Shlomo Sand, The Invention of the Jewish People - Rafapal

284 THE INVENTION OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE
terrified of assimilation and "mixed marriage." 53
This was the first demonstration of the states cynical exploitation of
the Jewish religion to accomplish the aims of Zionism. Many scholars who
have studied the relations between religion and state in Israel have described
them as Jewish nationalism submitting helplessly to the pressures applied by a
powerful rabbinical camp and its burdensome theocratic tradition. 54 It is true
there were tensions, misunderstandings and clashes between secular and religious
sectors in the Zionist movement and later in the State of Israel. But a
close examination reveals that nationalism needed the religious pressure, and
often invited it in order to carry out its agenda. The late Professor Yeshayahu
Leibowitz was more perceptive than most when he described Israel as a secular
state in religious cohabitation. Given the great difficulty of defining a secular
Jewish identity, and the highly uncertain boundaries of this impossible entity,
it had no choice but to submit to the rabbinical tradition. 55
It must be stated, however, that a secular Israeli culture soon began to emerge,
and surprisingly fast. Although some of its features—such as festivals, holidays
and symbols—derived from Jewish sources, this culture could not serve as a
common foundation for the "worldwide Jewish people." With its distinctive
elements—from language, music and food to literature, the arts and cinema—
the new culture began to demarcate a new society, quite different from what
those who are known as Jews and their children experience in London, Paris,
New York and Moscow. Members of the "Jewish people" around the world
do not speak, read or write in Hebrew, are not imprinted by Israel's urban or
rural landscapes, do not experience the divisions, tragedies and joys of Israeli
society, don't even know how to cheer their football teams, don't grumble about
the country's Income Tax and don't eulogize the party leaders, who invariably
let down the "people of Israel."
Consequently, the attitude that emerged in Zionist ideology toward the
young Israeli culture was equivocal. Here was an adored infant who was not
53 The educational system in Israel is likewise almost totally divided. There are
hardly any schools attended by both Judeo-Israelis and Palestino-Israelis. The separation
is not due to concern for Palestinian cultural autonomy and preservation of memory—the
educational system and curricula are wholly subordinate to the Israeli Ministry of Education.
The kibbutz movement, the jewel in Israeli socialism's crown, has also always practiced such
segregation. Arabs were not accepted by the kibbutzim, nor have they ever been integrated
in other Jewish communal frameworks.
54 See for example Gershon Weiler, Jewish Theocracy, Leiden: Brill, 1988.
55 On this subject see also Baruch Kimmerling, "The Cultural Code of Jewishness:
Religion and Nationalism," in The Invention and Decline of Israeliness: State, Society, and
Military, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001, 173-207.