The Crisis of Zionism Quotes

“In The Kuzari, written around 1140, the medieval Jewish philosopher Judah Halevi imagined a dialogue between a rabbi and a pagan king. At one point, the rabbi extols the morality of the Jews. Unlike the Christian world—which according to Jewish tradition is called Edom (red) because it is soaked with blood—the Jews, he declares, have held themselves to a higher standard. But the king is unconvinced. Jewish morality, he insists, is merely the byproduct of Jewish weakness. “If you had the power,” he retorts, “you would slay.” In Israel, we have our answer to the king. We can finally know whether the ethical traditions that so often made diaspora Jews the conscience of their nations can survive now that Jews have a nation of their own.”
― Peter Beinart, The Crisis of Zionism