences. Religion, in his view, was the opium of the people, comforting the masses and deadening their sensitivity to reality so that they should be better equipped to accept the poverty and hardship under which they lived. Marx maintained that society, not individuals, should own the means of production—even though this was against human nature, which is to be acquisitive.

Communism, Rabbi Wein pointed out, is the ultimate utopianism. but 200 years of experience have demonstrated its failure in practice. Many Jews loved it—and regarded it as their second Talmud, being the only people to make it work in the form of Israel’s early kibbutzim. Kibbutz life was built upon the maxim of “to each according to his needs, from each according to his ability”—the ultimate utopian ideal. Marxism is ultimately a cruel philosophy because of its belief that the end justifies the means, this being an invitation to dispose ruthlessly of one’s opponents, as has been done by Stalin and Chairman Mao. The Left is still strong in Israel, Rabbi Wein concluded, but socialism is not as pernicious as it once was: the Histadrut no longer owns the country.

3.       Zionism: in all of its forms, this is a highly complicated doctrine. At heart it is an intrinsically religious idea, that of Jews returning to an ancient homeland. But it was sold to prospective adherents as a species of nationalism, not as a religious ideal and, in doing so, it encountered great opposition from Jews in the religious, secular and Marxist sectors. The great achievement of Zionizm has been to keep secular Jews within Israel and to accommodate their secularism.

Divisions within the ranks of Zionism were apparent when the British Secretary of State, Lord Palmerston offered Theodore Herzl the chance to establish a Jewish state in Uganda. Herzl welcomed this offer, but European Zionists were aghast: even though many of them were secularists or Marxists, this was unacceptable to them.

The religious community opposed Zionism because it was seen as nationalist and anti-religious. Charedim are still fighting this battle, even though the State of Israel is 77 years old and 8 million Jews live here. But now there is also the phenomenon of Religious Zionism – Eretz Yisrael al pi Torat Yisrael – and the concept of Zionism as we know it today embraces even religious socialists and their kibbutzim.

Rabbi Wein concluded by asking: “How do we deal with residue of the turmoil of the 19^th century that continues today?” He confessed that he had no answer.