UItima Galut

There is an article in the Jewish Virtual Library that gives a good overview of the traditional Jewish concept of galut. However, since my own idiosyncratic idea of galut is not necessarily the orthodox one, I have some differences in interpretation. To begin with:

The Hebrew term galut expresses the Jewish conception of the condition and feelings of a nation uprooted from its homeland and subject to alien rule.

I do not think galut is fundamentally national even in the Jewish tradition. Going back to "fundamentals," i.e. the beginning, the first exiles were Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve predate the existence of not just the Jewish nation, but any nation; they are individuals. Before national exile from the Jewish homeland there is individual exile from the primordial homeland: Eden. The longing for Eden, the longing for a return to origins (the childhood home, the golden age, the womb), is not exclusively or even primarily a national feeling.

Further, what precisely is "alien rule"? If God is the rightful king of the world, are not all human rulers "alien rulers"? Why should I prefer the rule of Herod over the rule of Caesar? I admit that for practical purposes it is usually better to be governed by someone who knows your customs and shares your heritage. However, "better the devil you know" does not make the one you know any less of a devil. To think that one's neighbour and kin cannot be alien to you, particularly when granted power over you, is to prescribe to a very narrow definition of alien.

The term is essentially applied to the history and the historical consciousness of the Jewish people from the destruction of the Second Temple to the creation of the State of Israel. The residence of a great number of members of a nation, even the majority, outside their homeland is not definable as galut so long as the homeland remains in that nation's possession.

I believe galut to be trans-historical in addition to being trans-national. That is not to say that Jewish history and the Jewish nation does not provide the most manifest symbol of exile; but that a symbol must necessarily signify something beyond itself. Historical exile signifies spiritual exile. Resolving historical exile through the creation of a nation-state does not resolve spiritual exile. Spiritual exile is an eternal problem and cannot be resolved on the historical plane. Zion is a state of being as much, or more, than it is a patch of land. I am in galut from Zion because my heart still yearns for something more than a tax collector who shares my physiognomy.

Only the loss of a political-ethnic center and the feeling of uprootedness turns Diaspora (Dispersion) into galut (Exile). The feeling of exile does not always necessarily accompany the condition of exile. It is unique to the history of the Jewish people that this feeling has powerfully colored the emotions of the individual as well as the national consciousness. The sense of exile was expressed by the feeling of alienation in the countries of Diaspora, the yearning for the national and political past, and persistent questioning of the causes, meaning, and purpose of the exile. Jewish mystics perceived a defect in the Divine Order which they connected with alienation in this world – "the exile of the Divine Presence."

"The loss of a political-ethnic center," "the yearning for the national and political past," does not suffice as a definition of galut for me. The mystical interpretation, the idea of "a defect in the divine order," is much more appealing - and useful. It is useful because it explains the fact that having "a political-ethnic center" does not make me feel any less uprooted in the world. Somehow I imagine that many of my "exiled" ancestors, with their theological certitude and communal solidarity, felt much less uprooted than I do. Somehow I imagine that even many Israelis' "exiled" ancestors felt much less uprooted than they do. "The feeling of exile does not always necessarily accompany the condition of exile" - recognizing that is the first step toward understanding galut in its ultimate form.