The Tower of Babel: Globalization and its Discontents

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech…. And they had brick for stone, and slime for mortar.

Once upon a time, major developments in technologies and computer software allowed individuals to connect with almost anyone on the face of the earth.

This web-enabled platform for sharing knowledge and work, irrespective of time, distance, geography or even language leveled the playing field and allowed people unprecedented access to information and knowledge.

As people experienced increasing global connectivity and interdependence in the economic, social, technological, cultural, political, and ecological spheres, the world began to integrate and grow smaller at an accelerated pace.

Every individual - created in the image of God - now had the potential to ‘plug and play’, join the global game and fulfill his potential. The genius born in China had as many opportunities as the average guy born in Poughkeepsie.

From Shanghai to Silicon Valley, from Beijing, Bangalore and Bethesda, more people in more places could play in more ways.

The whole world truly was of one language, and one global speech.

Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves…

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower…and said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them"

The opportunities for this new world were endless:

Furthering the fight against poverty and disease in the developing world;

Promoting children's education, women’s rights and proper working conditions;

Ensuring fewer people lived below the poverty line; that everyone had adequate shelter and access to safe drinking water;

That no one went malnourished or died from preventable diseases.

Yet this world of fantastic opportunities also provided fantastic dangers. As Nassim Taleb noted, Globalization 'creates interlocking fragility' A world in which the big can act small and the small can act big can be used for different purposes. The options are frighteningly endless…

And if rather than alleviating the suffering in the world, society decides to use its technological potential to 'make a name for themselves,' then a time will come when money (or bricks) are more important than people;

Or where the supply chain that facilitates Dell and Wall Mart will also facilitate Al Qaida and dirty bombs.

So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

(Last Year's Blog on the Tower of Babel - On Towers and Totalitarianism)

A Time for Everything under Heaven

24/10 Jerusalem Post Livni: We've made final offer to Shas
24/10 BBC News UK economy braced for recession
23 /10 BBC News Obama: McCain will 'endanger' US
23/10 Ha’aretz Peres: Saudi plan can bring peace
23/10 AFP Israel okays more Palestinian police
11/9 Jerusalem Post Settlers gear up for evacuation fight

I don’t remember the last time I was both in Shul for, and concentrated during, the book of Kohelet, (Ecclesiastes) which we read on the Shabbat during the festival of Succot.

Without attempting to justify this sacrilege, it’s just so long, and all everyone wants to do is get on with the service (and there is really no need for it to be read out loud);

But this year was different:

I’ve recently become a bit obsessed with the book Collapse, which I’ve written about when discussing the Temple’s destruction on Tisa Be’Av and Teshuva on Rosh Hashana. It charts why societies who had once lived successfully die out arguing that the catalyst for their collapse was often not adapting to a new environment.

My favorite example were the Norse, who moved to Greenland from Norway and continued to raise cattle (even though the environment didn’t support it); They continued to spend money importing religious artifacts from Europe, even at the expense of food. They continued to boycott fish, because that’s what the pagan Inuit’s did.

They ultimately died from starvation…

The book’s conclusion – one Reut shares and bases its methodology on - is that maintaining one’s mindset and behavior when reality diverges creates a ‘relevancy gap.’ And relevancy gaps can lead to strategic surprises.

What worked in Norway, doesn’t necessarily work in Greenland.

A successful strategy in 1967 can be an abject failure in 1973…

What strengthens the state in the 40s, may destroy it 60 years later.

And in this context, what could be wiser than King Solomon’s statement from Kohelet, לכל זמן ועת לכל-חפץ תחת השמים – that to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

Everything has its right (and wrong) time. “There is a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time for silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

There is indeed a time for everything…

A time for keeping Mitzvot and a time for ‘sinning at God’s behest’;

A time for child allowances and coalitional politicking, and a time for elections;

A time to strengthen the Palestinian Authority and a time to fight it; a time to build settlements, and a time to evacuate; a time to withdraw from territory, and a time to maintain the status quo;

A time for economic growth, and a time for recession;

A time to vote for ‘change’ and a time to choose experience…

But what happens when our kings are no more, and the heavens are silent?

And us mere mortals are unsure as to what actions the current time requires?

Rosh Hashana 5769: Values in a Changing World

London was great. It (generally) always is. Not that I think about staying – I don’t. It's just so relaxing (liberating even) to wander around the Heath extension near my parents home, to see friends, to take a break from the intensity of life in Israel.

England always takes a few days to get used to. For starters, there’s the driving on the left (with gears); There's more than one decent radio station to listen to. Weddings are the height of formality.

And then there's the politeness of other drivers (i'm always amazed by how much people wave to one another on the road) It's a reminder of how behavior encouraged (and sometimes necessary) in Israel is often incongruous with England's green and pleasant land - and what works in one place can get you in trouble in another.

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The week before I flew, Britain's Chief Rabbi wrote a weekly column, about the Biblical cities of Refuge; safe havens for an accidental killer who would be protected from the revenge of his victim's next of kin. According to Maimonides such a person is forbidden to leave the city under any circumstance – even to save someone’s life. In fact, even if the entire Jewish people need him, the individual is forbidden to endanger his own life.

The Chief's discussion of the differences between Judaism's prioritization of the individual versus the collective emphasis of Greece and Rome is worth a post in itself. But what most interested me was his suggestion that while this individualism aided the Jews in the Diaspora by preventing assimilation into the majority culture, it may undermine the successful building of a sovereign state (which inevitably entails the individual compromising for the benefit of the group).

In a similar vein, Avram Burg suggested that in the Diaspora, the Jews never trusted the system, and survived by going round it. Yet today, in Israel, when we are the system, people still try to circumvent it. We haven't yet fully internalized that it's ours. And when something is not yours, you never feel the need to fight to make it better.

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An article in Azure meanwhile described the corruption in Israeli society, arguing that in certain respects it "constitutes a natural, almost inevitable outcome of the ethos created by the early Yishuv."

It explained that the ambivalence toward the Law in early Zionism and the creation of the new Jew – the mischievous, rough hewn, anti establishment Sabra with an aversion to authority and inability to 'follow the rules' – had many positive aspects in the State's early years.

Yet 60 years on, this 'unruly, irresponsible and lawless behavior' is seriously undermining Israel's ability to prosper.

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The common denominator of each of these stories is that they involve values that ensure a group's (or individual's in the case of driving in Israel) survival in a certain situation.

Yet when left unrefined, they also undermine it.

And ironically, it's those very same values that initially help, that can ultimately destroy.

Circumventing the system worked in the Diaspora, but leads to 'combinot' when the system is 'us'.

Individualism aided us as a minority, but weakens national solidarity when we set the laws rather than following them.

And an Oleh who doesn’t re-invent himself or his values can become the ultimate freier.

In such a context, the only way to survive is by working out which values need to be kept, and which need to be changed.

And this for me is where the idea of Teshuva comes in…

Because what is Teshuva if not working out what part of ourselves we should aim to keep, and what we should discard? What is the month of Elul for if not reevaluating our lives, our values and our priorities, and seeing if they are still relevant in light of the changes we have gone through?

And what could be more important than ensuring the renewal and survival of our people, our country and ourselves?

Shana Tova LeCulam

Rosh Hashana Post 5768: A Message Against Despair

Rosh Hashana Posts 5767: Wanna Live Like Common People

On Leadership: Bartlet, Obama & Olmert

During an emotional speech last Wednesday, Israel’s Prime Minister announced his intention not to run in the party primary scheduled for September.

Despite a strong economy, low unemployment and improved personal security, Olmert remained largely unpopular, tainted by images of corruption and the mishandling of the Lebanon War.

2 weeks ago, Israel hosted another leader, who by January 2008 may well be the most powerful person in the world (not Gordon Brown). Obama is attractive because he offers something new and refreshing, a vision to inspire a mostly ambivalent electorate…a feeling that there is more to politics than soundbites, that individuals can make a difference.

The evening after Obama left was spent in one of the best ways possible – watching old episodes of the West Wing with friends. Out of all my favorite series’ - Heroes, 24, Spooks, Lost - only Sorkin’s West Wing is good enough to watch over and over.

One episode describes how the team forms around Josiah (Jed) Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen. Josh advises a leading democrat, but is frustrated by his lack of courage on policy. Sam slogs away at a law firm organizing insurance for oil tankers.

Both are looking for the 'real deal,' a candidate who stands for something more than just winning.

The die is cast when Bartlet tells a dairy farmer why he voted for a bill increasing the price of milk (check out the clip – its awesome).

'Today, for the first time in history, the largest group of Americans living in poverty are children...1 in 5 and they’re children.. I voted against the bill because I didn’t want to make it harder for people to buy milk.

I stopped some money flowing into your pocket, if that angers you, if you resent me, I completely respect that. But if expect anything different from the President of the United States you should vote for someone else.'

At work, I’m part of a team dealing with Reut’s Strategic ‘Impact,’ based on a book by Harvard Professor Ron Heifetz called Leadership without Easy Answers.

Heifetz distinguishes between two concepts people often see as synonymous - Leadership and Authority. While Authority denotes those elected to positions of power, Leadership is something else.

It’s not about making people feel safe and secure, resolving conflict or being popular; that’s the responsibility of Authority figures.

Leadership, according to Heifetz, is often about causing discomfort, orchestrating conflict. It’s about the very difficult process of facilitating a change in the values, priorities and behavior of a society to be able to deal with new challenges...

All of which is a far cry from what David Grossman describes as our own “terrified, suspicious, sweaty, legalistic, deceptive” leadership.

So as Israel looks to appoint a new leader, is it too much to hope for someone able to cogently articulate a vision about what we stand for, about the future, about why the smart, educated people should stay rather than earn big bucks abroad?

In a country born from ideas and vision as well as blood and tears, do we not deserve leaders prepared to act in the greater good a la Bartlet, or explain the tough choices ahead a la Heifetz?

Is it too much to expect inspiration from the leader of a people whose entire history inspires?

So as discussions over who should replace our current authority figure start afresh, and the media and candidates resume their superficial spin and soundbites, the real question is whether we’ll find someone who believes in more than just winning…and whether the ‘real deal’ is to be found anywhere other than on TV…

The Swap: Not Letting Apathy Kill Us...

It hasn’t been a great week in Israel. The photos of Ron Arad, a chilling reminder of what can happen when prisoner deals don’t go through; the grieving over coffins; our Lebanese neighbors celebrating the return of their 'hero'.

Commenting on the welcome scenes for Samir Kuntar - who brutally murdered a little girl 29 years ago - Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Majalli Whbee said it showed to what extent the politics of hatred can rob people of human compassion.

In addition to these national security issues, the ongoing Talansky affair and investigations into the Prime Minister rumble on. The affair and finances it involves touch on the influence wealthy non – Israelis can have on our political life.

The weekend's Jerusalem Post argued that many Israelis oppose the foreign interference of such 'armchair warriors' although it quoted Yossi Beilin as describing it as positive, even though he often completely disagreed with the political position they take.

Referring to Irving Moskowitz, who funded settlements in East Jerusalem in the 1990s, the former Meretz leader said that anything is better than apathy and that despite his belief in the damage Moskowitz caused "I couldn't ignore the fact that he cares. I prefer someone who cares about Israel to someone who doesn't."

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It may sound cruel, but I'm not sure I would have voted for the deal. It's not just the asymmetrical ratio (we've had worse) or the fact this makes it harder to secure the release of Gilad Shalit.

It's not just the dangerous precedent of swapping bodies for live prisoners, the opposition of the security services or the failure of Hizbullah to fulfill their side of the deal on providing information on Ron Arad.

It's also that when Israel strikes deals with non - state groups wedded to terrorism, it completely undermines those more moderate entities committed to achieving their aims through non violent means…

Yet despite all of the reasons for saying no, I can't deny how proud I am to live in a country like Israel – a country that feels, that hurts, that cries, that comes to a standstill over two of its fellow citizens;

And despite my rational disagreement with the decision, I can't deny my emotional resonance with it, or the feelings on seeing the coffins being unloaded by Hizbullah…

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I only wonder whether we can harness this collective identification and sympathy we feel over our 'returning sons' to other areas in society.

Because if we care this much about Udi and Eldad, think how much energy we could spend on caring about the fate of the thousands of the unnamed citizens of Sderot, the hundreds who die every year on the roads, or the victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse that escape the media spotlight.

If the politics of hatred can rob the Lebanese of their human compassion, let's see how far the politics of identification can get Israelis.

Because as Yossi Beilin said, what divides us most is not our political opinions but whether, at the end of the day, we care about the future of this country.

A Bridge of Strings

A trip to Jerusalem last week provided an opportunity to cast my eyes on the newly completed 118 meter high bridge at the entrance to the city.

Designed by world-famous Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, reports suggest the jury is still out on the 2,600-ton contraption, dubbed the Bridge of Strings. One onlooker said he thought it was beautiful, but that it didn’t fit with its surroundings. Others variously described it as bearing a resemblance to David's harp, a spider's web and a crooked nail.

Despite costing 250m NIS, the bridge will remain unused for two years due to repeated delays in constructing Jerusalem's light railway. The opening ceremony meanwhile was hit by controversy when the Ultra Orthodox complained about the clothing of the dance troupe of 13 year old girls due to perform.

Due to their pressure, the dancers were forced to change.

I'm surprised no one thought to mention it, but the bridge provides an apt metaphor for the Israeli experience; inefficient bureaucratic planning, unwise budgetary priorities and the spineless caving to the Charedim.

And perhaps more ironically no one can quite decide whether they love it or hate it.

But the Bridge of Strings also represents something deeper about our experience here.

I think Israel is amazing and I am thankful to be living my life on the front line of where Jewish history is being played out, where in the space of such a short time we have achieved so much. Yet despite the pride and happiness surrounding the country's continued success, there is also something hovering below the surface, something deep in the Israeli psyche; the fear that maybe this could all end one day, that our future here is not guaranteed.

If Diaspora Jews fret over whether their grandchildren will be Jewish, here they fret over whether their grandchildren will be at all…

It’s a society which, as writer Amnon Rubenstein states, has deep existential anxiety, that is hanging by a thread. A country that, according to David Grossman, has the "most powerful army in the region, a nuclear capability, yet has an inner feeling of absolute fragility, like we are at the edge of an abyss…"

We are a people whose fear that Israel will not exist anymore hovers above us constantly, even when we try and supress it.

I don’t know whether this anxiety causes us to be more aggressive on the roads, more belligerent to our enemies, or more ambivalent to the suffering of our neighbors.

But I do know that in many ways we are society trying to create normalcy while hanging by a thread, by walking across a bridge of strings.

And even if such bridges are generally stable, who knows if one day we may fall between the cracks into the abyss below.

Between Clark Kent & Superman: Israel's view of Diaspora

I don’t go to bars that often and am forced to queue outside even less. But the 10 minutes outside Villa Sokolov last Thursday did provide an opportunity to successfully test out a theory that’s been doing the rounds - that putting on your best English accent immediately gets you through the chaotic crowds and into the bar.

I suppose it's based on the assumption that foreigners spend more money and add a certain sophisticated spice to proceedings. I'm surprised the bars haven’t yet noticed their mistake.

It reminded me of another time last March when a friend and I tried to get into the Israel - Estonia football match. Arriving at half time to a half empty stadium with two season tickets but for different gates, we were denied entry… until we switched into our mother tongue.

Suddenly, as fast as Garinim guzzling fans in Ramat Gan could shout ‘sit down,' we were waived into the stands accompanied by smiles and smatterings of pidgin English.

Being a Diaspora Jew hasn’t always provided such a direct route into high rise Israeli society. A major aspect of traditional Zionism was negating the Diaspora experience and its powerlessness. Zionism rejected the ‘concealing and cowering’ Jews of Chaim Bialik's ‘City of Slaughter’ in favor of the suntanned swimming Sabra admiringly mentioned in Amos Oz’s childhood memoirs.

It’s as if Zionism created a kind of binary existence; Israel good, Diaspora bad.

This theme was picked up at last month’s International Writers Festival in Jerusalem that I attended with my parents. Discussing the difference between ‘Jews’ and ‘Israelis’ with Nathan Englander and Jonathan Safran Foer, Israeli writer Etgar Keret humorously echoed Bialik’s poem explaining whenever he eats at ‘Jewish’ restaurants he fears a Cossack will come in and rape his wife!

He also admitted that he left high school knowing every European town in which a pogrom took place but without realizing Kafka was Jewish.

Keret’s comments were made in jest. But they are indicative of a specific mindset – that the Diaspora experience was wholly negative; one pogrom after another leading to the Shoah.

There's no question that many aspects of Diaspora living were not good for the Jews. Keret wondered whether the reason so many creators of comic book superheroes in the late 1930s were Jewish was indicative of the tension in their lives; the nerdy alter ego who ultimately saved the world reflected Jewish frustration of wanting to be heroic while ultimately lacking any political or military power.

Yet it’s also clear that ignoring Jewish society spanning two millennia – from the Babylonian Talmud through Spain's golden age and Poland's pre war intellectuals to the Jewlicious creativity of the Modern US Heebrew Tribe – overlooks central aspects of what it means to be Jewish.

These thoughts didn't go through my head as Dov and I sat on ‘The Villa’ couches watching those who had chosen Israel over ‘Galut’ unsuccessfully try and pick up Israeli girls.

But I did wonder whether it was possible to break the binariness, to simultaneously appreciate the positive and negative aspects of Jewish life both inside and outside Israel; to recognize both Kafka and Kishniev;

And to find something inbetween the Clark Kentesque Jewish nerd early Zionism spurned and the modern day Superman post Zionist Tel Aviv bars embrace.