Israel, der unerwartete Staat

This year's Leopold-Lucas-Prize was awarded to Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi. He has produced fundamental research on the history of the Jewish Diaspora and has shed additional light on the relationship between Freudian psychoanalysis and Jewish history in his revolutionary work. He has studied the conditions under which Jews and other cultures can live together constructively in non-Jewish societies. His insights into the significance of collective memory and the writing of critical history for the identity of cultures have proven to be ground-breaking. In his lecture he attempts to clarify the historical meaning of modern Zionism and the State of Israel, both currently subject to raging controversy and much confusion among Jews and non-Jews alike. While Zionism drew some elements from prior Jewish messianism, it was essentially a revolt against the messianic tradition, at least in the form it had assumed. Moreover, nothing in Jewish (or Christian and Muslim tradition) had anticipated a sovereign Jewish state such as now exists, in the midst of history and before the end of time. The problem of understanding Zionism and Israel cannot be approached in political terms alone, nor within the conventional context of modern nationalism. It requires a deep and sophisticated awareness of the messianic heritages which, religious or secularized, continue to influence opinions, whether pro or contra.