Rabin Seminar(Updated:) 10-28-29.

About five weeks ago, just about every member of Habonim Dror Shnat, and Workshop who was in the country of Israel gathered at Ness Harim, a beautiful campsite just outside Beit Shemesh. Heading into Workshop, I did not have many expectations, however, I knew based on conversations with my madrichim, and former Workshopers that this seminar would have a lasting affect on me. Rather than being in our kvutzot, chanichim were mixed among Brazilians, Australians, South Africans, Brits, Dutchies, Canadians, and Americans, which laid out a unique peula setting which no chanich had experienced before, seeing as we all come from different countries and stress different values, and may not see Habonim Dror the same as others in the group. As difficult as it was, it was an incredible opportunity to learn about HD around the world, and see our differences, and challenge each other on a variety of levels, Whether it be challenges regarding Kenim, (Which are incredibly strong around the world, but weak in North America,) or Kupa, (Which is incredibly strong in North America, But virtually does not exist on Shnat/world Habonim Dror gap years.) At the seminar we briefly discussed Rabin and his life. Although he was an inspirational leader for many, including myself, I will not be blogging directly about him, but his name will come up many times throughout this entry.
Before I begin, I would like to make one thing clear. Something I have been waiting to say for a while, but which has not come full circle until the seminar. With the exception of Habonim Dror, I feel that throughout my life I have been a "blind Zioinist."Of course I will believe in the state of Israel almost at all times, but I feel that I have been blindly been fed ZIonist facts without getting to know the whole story. This was the beauty of the seminar. For the first time on Workshop, I was truly challenged, in the best way possible. So without further adue, to the best of my capabilities I would like to explain what happened.
One of the very first questions presented to us by Madrichim of our group was as follows: "can a Jewish state exist while being a true democracy?"
"Of course it can, thats the beauty of Israel. Israel is a place for Jews ran by a democratic government..." Those were my original thoughts. (Keep in mind I never had really been exposed to different opinions.) Well, within about 10 minutes, everything changed for me. After a few comments thrown around by the group, it was clear to me that it was time for me to open up my mind, and think about things on a whole new level.
-Here is a copy of the text for you to read,keeping in mind that within our peula, we were thinking about whether or not this exists in the state of Israel.
-DEFINING DEMOCRACY:

Government of the People
…In the dictionary definition, democracy "is government by the people in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system." In the phrase of Abraham Lincoln, democracy is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people."

Freedom and democracy are often used interchangeably, but the two are not synonymous. Democracy is indeed a set of ideas and principles about freedom, but it also consists of a set of practices and procedures that have been molded through a long, often tortuous history. In short, democracy is the institutionalization of freedom. For this reason, it is possible to identify the time-tested fundamentals of constitutional government, human rights, and equality before the law that any society must possess to be properly called democratic.

Democracies fall into two basic categories, direct and representative. In a direct democracy, all citizens, without the intermediary of elected or appointed officials, can participate in making public decisions. Such a system is clearly only practical with relatively small numbers of people--in a community organization or tribal council, for example, or the local unit of a labor union, where members can meet in a single room to discuss issues and arrive at decisions by consensus or majority vote. Ancient Athens, the world's first democracy, managed to practice direct democracy with an assembly that may have numbered as many as 5,000 to 6,000 persons--perhaps the maximum number that can physically gather in one place and practice direct democracy.

Modern society, with its size and complexity, offers few opportunities for direct democracy…

…Today, the most common form of democracy, whether for a town of 50,000 or nations of 50 million, is representative democracy, in which citizens elect officials to make political decisions, formulate laws, and administer programs for the public good. In the name of the people, such officials can deliberate on complex public issues in a thoughtful and systematic manner that requires an investment of time and energy that is often impractical for the vast majority of private citizens…

This is the first text we read. Keeping the main question in mind, began a sicha based on what we read.Within our opening sicha based on that question I began to realize that perhaps things are not as great as they have been made out to be in my head, and slowly began coming to terms with the answer to that question being a no. In the most basic way I can put it, our sicha made me, and others in the groups thoughts which led us to seriously thinking critically of whether or not there is truly a democracy. But what was it that led us to this point? Easy. Think about the different sects of Judaism. (Charadi, secular, religious, etc...) They don't get along to well. When dealing with issues such as religion, and peoples belief's regarding God its difficult to reach a middle ground. Here we come to our first problem. No matter what one stands for, based on the principles of land, or religion it will be hard to come to some agreement. To put it in the simplest terms I can, Jews oppress Jews. (More on that later.) With that said, if there are clashing opinions within Judiasm, how can it be at all possible to come to any type of agreement with Palestinians, and Israeli Arabs if Israeli's cant come to any point of agreement on their own. Just like any other country, Israel has problems. More issues that we think. Problems with education, problems with money, crime, etc...(I will explain all that soon.) How ever, it seems like a lot of times, these problems are over looked because of all the other things going on. Forgive me for jumping from point to point, but eventually it will all tie together. In short, after our first sicha, most of us were at the point where we have come to terms with these issues, and now it was time to dive in.


Now it was time for us to take the concept of democracy, and our new thoughts regarding the term and examine it even more within Israeli society. We were read this line spoken by Rabin in his last speech to Israel.
"Violence is undermining the very foundations of Israeli democracy. It must be condemned, denounced, and isolated. This is not the way of the State of Israel. Controversies may arise in a democracy, but the decision must be reached through democratic elections."-Rabin.
Simple and to the point. There are things wrong in Israel, and violence is not making better. However, Shortly after an anti-Rabin demonstration, Rabin was assasinated. The act itself, was an act that truly showed the problem. There are people coming from all over, left, right, religious, reform, conservative. Its a a sign of weakness that in order to overcome a clash of ideologies, an assasination is what had to happen. Personaly, the concept of Shivion Erech Ha'adam is lacking, in so many aspects the thought process humans go through when thinking about such sensative subjects. With that said, I would like to look at the next piece we were presented with, which was a piece by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who spoke out warning Israel of violence.

Danger for Israel \ Ariel Sharon

Yedioth Acharonoth – 6/11/1995

Yitchak Rabin has been murdered. It was a despicable crime and a horrible blow to us all. For me, Yitchak Rabin was a political adversary, but he was all of our Prime Minister. He was an opponent, but a friend.

I had the privilege of walking a long way with Yitchak through Israel’s wars and we had a special personal relationship that cut through the lines of the different parties. I remember him as our commander in time of war and in calm times, if we ever had any. As a person that taught me many of the beliefs I hold today. I remember him during the War of Attrition and during the war over the water in the north, when the Syrians showered us with bombs from the peaks of Ramat HaGolan. And in those days when he sent us out to the battle and counted on us to bring salvation to Israel during the Six Day War. I will not forget his contribution to the security of Israel when allowing the first stake of Jewish settlement in Judea and Sumeria and in Ramat HaGolan to be stuck in, a contribution that will be remembered for generations.

It is a shame that even before Yitchak Rabin was brought to his final resting place, different bookkeepers have already opened their molding notebooks and have begun to flip through them so that everyone can see.

This is not a time to settle accounts. Who incited first and against whom. Who showed a more verbal violence? Who stood beneath or to the side of signs saying “murderer.” Who condemned and tried to prevent those signs and who didn’t. I don’t want to deal with those questions. It is not allowed to deal with them. It is too dangerous. We all must stop immediately.

It is awful that Yitzchak Rabin was murdered. I’m sorry to say that, lacking wide national agreement to the answers of fatal questions that have to do with our existence and in the existing atmosphere, it could have happened to anyone of us.

This is an hour of deep pain and an hour of danger for Israel. We all must unite in order to stand together against the dangers. We all must, in this insane moment, find the mental strength and prove national sanity.

This speach is dissapointing. Something that frustrates me is the fact that Sharon was at the rally which he refered to, and that the actions people had to take were assasination, rather than solving the issue the way it should be done. In Israel, its extremely upsetting that the concept of Shivion Erech Haadam is lacking. Furthermore, I struggle to legitimize what Sharon said, seeing as he attended that demonstration.


Our next text led us to Zionism, a core issue of the seminar that would challenge every chanich to great heights. At this point, my mind was already so excited about what was going on, but I knew there was so much more to come. And yes, there was. This text was the most thought provoking text on workshop, and I have found a copy of it online, and would like to share it.
"The End of Zionism." By Avraham Burg.
"The Zionist revolution has always rested on two pillars: a just path and an ethical leadership. Neither of these is operative any longer. The Israeli nation today rests on a scaffolding of corruption, and on foundations of oppression and injustice. As such, the end of the Zionist enterprise is already on our doorstep. There is a real chance that ours will be the last Zionist generation. There may yet be a Jewish state here, but it will be a different sort, strange and ugly.
There is time to change course, but not much. What is needed is a new vision of a just society and the political will to implement it. Diaspora Jews for whom Israel is a central pillar of their identity must pay heed and speak out.
The opposition does not exist, and the coalition, with Ariel Sharon at its head, claims the right to remain silent. In a nation of chatterboxes, everyone has suddenly fallen dumb, because there's nothing left to say. We live in a thunderously failed reality. Yes, we have revived the Hebrew language, created a marvellous theatre and a strong national currency. Our Jewish minds are as sharp as ever. We are traded on the Nasdaq. But is this why we created a state? The Jewish people did not survive for two millennia in order to pioneer new weaponry, computer security programs or anti-missile missiles. We were supposed to be a light unto the nations. In this we have failed.
It turns out that the 2,000-year struggle for Jewish survival comes down to a state of settlements, run by an amoral clique of corrupt lawbreakers who are deaf both to their citizens and to their enemies. A state lacking justice cannot survive. More and more Israelis are coming to understand this as they ask their children where they expect to live in 25 years. Children who are honest admit, to their parents' shock, that they do not know. The countdown to the end of Israeli society has begun.
It is very comfortable to be a Zionist in West Bank settlements such as Beit El and Ofra. The biblical landscape is charming. You can gaze through the geraniums and bougainvilleas and not see the occupation. Travelling on the fast highway that skirts barely a half-mile west of the Palestinian roadblocks, it's hard to comprehend the humiliating experience of the despised Arab who must creep for hours along the pocked, blockaded roads assigned to him. One road for the occupier, one road for the occupied.
This cannot work. Even if the Arabs lower their heads and swallow their shame and anger for ever, it won't work. A structure built on human callousness will inevitably collapse in on itself. Note this moment well: Zionism's superstructure is already collapsing like a cheap Jerusalem wedding hall. Only madmen continue dancing on the top floor while the pillars below are collapsing."
-http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/sep/15/comment. (theres more there too.)
-Weather we liked it or not, it seemed to be that everyone in the group came to the realization that for the most part, Burg is right. There are issues here, more than there should be. He makes it clear that there are things to be done. But, by no means does this in anyway point in the direction of anyone needing to abandon ship, but if anything, after reading this text there was a general feeling of inspiration throughout the group. My reason for saying inspiration is because of what he said. He makes it clear that although there are issues, its not too late. Of course its not easy, and nothing is, but either it be social issues, or political issues, things need to change. Israel has not been operating properly, but we can make it better by being a dugma yeshit, and standing up for what we believe in. This was the end of our second sicha.

At this point, I was nwo fully aware of why this seminar was so hyped up. It truly has been an eye openeing experience. After the realization that just like many other countries, Israel has issues. As i said earlier, there are social issues such as education, there is an issue of opression, economic issues...The list goes on and on. WIth that said, the question i was struggling with was why am I zionist, and what does Habonim Dror stand for. There are all these problems within the state, and on top of that there are Palestinians and Arabs who are not being treated as they should be, as are there Jews. There is opression against Arab's and against Jews. Something needs to be done to make things better. My question on Zionism began to turn into me formulating in my head the fact that Zionism has turned into nationalism. Throughout my experience attending a Jewish day school, not once can I recal learning about issues within the country, and it disapoints me that I see the word zionism as now meaning a love for Israel no matter what they do. Its one thing to beleive in Israel, and to be a Zionist, but its another thing to support Israels every actions without challenging your thoughts questioning decisions. I love Israel with all my heart, but I do beleive its ok to question things, and i know its something important i must do. So, with that being what our Sicha was about, we have established that things need to be improved, and that Zionism has been lost, and morphed into nationalism. So what do we do? Are we done being Zionist now that Israel exists? the way zionism is discussed today has lost its meaning to me. Israel needs to be a progressive state, and advance itself, by respecting all people. THis leads me to the next text, where we examined our own ideology. This was written by Abba Eden, a strong beleiver in Labor Zionism.

The Message of Labour Zionism
By: Abba Eban
Labor Zionism represents a particular vision of Jewish destiny- a free nation, building a just society and safeguarding it. Jewish national freedom and social justice are the poles of our doctrine, our point of departure, our destination. The relationship and union between these two values, at times the tensions or contradictions, and, in the final resort, the balance between them, mark the ideological and political course of Labor Zionism in a period of revolutionary change.

Labour Zionism's Message to Jewry

Zionism is firmly implanted in specific Jewish thought, tradition and ideas, yet never unresponsive to thinking outside its own periphery. Let us, then, ask ourselves today what is Labor Zionism's present message to Jewry and the wide world, to the new generation of Israelis. First, surely, that Israel's existence, although it be climax of a nation's dream, is not fulfillments enough of the dream our problem as society and nation is not simply to be or not to be, but how. How to be, that is the question.

The scaffolding and emblems of statehood are important, but not everything. What of quality, of human values, of equal opportunity, of social justice and civil liberty, of democracy, of creativity of labor?

Our Founding Fathers were convinced that a doc trine silent on these problems, setting itself no more than a political and institutional aim, would not constitute a sufficient framework of values to inspire our people, and especially our youth, to action and sacrifice. This, of course, was the historic debate with the Zionist Right, and with classic Revisionism in particular. At the centre of Right-Wing Zionism is the State as means and end. The motif of Labor Zionism is a society of which the State is essential instrument and expression. Labor Zionism is not just a constitutional formula, it is a human and social aspiration.

That is why the architects of Labor Zionism linked it basically to the ideology of democratic Socialism, which is an amalgam of constitutional freedom and social egalitarianism. It is also, by the way, a criticism of rival doctrines: liberalism for its indifference towards social equality, Communism for its contemptuous attitude to individual freedom all this in an effort to develop a harmony, a social dynamism that would never allow freedom of the individual to become prejudice.

Criticism, too, of aspects of Zionist clericalism which stress ritual at the expense of prophetic morality. Labor Zionism does not decry the Jewish past. Our historic rights are the warrant for regarding the Land of Israel as the only conceivable ambit of the Zionist revolution. But we are the heirs of the past, not its slaves. We take inspiration from it to shape the sense of historic importance and continuity without which we would be an esperanto nation. We are not committed to the precise reproduction of every circumstance, or of the map, or frontiers, of any or all of the bygone Jewish commonwealths. Our priorities and our points of equilibrium differ, are distinct, from what our rivals stand for. The harmonizing of Zionism with social justice and with democratic Socialism has won the day at last. From beginnings that were faint, fragile, precarious, the Movement has risen to decisive responsibility for Jewish destiny in an epoch of catastrophe and redemption, of endless change.
The turning point came forty years ago: after the most intense and virulent attempt to discredit it, Labor Zionism triumphed and, since then, its ideals have, by and large, been the normative values of Jewry, of our Yishuv, of our State.
-Abba Edden.
I am a fan. I care about Israel with a great passion. Over the seminar, we were presented with cases from all angles. Issues were brought up which forced us to take a look at our beleifs, and challenge them. Thank you for reading, and sorry for no hazzah finally, but all i can say is that I am glad i was given the opportunity to re-examine things that are important to me, and in the end have a stronger, more meaningful attatchement to Israel.