At intellectual crossroads, I tend to return to words of wisdom that have the perspective of time.

Recently, I returned to Albert Einstein’s book Ideas and Opinions. This time, the crossroads concerns the need for Zionism; specifically, the section of his book that address this subject. I re-read Einstein’s words and held them tight; they suit the complex times we are experiencing in Israel.

Einstein does not need to be interpreted or explained. His extraordinary ability to penetrate directly to the heart of any subject is evident in his writing on general matters as in his scientific works. Consider his warm attitude and clear thinking about the foundation of Zionism, which is so important to us as Jews.

I have selected several sentences from the letter that Einstein wrote in response to an article written by Prof. Willy Hellpach, a Berlin Jew, dealing with the issue of Zionism and the Zionist Congress, as well as others from Einstein’s writing about the Jewish community as a whole, and his addresses on reconstruction in the Land of Israel. (Bold: Judith Bar).

• The Jews are a community bound by ties of blood and tradition, and not of religion only.
• I realized that salvation was only possible only possible for the race if every Jew in the world should become attached to a living society to which he as an individual might rejoice to belong…. it is a nationalism whose aim is not power but dignity and health.
• Embedded in the tradition of the Jewish people there is a love of justice and reason which must continue to work for the good of all nations now and in the future. In modern times this tradition has produced Spinoza and Karl Marx.
• But we must never forget… the establishment of satisfactory relations between Jews and Arabs is not England’s affair but ours. We – that is to say, the Arabs and ourselves – have to agree on the main outlines of an advantageous partnership which shall satisfy the needs of both nations. A just solution of this problem and one worthy of both nations is an end no less important and no less worthy than promotion of the work of construction itself. Remember that Switzerland represents a higher stage of political development than any nation state, precisely because of the greater political problems which had to be solved before a stable community could be built up out of groups of different nationality.
• Anything we may do for the common purpose is done not merely for our brothers in Palestine but also for the well-being and honor of the whole Jewish people.
• Our age-old community… is a community of moral tradition, which has always shown its strength and vitality in times of stress. In all ages it has produced men who embodied the conscience of the western world, defenders of human dignity and justice.
• We need to pay great attention to our relations with the Arabs. By cultivating these carefully we shall be able in the future to prevent things from becoming so dangerously strained that people can take advantage of them to provoke acts of hostility. This goal is perfectly within our reach, because our work of construction has been, and must continue to be, carried out in such a manner as to serve the real interests of the Arab population, also.

These words were written by Albert Einstein over several years, during a turbulent period prior to the establishment of Israel.

Ideas And Opinions https://a.co/d/6ivDXDY