individual and society, nationalism and universalism in the religious ...

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Moshe Hellinger
European nationalism, Herzl and his colleagues regard Judaism
strictly as a nationality. Therefore Zionism also nurtures the na
tional demon. Our nationalism, "far from feeding on the 'image of
God' in humans, is nourished by the corrupting evil within them,
namely, by hatred to anybody who is not of the same race or citi
zenship."151 This is why Herzl's Zionism stresses the anti-Semitic
problem.
In comparison, truly Jewish nationalism does not feed
on chauvinistic hatred. It is sustained by universal love for every
one.152 The kind of Zionism R. Amiel envisions does not strive to
"normalize" the Jewish nation by using the other nations as its
frame of reference. On the contrary, it aims "to restore the world"
in a universalistic manner, in accordance with the premise
every individual is created in the image of God.153
that
Characteristically, R. Amiel strongly criticizes attitudes with
which he is not
quite familiar. The resemblance between Herzl's
writings and the supposedly demonic aspirations of political Zion
ism is tenuous. Nonetheless, here as elsewhere R. Amiel brings
into focus some problematic points. Political Zionism is capable
of assuming chauvinistic forms. Religious Zionism alone?
through its universalistic, humanistic trends?can prevent the de
terioration of Zionism into oppressive chauvinism. R. Amiel
proved to be loyal to his principles. In 1938, in retaliation for
Arab terrorism, the E.Z.L (Irgun Zeva'i Le'ummi) dissident un
derground organization killed innocent Arabs. The Zionist leader
ship responded by adopting a policy of restraint based upon na
tional considerations. R. Amiel's response was unequivocal:
"Thou shalt not murder" [must be obeyed] unconditionally and
without any exception. "Thou shall not murder" because the To
rah says (Gen. 9:6), "whoever sheds man's blood by man shall his
own blood be shed; for in the image of God made He man"?
every man. We must have drastically deteriorated if in order to
explain the injustice of shedding the blood of those who did us no
harm we have to invoke the policy of restraint, instead of citing
the injunction "thou shalt not murder." How offensive are these
utilitarian
explanations!154
R. Amiel draws on the individualistic-universalistic outlook
of the sages: "Therefore man was created single in the world, to
teach that if any man has caused a single soul to perish upon the
world, scripture interprets it to him as though he had caused a
whole world to
perish."155
R. Amiel does not cite the later version
of this saying, in which "the world" is replaced by "Israel." This
is understandable in view of his philosophy, which distinguishes
between ordinary nationality and Jewish, universalist national