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malls. Yes, the Nazis shouted in the streets, and by out–
shouting-also outfighting-the Communists and Socialists, won
the right - which they terribly abused - to represent Germany . But
undeniably they won that right. And partly by shouting.
Finally , Professor Finch thinks that if Israel fails - it seems to
me he thinks it has already failed - George Steiner will as least have
the Torah , while I, according to my own words , will have nothing.
So Steiner is in some way better off than I am . Perhaps. But here I
am not going to soften or dilute my thinking.
If
Israel fails, the very
phrase "better ofr will be empty of meaning. Hitler, as I wrote, will
have had the last word. But perhaps Professor Finch did not get my
meaning. I will spell it out for him. Every tragedy, we are told, has
to end with a moment of reconciliation . After the tragedy of the
Holocaust, Jews were reconciled to living by the state of Israel. Let
that be erased, and we would be back with the Holocaust in all its
horror, and the Torah, even if not reduced to word games,
a
la
Steiner, would hardly have the powers to give our lives back to us .
We have not forgotten what we lost.
