Israel, the light unto the nation that’s gone solar

A remarkable event is happening in Basel, Switzerland, this coming week. Jewish leaders from across the globe will gather at the exact place, exactly 125 years later, where Theodor Herzl chaired the First Zionist Congress in August 1897.

The Zionist Organization, which became known as the World Zionist Organization, was thus established, and set in motion the re-establishment of a sovereign Jewish state after 2 000 years. These events permanently changed Jewish and global history, and we have a duty to remind ourselves of this fact.

On 3 September 1897, a few days after the conference, Herzl wrote in his diary, “Were I to sum up the Basel Congress in a word – which I shall guard against pronouncing publicly – it would be this: at Basel, I founded the Jewish state. If I said this out loud today, l would be greeted by universal laughter.”

There’s laughter, 125 years after Herzl’s prescient words, but it’s that of joy and happiness.

What was denied to the Jews for so many difficult centuries is now taken for granted, and Jews have the good fortune to be able to live or return to Israel freely and live with meaning and self-determination in fulfilment of the Zionist dream.

Each year at the Passover seder, we remind ourselves of our liberation as slaves from Egypt into the promised land. No less should a Zionist conference remind us of our emancipation from a stateless people into a people with a state, and the responsibility we have of protecting, maintaining, and developing Israel and through her, our Jewish identity.

The 125th anniversary conference is a time to reinforce the message that this dream needs continuous work, development, and reinvigoration. It’s also an opportunity to send a message to the world that we’re Zionists, we’re still here, and we’re Jews with a state that protects us and transcends its desire to destroy us.

We’re returning to Basel 125 years later with a state and with all the baggage that this brings with it, inside Israel and across the diaspora. It’s not easy to be a Jew, it’s certainly not easy to be the Jew among nations, and it’s definitely not easy to stand up for our Jewish identity and our beloved Israel.

Blatant, overt, and vocal hatred of Jews isn’t politically correct anymore, and thus, antisemites find it easier to metamorphose their hatred of the Jew into that of Israel. Anti-Zionism is the new antisemitism, and it’s a significant challenge for those of us in the diaspora who are at the coalface of antisemitism as anti-Zionism.

The South African Zionist Federation (itself almost 125 years old) is at the forefront of this fight, representing and defending the most Zionist community in the world in one of the most hostile anti-Zionistic climates. This dual challenge we face in the diaspora of promoting Zionism and at the same time fighting anti-Zionism isn’t well understood inside Israel, and we come to Basel to discuss how to navigate this complex environment.

The 125th anniversary conference is also an opportunity to reaffirm our individual and collective Zionist spirit, identify the challenges facing the Jewish world today, and create a path towards a great future.

We need to consider how to maintain and build a sense of Zionism within our Jewish community, and how to develop young Zionist leaders who will passionately take this spirit forward. This could be a conversation about reaching younger members of the Jewish community at their points of interest and affinity.

Alongside teaching our children about the miracles of the Six-Day War and the reunification of Jerusalem, we ought to get them excited about the miracle of Israeli innovation that is omnipresent in our lives from the computer chips and mobile apps we use, to the vegetables we eat and the solar panels on our roofs.

The astounding technological prowess of Israel in numerous areas including water, agriculture, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and others means we can benefit from – and promote – Israel’s solutions to the problems we face such as water and electricity shortages in South Africa. It’s a modern fact of Zionism that Israel is the light unto nations, but today, that light is solar-powered.

Like Jewish ingenuity, our conversations around Israel and Zionism have also progressed over time. This presents many exciting discussion points at Basel and into the future. In the past, Zionist conferences may have been about building and developing the land, attracting donations, investment, and skills from the stronger Jewish diaspora into Israel, protecting the people, and fostering what some Zionist thinkers called the “new Jew”.

In many ways, the spectacular economic success of Israel over the past few decades has meant that she is now the parent who now looks after us. She ensures that we’re able to be strong in the diaspora because she’s strong; she gives us the protection we need because we know we can return to her in difficult (or good) times.

Because of Israel, we’re no longer the Jews of trembling knees. We’re prepared to fight for our survival as Jews because of her miraculous survival. We’re proud Zionists with a thriving Jewish state that’s more accepted in the world and in her neighbourhood than ever before, and that ought to bring us much satisfaction.

I wonder if those Jews in 1897, crowded into that first Zionist conference in Basel, could ever have imagined that we Jews are now living in their wildest dreams, 125 years on.

• Rowan Polovin is national chairperson of the South African Zionist Federation.