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Any graduate of a respectable Israeli kindergarten has learned that the Second Temple was destroyed “because of baseless hatred.” Every adult Israeli knows to warn against its recurrence in our time. But history tells a different story. The destruction of the Second Temple – followed some 60 years later by the near-destruction of Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel after the Bar Kokhba revolt was crushed – resulted chiefly from nationalist and religious zealotry. Then as now, this fanaticism imperils the Jewish state.
When the extremes set the terms of public discourse – and, more dangerously, of politics – they can bring renewed Jewish sovereignty to an end. Only the determination of a moderate majority, committed to the broadest possible common ground, can safeguard and strengthen Israel as it approaches its centennial.
The destruction of the Second Temple, the devastation of Jewish life in the Land of Israel, and the onset of 2,000 years of exile are well-documented historical........