The Evolution of the Portrait of the Arab - Essay Example

?The Evolution of the Portrait of the Arab and Nationalism in Haim Hazaz’s The Sermon Introduction The close ties between the evolution of the Arab identity and nationalism and Modern Hebrew literature is one of the major, interesting features of the ‘new’ Jewish history. The Hebrew literary institution, during the pre-state era, was one of the most important elements of the crystallisation of knitted foundations which developed and were established and functioning when the state was instituted (Band 2003). To apply the modern discourse, it can be assumed that the Hebrew literary institution was a leading component in the creation of the Zionist story, such as the organisation of outlooks, representations, and stories which the movement of Zionism created, consciously or unconsciously, in its effort to unite the Jewish people, for attempts resulting in the formation of a Jewish independent state in the inherited native soil. Consequently, the formation of an independent state has produced a series of new conditions that have heightened the flourishing of Hebrew literary works in Israel in the not so distant past. While this narrative has frequently been recounted, the continuity between the development of Hebrew literature and the formation of the state has altered the historiographic viewpoint on the era (Band 2003). The perspective has been basically natural: the Hebrew literature and the Arabic identity are depicted as parallels maturing together. Credit is given to the pre-state literary works of Haim Hazaz and other established authors. Although it is customary to focus upon what appears to be the new attempts to provide expression to the developing reality of Arabic identity and statehood, the consequent reality is unfinished. Even when creating a literary narrative distantly, most scholars prefer to group the authors of a literary era together and afterwards interpret authors and literary works independently, mapping out their growth from time to time in their lives. This is perhaps the most logical means to address the diversity and evolution of artistic output (Band 2003). If we aspire to make sense of the contemporaneous nature of a literature in a particular period, how authors and spectators of different periods interrelate in reality, how social and political circumstances might have influenced them as a generation, we should delve deeply into the dominant themes, such as the evolution of Arab identity and nationalism in Haim Hazaz’s seminal work ‘The Sermon’. These initial remarks on the development of Israel literature present a fundamental perspective for this essay: an interpretation of how Haim Hazaz contributed substantially to the formation of the Zionist story, as well as the modern representation of the Arab identity and nationalism. Although a great deal has been written on the development of Zionism and Hazaz, there has been a lack of sufficient evaluation of his important contribution in this vital project. Recognition is frequently given to his essay ‘The Sermon’, yet the unrelenting position of Hazaz in the heart of the literary period as the standard, well-liked author of the Labour Party, the major cultural and political strength of the state and the Yishuv in its initial decades (Band 2003), has not been acknowledged. This limitation is the reasonable consequence of the widespread historiographic prejudice that emphasises the revolutionary in each period to the abandonment of the general image of literary construction in any generation. Authors are part of the generation when they initially made a radical difference. Evolution of the Arab Identity and Nationalism in Haim Hazaz’s ‘The Sermon’ The portrait of the Arab in Modern Hebrew literature as shown in ‘The Sermon’ is a remarkable illustration of the Arab cultural and political development. To be examined in Hazaz’s essay is the degree to which Modern Hebrew literature acknowledges Arab identity or distinctiveness. Particularly, to what level does Yudka’s sermon argue a unique identity, which is not submissive to Zionism and to its established value system? This essay will analyse the capacity of Hazaz’s ‘The Sermon’ to generate a diverse value system and to exist in an insecure period, which not merely recognises the existence of the Arab as a unique individual but also seeks out an expression that would characterise him. The portrait of the Arab has emerged in Modern Hebrew literature since the advent of the 20th century. Primarily, Haim Hazaz views himself as part of the Jewish minority, depicting the evolution of the Arab majority. The portrait of the Arab adopted in ‘The Sermon’ is stereotypical, conforming to a typical pattern that can be located even in other depictions of the Arab in that generation. For instance, as shown in this passage (Michener 1973): They do nothing, not an effort, nothing at all, just sit and wait... They invented a Messiah in Heaven, but not as a legend out of the past, as a promise for their future. That’s very important, terribly important—and they trust in him to come and bring their redemption, while they themselves are obliged to do nothing at all and there you have it... (p. 142). Apparently, the circumstances where in the Arab surfaces lack the domain of inconsistency between minority and majority; there is definitely no political argument. Instead, the circumstances address commonplace practice, local culture, traditions and the larger society. Theatrical conflicts can also be found within the framework of the ‘The Sermon’. Moreover, the Arab was depicted as a worthy exemplar in the essay. The Arab represented the core cultural principles that were contrary to the Jewish history of Diaspora: the Arab’s bond and rootedness to the native soil through agricultural toil, his hostility and cruelty, his essential being, unblemished by modernity (Michener 1973): ... It would not be possible for them not to not believe, even though, generally speaking, they believe with perfect faith! See?... This is a Jewish trait too, a very Jewish trait: to believe with perfect faith, with the mad and burning faith of all the heart and all the soul, and yet somewhat not to believe, the least little bit, and to let this tiny bit be decisive... I can’t explain it well. But that’s how it is. I am not mistaken! How complicated it all is!... Redemption is the chief of all their desires, the whole substance of their hopes, and yet they have bound themselves, locked their hands and feet in chains, and sealed their own doom, guarding and observing their own sentence with unimaginable pedantic strictness, not to be redeemed for ever and ever! Well, now then... now then... the birth pangs of Messiah (p. 149). The Arab did not merely embrace the Romantic European standard concerning the mysterious East, but the Eastern standard of living was tied to the mind of Haim Hazaz (Band 2003). The Arab in the words of Yudka played the conventional portrait of the dignified savage, though being depicted as a good exemplar and not as symbolizing a remote, subordinate, and outlandish world. ‘The Sermon’ illustrates a reversal in the position and portrait of the Arab in the Modern Hebrew literary institution. Primarily, it is evident that the relationship between minority and majority evolved since the establishment of State of Israel (Michener 1973): The Exile, that is our pyramid, and it has martyrdom for a base and Messiah for its peak. And... and... the Talmud, that is our Book of the Dead... In the very beginning, as far back as the Second Temple, we began to build it. Even that far back we planned it, we laid the foundations... Exile, martyrdom, Messiah... (p. 146). The Arabs were eventually portrayed as a minority to the level of their strength. In addition, the perspective where in the Arab emerges becomes politically inclined, and the involvement in warfare, which resulted in a new status quo, evicts the Arab from his native soil; he lost his inherited status and identity, he becomes an exile in his homeland. Since then, the distress of war is the root of every imagination and every bond to be developed between Arabs and Jews. It is apparent in ‘The Sermon’ that the recognition of the Arab is replaced by remorse toward him, combined with Hazaz’s evaluation of the majority, as an outcome of the majority’s corrupt treatment of the powerless minority. ‘The Sermon’ was somewhat accurately imagined in their period as challenging the principles of Zionism in whose name the Jewish state was rooted. To this are inserted Yudka’s reflection of the uselessness and the unjust eviction of the Arabs, on the conversion of the discriminated and exiled Jewish people into oppressor, and more such uncertainties connected to the major concerns of the national association of those generations. However, at a temporal expanse, one can differentiate between political and cultural self-reflection arising from ‘The Sermon’, and the intellectual perspective of the generation where in Hazaz worked, and from which he could not abandon. This is a personal narrative that removes all thoughts on and interest in majority groups. The Arab is unwelcomed in Yudka’s monologue. Specifically, even a destabilisation of the values of the majority does not result in the identification with the misery and torment of the Arab. Yudka, apparently, does not place the Arab in the centre of his sermon, but the principle of freedom, which he views as the foundation of his perspective of the world and of ideals not to be given up (Michener 1973): ...How, how can men who are by no means simple, who are no fools at all, on the contrary, very shrewd men, men with more than a touch of scepticism, men who are practical, and maybe even a bit too practical, how can they believe something like that, a thing like that—and not just believe, but trust in it, pin their whole life upon it, the whole substance of their life and survival, their national, historic fate? (p. 148). Such an individual is not able to hide behind a questionable principle, issues of security, or the duty to abide by commands, although Arabs are being expelled from their communities, or even though he is in custody of an Arab offender and has it is his disposal to free him. The Arab in Yudka’s words is just a trial for the rift between a martial value system and a humanistic one. The Arab, in Yudka’s sermon, should remain a powerless participant. In Yudka’s sermon, it is hard to find traditional perceptions of the Arab that safeguard the harmony between negative and positive forces. The indigenous Arab is seen as having no element of human decorum, as being outside the bounds of humanity (Michener 1973): To my mind, if I am right, Zionism and Judaism are not at all the same, but two things quite different from each other, and maybe even two things directly opposite to each other! At any rate, far from the same. When a man can no longer be a Jew, he becomes a Zionist. I am not exaggerating. The Biluim were primarily very imperfect Jews. It wasn’t the pogroms that moved them—that’s all nonsense, the pogroms—they were falling apart inside, they were rootless and crumbling within. Zionism begins with the wreckage of Judaism, from the point where the strength of the people fails. That’s a fact! (p. 152). Evidently, Yudka ultimately claims that the true captive is not the Arab but the Jew who is not able to follow his/her sense of right and wrong and stays caught in his/her cyclical, never-ending inner fight. Restricting Yudka’s perspective shows that his sermon reveals the traditional representation of the marginal group in the eyes of the mainstream, and not the representation of the marginal group in its own reflection or in the point of view of some unbiased elite. The context is hence the recognition of a conventional view, when the stereotype itself shows the disquiet of a civilisation defined by its answerability to the death of another civilisation, or even reveals its feeling of remorse. However, in this manner, the depiction of the Arab’s portrait is caught in that self-absorbed cycle where in it loses the true domain and results in the reflection of the inherent conflict of Israeli mentality. Conclusions One of the most remarkable features of Modern Hebrew literature from the time of Haim Hazaz and other established authors of his period is that it stays strongly, almost fanatically, national in its focus although persistently struggling to lend itself to widespread circumstances and concerns, possibly to a global audience too. This discourse is innately unsound, and apparently its role will be sensed in a different way in different authors. However, one can discern in Hazaz’s ‘The Sermon’ a penetrating pulsation of anxiety about the national context which is the major focus of his creative creation; and if we are able to make sense of the unusual character of that anxiety, we may be capable of distinguishing more accurately the reason Israeli literary production has embraced specific trait approaches and even specific trait collections of theatrical and plot perspective. Indeed, one of the most compelling depictions of the Arab portrait and nationalism is Yudka’s sermon; Hazaz always comes into mind whenever the issue of the evolution of the Arab portrait and nationalism in contrast with those of the Jewish people surfaces. Hazaz’s fervent nationalism has created literary works of overwhelming power; one is Yudka’s eloquent but hesitant sermon. The vast majority of Israeli authors, who views national identity as an indisputable reality not a glowing conviction, should be contented with examining the strengths and weaknesses of their national history although at times discreetly aiming for a bigger world to envision, possibly even sensing in some spot of consciousness the unrelenting presence of uncertainty as to whether life could be more absolutely gratifying in a different place. References Band, Arnold. Studies in Modern Jewish Literature. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2003. Hazaz, Haim. "The Sermon." Michener, James A. Firstfruits: A Harvest of 25 Years of Israeli Writing. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1973. 139-156. Read More