Cornerstones of Israel

Editorial

The cornerstone for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was laid in 1918, 30 years before the state of Israel was established. The cornerstone laid was more than a foundational symbol of the beginning of an educational institution. It was the symbolic foundation of the Jewish state.

This was one of the messages brought to Vancouver Sunday night by the president of Hebrew University, Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson.

At Sunday’s annual gala of the Vancouver chapter of the Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University, the contributions of this institution were celebrated. Ben-Sasson raised the issue of various attempts to boycott Israeli academic institutions, which served merely as a perverse flip-side of the evening’s focus on the achievements of his university, which has produced six Nobel laureates in the past 10 years alone. To boycott such an institution – to even imagine boycotting such an institution – is an affront to humanity.

The emphasis for the evening was on the work being done in British Columbia and in Israel on spinal cord research. The honoree that evening was Dr. Phil Switzer, a past-president of the Vancouver chapter who, two years to the day, had a tumor removed from the middle of his back and had to learn to walk again. Also on hand for inspirational words was “Man in Motion” Rick Hansen, whose foundation for research to assist people with spinal cord injuries was a beneficiary of the evening.

But Ben-Sasson’s comment about the cornerstone stood out in an evening with many outstanding moments.

Is it an overstatement to suggest that the cornerstone of the state of Israel is indeed its educational institutions? Some might contend that the “Rock of Israel,” obliquely cited in the country’s Declaration of Independence, is a reference to Torah, or to God. Similarly, the Israel Defence Forces must have a claim as a cornerstone of the nation, given the number of times it has pulled the country back from various precipices and considering the influence the IDF has in the lives of every citizen.

But, in its way, the IDF is itself an educational institution. It is, if such things are quantifiable, known to be one of the most ethical militaries in the world. As several young veterans explained to local students recently, a first and crucial step in becoming an Israeli soldier is identifying and grappling with the moral and ethical challenges they will inevitably face in the course of defending their country. Israeli soldiers – yanked from their youth and forced by history and geography to devote years of their lives to serving their country – are equipped with the best hardware imaginable, yes, but they are also equipped with probably the most compassionate, insightful and advanced ethical preparations any soldier could receive.

And, is it not fair to say that the study of Torah and the veneration of God is itself, in the Jewish tradition, a form of education, of study? Isn’t learning, whether secular or theological, all a part of the same continuum of intellectual enrichment and inquiry that defines Judaism and the Jewish people and, therefore, defines Israel too?

It has been stated in this space before that there is probably no coincidence that the enemies of Israel know just how to hit Jews where it hurts the most: right in the books. There has always been, among our enemies, a motivation to learn just enough about Jewish tradition in order to use it as a weapon.

This is a key reason why anti-Israel extremists seek to boycott the Israeli academy, to dismiss any learning that comes from Jews and to propagate this anti-intellectual ideology in the ostensibly most unlikely of grounds: European and North American university campuses.

The events of 9/11 and thereafter have been purveyed by politicians, some with their own tainted agendas, as the fight of civilization against a regressive theocracy. Certainly the current era, which began when a dozen thugs with box-cutters, acting on the orders of a cave-dwelling religious nut, brought the civilized world to its knees, seems to bear this out.

But as real as these threats are, the most immediate fight between civilization and its negation is taking place in the attempts to boycott Israeli ideas. Just as kamikazes, suicide bombings, self-immolation and driving jets into buildings are acts of self-destruction, so are attempts to drag a dagger through the world’s best scholarship, undermining the work of past generations and of generations to come, at costs incalculable to the health and well-being of the human race.

Spinal cord research is a tip of the iceberg, as Sunday night’s celebration of Israeli learning demonstrated. Israeli and Canadian cooperation is making it possible for people to walk again. If repetitive attempts to boycott the Israeli academy are successful, our entire civilization might not have a leg to stand on.

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