Is there a “Jewish soul”?
NOVANEWS
By Uri Avnery
“As long as in the heart, within, a Jewish soul is yearning…” thus starts the official translation of Israel’s national anthem.
Actually, the Hebrew original says “the soul of a Jew”, but the translator probably got it right. It’s the Jewish soul that was meant.
But is there a Jewish soul? Is it different from the souls of other people? And if so, what is the difference?
Frankly, I don’t know what a soul is. But let’s assume that there is such a thing as a collective psychology, the general spirit of all the men and women who make up this collective – each of whom has a psychology of his/her own. What is it that differentiates it from that of other peoples?
Looking at the present day Israeli people, a stranger may well be perplexed. First of all, more than a fifth ...