REALIZING THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEMThe Academy of Jerusalem Monographs - #3 March 95
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7. Consequent Implications of the symbolsFurther implications can be derived from the primary meanings of the Heavenly Jerusalem already explored by joining these meanings together and putting them into the context of real-world problems. The following brief illustrations can be expanded in greater detail. 7.1 Teaching Wholeness, City Building, and Urban Living: Designing CivilizationCivilization literally means urban living. Israel, in common with all the contemporary world, suffers from our incapacity to comprehend and master systems that are as complex as cities; therefore the need for cohesive design is very great. The symbol of the Heavenly Jerusalem suggests social goals that are complex, yet coherent and harmonious. The orientation for achieving this goal is likely to combine the principles of "The New Torah of Zion": attention to urban living and the development of skills akin to the Talmudic excellence in designing complete and coherent ways of life. The mastery of modern planning-arts and a holistic technology for material and behavioral issues would be needed to actualize a "model society" in Israel, attested by its urban environment. Back to Contents page 7.2 Building Bridges to Peace & Joining Together: Encouraging FederalismMany Israeli political scientists have advocated peace settlement through some federal-type arrangement, but they express concern about the lack of cultural and ideological support for such ideas among either Israelis or Arabs. In the past, many federation and cantonization plans have been aired (including by Ben Avi in the 20's, Ben Gurion in the 30's, and even Shimon Peres in the 70's), but they failed to raise interest and win the support of most Israelis, let alone the Arabs. A few years ago this author proposed a cantonization plan for the whole Eretz-Yisrael/Palestine area (Hayut-Man, l975). It was argued, for instance, that a 8-12 state/canton federation would be less polarized than two states, Israeli and Palestinian, confronting each other, and the proposed pattern might alleviate the need to re-divide Jerusalem by making its whole region into a state. It was realized that there is a prior need to help people think of the problem in systemic terms rather than in simple categories (of identity, sovereignty, state, etc.) and to have super-ordinate goals that place value on pluralism. A new solution must appeal to the respective Jewish and Palestinian diasporas no less than the idea of separate national states, or other forms of "national entity," by having a comprehensible, and more attractive image. These attempts have underlined the value of the symbol of the Heavenly Jerusalem. It appears to be no accident that the prophet Ezekiel's vision of the Heavenly Jerusalem, from which the whole concept grew, also included a vision of the future organization of the whole Land of Israel into a union of twelve tribal (today we would say "ethnic canton") units (Ezekiel 47-48). Ezekiel, Mikha, and Isaiah placed value not on the might of a new unified Kingdom, but on higher ideals for Zion by her distinction in cultural and moral achievements, and the Psalm quoted earlier sees the value of "the built Jerusalem" specifically as "where the tribes ascend together." We saw that this is the type of organization that appears most congenial for the development of richer civilization. This possibility of increasing the "intelligence" of the land by structuring it as a compact federation of fairly autonomous units is very appropriate to the Heavenly Jerusalem. It is also legitimate to identify the heavenly city as a symbol of the "Noosphere" or the making of the whole earth into a super-conscious being. There appears to be a world-wide trend toward trying new federative arrangements. Yet while they all have their rationales, one important question has not been explored: to what extent can these arrangements help to make the whole earth intelligent? Encouragement of the Middle East Federation as a seed pattern which might be reproduced world-wide, is also a good start for the realization of the Heavenly Jerusalem. Back to Contents page 7.3 City Building, Urban Living & Joining Together: The Earthly JerusalemThe symbol of the Heavenly Jerusalem could help to resolve one problem area that can make or break the peace process, that is the question of the city of Jerusalem. Jewish reverence for Jerusalem and insistence over its unification often blind us to the validity of self rule in the non-Jewish sectors. However, the reality of the existence of immense ethnic and religious diversity may eventually force all sides to seek higher types of unification - types of unity-within-diversity such as those found in nature, rather than as the projections of simplistic concepts. Such an order has been mentioned in the case of the cybernetic tessellations and the mosaic patterns. In concrete terms of urban management this may mean neighborhoods that are self-sufficient in their maintenance and weekly and yearly rhythms, but which are influenced by their neighbors in the timing of renewal activities and population changes (which may cover periods of several decades). An example of self-sufficiency is a central collection of municipal taxes, with a sizeable percentage of the intake going back to each neighborhood, to be spent, at the discretion of its own council, without detailed budgeting from the central metropolitan council. The central council would plan and administer metropolitan-scale plans to be undertaken as joint ventures whenever they impinge upon a neighborhood. Self-sufficiency would also mean the local availability of the required technical skills, just as it is desirable to have local doctors. The recommendation for Jerusalem and its sharpening ethnic problems would be for division into a fairly large number of neighborhoods, each having its own effective council. There would be over 20 such neighborhoods, including several Arab ones, rather than a single municipality of East Jerusalem. The Old City of Jerusalem, with its distinct Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian Quarters, provides a model that can be applied further, perhaps over a much larger area than even the currently expanded Jerusalem municipality, into a whole region-state, as mentioned above. The resultant rich mosaic would allow many types of dialogues to take place, where the dialogue can be sustained to the point of producing understandings rather than mere accommodations. Back to Contents page 7.4 Yahadut & Teaching Wholeness: Israel and the WorldAs stated earlier, for at least the last two decades, "Zionism" has acquired a negative connotation in world opinion. For the non-Jews, Zionism is a very earthly and prosaic goal for a little group who are no longer seen as underdogs. The search for meaning is growing in the world, but on a very broad and therefore shallow front. A time of spiritual hunger has arrived, as prophesied by Amos, but the searchers rarely turn to Zionism and to Israel. The bold proclamation of the long-range and timely goals of Zionism, as associated with the new global vision, would re-introduce a sympathetic interest in our approach. A Zionist experiment which includes a scientific-cultural enterprise could be an important model for study and application in both the overdeveloped and the underdeveloped countries. Alternative social experiments have been made earlier in Cuba or China which inspired idealist youth in many places; this is hardly so today. The intentions expressed in this essay concerning Israel's future would, if fulfilled to any appreciable extent, make Israel attractive to the best in every land and give the country a new role. Currently, for example, Marxism and Socialism have lost their appeal and vitality. This may be because socialism has kept its sights down to the ground, and neglected the Heavenly Jerusalem which Socialism knew at the start. We can envisage instead the new Torah from Zion, that is, from the Heavenly Jerusalem and her practical building. I would suggest calling this concept "The Torah of Yahadut" (cummunalism) - the amity that is built through individuation (hityahadut). 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Epilogue
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References
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