From Zion To Zionism

My father was stationed in Palestine and Trans-Jordan during WWII with the British Voluntary Corps. The grandson of a holy man ; a Kohen, a Rabbi, scholar and scribe, who had come to America from Russia in 1901. My father's father, the Rabbi's son, came of age in the 20's and promptly rebelled against his Orthodox upbringing, as did my grandmother, against her similar background. My father was brought up in New York by intellectual, assimilated and very successful Jews. He was bar-mitzvahed and brought up Jewish, albeit very secular with no ban on forbidden foods and customs.

They traveled frequently abroad, and my father - a brilliant mind - who also read voraciously and sped through school, graduating at 14, had grown up with already, expanded horizons. He spoke a handful of languages and picked up others quickly. Thus, the eventual cushy gig with British Intel during WWII. It happened by fluke, when he lied about his age during a recruiting session at Cape Town University, and joined the Army. He was 19. They stationed him in Egypt (where he sent a telegram to his mother informing her, he was in Cairo) as a sight man on anti-aircraft guns. He was virtually discharged from the Army, after a near miss with an Allied plane, but pulled the liguistic ability out of his hat, and found himself suddenly promoted and sent to Trans-jordan to hang out with the Bedouin.

After the war, my dad almost converted to Catholocism, obviously having undergone a crisis of faith. Instead, he declared himself an agnostic with Taoist leanings. He respected all cutures and had a live and let live, lifelong philosophy but he despised Zionism, and saw it as a European, Nationalist movement with no ties to Judaism. He associated it with

He told me as a child, that according to Torah, we Jews are sent into exile