The following letters were received by our internet editorial staff. We welcome your input.
Dear Manhigut,
I am a 27 year old man who is making Aliyah from MD to Israel this summer. I have been following the growth of Manhigut Yehudit over the past two years and I cannot express in words how impressed I am. I have never been to a Manhigut event nor met anyone directly involved with the organization. The closest I have come was listening to a speaker at an anti-disengagement rally.
I look forward to reading what Moshe Feiglin has to say every week. His prescience and clarity
are truly remarkable in today's world. With expulsions and Winograds in Israel and assimilation and indifference in the US, reading his articles inevitably reawakens my inner faith in Jewish people and hope for an Israel based on Jewish values. While I may not agree with every position taken by Manhigut, the honesty and faith that drives the movement is remarkable. The power behind Manhigut stems directly from this faith and idealism that is based on G-d. I just wanted to express my support
for Manhigut and its vision.
Thank You,
Samuel Hyman
_________________________
I came back from the Manhigut Yehudit conference on Long Island last February, and I want to share with you a bit about the conference and the organization.
Manhigut Yehudit was started about 10 years ago by Moshe Feiglin and Shmuel Sackett. It was originally called Zo Artzeinu ("this is our land").Their fundamental ideology is summed up in the phrase: "Turning Israel from the state of the Jews into the Jewish State."
Israel was founded by Jews actively hostile to the religious tradition. Their Zionism was inspired by anti-semitism, not the siddur. They wanted to escape from Jewish tradition and from the old Jewish identity. They were amazingly successful. They built an unbelievable miracle, resurrected a dead language and a desolate land, defeated the designs of hundreds of millions of homicidal Arabs, created an economic powerhouse on the world stage, but, as Daniel Gordis eloquently writes: "people are beginning to wonder if Zionism hasn't begun to fail." If the goal of Zionism is a safe haven for Jews, then clearly they have failed. Israel is one of the most dangerous places to be Jewish.
Israel has also failed in its quest for acceptance, for "a place among the nations." In a recent European poll, Israel was rated as the number one threat to world peace. In their quest for security and acceptance by the rest of world, the Zionists jettisoned their Jewish identity and have ended up with neither security nor acceptance.
The remedy, according to Moshe Feiglin and Manhigut Yehudit, is to reconnect the state of Israel with the mission of the people of Israel. In his words, "The purpose of the Jewish State is to be a tool for the realization of Judaism's goals." The same goals that have inspired the Jewish people through our 3,000+ years are the goals that must inspire the Jewish state.
Moshe Feiglin is an unassuming, not especially charismatic character. He seems more like a college professor than a politician. He is also not a rabbi. But he is intense and sincere.
He started off his speech with an astonishing statistic: a majority of Israeli students could not complete the phrase "Shema Yisrael..." He suggests that this, and all of Israel's major problems are connected: the failed war last summer, poverty, corruption, all relate to a lack of Jewish identity, pride and knowledge. He said that the single most important role of the Israeli government is to educate the Jews of Israel in their history and traditions. Without knowing who we are we can't expect to know why we're here and what our connection is to the land.
It's important to point out that Manhigut Yehudit does not seek a halakhic state. Their vision is not of a theocracy, which I could not support, but a government informed by Jewish values and Jewish identity. They have laid out their program in great detail on their web site (www.jewishisrael.org), though they insist this is the beginning of a debate on these issues, not the final answer. I recommend their First Hundred Days plan.
In answer to the question, "can they succeed?" this meeting was a rallying of their American supporters, and they presented evidence of Manhigut's rapid increase in popularity. In the last Likud primary, in December, 2005, they received 13% of the vote, 4 times their previous polling. They needed only 13,000 more votes to become the majority faction in the Likud. Current polls suggest they are supported by 20% of the Likud electorate.
Their most powerful question however is, "what other option is there?" Daniel Gordis, for all his insight, can't offer a solution other than for Israelis to sort of "roll up our sleeves and fix the problems." Moshe Feiglin says, "we are going to win because we have no choice."
I strongly support this organization. It offers the best, perhaps the only, hope for Israel to fulfill its mission in the world. Please check out their website, consider supporting them, and let me know what you think!
Thank you,
Sheldon Vile
Chicago, IL
This Wednesday
Less than 90 days left to plant trees in Israel for an ENTIRE YEAR!!!