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Amichai Lau-Lavie
She was born on May 14, 1948, inside the Tel Aviv Art Museum, while a bloody war blazed on. She was named ′Israel′ but there were heated disputes about the name, leading right up to the ceremony - ′Judah′ came in second and ′Zion′ came in third. David Ben-Gurion, the midwife, Bible in hand, announced the name ′Israel′, citing the 2,000 times that name appears in the ′eternal book of books that our people gave to the human race′. But Ben-Gurion didn′t mention, and most Israelis and Jews don′t remember, is that the name originated with a single individual′s journey, a mythic ancestor who one night wrestled with a stranger and was then renamed ′Israel′ - the one who wrestles with the divine.
60 years later, Israel is still wrestling, and in order to relate to, and truly become part of Israel, one must explore the roots of the name - understand the legacy, and connect to the symbolic significance of its implications. ′Becoming Israel′ is the product of this exploration - a deeply personal process of study and investigation, asking difficult questions and finding inspiring answers. For over two years Storahtelling artists and educators have been wrestling with this story, co-creating a delicate and compelling adaptation of an ancient story as it lives today.
I began this process with specific questions: As an Israeli living in the United States, and as a Jew living with the inherited sagas of my people - how can I live up to the radical hopes and aspirations that the founding of Israel invites me to become? How do I truly ′become′ Israel - wrestling with life′s complexities and inspiring others to become part of this bold vision as well? Beyond the birthright that makes me Israeli or you American - what does it mean to become identified with Israel′s compelling reality? Using the Storahtelling methodology of translating the past into a usable present - I went back into our old stories searching for new meaning and guidance.
In the book of Genesis, Jacob is yet one more hero struggling to secure an inheritance. Like Abel, Isaac, Rachel and Joseph - he is not a firstborn and not originally chosen to lead - but like some of them, and more than all of them- Jacob will actually become the spiritual firstborn, assuming a birthright and role that supersedes natural selection and imposes a will and a new direction. Beyond birthright and towards a future of eternal challenges - Jacob becomes Israel by battling his demons, wrestling with his past, and surviving the wars, limping across the river into the homeland of promises.
His story has taught me that to become Israel - to embrace my identity as a part of Israel - is to accept the internal strife that makes up the human spirit. To become Israel is to walk, sometimes limp, in ancestral footsteps and bravely face the obstacles that may prevent one from attaining one′s dreams. To become Israel is to recognize that "the war of brothers was rooted in the granite of the universe," as Arthur Waskow wrote, "making it possible for Jacob to turn conflict into embraces."
"Every generation needs a new revolution," wrote Tomas Jefferson, another midwife of another modern nation. As the 21st century dawns and Israel is looking ahead to the next 60 years and beyond, it is my hope that present and future generations will discover new ways of becoming Israel, and revolutionize the way we all take on the birthright of the name, identity and title - and truly be the ones worthy of eternally becoming Israel.
Annie Levy, April 2008
I remember the first time I heard the word "Yisrael" translated as "God Wrestler." I had never heard it translated as anything other than "Israel," a place and an identity. But this new translation fit—to be Yisrael was to wrestle.
Storahtelling has tackled the story of Jacob wrestling many times, creating many different incarnations (one could say that, as a company, we have wrestled with the wrestling). And just as we imagine that an all night spar between man and divine would take on many forms, so has our wrestling with the text changed shape -- we have explored it, unpacked it, retold it and danced with it, creating draft upon draft of modern midrash for this ancient story.
Now we are taking the story further, exploring what this event, this renaming, means in the greater context of Israel, the state, the place and the idea. What it was, what it is and what it is becoming. We each have our own individual relationship to Israel. And, for many of us, it′s a complex relationship -- a connection but also an awareness of the issues that accompanied that connection. The idea of wrestling implies process over end result, a question and not an answer.
′Becoming Israel′ is based on the creative adaptation of the biblical text of Genesis, chapter 32, verses 22-33, as well as other references to Jacob, Leah and Rachel in the Book of Genesis. Scroll down for the Hebrew and various translations of theses texts.
And Rachel said: ′With Godlike wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed.′ And she called his name Naphtali. Genesis 30:8
Jacob was left alone — Now a man wrestled with him until the coming up of dawn. He said to him: What is your name? And he said: Jacob. Then he said: Not as Jacob, Heel-Sneak shall your name be henceforth uttered, But rather as Israel/God-Fighter, For you have fought with God and men and have prevailed. GENESIS 33: 23-33 (EVERETT FOX TRANSLATION)
THE HOLY BIBLE: KING JAMES VERSION
22: And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. 23: And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had. 24: And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 25: And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob′s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26: And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. 27: And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. 28: And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. 29: And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. 30: And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. 31: And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. 32: Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob′s thigh in the sinew that shrank.
COMMENTARY ON THE TORAH, Richard Friedman
23 And he got up in that night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven boys and crossed the Jabbok ford. 24 And he took them and had them cross the wadi, and he had everything that was his cross. 25 And Jacob was left by himself. And a man wrestled with him until the dawn′s rising. 26 And he saw that he was not able against him, and he touched the inside of his thigh, and the inside of Jacob′s thigh was dislocated during his wrestling with him. 27 And he said, "Let me go, because the dawn has risen." And he said, "I won′t let you go unless you bless me." 28 And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." 29 And he said, "Your name won′t be said ′Jacob′ anymore but ′Israel,′ because you′ve struggled with God and with people and were able." 30 And Jacob asked, and he said, "Tell me your name." And he said, "Why is this that you ask my name?" And he blessed him there 31 And Jacob called the place′s name Peni-El, "because I′ve seen God face-toface, and my life has been delivered." 32 And the sun rose on him as he passed Penuel, and he was faltering on hi thigh. 33 On account of this the children of Israel to this day will not eat the tendon of the vein that is on the inside of the thigh, because he touched the inside of Jacob′s thigh, the tendon of the vein.
THE JPS TRANSLATION (1917)
23 That same night he arose, and taking his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children, he crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 24 After taking them across the stream, he sent across all his possessions. 25 Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. 26 When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he wrenched Jacob′s hip at its socket, so that the socket of his hip was strained as he wrestled with him. 27 Then he said, "Let me go, for dawn is breaking." But he answered, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." 28 Said the other, "What is your name?" He replied, "Jacob." 29 Said he, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed." 30 Jacob asked, "Pray tell me your name." But he said, "You must not ask my name!" And he took leave of him there. 31 So Jacob named the place Peniel, meaning, "I have seen a divine being face to face, yet my life has been preserved." 32 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping on his hip. 33 That is why the children of Israel to this day do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the socket of the hip, since Jacob′s hip socket was wrenched at the thigh muscle.
THE FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES, EVERETT FOX
23 He arose during that night, took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children to cross the Yabbok crossing. 24 He took them and brought them across the river; he brought across what belonged to him. 25 And Yaakov was left alone— Now a man wrestled with him until the coming up of dawn. 26 When he saw that he could not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; the socket of Yaakov′s thigh had been dislocated as he wrestled with him. 27 Then he said: Let me go, For dawn has come up! But he said: I will not let you go Unless you bless me. 28 He said to him: What is your name? And he said: Yaakov. 29 Then he said: Not as Yaakov/Heel-Sneak shall your name be henceforth uttered, But rather as Yisrael/God-Fighter, For you have fought with God and men and have prevailed. 30 Then Yaakov asked and said: Pray tell me your name! But he said: Now why do you ask after my name? And he gave him farewell-blessing there. 31 Yaakov called the name of the Place: Peniel/Face of God, for: I have seen God, face to face, and my life has been saved. 32 The sun rose on him as he crossed by Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh. 33 --Therefore the Children of Israel do not eat the sinew that is on the socket of the thigh until this day, for he had touched the socket of Yaakov′s thigh at the sinew.
Scroll down to read various sources from Midrash and Rabbinic literature interpreting Jacob′s wrestling:
1. Dawn
′WHO IS SHE WHO LOOKES LIKE THE DAWN′ (Song of Songs) It is related that Rabbi Hiyya and Rabbi Simeon ben Halafta were once walking in the valley of Arbel in the early morning, and as they saw the dawn coming up Rabbi Hiyya Rabbah said to Rabbi Simeon ben Halafta: "This is how the redemption of Israel will emerge, as it is written, ′Though I sit in darkness, God is a my light′ (Micah 8: 8). At first she comes on little by little, then she begins to sparkle, then she gathers strength, and spreads over the sky." Midrash Rabbah - The Song of Songs 6:25
2. Alone
"And then Jacob was left alone..." It is written, "There is none like unto God, O Jeshurun" (Deut. 33:26)... Rabbi Berekhiah interpreted in the name of Rabbi Simon: There is none like God; yet who is like God? Jeshurun, which means Israel the Patriarch. Just as it is written of God, "And the Lord alone shall be exalted" (Isaiah 2:11), so of Jacob too: "And then Jacob was left alone." MIDRASH RABBAH - GENESIS 32:24
3. Wrestler
Who wrestled with Jacob? Rabbi Chama ben Rabbi Chanina said: It was the guardian angel of Esau. To this Jacob alluded when he said to Esau: "Forasmuch as I have seen your face, as one sees the face of God, and you were pleased with me" (Gen. 32:10). MIDRASH RABBAH - GENESIS 32:25
4. Wrestle
"And a man wrestled with him" The Rabbis said: He appeared to him in the guise of a brigand: each had flocks and each had camels, and he proposed to him: ′You take mine across and I will take yours.′ The angel then transported Jacob′s in the twinkling of an eye, whereas Jacob took some across, returned, and found more, took those across, returned, and found more and so on. ′You are a sorcerer,′ Jacob exclaimed. Rabbi Pinchas said: Our ancestor Jacob took a tuft of wool and stuffed it in the angel′s throat, exclaiming: ′You sorcerer, you sorcerer! Magicians do not succeed at night!′ Rabbi Huna said: Eventually the angel said to himself: ′Shall I not inform him with whom he is engaged? What did he do? He put his finger on the earth, whereupon the earth began spurting fire.′ Said Jacob to him: ′Would you terrify me with that! Why, I am altogether of that stuff!′ Thus it is written, "And the house of Jacob shall be a fire." (Obad. 1:18) MIDRASH RABBAH - GENESIS 32:25
5. New Name
"...Then Archangel Michael spoke to Jacob, saying: "A day will come when God will reveal Godself to you, and God will change your name, and I shall be present when your name changes. Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for happy you, of woman born, who entered the heavenly palace, and escaped with your life." And Michael blessed Jacob with the words, "May it be the will of God that your descendants be as pious as you." Midrash in Louis Ginzburg′s The Legends of the Jews
6. Excerpt from the Aramaic Pseudo-Jonathan Torah Translation:
And Jacob remained alone beyond the Jabok river; and an angel contended with him in the likeness of a man. And he said, Hast thou not promised to give the tenth of all that is thine? And, behold, thou hast ten sons and one daughter: nevertheless thou hast not tithed them. Immediately he set apart the four firstborn of the four mothers, and there remained eight. And he began to number from Shimon, and Levi came up for the tenth. Michael answered and said, Lord of the world is Thy lot. And on account of these things he (Michael) remained from God at the torrent till the column of the morning was ascending. And he saw that he had not power to hurt him, and he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob′s thigh was distorted in his contending with him. And he said, "Let me go, for the column of the morning ascended; and the hour cometh when the angels on high offer praise to the Lord of the world: and I am one of the angels of praise, but from the day that the world was created my time to praise hath not come until now." And he said, "I will not let thee go, until thou bless me." And he said, "What is thy name?" He answered, "Jacob." And he said, "Thy name shall be no more called Jacob but Israel, because thou art magnified with the angels of the Lord and with the mighty, and thou hast prevailed with them." And Jacob asked and said, "Show me now thy name." And he said, "Why dost thou ask for my name?" And he blessed Jacob there.
7. Highlights from THE LEGENDS OF THE JEWS, LOUIS GINZBERG: JACOB WRESTLES WITH THE ANGEL
The servants of Jacob went before him with the present for Esau, and he followed with his wives and his children. As he was about to pass over the ford of Jabbok, he observed a shepherd, who likewise had sheep and camels. The stranger approached Jacob and proposed that they should ford the stream together, and help each other move their cattle over, and Jacob assented, on the condition that his possessions should be put across first. In the twinkling of an eye Jacob′s sheep were transferred to the other side of the stream by the shepherd. Then the flocks of the shepherd were to be moved by Jacob, but no matter how many he took over to the opposite bank, always there remained some on the hither shore. There was no end to the cattle, though Jacob labored all the night through. At last he lost patience, and he fell upon the shepherd and caught him by the throat, crying out, "O thou wizard, thou wizard, at night no enchantment succeeds!" The angel thought, "Very well, let him know once for all with whom he has had dealings," and with his finger he touched the earth, whence fire burst forth. But Jacob said, "What! thou thinkest thus to affright me, who am made wholly of fire?"[247] The shepherd was no less a personage than the archangel Michael, and in his combat with Jacob he was assisted by the whole host of angels under his command. He was on the point of inflicting a dangerous wound upon Jacob, when God appeared, and all the angels, even Michael himself, felt their strength ooze away. Seeing that he could not prevail against Jacob, the archangel touched the hollow of his thigh, and injured him, and God rebuked him, saying, "Dost thou act as is seemly, when thou causest a blemish in My priest Jacob?" Michael said in astonishment, "Why, it is I who am Thy priest!" But God said, "Thou art My priest in heaven, and he is My priest on earth." Thereupon Michael summoned the archangel Raphael, saying, "My comrade, I pray thee, help me out of my distress, for thou art charged with the healing of all disease," and Raphael cured Jacob of the injury Michael had inflicted... Then Michael said unto Jacob, "How is it possible that thou who couldst prevail against me, the most distinguished of the angels, art afraid of Esau?" When the day broke, Michael said to Jacob, "Let me go, for the day breaketh," but Jacob held him back, saying, "Art thou a thief, or a gambler with dice, that thou fearest the daylight?" At that moment appeared many different hosts of angels, and they called unto Michael: "Ascend, O Michael, the time of song hath come, and if thou art not in heaven to lead the choir, none will sing." And Michael entreated Jacob with supplications to let him go, for he feared the angels of ′Arabot would consume him with fire, if he were not there to start the songs of praise at the proper time. Jacob said, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me," whereto Michael made reply: "Who is greater, the servant or the son? I am the servant, and thou art the son. Why, then, cravest thou my blessing?"[248] Jacob urged as an argument, "The angels that visited Abraham did not leave without blessing him," but Michael held, "They were sent by God for that very purpose, and I was not." Yet Jacob insisted upon his demand, and Michael pleaded with him, saying, "The angels that betrayed a heavenly secret were banished from their place for one hundred and thirty eight years. Dost thou desire that I should acquaint thee with what would cause my banishment likewise?" In the end the angel nevertheless had to yield; Jacob could not be moved, and Michael took counsel with himself thus: "I will reveal a secret to him, and if God demands to know why I revealed it, I will make answer, Thy children stand upon their wishes with Thee, and Thou dost yield to them. How, then, could I have left Jacob′s wish unfulfilled?" Then Michael spoke to Jacob, saying: "A day will come when God will reveal Himself unto thee, and He will change thy name, and I shall be present when He changeth it.[249] Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for happy thou, of woman born, who didst enter the heavenly palace, and didst escape thence with thy life." And Michael blessed Jacob with the words, "May it be the will of God that thy descendants be as pious as thou art."[250] ...And even then Jacob would not let the angel depart, he had to reveal his name to him first, and the angel made known to him that it was Israel, the same name that Jacob would once bear.[253] At last the angel departed, after Jacob had blessed him, and Jacob called the place of wrestling Penuel, the same place to which before he had given the name Mahanaim, for both words have but one meaning, the place of encounter with angels.[254]
Scroll below to read various contemporary literary and theological references to the
story of Jacob′s wrestling that guided and inspired the creation of ′Becoming Israel′Godwrestling: Jacob and Esau I wrestled again with my brother last week, First time since I was twelve and Grandma stopped us: "She won′t even let us fight!" we yelled, embracing, But she said talking was nicer. Wrestling feels a lot like making love. Why did Jacob wrestle with God, why did the others talk? God surely enjoyed that all night fling with Jacob: Told him he′d won, Renamed him and us the Godwrestler, Even left him a limp to be sure he′d remember it all. But ever since, we′ve talked — We′ve only talked. Did something peculiar happen that night? Did somebody say next day we shouldn′t wrestle? Who? We should wrestle again with our Comrade sometime soon. Wrestling feels a lot like making love. But Esau struggled to his feet from his own Wrestle, And gasped across the river to his brother: It also feels a lot like making war.
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, GodwrestlingSuffering in itself does not heal. Only suffering that has meaning and is accepted willingly has the power to heal and to transform an individual into a whole person.... Jung named this process of growth from one stage of awareness to another individuation. Transformation, or real change of character, can take place in a person only when, through suffering, he engages in an active struggle with the Shadow, the dark side of himself.
Esther Spitzer, "A Jungian Midrash on Jacob′s Dream"Indeed, the Zohar (Parshat Emor) noted that this confrontation between Jacob and the ish took place on Yom Kippur night, a time when all Jews wrestle with themselves. Certainly as Jacob crossed the brook and saw his own reflection, one that looked exactly like his twin, it was only natural that he would question himself.
Rabbi Gil MarksIn a very suggestive allegory, St Thomas gives a symbolic description of the theologian confronted with the mystery of God [(note: not specifically the Trinity, as requested)]. Calling to mind Jacob′s struggle with the angel he writes: ′The whole night they wrestled [(s′affrontèrent)], muscles straining, neither yielding [(muscles tenus, sans que l′un ou l′autre cédassent)]; but at daybreak the angel disappeared, apparently leaving the field clear to his adversary. But Jacob then felt a violent pain in his thigh [(un douleur vive à la cuisse)]. He was left wounded and limping [(blessé et claudicant)]. It is thus that the theologian grapples with the mystery [(le théologien affronte le mystère)] when God brings him face to face with it. He is taut, like a bent bow, grappling with human language [(tendu, comme arc-bouté à ses expressions humaines)]; he struggles like a wrestler [(en saisit les objects à bras-le-corps)]; he even seems to win the mastery [(s′enrendre maitre)]. But then he feels a weakness, a weakness at once painful and delicious [(une faiblesse douloureuse et delectable à la fois)], for to be thus defeated is in fact the proof that his combat was divine [(de son divin combat)]′
M. D. Chenu, Is theology a science?This time, in order to receive the blessing, Jacob must again answer the same question that the blind Isaac had asked decades earlier. Who are you? What is your name? This time Jacob utters the words, "I am Jacob," a symbolic rectification and reversal of his previous denial of self-identification. Jacob has replayed the moment that had encapsulated the relinquishing of his moral autonomy. Immediately, the adversary turned therapist - the one capable of bestowing blessings and restoring wholeness, primarily by listening and by asking the right questions - responds by saying: "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob but rather Yisrael, for you have struggled/confronted with the divine and the human.... Paradoxically - but surprisingly in consonance with various theories of the development of identity - only when fully acknowledging and internalizing one′s past can one′s identity evolve or proceed to the next stage of development. Jacob cannot become Yisrael until he can say, "I am Jacob." That this is the relationship between verses 28 and 29 - going back in order to go forward - is indicated as well by the backward-forward nature of the geography of the river crossings as psychological turf.
Shmuel Klitsner, Wrestling Jacob: Deception, Identity, and Fruedian Slips in Genesis, pp.128-9The essence of a nation is not synonymous with its physical appearance but with its spiritual character. No nation disappears completely until the spirit animating it is destroyed and disappears. The spiritual essence animating and distinguishing each people was personified. Just as the king of a nation represents its visible external linking and unifying factor, so its god represents its unifying and coherent inner essence.
Abraham Krochmal, Guide of the Perplexed of This Age
Why not Judea? Zion? State of the Hebrews?
Aharon Reuveni (1886-1972) was a Hebrew writer - and "an important talent," according to Yosef Haim Brenner, one of the most prominent literary figures in the Jewish community in pre-state Palestine. Reuveni was sharp-tongued and highly opinionated, and the literary-political establishment of the early 1930s imposed a "boycott of silence" on him. In 1935, Reuveni stopped writing fiction and focused his efforts on nonfiction. In the 1960s, he won new acclaim from the likes of critics such as Dan Meron and Gershon Shaked, as well as poet Natan Zach. Literary editor and scholar Yigal Schwartz wrote his doctoral thesis on Reuveni. In the wake of the republication of Reuveni′s trilogy "To Jerusalem," in 1987, he was described by novelist Ronit Matalon as having been "a very wonderful - and very overlooked - writer."
Reuveni was also the younger brother of Israel′s second president, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, who often extricated him from scrapes that he got into with publishers. He was an acerbic commentator who sometimes espoused intolerable opinions, opinions that frequently underwent radical changes. But of one thing Reuveni was certain: It was he who, in December 1947, proposed the name of the embryonic Jewish state. In order to ensure his place in history, he deposited a letter to that effect in the Israel State Archives in 1965. Following is a translation of that document.
Who was the first to publicly suggest the name Medinat Yisrael - the State of Israel? This question was raised once again in the summer of 1965. On Independence Day of that year, a radio announcer stated in a broadcast that when David Ben-Gurion was asked that question he replied: I do not remember. This drew a response from a Mrs. Y. Elitzur in the form of letters to The Jerusalem Post and to Haaretz, in which she stated that her late husband had proposed the name (in English) to The Palestine Post [former name of The Jerusalem Post] on April 12, 1948. However, on that day, the name had already been accepted officially by Minhelet Ha′am [the People′s Administration, which later became the provisional government].
A year later, in 1949, on the occasion of the first Independence Day, M. Brilliant, from The Palestine Post, related the following details: The event occurred in Tel Aviv. On May 12, 1948, the People′s Administration discussed the publication of a declaration on the establishment of the Jewish state. After the declaration was decided on, the question of a name arose and demanded an immediate solution. Various proposals were put forward.
The assembled found none of these satisfactory. Ben-Gurion was the first to propose "Yisrael" (Israel), M. Brilliant says. [See box with the minutes of the meeting of the People′s Administration, on page B6]. Since then, the public has been under the impression that Ben-Gurion not only proposed the name "State of Israel" in the meeting of the People′s Administration, but also invented it. Influential circles have diligently cultivated this impression, but it rests on a foundation of error and deception: It was I who proposed the name State of Israel, and I published my proposal five months before it was accepted officially.
The debate over the name of the future state began long before the UN resolution and went on for more than five months afterward. In this period all manner of bizarre, faulty, untoward and tasteless names were put forward in the press. The few who proposed the name State of Israel did so some time after me.
According to the belated proposal by a Mr. A. Elitzur, the same suggestion was made by the late Prof. Samuel Krauss (in the daily Hadoar on February 13, 1948). Before him, in a conversation with a few people, and without making his thinking public (in December 1947), Prof. Naftali Tur-Sinai did likewise.
I began to be vexed by the question in the fall of 1947, and as the date of decision in the United Nations approached, it became ever more pressing. Following the article by M. Brilliant, which reinforced the impression of Ben-Gurion′s primacy in this matter, I briefly outlined my part in the matter in The Palestine Post (June 2, 1949) and in the weekly Hed Hamizrach (July 15, 1949). In the latter I wrote: "I will not say that I knew what would emerge from the UN (though I supposed that the partition plan would be approved). Of one thing I was certain: The days of the Mandate were numbered, and after it an open life-and-death struggle would erupt with the Arabs (I did not yet understand the role the English designated themselves in the upcoming struggle; nor did I yet grasp the thought of annihilation that they and the Arabs together plotted for us). If our strength fails us, we will not escape extinction. If we overcome, a Jewish state will arise. What will its name be? After all, a state cannot be without a name for even one day. And if the proper name is not given in time, who knows whether by chance, through haste, it will not be burdened by an improper name. Once done, the act will not be easily corrected."
The differences of opinion that emerged afterward in letters to the newspapers came as no surprise to me. From conversations I held with various people in the fall of 1947, before writing my article, I learned about the terms being contemplated by the public. I discovered that not only was the matter on the agenda, but that it was a matter of necessity and time was pressing.
The feeling of necessity grew stronger within me. After giving the matter thorough thought, both alone and in arguments with others, I realized that conversations with 10 acquaintances, or even with 20, would be of little avail. It was necessary to make the proposal public in a systematic fashion. Accordingly, I wrote a short but concise article, in which I listed the faults with the many names that had been proposed (the name "State of Israel" had not yet been put forward) and the advantages of the name I was proposing.
After the end of the Sabbath on November 29, 1947 (I wrote in Hed Hamizrach in 1949), the UN General Assembly approved the partition plan and the plan for the Jewish state. That was a wakeful night for the capital of Israel - a night of exultant processions, a night of happiness and rejoicing such as Jerusalem had not known in all the 30 years of the British Mandate. On that night I encountered a young acquaintance, an officer who had come on a mission and was returning to Tel Aviv at dawn. I told him: "Here is our state on the horizon, but what will its name be? I have a name for it. Please take this manuscript with you and give it to the Moznayim journal in the morning, but do not delay in delivering it to its destination." The article was published in the weekly Moznayim that very week, in the issue dated December 5, 1947, and the following is its title and content:
"The state," what is its name?
It should be called: the State of Israel, and in short, Israel.
Why not Land of Israel? Or Judea? Or Zion? Or Yeshurun? Or State of the Jews? Or State of the Hebrews? Or Ever?
It cannot be called "Land of Israel," because it will not occupy the whole land, or most of it, or even half of it - and even if it were to occupy half the land, we would not be able to say of it: Land of Israel. The fact of the matter is that even after we have a state in part of the land, we will not cease calling the other parts of the land, and the entire land, by the name of the Land of Israel. And thus we will cause a confusion of terms. Everyone who says "Land of Israel" - will he be compelled to offer an interpretation of what he is referring to: the state or the [entire] land?
If so, why not Judea? For the same reason: Judea is part of the Land of Israel. Judea is set in place by hard-and-fast historical facts, and is not to be budged. How shall we give the name Judea to a state that does not include Jerusalem and Hebron, and leaves the Judean Hills outside its border? Again two different things which cannot be reconciled will flutter around in our midst. What is the point of this duality?
And as with Judea, so with Zion. There is no Zion without Zion-and-Jerusalem. Even though Zion became a symbol among the nations for a nation in exile, it did not have a political or state underpinning. It is fundamentally a rhetorical name, like Yeshurun, and neither of them will metamorphose into a genuine state. In the Land of Israel, the abstract name Zion goes back to clinging to its roots. In the Land of Israel, Zion cannot be separated from Mount Zion, or Zion from Jerusalem.
Well, then, why not the "State of the Jews"? Wherein resides the advantage of State of Israel over State of the Jews? The more so as the phrase "State of the Jews" has been accepted by us from [Theodor] Herzl′s day down to our own. Why should we forsake it? The advantage of doing so is double - perhaps more than double. "Jews" is not our nation′s primary or principal name. The name spread to some extent after the destruction of Israel′s Northern Kingdom. Judea inherited Israel, but not all of it and not eternally. The name "Israel" was not forgotten and not annulled. After Judea collapsed at the hands of destructive Rome, before the destruction of the Second Temple, the name "Israel" necessarily arose again and regained primacy of place. The meaning of this is undoubtedly: the Kingdom of Judea falls but the nation of Israel lives.
This is attested to by the coins. The first Hasmonean coins speak of one thing: The redemption of Zion. The liberation of Jerusalem and Judea is the primary effort in the period of Simon the Hasmonean. The inscription on the coins of Yohanan [John] Hyrcanus I, who reigned after him, states: "Yohanan the high priest and the Council of the Jews," or "Yohanan the high priest, chief of the Council of the Jews." In other words, the resurgent state was a monarchy of Jews. And so it was throughout the period of the House of the Hasmoneans. In the period of the princes from the House of Herod, the Hebrew inscription was replaced by a Greek one, and there is no longer a trace of the nation′s participation in the monarchy. Only the name of the ruler and his title. However, during the Great Revolt (66-70 C.E.), the Hebrew inscriptions were renewed. And lo and behold, the name of the shekel minted in the first year is "Israel shekel."
Afterward we find also "Holy Jerusalem" and "Freedom of Zion." But it is clear that the name "Israel" is restored to its former place. The Bar-Kochba coins leave no room for doubt. The inscriptions on the first-year coins are "Jerusalem" and "First year of Israel′s redemption" or "Simon nasi [head] of Israel"; from the second year: "Sh′B leher′ Yisrael," meaning: the second year of Israel′s freedom, and thus also in the generations after the destruction and the dispersion. The communities in the Diaspora are communities of Israel.
True, the individual person is a Jew, but the commonwealth is Israel. The name "Jew" was not abandoned. It has its own roots and validity in the life of our nation. Certainly it was also strengthened by outside influences. The Romans, upon conquering the Land of Israel, found therein the Kingdom of Judea with its inhabitants, the Jews. All the nations of Western and Central Europe took the name from the Romans, and the Jews, who adopted the language of their surroundings, also called themselves by this name. In their own eyes, however, they were, throughout all these generations, the people of Israel, be it in Hebrew or in the languages they adopted (in Yiddish, for example: "das malk Yisrael"). The expression "Jewish people" is new in origin, translated from the Yiddish, which borrowed it from the German and from Western Europe.
And why should we not call our state the "State of the Hebrews," or, for short, "Ever"? [Ever was one of the sons of Shem. The Latin translation of the Bible transliterated his name as Ebreo, and the English translations kept that pronunciation and hence the language is called Hebrew.] Ever is more ancient than Israel: Abraham, the Hebrew [Ivri, from the Hebrew ever]. Joseph, too, is a Hebrew youth, and the prophet Jonah says: "A Hebrew am I." And our language is Hebrew.
All of this is no reason for us to abandon our name, "Israel." "Ever" or "Hebrews" was never our nation′s name. The Children of Israel are a branch of the family of the Hebrew peoples, and the language of Israel is one of the dialects of the language that all the Children of Eber spoke. Now it is the only Hebrew dialect that remains, namely the Hebrew language, by right and by justice. But the name of the nation that heard it is not called Hebrews. Abraham was a Hebrew. The people of Israel did not yet exist in his time. Joseph was a Hebrew, the sons of Jacob had not yet become the people of Israel. Jonah called himself a Hebrew when he spoke to gentiles, because this is the name they gave to all speakers of Hebrew, without differentiating one nation from another.
However, the children of Shem and Ever differentiated pointedly between themselves - between Israel and Edom, Moab, Ammon, Midian, the Children of Kedem [the reference is to Genesis 11], the Sidonians, and all the nationalities whose language was Hebrew. Each of these names denoted a nation in its own right.
The Exodus from Egypt, from bondage to freedom, the wandering in the desert, Moses and Joshua (the return and the conquest) showed how many tribes of Eber existed, and illustrated the mixed multitude that went up with them, and they fashioned from them a new national body, the nation of Israel. Our language is Hebrew, as the language of the Americans is English. However, the Americans are not Englishmen; and they do not call their country the "State of the English." Nor shall we call our state by the name of our language. Our name now is "Israel." Thus it was when we became a nation. Thus it is today, and it is inconceivable that the element of Israel should be absent from the name of our state.
Very well, then. Let us assume: the State of Israel. Our name will therefore be Israelis. And how shall the inhabitants of our state who are not Jews be called? Arabs, Armenians, Greeks - are they also to be called "Israelis"?
Yes, of course. What is so remarkable about this? Just as a Jew from England is called an English Jew, from Yemen a Yemenite Jew, a Pole from Russia a Russian Pole, from Germany a German Pole - so, too, shall an inhabitant of the State of Israel who is not a Jew be called "Israeli Arab," "Israeli Armenian," and so on. And its Jewish inhabitants will also be denoted, when the need arises, as "Israeli Jews," to distinguish them from the Jews of the United States.
Will the non-Jews not be incensed to have the name "Israeli" forced on them? By what right or privilege will they be incensed? The Jews who reside in Syria are called "Syrian Jews"; the Arabs who will reside in the State of Israel will be called "Israeli Arabs." This is the custom in every country. Integrity and equity necessitate it. There is no justification for becoming incensed in such circumstances. Those who become incensed from the arbitrariness of their nationalist passion will in any case not be satisfied by any other name. What difference will it make if our state will be called Judea or Zion or Eber? Will they not be as incensed by the appellation Jew, Zionist, or Hebrew as by the appellation Israeli? Are we to omit from the name of our state every allusion to our national name and our historic selfhood? That we shall certainly not do. And even if we did, it would not be of any use, because the truth is that those who become incensed are those who are incensed at the very existence of a Jewish state. The matter of the name is merely a pretext for them. If we gave up the name, it would be a pointless sacrifice.
Another matter: "State of Israel," a two-word phrase (in Hebrew: Medinat Yisrael) presents a difficulty. What shall a citizen of the state be called: a "citizen of the State of Israel [ezrah Medinat Yisrael]? - a slightly longish appellation. Can we not find him a one-word name? There is no need for one word. The Hebrew language is fond of collocations such as "State of Israel." In the Bible we have the Kingdom of the Chaldees, the Kingdom of Persia, the Kingdom of Greece; the Kingdom of Ararat, the Kingdom of Canaan, the State of Babylon. And there is the Kingdom of Judah, the Kingdom of Israel, the Kingdom of the House of Israel. We will choose medina, because, like the word "state" in English, the word signifies every type of political regime: republic, kingdom, alliance of autonomous bodies.
As for the adjective, we have already constructed it: Israeli. This has been our way of abridging a country′s name since time immemorial: Babylon in place of Kingdom of Babylon, Assyria in place of the Kingdom of Assyria, and so on. And so, too, for Judea and Israel.
Israel has the meaning of abiding with God. It is a symbolic name: It hints at man′s war with the forces of nature, which is the basis for all human progress. Our nation perceived itself from its genesis as struggling with God and with people. Struggling without flinching. But this symbolic name is not symbolic, or is not only symbolic; it is our concrete, historical name. The one we have been known by since we left Egypt, and the one we are known by today.
And now, if Israel is a social element in the name of our state, and if the explanatory word "state" is also indispensable, then, it seems to me, the one name that is acceptable is "Medinat Yisrael" - "State of Israel."
At a meeting of the People′s Administration on April 25, 1948, an agenda was proposed for convening the Moetzet Ha′am (People′s Council). In addition to the five items on the agenda, administration member David Remez said, "Similarly, a name for the state must be decided on. The absence of that decision is presently holding up the implementation of a number of essential preparatory actions." According to the minutes, Aharon Zisling "would not suggest rushing into the matter of deciding the name of the state." At a meeting the next day, a committee was chosen to decide the name, consisting of Remez and Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit. The minutes stated: "The proposal to be brought before the council - ′Yisrael′ [Israel]. The committee will clarify the name in other languages."
The committee, to which Moshe Asaf was also co-opted, submitted the following opinion: "A meeting of the members, M. Asaf, D. Remez, B. Sheetrit, considered the question of how to translate the name ′Yisrael′ (as the name of the Jewish state) into Arabic. We reached the conclusion that it should be translated verbatim and not ′Palestine.′
"The grounds for the decision:
"(A) The translation into Arabic must not be discriminated from the translation into all the other languages.
"(B) The name is natural, rooted in the Arab tradition, and will be understood and accepted.
"(C) Geographically, ′Palestine′ is liable to arouse all the same apprehensions and problems that are entailed in the name ′Land of Israel.′
"(D) It is possible that the Arab state in the Land of Israel will continue to be called ′Palestine′ in the future, and this is liable to cause confusion.
"At the same time, we must remark that the name ′Yisrael′ in Arabic, which is used specifically for Jews of the [Middle] East in order to distinguish them as a special (religious) group, which is not identified with Zionism, will aggravate the situation of our brethren, so this matter requires policy consideration.
"The committee also considered the suggestion to call the state ′Zion,′ but in its opinion this name, in its Arabic translation, is liable to make matters very difficult for the Arab citizen in the Jewish state."
In the meeting of the People′s Administration on May 12 - two days before the declaration of the state - on the subject of "Deciding the name of the state," David Ben-Gurion said: "We have decided that the name of the state will be ′Israel,′ and if we add the idea of the state, then the ′State of Israel.′ A committee was chosen consisting of Messrs. Sheetrit, Remez and Asaf, and they submitted conclusions, after examining the matter, that in Arabic it will be ′Israel,′ and they cited their reasons. They found one impediment: that in the jargon, such as among the French, ′Israelite′ relates to Jew. But nevertheless they said: ′Israel.′ Every construct can be attached to this: army of Israel, community of Israel, people of Israel.
"We will take a trial vote. Who is in favor of ′Yisrael′ in Hebrew? Seven votes.
"The name ′Israel′ has been accepted as the name of the state." [The People′s Administration consisted of 13 members, 10 of whom attended the May 12 meeting.]
A. Zisling: "I am against a name that will compel every Arab to bear a name against which he should rise up."
D. Ben-Gurion: "In other words, you are suggesting that further consideration should be given to the translation into Arabic?"
F. Rosenbluth [later, Rosen]: "I do not know Arabic, but maybe it is possible to suggest that in Arabic it be called ′Arab Palestine′?"
M. Shertok [later, Sharett]: "I do not think it should be called ′Israel′ in Arabic. All along I sought a way around imposing on Arabs identification with the Jewish people, but I do not find it."
D. Ben-Gurion: "We will co-opt Moshe Shertok to the committee that considered the matter of the name in Arabic, and the committee will reconsider the matter."
The Birth of a Nation, 1948
By RUTH GRUBER
Published: May 18, 2008
IT was Friday, May 14, 1948. I was sitting in the press section of the United Nations General Assembly in its temporary quarters at Flushing Meadow in Queens. I felt my heart thumping. We journalists were waiting impatiently to see who would win a tug of war taking place in Washington. On one side was President Harry S. Truman, who had told his aides that, with the last British troops leaving Palestine that day, he believed the Jews had a right to declare their own nation, and that he would make sure that the United States would be the first country to recognize it. On the other side was the State Department, which wanted the land placed in a trusteeship under the United Nations. Secretary of State George Marshall was so passionate in his opposition to a Jewish state that he threatened to vote against the president in the November election. For Truman, who had come to office with the death of Franklin Roosevelt three years earlier, this was to be one of his first true tests of power. As I sat waiting for the announcement of the decision in Washington, my mind wandered back to the spring and summer of the year before, which I had spent reporting for The New York Herald Tribune. I had traveled in Germany and Austria with the 11 members of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine. There had been many such committees studying the problems of the Holy Land since the Arab riots of the 1920s; this one was distinguished by having no representatives from Britain, which had been universally hostile to the Zionist cause. With the members, I visited the camps for displaced persons in Germany and Austria and listened, dumbfounded, as the refugees described the horrors of the war. In particular, I remember visiting the Rothschild Hospital camp in Vienna. Some 100 refugees had just arrived from Romania, many of them children covered with sores and dirt. There was no place to put them but the street; they lay, exhausted, on the paving stones. A young man approached us, his eyes bloodshot. "In Romania, they killed 30,000 Jews in two hours," he said, his voice sounding as if it came straight from his guts. "They took Jews to the slaughterhouse and hung them alive the way they hang cows, and they put knives to their throats and split them. Underneath them, they put a sign: Kosher Beef." In camp after camp, the committee members asked, "Why do you want to go to Palestine? It′s such a poor country. The Arabs and Jews are always fighting. They don′t have enough food, they don′t have enough water. What is it about Palestine?" A 16-year-old orphan — actually, we never used the word "orphan" because the term couldn′t convey the horrors these children had been through — gave the most poignant answer. "Everybody has a home," he said. "The Americans. The British. The French. The Russians. Only we don′t have a home. Don′t ask us. Ask the world." A woman tugged the sleeve of my jacket. "You are the only woman with all these men," she implored. "You will understand me. I saw my husband burned. I don′t want to burn. I want to go home — to Eretz Israel." The Land of Israel. "That′s why we′re here," I told her. "To help solve the problem. But if, Heaven forbid, we fail to find a solution, where would you like to go?" Her reply: "Back to the crematory." It was this committee′s report that led directly to the General Assembly vote of Nov. 29, 1947, to partition Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab entities. The Jews accepted this proposal, but the Arabs stormed out and threatened war. My mind was drawn immediately back to the present of May 1948 as I noticed an American representative to the United Nations, Philip Jessup, hurrying toward the podium. I knew, after talking to his aides, that in his hand he had a speech supporting trusteeship, not statehood, for Israel. The State Department was about to betray the president. Jessup was halfway up the stairs when an Associated Press reporter handed him a dispatch. Jessup read it, grew white-faced, descended the stairs and then disappeared. The reporter next to me said, "He′s gone to the bathroom." I shook my head. "He′s gone home."
Then we were handed the A.P. report. In Tel Aviv, David Ben-Gurion had just read the world′s latest proclamation of independence. Eleven minutes later, Harry Truman had recognized Ben-Gurion′s government as the "de facto authority" of the new state. Israel was born.
Ruth Gruber is the author of "Exodus 1947" and "Witness."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/opinion/18gruber.html
