The Ashkenazi Revolution

55the great success of the Jewish kingdom-of-time, the kingdom of theDiaspora.Ben-Tzvi, of blessed memory, was candid and innocent in his opinion andhe remained faithful to it not for its great utilitarian value but for its ownsake. In his following the light of his own path, he reached its naturalconclusion, which was the adoration of the Samaritans. Nobody, within theJewish settlement, worshipped and adored the Samaritans as much as hedid. In truth, the partiality toward the Samaritans was greater than thepartiality toward all other Jews, as his adoration of the Samaritans wasimmense. Those who shared his general outlook limited their guardianshipto members of the Mizrahi ethnicities, such that this guardianship nettedgreat electoral profits, but they were careful to avoid showing signs ofadoration toward the Samaritans – which might have caused politicallosses. Not so Ben-Tzvi, who was naïve and honest. It was even naturalthat, as he lay on his deathbed, his last request to Ben-Gurion was to fulfillhis promise to build a synagogue for the Samaritans in Holon.Ben-Tzvi, naïve, straightforward in his ways and short on analysis, was aclassic representative of the mistaken belief that supported the integrationof the diasporas, that is to say, the creation of a Jewish culture that is amixture of the cultures of all the Jewish peoples; a mixture that guarantees,to each people, its “fair” portion. All his days, Ben-Tzvi escaped the greatdrama of the inter-tribal wars and struggles described in the Bible. In hisdesire to create a utopia of the integration of exiles, Ben-Tzvi distancedhimself from all of them, and specifically because of this the nightmare ofthe historical Jewish past pursued him. First and foremost the bitter tale,that drips neglect and leaves a trail of blood, of the wars between the Jewsand the Samaritans. Both were remnants of the twelve tribes of Israel thatremained after the murderous blows of two brutal kingdoms, Assyria andBabylon. According to Ben-Tzvi, it was only natural that the Jewswillingly accept the offer of the Samaritans to join in the building of theTemple and to not push them away as Zerubabel and his men had done.According to Ben-Tzvi this moment was the ideal moment for theintegration of exiles, and it occurred to Ben-Tzvi, without doubt, that had