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But the most important reason to aim higher is not practical, but moral and Jewish. A normal state is not enough to justify Jewish history. What has been the point of surviving all this time if the objective is normalcy or, even less, just survival? The debate over whether Israel must be just a refuge or a "light unto the nations" is as old as Zionism itself. In practice, the refuge model has largely won out, as seen in the emphasis on the Holocaust in defining the national identity and mission. Yet while Israel's existence is a real posthumous victory against Hitler, an Israel that is only survivalist is a posthumous victory for Hitler. Why should we, in effect, adopt anti-Semitic objections to our mission? Anti-Semitism - especially Hitler's - has always been rooted in hatred of the Jewish moral message to the world. An Israel that does not think and act seriously about bolstering the Jewish people as a whole, with the purpose of advancing this message, has forgotten why it was important for us not to disappear like most other ancient peoples. Gai Ben Hinnom is the source of the word Gehenna, or hell, because it is where pagans would sacrifice children. Judaism succeeded in spreading monotheism, supplanting the paganism of the ancient world. There is more for us to do. The Jewish people is not the only group that should be aiming to bring the world to the next moral level, but we certainly should be one of them. To begin, Israel must take responsibility not only for itself, but for strengthening the Jewish people as a whole.
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- Editorial Page Editor Saul Singer is author of the book, Confronting Jihad: Israel's Struggle & the World After 9/11
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