Page 190 - big friday
P. 190
Autoemancipation
W ithin the first week of the proclamation of Israel's independence, there
appeared articles and analyses that sought to explain and make sense of
the establishment of the state. The following article appeared in HaPoel
HaTza'ir, the weekly publication of Mapai (the dominant political party in
Zionist politics), five days after the proclamation.
H illel Danzig
T he world has been taken by surprise. It is surprised at the Jews in the Land of Israel.
Surprised at their military and political appearance. At the unusual and unconventional
fact that they, on their own, are deciding their fate.
The Jews, too, have been taken by surprise, in their heart of hearts. They were surprised
at themselves, at the miracle of what their own hands, fighting and forging their fate and
destiny, have achieved: political independence and national freedom for future generations.
A new attitude of the world towards the Jews, and a new attitude of the Jews towards
the world, is embodied in the historic events that are happening in our turbulent lives at
this great time; the relations are entirely different from those that have prevailed between
the nations and Israel for thousands of years.
After all, the "Jewish problem", according to its classic definition, was actually "the
problem of the relations between the nations and Israel", and Zionism took upon itself
the historic role of solving this problem at its root. It arose in the form of the solution
itself. In its initial political ideological manifestation it was called "Autoemancipation"
(Pinsker, 1882) - in other words, the assertion of the right to Jewish self-definition, not
through the beneficence of others but rather by the Jews themselves, by creating their own
independent life. It appeared to us a few times in the past that we had reached the stage of
autoemancipation, that great and long-awaited turning-point in the fundamental relations
between the Jews and the world. One such occasion was 51 years ago (in 1897), in Basle,
when in sight of the entire world Herzl introduced the "National Parliament" of a nation
that had been dispersed and was now returning to its homeland. Another such occasion
was after the end of the First World War, with the Balfour Declaration and the San Remo
Conference, when representatives of the Jewish People appeared for the first time before
the victorious nations, and these recognized the right of the Jewish People to rebuild its
historic homeland. A more recent occasion was at Lake Success, on November 29, in
light of the miraculous international resolution concerning the establishment of a Jewish
state. However, with all their historic luster and their organic connection to manifestly
and essentially Jewish creations, all of these opportunities and achievements contained
some new display of beneficence on the part of the world leaders towards the Jews, and
they lacked the critical and most important element of autoemancipation: a revolutionary
Jewish act of non-dependence on the attitude of the nations and their good will.
188 The Friday That Changed Destiny
W ithin the first week of the proclamation of Israel's independence, there
appeared articles and analyses that sought to explain and make sense of
the establishment of the state. The following article appeared in HaPoel
HaTza'ir, the weekly publication of Mapai (the dominant political party in
Zionist politics), five days after the proclamation.
H illel Danzig
T he world has been taken by surprise. It is surprised at the Jews in the Land of Israel.
Surprised at their military and political appearance. At the unusual and unconventional
fact that they, on their own, are deciding their fate.
The Jews, too, have been taken by surprise, in their heart of hearts. They were surprised
at themselves, at the miracle of what their own hands, fighting and forging their fate and
destiny, have achieved: political independence and national freedom for future generations.
A new attitude of the world towards the Jews, and a new attitude of the Jews towards
the world, is embodied in the historic events that are happening in our turbulent lives at
this great time; the relations are entirely different from those that have prevailed between
the nations and Israel for thousands of years.
After all, the "Jewish problem", according to its classic definition, was actually "the
problem of the relations between the nations and Israel", and Zionism took upon itself
the historic role of solving this problem at its root. It arose in the form of the solution
itself. In its initial political ideological manifestation it was called "Autoemancipation"
(Pinsker, 1882) - in other words, the assertion of the right to Jewish self-definition, not
through the beneficence of others but rather by the Jews themselves, by creating their own
independent life. It appeared to us a few times in the past that we had reached the stage of
autoemancipation, that great and long-awaited turning-point in the fundamental relations
between the Jews and the world. One such occasion was 51 years ago (in 1897), in Basle,
when in sight of the entire world Herzl introduced the "National Parliament" of a nation
that had been dispersed and was now returning to its homeland. Another such occasion
was after the end of the First World War, with the Balfour Declaration and the San Remo
Conference, when representatives of the Jewish People appeared for the first time before
the victorious nations, and these recognized the right of the Jewish People to rebuild its
historic homeland. A more recent occasion was at Lake Success, on November 29, in
light of the miraculous international resolution concerning the establishment of a Jewish
state. However, with all their historic luster and their organic connection to manifestly
and essentially Jewish creations, all of these opportunities and achievements contained
some new display of beneficence on the part of the world leaders towards the Jews, and
they lacked the critical and most important element of autoemancipation: a revolutionary
Jewish act of non-dependence on the attitude of the nations and their good will.
188 The Friday That Changed Destiny
