At the risk of sacrilege, I left the latest Commentary, with Hillel Halkin’s piece on the "achievement" of the settlements, in the bathroom, anticipating that during the holiday festivities I might have a few quiet moments to share with it. And lo, it came to pass. The piece, a review of the great book Lords of the Land, by Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar, contains one shocking statement. Halkin said that even if the most religious settlements weren’t a great idea, they appealed to his "heart."
I can remember in the 1970’s and 80’s, when it was already clear to me that Gush Emunim-type settlements in the heart of the West Bank were a mistake, I nevertheless thrilled to each new one of them that was established. Such Jewish feelings are alien to Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar, who do not begin to comprehend what they are about…
Note that Halkin, and Commentary, are defining what "Jewish" feelings are and what they are not: to be Jewish is to be thrilled by religious colonialism. How shameful that so many American Jewish publications regularly give space to Halkin, and that no one from my camp, of alienated-from-Israel American Jews, is there to contend with such parochial definitions of identity.
