Introduction:
The establishment of the State was the watershed of Zionism. After the Holocaust and the mass immigration from Middle Eastern countries, the country’s leaders lost their way. Instead of integrating women and people from various ethnic groups as well as talented youngsters into the leadership of the country, they continued to appoint people like themselves as replacements. These miscalculations continued until the Yom Kippur War and the subsequent political earthquake. But, as it turns out, the successor generation also failed to learn this elementary basic lesson; in order to progress one must dare to forge new paths, not stick to the old ones.
In Conclusion:
The most audacious Jews of the last hundred years were the pioneers of the Second Aliya. They took Zionism far from its accustomed routine. It was they who shrugged off the old and dared to realize a dream that had far-reaching consequences. It was they who left their Torah studies to establish settlements at the ends of the earth, in border areas. But after the establishment of the State, its leaders were overcome with routine, mediocrity, hesitation, lack of daring, listlessness and constant fear of forging new paths. It was the same after the dramatic changes of 1977, and is still the case today, despite the political “big bang” brought about by Sharon and the establishment of Kadima. The country’s leaders are still very clear about what they do not want, but are unable to decide what they do want.
