The Shaping of Israeli Identity

the long version

In contemporary Israel, with its technological sophistication, its more easy-going individualism and all-too-cynical knowingness, nothing, it would seem, is sacred any more. The old heroes, the ideal of self-sacrificing patriotism, collectivist ideologies or the naive cult of the Sabra (native-born Israeli) seem increasingly out of date - at least to much of the liberal and leftish intelligentsia or the new professionals seeking access to the warming prosperity of the global economy. It is the stock exchange rather than the Kibbutz, technocracy instead of Zionist visions, the dream of quick profits not Hebrew prophets, which sets the tone for much of present-day Israeli society. In this kind of climate, in which there are no great causes left, debunking the founding fathers and myths of Israel has become a national sport. For the left, this is a welcome part of the new maturity in Israel, a healthy and necessary process of adapting to modernity, and freeing the country from its imprisonment in outmoded ideologies and dogmas. By the same token, this trend is seen on the right as undermining the ethos, the ideals and goals of Zionism - as a blow to the self-sustaining convictions and belief-systems that have animated the country from its inception. The essays in this volume seek to avoid both these extremes, while reflecting some of the intensity and depth of the revision of the Israeli past which is now taking place.