Birthright and Zionism
By Rabbi Berel Wein

(January 4) I had the pleasure of delivering lectures to 
a number of groups of American students - mostly college 
students - over the past two weeks. These young adults are 
visiting Israel during their New Year vacation on the 
Birthright program of the Jewish Federations in North 
America. 

For almost all of these young people this is their first 
visit, and also for most of them it is their first exposure 
to a more intensive Jewish educational program. 

I was enormously heartened by their initial reactions. 

As one of the participants said to me after my lecture: 
"Why didn't anyone before ever tell me what it really means 
to be Jewish? Why didn't I appreciate what the State of 
Israel really is?" 

Indeed, why? 

What is to me most fascinating is that Zionism and the 
State of Israel are now coming full circle. It is Zionism, 
or whatever is left of it, and the State of Israel that are 
being used to make otherwise alienated young Jews - bereft of 
knowledge of Judaism, its history and traditions - interested 
in exploring their Jewishness. 

Israel and Zionism are part of that Jewishness - but only part 
of it. Torah, tradition, Jewish values and behavior are the 
main part of the Jewishness that they are searching for. 
My lectures concerned topics of Jewish ethical views and 
guidelines regarding professions and commerce in our modern 
world. 

Each of them told me that they never realized that Judaism had 
anything to say about being a doctor, a lawyer, a financial 
adviser or a computer whiz. They had been convinced that 
Judaism was only for the rabbis or Judaic studies professors, 
or worse still, only for the Orthodox. The fact that they now 
somehow were beginning to see that Torah, Jewish tradition, 
the Land of Israel and Jewish history have relevance to them 
and their lives makes the Birthright program a profound success 
in my opinion. 

Secular Zionism and Jewish nationalism - movements which began 
against the 19th-century background of Haskala (Enlightenment), 
came to replace Torah and tradition as the unifying force in 
Jewish life. Zionism rashly promised that a Jewish homeland in 
the Land of Israel would solve all the great problems that faced 
the Jewish people - antisemitism, rootlessness, insecurity and 
assimilation. 

The Torah and tradition were only the means to realize the dream 
of a Jewish state, but were deemed disposable once statehood had 
been achieved. The state and all that it represented was the 
goal, the end, and the connection to the Land of Israel - which 
Torah and religious behavior and observance fostered - was to be 
a means of realizing this end. That was the plan and the 
worldview of the Zionist leadership for almost a century. 

But the matter has now been turned on its head. The State of 
Israel and Zionism itself have become the means and no longer 
the end in Jewish life. For most Jews in the world, and I 
believe in Israel as well, the end now is somehow to create and 
live a more Jewish life, to produce Jewish families, to have 
Jewish grandchildren. 

The State of Israel can and does play a mighty role in fostering 
this goal. But it is Jewish knowledge, tradition, religious 
observance - a spiritual and not merely national connection to 
the Land of Israel - that are the crucial ingredients in 
achieving this goal. And the sad fact is that Zionism as it 
exists today is oblivious of this. 

The hounding and denigration of religious tradition in Israeli 
academia, courts and government, the posturing of the post-
Zionists and the lack of sensitivity to Jewish holy places and 
history, all create a climate that will frustrate the Birthright 
visitors. They came to Israel to be shown a way to be more Jewish. 
They are interested in seeing synagogues, yeshivot, even haredi 
Jews. They have already seen universities, bars and coffee houses 
back home. 

I think that Israel should have its own Birthright program 
for its own national use and benefit. The government should 
concentrate on bringing Jewish values and knowledge to its 
young citizens. It should never coerce someone's behavior or 
beliefs, but should provide for a Jewish education, especially 
outside the framework of the various religious school systems. 

Jewish knowledge and values, an appreciation of Jewish history 
and tradition would almost automatically revitalize Zionism and 
create a new sense of loyalty and purpose in Israel. It would 
enable us to withstand the unreasonable and destructive demands 
of our adversaries and it would make for a more civil, united 
and tolerant society. 

It would finally serve the ultimate purpose of Zionism, of 
creating a truly Jewish state. It would be the means toward 
achieving the end of creating a physical Jewish society in 
consonance with the soul and spiritual longings of the Jewish 
people. 

For after all, that is our true birthright.