THE HOLOCAUST IS OVER WE MUST RISE FROM ITS ASHES

and discovery channels on television. Suddenly the whole world is mobile, foreignersare everywhere, and they are all somewhat Jewish, restless wanderers. Many havemultiple passports. The Jews no longer pose a threat. Only those who have notbecome wanderers still feel threatened by us. The political outcome is that manyWestern countries attract immigrants who come from economically or constitutionallyweaker countriesIsrael is the country that leads the world in the ratio of newcomers to its nativepopulation; the United States is second. Therefore, a visitor to Israel would not knowhow to define it. Is it Western, as a quick look at the Tel Aviv skyline may hint, or is ita living museum restoration of the Eastern European Jewry of Poland, Galicia, andthe other communities during the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, asreflected in the streets of the ultra-Orthodox communities in Bnei Brak, Jerusalem,Immanuel, Elad, and some neighborhoods in Ashdod and Arad?Israel could also be a remote branch of contemporary Iran, as it seems when youlisten to some former chief rabbis talk. Or is it a cowboy country, reminiscent of theWestern United States during the Gold Rush, judging by the look of plaid-clad, gunslinging,bearded pioneers walking the streets of its towns? It could also be Brazil, ifyou jog on Tel Aviv’s lovely beaches. Or it could be an economic powerhouse,number three in Nasdaqlisted securities. Looking deeper, Israel could also be avoodoo society, judging by the prevalence of curses and amulets, holy water, bans,and excommunications.In short, Israel is one big culturally and spiritually chaotic place, second to none inthe world. It is home to at least four peoples: Jews, Palestinians, non-Jewish Sovietimmigrants and hundreds of thousands of Asian migrant workers, “the Labormovement.” This human mix can be a good basis for bridges of dialogue to serve asmodels for the rest of the world. The decision whether to be torn apart and sink intoourselves like a black hole, or to recognize the diversity, be inspired by it, andbecome a beacon to the new humanity, a light to many immigrant societies, is in ourhands. These inner qualities have always been with us, but never before were we asorganized as we are now.Judaism has always lived an unresolved tension between absolute universalism andhigh-walled isolationism. The will and the natural tendency to dwell in isolation wereundermined through history by individuals who broke out and changed the world—Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky, Sigmund Freud, Heinrich Heine, Moses Mendelssohn,