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Malachi Hacohen: The Future of Jewish History. Catastrophe, Diaspora, and Exile

Recent Critiques of Zionism and Israel have highlighted the diasporic character of the Jewish people: the Jews have been a Diaspora for over 2500 years. Their current acceptance as citizens in nation states is a post-Holocaust exception, a blip on the historical screen. So is also the State of Israel.


Most people are oblivious that Jewish political power is an anomaly and is fragile. The providential cycle providing traditional Jews with their historical lenses remains that of Land → Sin → Hurban (Catastrophe) → Exile (Diaspora) → Return (Messiah). This will be the major framework Jews will be using when they encounter the next catastrophe: the collapse of Jewish power. The future of Jewish history looks much more like its past: Jews living as a tolerated diasporic minority but commonly evoking anxiety and resentment, enjoying a measure of autonomy and precarious, and repeatedly failed protection of the state. Jews would long again for Return to the Land, reaffirming the fundamental paradox of Jewish life: The Diasporic people par-excellence believes that it lives in Exile and that without life in the Land of Israel, it is abnormal.