In my most recent blog posting, I included a link to Ruth Calderone's inaugural speech to the Knesset. Ruth Calderone is a leader in Yair Lapid's new "Yesh Atid" ("There is a Future") Party, which may very well find itself in the next Israeli government. I met Ruth Calderone at the Hartman Institute several years ago. She is a very bright, creative and inspiring educational visionary. She founded two separate programs in which secular Israelis study Talmud and other Jewish texts. Eventually, she was persuaded to enter politics, and she's now one of the fifty-some women in the new Knesset. Her inaugural speech (which can be accessed here) may one day be seen as a critical turning point in the decades-long effort to bridge the gap between the datiim (the Orthodox) and the hiloniim (the secular) in Israeli society.
Yet another fascinating inaugural speech is attracting attention. This one was also given by yet another new female member of Knesset. I'm referring to Merav Michaeli of the Labor (Avodah) Party. (The Avodah Party has a long, illustrious past, but it has dwindled in support over the years. It will probably not be included in the government that Bibi Netanyahu is seeking to form.) In Michaeli's speech, she reclaimed an important part of her -- and Israel's -- past.
Merav Michaeli's grandfather was Israel Kastner, who was once an important and influential European Jewish communal leader. After World War II, however, when news of his role in negotiating with the Nazis on behalf of the Yishuv (Israel's pre-state Jewish community) to rescue Jews was revealed, he was condemned by the Israeli public and his life came to an ignominious end. Much has been written about the "Kastner Affair." (I have a fine book by Amos Elon on my shelf.) To learn about this fascinating and still very controversial story, I recommend an article from Haaretz which you can access here. After reading it, I highly recommend watching the video clip of Michaeli's speech (which includes English subtitles).
Michaeli's speech is much more than an ode to her late grandfather. In fact, it's a rather bold critique of Israeli society, interesting and important in its own right. But bringing up the story of Israel Kastner is a reminder that the shadow cast by the Holocaust on Israeli society (and, of course, on the Jewish people) is very, very long. The issues have never really gone away. Think of the rhetoric employed when many Israeli and American Jewish leaders discuss the Iranian nuclear threat and the role that American Jews should or shouldn't play in addressing that. Supporters often invoke (only to condemn) the memory of those who stood by and did nothing, or (even worse) those who sought to appease Hitler and the Nazis. The implication is clear: we must emulate men and women like Hannah Szenes who risked (and sometimes gave) their lives to fight the enemies of the Jewish people, rather than men and women like Israel Kastner who negotiated with the Nazis.
It will be interesting to see whether the resurrection of the story of Israel Kastner will have an impact on how American Jewish leaders will confront the Iranian threat--and how they will be viewed.
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