June 26, 2011

Anxiety and Absurdity in the State of Israel

By Louis René Beres
Credo quia absurdum.  "I believe because it is absurd."  Israel, in the fashion of every other nation, shrinks from annihilation.  How could it be otherwise?  Oddly, although Israel's particular existential perils are now plain and unprecedented, there is little evident anxiety about collective death and national disappearance. In conversation, what does one Israeli say to another?  Beseder: "Everything will be alright."  This is, of course, a perfectly understandable and fully human reaction.  Still, in view of current survival threats, it is also absurd. Every Jew is familiar with Deuteronomy 30:19.  "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse.  Therefore, choose life, that you and your descendants may live."  But in choosing life, there must always be a prior and even palpable anxiety about death.  Without such anxiety, there can be no adequate understanding of what is needed in order to live. What is true...(Read Full Article)