From Our Archives: Religious Responses to Jewish Statehood by Immanuel Jakobovits

• Responses to Jewish Statehood (Fall 1982) 
  by Immanuel Jakobovits

In his article, the late Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, z”l, seeks to identify the different streams of Orthodox Jewry in relation to their stance on the modern State of Israel.  His survey, anchored in robust print sources, outlines the major perspectives on the position of Medinat Yisrael in Jewish thought.  His is an effective overview of the various points on the specturm. 

In this article, Rabbi Jakobovits does not make impassioned argument for support of the State, nor does he present a dreamy reflection on its superlative significance.  But he identifies the remarkably stable elements of discourse that remain viable today, almost 30 years after he wrote the article.  Indeed, details have changed in the ideological battlefield.  Israel has endured two intafadas; signed the Oslo Accords; withdrawn from Lebanon, and then from Gaza and parts of Samaria; and all these have taken their toll on the political landscape.  All the while, the core issues and perspectives have changed very little.