Word: zionism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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That is as far as my Zionism goes; beyond that, holy ancestral tombs mean very little to me. And yet it would be stupid to say that the name of the game is survival or security: the name of the game is universal redemption. For as long as I live, I shall be thrilled by all those who came to the Promised Land to turn it either into a pastoral paradise of egalitarian Tolstoyan communes, or into a well-educated, middle-class Central European enclave, a replica of Austria and Bavaria...
...would not like to produce the impression that Zionism is a mystical poetry-far from that. Zionism has been a diagnosis, a prescription and a therapy. It is a slow and painful process, nevertheless enchanted, precisely because of the tensions, the ambivalence of the Israeli condition, the variety of visions and the pain of realities. The Israelis' demand is absolute: either they have the best country in the world, the purest, the fulfillment of the highest moral standards, or else there is a total disillusionment...
...almost looked as if the basic goals of Zionism had been carried out when the state was born. Reality taught us all that the struggle for survival as Jews as well as Israelis did not come to an end in '48. To face external dangers, we established, out of pure necessity, an industrial-military complex, and we had to rely on foreign aid. From an intimate, small society we tried to establish an advanced, sophisticated, technologically minded community. The political internal structure left the main role of governing the state in the hands of small, powerful, political-economic groups...
...Holocaust. All that remains in the minds of most readers is some pictures, histories-and the imperishable memoirs of Isaac Bashevis Singer. In this brief, exalted account of his youth and his country's decline, the author summons memories of Warsaw when intellectuals argued the merits of Marxism, Zionism, atheism and love-above and below all, love. The preternaturally shy Isaac had his difficulties with older women and young ones. But Sabina, Stefa, Gina were as much a part of his education as the volumes he held like a lover. ("I realized," he recalls of one liaison, "that...
...Displacement," "hatred," and "killing" have always been repugnant to the Zionists. Our main objectives have always been to cultivate the deserted land, to revive our original language and culture, and to form a peaceful creative society. This is what makes Zionism such a fascinating movement and one of the most exciting national phenomena of our century...