Yehoshua v. Sharansky - Zionism Without Judaism

Rebutting A. B. Yehoshua's recent speech at the conference of the American Jewish Committee, Natan Sharansky opines in Haaretz - Israel News: "Yehoshua's remarks about the relations between Israel and the Diaspora, as infuriating as they may be, disturb me less than the way he described his own identity: My identity is Israeli, he said. The Jewish religion does not play a role in my life; it is the territory and the language that build my identity. "

Sharansky does not cite a single Zionist writer. He does not cite a single Jewish theologian or philosopher.

Yehoshua

Hillel Halkin Defended Yehoshua - Sorta - see Cat Among The Pigeons - May 9, 2006 - The New York Sun - NY News: "'In light of all the dangers to Israel that we have been talking about, don't you think it's a good idea that the Jews of the world, too, are divided into two camps, one of which is in the Diaspora?' To which I replied without thinking: 'You know, if, God forbid, Israel should some day be destroyed or go under, I couldn't care less about the Jews of the Diaspora or what happened to them.'"

Among the many intellectuals who serve as the underpinnings for Yehoshua is Professor Menahem Brinker: "Brinker's View of Jewishness draws upon common assumptions that were shared by late 19th-century Hebrew authors in Eastern Europe. He approaches the question of Jewish education in our time by exploring the application of these shared assumptions to present-day realities."

See here for a summary of Brinker's commentaries which are based on Ahad Ha-Am, Berdyczewski and Brenner.

You tell 'em A. B.!