The Triumph of Military Zionism: Nationalism and The Origins of The Israeli Right (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Triumph Of Military Zionism: Nationalism And The Origins Of The Israeli Right Arye Naor (bio) Colin Shindler , The Triumph Of Military Zionism: Nationalism And The Origins Of The Israeli Right, Palgrave Macmillan, London and New York, 2006, 267 pages + index The Talmud tells that Moses asked God to show him how the Torah would be interpreted in future generations. God showed him Rabbi Akiva and his students discussing something and Moses could not understand what they meant. Moses was depressed, but then a student asked the rabbi how he had come to that conclusion, and the rabbi said, "Halakha [Jewish law] to Moses from Sinai," and Moses was calmed down.1 This beautiful midrash (talmudic literature containing legends based on biblical verses and a collection of Jewish laws with homiletic interpretations) explains briefly how the meaning an author attributes to her or his text is changed by future interpreters, who attribute to the text a meaning that may be essentially different from the one the author had in mind when he wrote it. This is exactly what Menachem Begin did with the teaching of Ze'ev Jabotinsky, according to the persuasive interpretation of Colin Shindler. The difference between Moses and Jabotinsky, in this regard, is that the latter had good reason to realize what Begin and the rest of the radical Revisionists might do with the ideology of which he was the main creator, since they had argued with him about that during his life time. It is agreed among Zionism historians that the original Jabotinsky was different from the image that Begin gave him for political reasons, mainly as a legitimizing source.2 Beyond philological analysis, Shindler has succeeded in portraying the dramatic ideological struggle between Jabotinsky and his radical followers, Begin among them, who later might have said like Rabbi Akiva in the Talmudic legend that this is "halakha to Moses from Sinai", i.e., this is what the Jabotinsky heritage really means. As Shindler mentions (p. 12) his book is not a biography of Jabotinsky, ". . . but it does document Jabotinsky's identity as an authoritarian, secular, national liberal, someone who looked to Garibaldi, Mazzini, and the early 19th century national revolutionary tradition—when nationalism was a [End Page 174] progressive force." This is the fundamental reason why he definitely refused the radicals' offers to adopt Fascism. Instead he ". . . inspired his followers to turn themselves into 'new Jews', no longer the downtrodden and despised of the Ghetto. He taught them to see themselves as the spiritual heirs of King David who would break with history, demolish the Ghetto walls and build the Jewish State." His ideology had universal aspects of individualism and liberalism, which the radicals—at least some of them—rejected. According to Shindler's interpretation, Begin also "preferred the Maximalist ideal of stripping Zionism of its universalist aspect" (p. 13). This interpretation of Begin is questionable, since he always used universal principles as the basis for his own ideology and rhetoric. As Shindler writes himself (p. 219) Begin invoked Masaryk, Lafayette, Jefferson, and Thomas Paine in his broadcast on the Irgun radio May 15, 1948, some 24 hours after the declaration of Israel's independence (Shindler's is a partial list; Begin mentioned also Washington, Cornwallis, and Lee, as well as Biblical verses on the proper relationship with minorities). From his earlier times in Poland to his premiership years in Israel, he made universal values sources for his concept of liberal nationalism. However, Begin, much more than Jabotinsky, used rituals and ideals of Jewish particularity. The impression that Jabotinsky made on his audiences was more universal than the impression Begin made. As Shindler mentions (p. 16) Jabotinsky's inner circle were Russian emigrants. They preferred speaking in Russian, and Jabotinsky himself wrote most of his literal works in that language, to which he also translated a selection of poems by Bialik. He was a European, secular intellectual like his great Zionist predecessors Herzl and Nordau, and like them his Weltanschauung and intellectual interests were cosmopolitan.3 From that perspective, Begin was very different: he was much more Jewish and less cosmopolitan than they had been. Jabotinsky, says Schindler, ". . . reflected his positivist philosophy in...