27 January 2011

They see no narrative

When authority indoctrinates it does so after seizing power; when legitimacy indocrinates it does so after losing power. 
The indocrination of the Jewish people comes out of its sense of powerlessness. The Jews will deserve forgiveness, and thus redemption, when they begin to exercise some power collectively to implement God's will in the world. Until then the Torah world will endeavor to explain all events as undeserved and thus as the result of some magical, mysterious forces in the spiritual cosmos. 
The Dati leUmi world is wrestling with making ahistorical the most profoundly historical events in the story of the Jewish people. The Dati leUmi world is struggling to efface the story of national redemption because that story centers on the secular portion of the Jewish people rather than on the traditional portion; and so, from the traditional perspective the events do not constitute a story. They see no narrative. All they see are random, incontrovertible facts. 

No comments:

Post a Comment