Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Spirit does not toss itself about in the
external play of chance occurrences; on the contrary, it
is that which determines history absolutely, and it
stands firm against the chance occurrences which it
dominates and exploits for its own purpose. (Georg
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel 1770 1831)
PM Netanyahu was quoted
by the Israeli Ynet last week saying that the whole
of Israel would be surrounded by a fence eventually.
According to another report he said there will be
no choice but to fence Israel in on all directions.
What Netanyahu means by fence and all
directions may be left open for the time being.
However, PM Netanyahu has managed to bring to light an
Hegelian interpretation of the notion of Jewish
spirit as a relentless inclination towards
segregation and isolation. It is the tendency to keep
oneself apart that determines and shapes Jewish
collectivism. Whether it is the Zionists and their walls,
the Orthodox and their Kosher universe or even Jewish
anti Zionists and their racially segregated miniature
activist cells, somehow every form of Jewish political
engagement is there to set the Jews apart.
For Hegel says Francis Fukuyama,
the contradictions that drive history exist first
of all in the realm of human consciousness, i.e. on the
level of ideas. It is reasonable to argue that from
an Hegelian perspective, all human behaviour and human
history is rooted in a prior state of consciousness. For
Hegelian thinkers such as Alexandre Kojčve,
understanding the underlying processes of history
requires understanding the realm of consciousness for it
is consciousness that will ultimately remake the material
world into a mirror image of its own spirit. In short it
is the spirit that would eventually shape the material
reality as a mirror of itself. Accordingly, the Jewish
state, could be realised as a reflection of the Jewish
spirit for it is the Jewish spirit that shapes the
reality of the Jewish state.
For Hegel history ended in 1806. For him mankind
reached its end with the French and American
Revolutions. Whether Hegel was correct or completely
deluded in his reading of human history and mankinds
evolution is a matter for an ongoing philosophical debate.
The Jewish state, however, can be easily interpreted in
Hegelian terms as the end of Jewish history.
Zionism presented a dream, it set itself a serious
challenge: it promised to transform the Jew into a civilised
and authentic human being. It vowed to make the
Jews people like all other people. Zionism was in fact a
call of defiance against the hitherto Jewish spirit. Yet,
the current state of Israel proves beyond doubt that the
spirit has defeated the Zionist proclaimed fantasy. The
will to be fenced from every possible direction
prevailed. The aspiration to be people amongst
people is a matter for historical enquiry, it has
no support on the ground whatsoever. The spirit won over
the rational ideological fantasy.
As tragic as it may sound, it would be almost
impossible to reflect on Jewish history without Israel.
It would be impossible to understand how one people
managed to bring so much hate on themselves. Israel is,
no doubt, a unique social experiment in Jewish history.
It is in the Jewish State where the people of the book
have managed to liberate themselves of any inhibitions.
It is in the Jewish state where "kosher"
bus lines feature separate seating
for men and women. It is in Israel where Jews
live their spirit to the max. It is where Jews celebrate
their cultural, material, spiritual and ideological
symptoms. But it is also a place where Jews live happily
on stolen land while oppressing and starving the
indigenous population. As it happens, in the Jewish state
Israelis celebrate their national home coming,
and they do it all behind fences and at the expense of
the Palestinians.
In Hegelian terms Israel is a product of Jewish spirit.
Yet, Israel is NOT a representation of Judaism as Israel
is not a Halachic State*. It is not the state of the Jews
as the majority of Jews prefer to live amongst the Goyim.
However, Israel defines itself as the Jewish state.
It is the place where Jews freely explore the meaning and
pride of being Jewish. Hence, the reality of the Israeli
state and its categorical ethical failure leads us
towards an Hegelian critical confrontation with the
notions of Jewish consciousness, ideology (Jewishness)
and spirit.
The failure of Zionism to erect a civilised humanist
Jew is an accepted fact. It instead managed to raise an
extremely brutal version of the Diaspora
tribal subject it aimed to amend. Needless to say that
Israeli war crimes are not an isolated rare event, they
are actually institutional and committed by a popular
army (IDF) that is following orders given by a
democratically elected government. As if this is not
enough, the Israeli crimes are supported by the vast
majority of the Israelis. The fact that at the time of
the Gaza war 94%
of the Israeli Jewish population supported the
genocidal crime is more than enough to incriminate the
entire Israeli society as a collective. But it goes
further, the Israeli crime is supported institutionally
by world Jewry. It would be intelligible to argue that
from an Hegelian perspective Israel is the end of Jewish
history as much as the French revolution was the Hegelian
end of history of mankind. Israel is the materialisation
of the Jewish consciousness.
Netanyahus recent admission that Israel will be
fenced from every possible direction is far more than
mere symbolism. It is there to expose the solid kernel at
the heart of the Jewish collective tribal desire. As
Hegel suggests, it is spirit that determines
history or to be precise and concrete, it is
the Jewish spirit i.e. the inclination towards
isolationism that determines Jewish history and the
reality of Israeli barbarism.
Listening to Netanyahu and looking at the reality of
Israel makes it obviously clear that rather than the
Goyim, it is actually the Jewish spirit that imposed the Ghetto
on the Jew. Emancipation of European Jewry provided
Jews with an opportunity to leave tribalism behind.
Needless to say that many Jews bought into the idea and
found their way into the crowd. Many Jews had become
voices for humanist causes and thoughts. However, many
others decided to maintain a spiritual partition. In
order to do so they invented a phantasmic cultural ethos.
They may have even invented victimhood and
anti Semitism just to justify their state of
self imposed alienation. Observing Israel and any other
form of Jewish politics makes it too easy to grasp how
and where it all goes wrong.
As things stand there is no easy remedy for the
secular Jew for there is no safe haven for Jewish secular
collectivism or identity that fits into the notion of
humanism or universalism. If Jews insist upon being
secular and humanist they may have to drop their J
prefix and to operate as ordinary people. This is the
only alternative to Zionism and it can also be a
beginning of a wonderful friendship (with others as well
as nature).
* The concept of a Halachic state refers to a
theocratic state based upon Jewish Law.
?