Tova Herzl, a retired Israeli diplomat, was her country's first single, female, sabbath observant ambassador. Her twenty-one year career began in 1983 and included two stints as congressional liaison in Israel's embassy in Washington DC. She was Israel's first ambassador to the newly independent states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and took early retirement after a tumultuous ambassadorship in South Africa, which included the infamous UN anti-racism conference in Durban in 2001. In Israel she worked, inter alia, in the bureaus of foreign minister Arens and president Herzog. She lives in Jerusalem and is a first year law student.
This exchange focuses on her new book, Madame Ambassador, Behind the Scenes with a Candid Israeli Diplomat (Rowman & Littlefield, November 2014), an intimate description of diplomatic life and work. (Part 1 can be found right here)
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Dear Ambassador Herzl,
following your first answer I went back to reading your chapter about “being Jewish” in which you discuss the complicated nature of having to deal (as Israel's ambassador) with so many Jews (and non-Jews) who have so many complicated understandings of the nature of a “Jewish State”.
You state in the headline of this chapter that there are “so many questions, so few answers”. Still, rereading it I was struck by the number of questions and the lack of answers. An ambassador with strong opinions on almost everything is suddenly speechless.
Do Jews abroad have special standing concerning Israel? Should they have such special standing? Must Israel listen to Diaspora Jews? How will Israeliness affect our relations with Diaspora Jews? Have Diaspora Jews opted out of a common future?
You ask all these questions, and then some. And you give very little when it comes to answering them. So my challenge for you is as follows: pick one question and give me an answer.
Yours,
Shmuel
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Dear Shmuel,
You are absolutely right – in an attempt to understand the boilerplate statement that “Israel is a Jewish state”, I ask many questions. Now, let me reverse our roles, and ask you a question: When you challenge me to pick one and answer it, whom are you asking? The private person I am now, or the official who earned her living representing that state?
As an individual who is sure that her way represents the golden mean, with no extremism whatsoever, my ideal is that all Jews everywhere would be at my level of observance. Hence, I wish that Shabbat would be universally observed in Israel, and that all Jews would keep kosher.
At the same time, even though I would not set foot inside it, I rejoice whenever a new non-kosher restaurant opens in Jerusalem and functions on Saturdays. That eatery acts as one small deterrent against secular emigration from this beautiful and challenging city.
The private me would like to see more secular Israelis trying actively to answer questions about what it means to be Jewish. Subsequently, they might refrain from relegating issues of 'synagogue and state' to the ultra-orthodox, as they did recently, when once again they lent their support to the election of chief rabbis from that sector. The long term implications, regarding issues such as the conversion of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, are yet to be seen.
I would also hope that the religious, of any grouping, would make an effort to see the other, both in Israel and in the diaspora. Taking a short break from absolute conviction in order to consider how those with differing world views are affected, will go some way to halt – dare I say it? – the ongoing disintegration of Jewish identity. Unity is a fine slogan and a worthy aspiration, but around what? It is not unanimity which is needed, but some focus, and that is dissolving.
The official that I once was did not have the liberty of pointing fingers or offering solutions. At best, she could suggest that her interlocutor may have a point. She might add that the best way to generate a difference, is to make aliyah. After all, Israel defines itself as both Jewish and democratic; it is incumbent on those who demand a change to be where they can help make it happen.
I am embarrassed to admit that I once believed that the opinions and feelings of those who do not live here need not be taken into account. It is not just the passing years which have mellowed my opinions, but also my work, which led me to the intertwined innards of Jewish life.
To ensure Jewish survival in this two-way street, it is not categorical opinions – there are plenty of those – which are needed. In the classic Jewish tradition, we must ask questions, hard ones, many and often. Hopefully, they will point us to viable answers
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