Yitzhak Breuer and the Question of Sovereignty in the Land of Israel
Keywords:
Yitzhak Breuer, Agudat Yisrael, Jewish nationhood, Arab-Jewish conflictAbstract
This article discusses Rabbi Dr. Yitzhak Breuer, one of the leaders of Agudat Yisrael in the Land of Israel in the 1930s and 1940s.
The author analyzes a test case in which Breuer’s views clashed with the political reality. Breuer’s perception of modern nationhood in general, and Jewish nationhood in particular, brought him to an extremely unpopular position regarding the political-philosophical terms: ‘sovereignty,’ ‘state,’ and ‘nation’. These were the philosophical foundations that shaped his approach toward the Arab-Jewish conflict. The author compares his thinking to that of other players in the Jewish discourse, such as Brit Shalom, Jabotinsky and so forth.
The argument is made that Breuer found himself in a complex reality in which he had to decide if and how his views could be implemented in the given political reality. As a leader, he often chose pragmatism over ideology.
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