Return to the Promised Land.. Jacek Surzyn
initiated – must end. Jewish celebration of the Shabbat shows the ultimate goal of any activity, first of all with reference to human actions: maturation and growth of human organism. According to Hess, the Biblical description of creation only has its proper meaning from the perspective of Shabbat. Shabbat teaches man using symbolic language that when the act of creation was completed, God called to existence the creature of the higher order: human. It was then that God, celebrating the natural Shabbat, initiated the proper history of mankind.85 Hess points out that creating human and Shabbat begin the history of creation of the social world, whose development still continues and which will celebrate its Shabbat after the completion of the world history – the coming of the Messianic era. The author concludes: “Here, in this conception, you can see the high moral value of the Mosaic genesis history, ←57 | 58→in which supernaturalists have discovered a system of science. As you see, my esteemed friend, the very biblical Sabbath-law in itself inspires us with a feeling of certainty that the uniform, eternal, divine law governs alike both the world of Nature and the world of History.”86
So, Jews have an important tool to learn the actual goal of the world history. In this sense, Hess points to the important context of Shabbat, which shows the purposefulness and finality of creation, and the finitude of all that exists. Therefore, Hess considers as fools those who fall victims to the thought of full rationalization of all that exists and elimination of irrational issues, fashionable in the modern time (he particularly means contesting religion and the experience of faith) uncritically assume that in the history of mankind the progress has been unrestricted and endless. Civilization, culture, and human world are in the state of permanent growth, unrestricted progress. Such a vision leads to a dangerous isolation of humans from the world of nature, and to the rejection of the existence and application of some supernatural laws and principles. Another consequence is literal understanding of human freedom as the law to do anything you want. Hess argues that such thinking and such a vision of reality result only from the ignorance of its supporters. Human world cannot be separated from the surrounding world of nature, and from the transcendent divine sphere. Philosophy has shown many times that on the one hand, human is related to the world of nature through their physical characteristics, and on the other hand, they experience some situations indispensably connected with their nature, which from the perspective of reason are just unexplainable and really meaningless. For example, the context of human death. For Hess, faith can help in this situation, because it is the only way to experience the meaning of human existence. The perspective of the beginning, the end (goal) of history and the context of creation, resulting from faith (revelation) give meaning to human life and shows its ultimate goal. Faith also liberates humans, giving them the proper moral sense of freedom. According to the author, all this is maintained and present in Judaism in an excellent way, and the tradition of Shabbat is what connects all the issues.87
History overcomes the cult of death, and this occurs only in the Messianic time. Freedom and progress as the two factors determining human activity are ←58 | 59→linked with the coming of the Messianic era. The Jewish religion has been preparing people to it for ages, and Jews themselves are prepared to lead mankind on the way to the Messianic goal. Humans as an organism are beginning to achieve their state of maturity, so in Hess vision, the age of the Messiah – the Shabbat of history – is approaching.88
I. 7 The Project of the Jewish State
It what binds the whole reasoning of the author is the proposal that goes far beyond the tradition of the Diaspora and introduces the religious concept of return to Zion into the area of political solution that has never been taken into consideration by the Jewish tradition. Therefore, Hess concept includes the already mentioned transition from sacral to secular meaning of Messianism and the related idea of return to the Promised Land. Hess becomes a precursor of philosophical Zionism, although the idea of returning to Zion and establishing the Jewish state is not presented systematically in his work but is treated as a certain slogan, without showing specifically the practical (political) actions that could contribute to the implementation of this idea. Hess only presents a vague plan, although it reflects the awareness of political and social reality affecting the potential achievement of the state goal by Jews. First of all, he assesses the state of awareness of and “spiritual” preparation of Jews to carrying out their mission, and he leaves the rest to the context of global solutions, that is, some necessary actions caused by the constancy and inevitability of the historical process. The author also tries to notice the symptoms of changes that can lead Jews to Zion. First of all, it is of course Jews’ national self-awareness, already mentioned a number of times. Another positive aspect which according to the author helps attain the dream of having their own state is the current process of colonization of Palestine. The great Aliyah is a complementation, and it may even serve as an impulse stimulating Jewish masses to actively participate in building the nation on the basis of Jewish settlements being created in Palestine. Hess thinks that although the philanthropic movement basically proved to be insufficient, it contributed to arousing the Jewish spirit and directing activity to the building of a new society. Jews taking part in the colonization of Palestine are definitely the ←59 | 60→most active core of the whole community and at the same time one of the most enlightened Jewish groups, because being taken out of the traditional orthodox Diaspora, they are susceptible to new trends and tendencies dominating in external social and political life of the rapidly developing nations of Europe. It is noteworthy that Hess also reflects on the potential allies of Jews in their activities leading up to political and social arousal, but as part of preserving their own distinctness and awareness, mostly national, with the indispensable element of pursuit to create their own state. Where, then, does the author recommend looking for allies and where are the enemies? In response, he opposes the thought, ever-present in Jewish awareness (or at least in some circles in the Diaspora), about the potential agreement with Christianity, with which the Diaspora has coexisted for ages, but which seems to be the main Jewish enemy. Such an agreement, however, is impossible, because the Christian religious idea in a way is a failure. Hess definitely states that there can be no agreement with Christianity, because it displays a clearly expansionist policy toward Judaism, which after all has led to anti-Semitism (anti-Judaism) with all the restrictions against Jews. But after the revolution, Christianity itself also lost its dominant position and in confrontation with social life changes, its role among European communities and nations has weakened a lot. According to Hess, Christianity will not be a serious opponent to the establishment of the Jewish state and the coming of the Messianic era in human history.89 The author associates the right climate for the Jewish solution with the advancement of general socialization of masses. Capitalist changes being the basis of the theory of socialist class conflict are powerfully reflected in the Hess’ concept. He can see the importance of development of working-class self-awareness, and the national problem, and links all this with the Jewish religious tradition and Messianism. After centuries of slavery and contempt from non-Jewish (Christian) environment, Jews finally have an opportunity to achieve a solution which will eventually lead them up to their own state in Palestine. In the case of Jews, the revolution and the social changes connected with the class conflict stressed by the socialist ideology had their excellent confirmation. The manufacture and labor relationships in the system of socialist society correspond to the development of broader Jewish awareness of the idea of revolution, which will ultimately do away with everything that nowadays seems to be outdated. Jewish national awareness rises along with the revolutionary awareness.90 Humanistic ideals that have always been ←60 | 61→cultivated in the Jewish religion may finally be implemented as a part of socialist transformations. Jews are particularly good candidates for leading the changes, because as a nation oppressed for centuries, they have the right to pursue political and social liberation. Thus, as Hess argues, they can become the natural avant-garde of socialist revolution. The sense of national community seems to him the first condition for normalizing the labor relationships and getting rid of capitalist injustice and capitalist (but also national and racial) oppression. Hess compares human to a plant, which needs soil (understood here both literally and metaphorically) in order to grow. For centuries, the soil, or land, has been divided among people unfairly, which may not have been such a big problem in the beginning, because – as he argues – in the past all humankind as an organism was still in the process of growth, so