Chloe Valdary, the 92nd Street Y Panel

THE LEGACY 

"We hold that Zionism is moral and just. And since it is moral and just, justice must be done." 
-Jabotinsky
 
THE ANTHEM

by Chloe Simone Valdary

We ask FIRST for Zionism.
 
Not for pogrom. Not for libel. Not for Shoah. 
 
Not for discussions on arab-israeli conflicts; not for discourse on legal texts; not for pschoanalyzing the dead; not for pragmatic positions cutting asunder a land; not for stifling the breath of a people; not for justifying murder; not for the ramifications of the UN; not for the permission or lack thereof of the US; not for the scorn of the EU.
 
Not for demise nor for analyzing demise. Not for depression, nor for evaluating depression.
 
We ask for celebration of a civilization; of a memory; of a legacy; of life itself.
 
Of Mendelssohn and Maimonides; Of Einstein and Heschel; Of inventions and philosophies; Of Herzl and Hess; Of Brandeis and Nordau; Of Mandeles and Goldstein; Of Mael and Maazig; Of art; Of triumph; Of debate; Of prayer; Of collective belonging and individuality; Of Milk and Honey; Of rationality and spirituality;
 
Of identity; Of identity; Of identity;
 
Of Wailing Walls; Of Shilo; Of Soaring; Of life itself.
 
To this we raise monuments.
To this we give a toast.
To this we dedicate poetry and song and dance and no tears, no more tears, but laughter and devotion.
 
We begin here, only here, with redemption, with victory, with achievement. With ideas that moved and constructed the world, and a people that invented them.
 
We ask FIRST for Zionism.
 
Read the whole thing (http://bit.ly/18T2itm)