To the Editors:

I wish to address a few words to Assaf Sagiv’s editorial, “Not Normal” (Azure11, Summer 2001). Sagiv analyzes the longstanding debate over whether the State of Israel should have a special Jewish or Zionist mission, or abandon this type of aspiration in favor of a normal life, or, put better, a normal lifestyle. This debate is found not only in Israeli public life but in other societies as well. Simply stated, there is a ten­sion between two views: One which gives precedence to idealism, nationhood, and self-denial, and another which advocates materialism and self-indulgence. One vision links the present with the past and the future, while the other is anchored to the single dimension of the present. By defining his subject within the perspective of the history of ideas, Sagiv has provided the background in which the issues may well be appreciated.

The debate within the context of Israeli public life has its parallels in the Western world, but in terms that our ancestors in this land originally formulated and which have become a part of the Western cultural legacy, particularly the uplifting vision of moral perfection. One such example is William Blake’s poem Jerusalem (lines 13-16):

Similarly, Garrett Mattingly, the Columbia University historian of Renaissance diplomacy, described how high moral aspirations permeated the culture of early modern Europe and provided the foundation of professed values for the incipient state system: “In the Latin West idealism was not a policy deliberately adopted, but a basic moral assumption. Man was not the less bound to strive eternally towards perfection because he knew in advance that his best unaided efforts could scarcely bring him measurably nearer to it. The gulf between aspiration and achievement was part of God’s ordering of the universe. Like other creatures, princes and republics were prone to sin and error. That did not impugn the validity of the norms by which their conduct must be judged. It had not yet been suggested that in these matters society might accomplish more just by expecting less.” (Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy, p. 43) Both of these visions reflect ideals of social organization and moral behavior that the Christian world adopted from the biblical prophets and made universal.

What, in contrast, would the reality of the “normal” life imply? One description may be found in William H. Chafe’s text The Unfinished Journey: America Since World War II, portraying American society in the 1970s with its cultural contradictions and social “Balkanization”:

What is noteworthy about the American example given above is the observation that a retreat from long-established patterns of behavior brought social fragmentation and spiritual poverty. The decline of loyalty to one’s family and a diminished sense of collective responsibility have resulted in a harmful depletion of the country’s social capital. But this process is not unique to America. It has identifiable parallels in contemporary Israeli society.

There is no compelling need to construct an ideology of justification for the “normal” life, here or anywhere. No gratification of the senses or of the mind is beyond reach, a fact which reflects favorably on the high level of personal freedom that Israeli citizens enjoy, despite the constant assault on the country’s security and continuity from within and without. Indeed, such a program will run its course the instant it has been attained.

It should also be noted that the advocates of the “normal” life do not envisage their program coexisting with the fulfillment of collective, idealistic national goals, but displacing them instead. Here, they seem to have abandoned the culturally pluralistic, democratic norms of an open society, which in other contexts they stridently and aggressively profess.

Another limiting factor is the unstated reality that the type of solution they advocate is intended essentially for the middle class and is beyond the reach of the poor. In contrast, the vision of the heavenly Jerusalem as a policy ideal retains its vitality and universality, not the least because it is deeply rooted in Jewish religion and culture and makes demands upon the finest human virtues. Many Israelis still hope to build a cohesive society based on the principles of justice and compassion and thus raise the earthly Jerusalem closer to the heavens. If William Blake set his mind to building the heavenly Jerusalem in England, it is no less honorable to share this vision for Israel, the Jewish state.

Jerusalem