May 2021 Conflict

I see that bashing the Israelis leads to the bashing of Diaspora Jews. Our fates are tied. Better, our fate is one. And yet this oneness of fate I see not in the return of the Jews to the land of Israel, for what would this accomplish? I see it in our struggle to master the condition foisted upon us by modernity of having to balance between our individuality and our belonging to a group. The prospect of being able to choose whether to be Jewish is illusory; the only choice is whether to deal honorably or dishonorably with one’s fate as a Jew. But there is only so much one can do to reconcile a psychological rift occasioned by circumstances outside of oneself. It is like the condition of the woman, forced by emancipation to fend for herself, yet at the same time forced to be feminine if she wants to achieve a certain aspect of what it would mean for her to accomplish that goal. It puts her at cross-purposes.