Among the many public relations gimmicks
that we have been treated to this summer- the >secular revolution= the >constitution= the >national unity government= that will exclude almost half of the population, the >peace and security= give-away - there was one that really caught my fancy.

It was the solemn proposal of a number of brilliant intellects, professors, savants and true patriots all, to create a >New Israel.= They find our country and society so disgusting, so unbearable, so oppressive, so unattractive and confining, that the only solution is to create a >New Israel= somewhere else in the world.

This forthcoming paradise will be Hebrew-speaking, completely and totally secular, fully Israeli and non-Jewish.

And the reason that this new nation is necessary is naturally, the presence of Shas or the haredim, the religious Jews in general in Old Israel.

Anyone haranguing Shas or the haredim is always front-page news.

I listened to some of the interviews given by the founders of the >New Israel.=

In funereal tones they described how their lives were being destroyed by not having their sexual relationships legitimized automatically, by not being able to drive their automobiles through Bnei Brak on the Sabbath and by being forced to share their country with >primitive= people.

So they are going to move to >New Israel=, a homeland that will certainly have no Law of Return. It will be the home of the elitist of the elite, the ideal idealist, the perfect democracy of self-righteous intolerance and exclusivity.

They have not as yet decided where >New Israel= should be located. They may even be surprised to find that >New Israel= will not be welcomed everywhere. Certainly Austria, Poland, Russia, Switzerland. France, Germany, Russia and other democratic countries are not looking for any more Jews- even hardened secular Israelis-to settle in their midst.

The U.S. and Canada still have restrictive immigration laws and the >new= Israelis don=t look Oriental enough to fit comfortably into Asian society.

But where >New Israel= is to be located is not really a serious issue, since the whole preposterous idea was only another public-relations ploy to show the world how despicable religious Jews are.

The >New Israel= scheme is really not as new as it all sounds. In the 1920's there were a group of pioneers here who despaired of creating the leftist Marxist utopia

that they had hoped for. They saw their fellow socialists as being too Jewish and not dedicated sufficiently to the cause of the >workers paradise=. So a few hundred of them up and left for the >New Israel= that they were going to create in that haven of progressive thought and action--the Soviet Union. Knowing a good propaganda ploy when he saw one, Stalin, the >Good Father= of the Left, welcomed them with open arms.

They were given spacious lands in the Crimea, cattle and sheep, farm tools and building materials. They soon created the >New Israel= in the Crimea--Hebrew-speaking, collective living, atheists and proud soldiers in the vanguard of the workers= revolution.

However, their children soon preferred Russian to Hebrew and the glamour of the >New Israel= began to pale. Good old father Stalin also changed his mind after a few years. Many of the >New Israel= were purged for >anti-state activities=--speaking Hebrew--and others went into Siberian exile or were killed. The >New Israel= colony was converted into a communist agricultural cooperative that also disappeared in World War II and its aftermath.

It will be impossible to build a >New Israel= on soil outside of the Land of Israel. That lesson should be clear to all after 2000 years of trying to do so and failing. We see how difficult it is to build Israel in the Land of Israel, where we belong and which belongs to us.

David Ben-Gurion said that >the Bible= is our deed to the Land of Israel. But, a generation of arrogance and self -hatred, that knows not the Bible or the Jewish past and is looking for easy answers to difficult long-lasting problems, that hates those who are different and resents being reminded of its past by those who prefer their >primitive= beliefs to the modern intellectual correctness, is looking to leave Israel.

Well I can=t stop them, but I am sorry to see them go. They will not find their >New Israel= anymore comfortable than the Old Israel they are fleeing from.

For their bitterness and frustration and angst is within them and they will carry it along with them wherever they go.

Meanwhile all of us >primitive= Israelis will just have to tough it out here in the Promised Land because we are not going anywhere else.

Shabbat Shalom

Tune in to Rabbi Wein=s weekly radio show, Wein-Online only on Jerusalem Post Radio
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