“Don’t give us the old, but the ancient. And instead of the future, we’ll discover the present. Instead of a plow, give us a hug. Let’s flow and connect… We’ll find our ways and turn back, return to ourselves – dive into the depths of our Selves.” In this article, Ruach-Midbar describes the shift in values and narratives that accured in the Jewish-Israeli story within the New Age realm, as a replacement for the Zionist story that was cast in the image of the Enlightenment.
The text (about 500 words, in Hebrew) was incorporated into the “Israeli Talmud – Tractate of Independence”, edited by Dov Elbaum, with the support of BINAH.
Initially, “midrashim” were assemled, all dedicated to the various sections of Israel’s Declaration of Independence. This essay was included in a collection of midrashim on the third paragraph of the Declaration of Independence (“Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment…”). See here.
Later, all the commentaries (ablot 160) on the Declaration were assemled together, into the “Israeli Talmud”, in which this essay was reprinted, but this time as a midrash on the first paragraph (“…and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books”).
Additional sources and illustrations were also interwoven throughout the anthology. For example, the essay of Ruah-Midbar was printed together with a text by Micha Yosef Berdichevsky and a photograph by Tiki Ozer.
For a research article by Ruah-Midbar, that presents insights similar to those appearing in the essay, and deals with images and narratives of the Israeli people’s past – see here.
More texts describing the book are available on the Hebrew page describing this Essay – here.
Author
Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro
Links
For the “Israeli Talmud – Tractate of Independence” page on the BINAH’s website (in Hebrew), click here.
For another page (in Hebrew) about the anthology on BINAH’s website, click here.
For the book page (in Hebrew) on the publishing house’s website, Yediot Books – click here.
For the page describing the publishing of this essay in the initial anthology, on the third paragraph of Israel’s Declaration of Independence – click here.
For a video presenting the rationale of the project, as part of an interview by Dov Elbaum, clcik here.
For an interview (in Hebrew) of Dov Elbaum at the Ge’ula and London TV show, when the Israeli Talmud was published – click here.
For the translated text of the Declaration of Independence of Israel on the Knesset website – click here.
For the video of the launch event (in Hebrew) of the “Israeli Talmud” – click here.
Year
2019
Language
Hebrew
Academic/Non-academic
Non-academic item
Bibliographical citation
Ruah-Midbar, Marianna, “The Never-Ending Story – From the Land of Israel to Mother Earth”, in The Independence Tractate with an Israeli Talmud (Sources and Midrashim, Literature and Research), edited by Israel Dov Elbaum. BINAH and Yediot Books, 2019. pp. 72-73. [Hebrew]
