A more nuanced view of Zionism

3 Menachem Av 5775

The blogger known as Devash, whose blog is Tomer Devorah, recently posted an article by Reb Daniel Pinner of K'far Tapuah, How Are The Mighty Fallen!

The second half of this article is about the part of Zionism the vast majority of people in the world don't know about, much less discuss: what is today called Revisionist Zionism, led by Vladimir Jabotinsky.

I'm sure that I, like many people, didn't fully know who Jabotinsky was, especially how close his connection was to the Zionist movement and how much he initiated within it before the Leftist leadership got rid of him. So, I've investigated more on the subject and hope to contribute my small part to the commentary.

Here, exposed, is the Left and Right of Zionism — Socialists (or Labor Zionists) and Revisionists, respectively — as well as a Left and a Right to religious Jewish groups (off-topic for today). Most people who hate Zionism in fact despise its Socialist side (and, in fact, have good reason for so doing); however, they might be mistaken if they think it is the whole of Zionism. The same goes for those who think that all the European rabbis in WWII times were responsible for keeping themselves and their followers there, to be slaughtered by our ever-present enemies, then in the form of the Nazis. They might also have no idea that those spiritual leaders they have no respect for might have been of similar bent as the leftist Zionists; would they have wanted to be lulled to sleep in the lands of their exile as much as the socialist Zionists wanted to lull them? — and that there were many who really wanted to leave and bring their followers along, but were refused by the nasty Leftists, some of whom were exposed later (e.g., Rudolf Kastner, whom al-HaAretz is STILL trying to exonerate in this 2013 article.*). 

There is far, far more to the story of how millions of Jews were left behind to the tender mercies of the Nazis than this summary can give. I, too, believe that an incredible number of Jews could have been saved from the Holocaust — and Zionism itself would have a better reputation today — if Ze'ev Vladimir Jabotinsky had been its leader at the moment of decision.

In the merit of Ze'ev ben Yevno v'Chava, I also wonder how much more we would have been able to accomplish here in Eretz Yisrael in preparation for the Geulah Shlemah (Complete Redemption) of the Jewish People and the world.

More on Socialist Zionism | More on Revisionist Zionism

*Note for those who can't read it but want to: I believe I got the full-length premium article because it came up in a search - I am never able to read an entire HaAretz article when other people offer these links, so it makes me care even less about that dirty rag, in addition to not appreciating the commenters who offer them — not to mention that I will never pay for a subscription to read the very occasional article I read and, even less often, refer to. Google "kastner trial" and click on "Israel Kastner vs Hannah Szenes: Who was really the hero during the Holocaust?" It helps to keep in mind that the issue was the majority of the population of Hungarian Jews whom Kastner left behind; he could have saved them all and didn't try.