Immediately after the victorious 1956 Sinai campaign, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion chose to warn against the emergence of Israel as Sparta, a warrior society emerging from the ruins of the Shoah. He warned:
“Israel has no purpose to be a new Sparta. Our power and ability will be revealed in the creative work - in the reception of immigrants, in the elevation of man and society, and in this way we will be a living example to the Jews and the whole world.”
Even earlier, in 1955, he emphasized:
"We do not carry a vision to be Sparta, living solely by the sword. The vision of peace is a Jewish vision…Both in our military readiness, and in the forced war actions against us, we must not distract ourselves…our ultimate goal in our relationship with our neighbors is the goal of peace and common living.”
This week, reports from a press conference given by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited his recognition of Israel’s growing isolation, as well as the lesson that Israel must become self-sufficient in providing for its own defence. He was quoted in most places as saying that Israel would have to become a “super-Sparta.” For those like me with a great interest in history, this would set off some alarms, as Sparta, known as much for its foundational reliance on Helot labor and unbending martial discipline eventually disappeared (in all but descriptive language and stories of desperate heroism) under the weight of hostility and rebellion, while its rival Athens eventually came to influence the entirety of western civilization (and still does).
But looking more closely, that’s not exactly what Prime Minister Netanyahu said. What he did say, it was reported, was that faced with a scenario of “Athens and Sparta,” Israel would be “Athens and super-Sparta,” Netanyahu said. “There’s no choice; in the coming years, at least, we will have to deal with these attempts to isolate us.”
This entire line of thinking is of even more interest to me, as I’d written about this exact dichotomy more than 15 years ago. I concluded that Israel, if looking for metaphors beyond our own history, would need the attributes of Sparta to protect the essential nature it derived from Athens. Either alone would be insufficient. Ancient Athens retreated behind the massive Attic walls, but these were eventually overcome. Sparta’s power pushed near-neighbors into alliances, but eventually they were overcome by internal weakness. Greece needed the desperate stand of the Spartans at Thermopylae AND the combined naval power of Athens and all her allies to finally defeat the huge Persian invasion at Salamis.
In the end, both Ben-Gurion and Netanyahu are correct. Israel needs its warrior attributes now as much as ever, but that alone is not and never can solely be what defines it, what defines us. Israel’s might is there to safeguard the treasure that is the Jewish people, Jewish culture, Jewish tradition, Jewish families. It is there to ensure a thriving, innovative society that gifts the world with the technology of Iron Dome, the scholarship of Mercaz Harav, and the compassion of Save A Child’s Heart.
We are no less determined to hold both truths in our hands right here at your Jewish Federation. We need to both provide for the safety and security of our people, our synagogues, our schools, camps, and institutions, as well as providing help for the vulnerable, opportunities for learning, a table for convening, and advocacy for all.
And we need you to pick up a shield and spear, a scroll and a stylus, to help us do exactly that.
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