As diaspora Jews, many of us are experiencing this moment in our history as an existential crisis. Indeed, not so much on a physical level like in Israel, but definitely on a psychological, maybe even spiritual level.
Looking back on the past three years of ongoing debates about Zionism, Judaism and Antisemitism, it seems fair to say that all of that is obsolete in face of the historical developments we are witnessing.
While the world engages (again) in debates on whether Zionism is racism, Herzl and Jabotinsky have probably never been discussed as much and by as many people as right now, on the global scale of YouTube and Twitter. And yet we as a people have moved beyond it, beyond their era, their ideas, their limitations. Perhaps in the Hegelian sense of Aufhebung, we've moved on and upward to a new level in our history.
Thousands of diaspora Jews joined our soldiers at home and went into battle together - not quoting Herzl, not reciting Jabotinsky, but with the Torah. In other words, with Moses. Is this Zionism? Is this Judaism? And more importantly, why does it matter? It's quite impossible to imagine the soldiers coming together, fighting together, with any other flag than the one with the Star of David.
On this new level we are transitioning to, these differentiations and debates don't make a lot of sense. It's somewhat like going back to the debates on assimilation as a good and realistic Jewish answer to Antisemitism and its Jewish Question. It might have made sense in the 19th century. But nowadays? Since Dreyfus, since the Holocaust, since Israel such ideas don't make much sense outside of historical research. Similarly, and with all due respect to Herzl and Jabotinsky, it seems we've outgrown them too.
So yes, we are transitioning again. Beyond classical Zionism, beyond exilic Judaism, onto a new level, a symbiosis that elevates former distinctions to a new actuality - a new physical, political, and spiritual reality.
Transitions aren't easy. Paradigm shifts and identity development can be frightening. And it can all feel as an existential crisis, especially for us as individual people. But as a people, we are well experienced in going through challenging historical moments. And it is in our peoplehood, in our solidarity with each other, that we, as diaspora Jews as well as in Israel, can find resilience.