Zionism. There is no such thing as secular zionism. There are those who may use the term, but it is as mythical as the term Palestinian or the country Jordan. They are fictitious terms and concepts grounded in artifice rather than fact. Zionism is a term which has no commonality with anything goyish. Hence a true Torah concept negates the notion of secular Zionism, labor Zionism, Christian Zionism, what have you. There is only the love of Zion based upon the Halacha. Nothing else exists. I don’t often fight over words that liberals steal and redefine. I will not allow them to take the term Zion. Because it is a torah concept.
These religious post-Zionists do not understand gray areas, or the fact that Jewish life is complicated. I long for a day when a true Torah state is run according to Halacha, and as a religious Jew I believe we have an obligation to truly work towards that end. But it simply cannot happen overnight, and we cannot have a bloody war of brothers which would ensure that we eat each other alive. Furthermore, we are nowhere near a state where we have the kinds of individuals who could run a proper Sanhedrin.
As far as their approach to irreligious Jews, they need to understand that not every chiloni is a member of the mixed multitude. Most Jews in Israel have no concept of halacha because they have never been taught Torah. I am certainly not averse to using the term when it applies. (If the High Priest of Hellenism, Shimon Peres is not the Erev Rav then such a concept doesn’t exist!)
Here are some aspects which we generally agree upon:
* The Knesset is indeed goyish and contrary to Halacha. Halachically speaking, even righteous gentiles cannot have a say about any matters pertaining to the land. And the vast majority of gentiles in Knesset are the very epitome of wickedness.
* Today, service in the Israeli army is replete with Halachic/Hashkafic problems and the obligation to perform milchemet mitzvah is much more difficult today than it ever was. I am not in any way shape or form advocating refusing to serve in the army. As an oleh several years ago, I repeatedly tried to enlist. Yet the dangers cannot be minimized or ignored. Any environment which includes Christians, missionaries, and other non-Jews, presents existential dangers to the spiritual integrity of the Jewish people. Furthermore, there are many occasions where a Torah Jew must refuse orders that are contrary to Torah, such as the obligation to refuse orders relating to throwing Jews out of their homes, demolishing Jewish communities, or with-holding fire when facing arab rioters to placate an anti-Semitic world.
Nevertheless, despite these very real and tragic dilemmas, we must have an army in the interim, since the Arab Amalek is upon us. I do not accept the oft mentioned point that such individuals raise which maintains that Rabbi Kahane tried unsuccessfully to use the system in order to make changes. He did what he could, and he was always open to reassessing the situation and adopting tactics specific to the challenge. We have to try something. There are many avenues to explore and the means themselves are debatable. Yet the neccesity of strong Torah minded Jews to assess the situation with seichal and commit themselves to action is not.
In the age of social media, a message can spread like wildfire. We can take some lessons from the savages behind the Arab Springs. Not Heaven forbid to engage in barbarism, but rather to use the tools of our age to spread a message and galvanize the masses.
