When Excellence is a Necessity: Bilahari Kausikan on the Singapore-Israel Connection
In Honor of David E.R. Dangoor, President of the American Sephardi Federation, and a relation of Singapore’s Inaugural Chief Minister, David Saul Marshall, A”H
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The American Sephardi Federation’s Sephardi Ideas Monthly is a continuing series of essays and interviews from the rich, multi-dimensional world of Sephardi thought and culture that is delivered to your inbox every month.
June’s issue of Sephardi Ideas Monthly (SIM) extends our series, “Jews in Asia: From the Baghdadis to Ben Gurion & Beyond,” via a discussion between Bilahari Kausikan, the doyen of Singapore’s diplomatic corps and Chairman of the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore, and the ASF’s Director of Publications, Dr. Aryeh Tepper, about the deep political parallels linking Singapore and Israel. Kausikan served in a number of senior positions in Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Lee Kuan Yew, the country’s legendary founder and long-time leader, and he is the author of two collections of essays and numerous articles. In April, 2023, Kausikan’s essay, “Navigating the New Age of Great-Power Competition: Statecraft in the Shadow of the U.S.-Chinese Rivalry,” was given center-stage at Foreign Affairs.
When Singapore found itself independent in 1965, it was very poor and without any natural resources, but today it is a multi-cultural, free market city-state and global economic powerhouse. Kausikan opens the discussion by returning to 1965 and recalling how Israel provided military aid to Singapore when everyone else refused: “I don’t know why Israel agreed to assist us… but we are profoundly grateful for the central role that Israel played in establishing our armed forces.” Kausikan then adds that “in my opinion, the Singaporean youth of all ethnicities should know this history.” The rest of the discussion explores three parallels between these two outposts of human flourishing in west and southeast Asia: both Israel and Singapore were rejected by their neighbours, both are small states that need to be extraordinary in order to survive, and both states face profound challenges connected to the question of identity.
Enlivened by Kausikan’s acerbic wit and his tough-minded and thought-provoking insights, the conversation constitutes a profound statement of support from a senior Asian diplomatic figure who has visited Israel more than twenty times. Along the way, Kauskian invites readers to break out of their conventional “mental frameworks” and to see Israel from the perspective of a thriving city-state that aspires to be a political meritocracy and whose enemies used to call it “the Israel of southeast Asia.” As Kausikan delineates, Singapore and Israel most deeply connect as states whose survival depends upon human excellence.
(Photo courtesy of Ooi Boon Keong/Today).
Sephardi Ideas Monthly (SIM): Ambassador Kausikan, thank you very much for your time and being here with us. Let’s please begin with the story of Israel-Singapore relations. Imagine you’re our tour guide through this recent history, where should we begin?
Bilahari Kausikan (BK): We should begin in August, 1965, when Singapore and Malaysia separated. Singapore needed to establish an army, so we turned to the UK, Australia, Egypt, India and others for aid, but they all said no. Only Israel said yes. I guess no one else thought we would survive. I don’t know why Israel agreed to assist us, perhaps out of empathy, but whatever the reason, we are profoundly grateful for the central role that Israel played in establishing our armed forces, and in my opinion, the Singaporean youth of all ethnicities should know this history.
We then proceed to 1969 when Singapore and Israel officially established relations, a move that our Muslim neighbours didn’t appreciate. In 1986, when President Chaim Herzog visited Singapore, our neighbours were likewise outraged, as if they have a say in who we invite to our country. But we stood our ground, like the Israelis themselves, and when Prime Minister Netanyahu visited Singapore in 2017, we didn’t hear much from either Malaysia or Indonesia. Singapore opened an embassy last year in Israel, and we look forward to strengthening the relationship.
SIM: You have noted several parallels between Israel and Singapore. Both states were rejected by their neighbours. Both are small states that need to be extraordinary in order to survive. And both states face challenges connected to the question of identity. Let’s tackle these one at a time. How was Singapore’s reception in southeast Asia like Israel’s reception in the Middle East?
BK: Well, back in the 1960s, 70s and into the 80s, our neighbours used to call us “the Israel of Southeast Asia.” That was their way of saying that we don’t really belong. The former President of Indonesia, BJ Habibie, once called Singapore “a little red dot in a sea of green,” green of course being the color of Islam. But we held our own, and today Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia all sit together in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and we cooperate in various ways.
There’s an additional element, which is that Singapore’s political system of multi-cultural meritocracy is an implicit criticism of our neighbours. Their political systems are constructed with built-in racial and religious hierarchies. Singapore’s success is a bit threatening. States based on hierarchy don’t realize their full human potential.
So in various ways, Singapore, like Israel, must be an outlier in order to survive.
SIM: And in order to survive, small states need to be extraordinary.
BK: Yes. Do you know what Singapore’s founder, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, said in 1957, eight years before we were compelled by Malaysia to go our own way?
SIM: No.
BK: “Island nations are a political joke.” It’s true. I mean, if you are a small state, you must begin from the principle that you are totally irrelevant. Small states have no choice but to set as a strategic objective creating and maintaining some kind of relevance. You have to be excellent, unique. You cannot imagine the world without the United States, China, India or Russia, but you can imagine the world without Singapore or Israel.
SIM: How does a small state create and maintain relevance?
BK: Well, there’s no magic formula. It’s particular to each country. The first imperative is to be successful; economic success. If possible, be very successful. Become a start-up nation, for instance. Think of it this way: you come to southeast Asia to do business. If Singapore is just like our neighbours, why would you do business with us? So being extraordinary is a strategic objective for any small state.
SIM: How has Singapore pursued this strategic objective?
BK: Singapore is a multi-cultural, free-market meritocracy. The Singaporean government has two tasks, defending a common space that facilitates the working together of the country’s various groups and enabling those who are intelligent and work hard to rise. Singapore is a remarkably diverse society, there are six million Chinese, Indian and Malay citizens who believe in Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Daoism, Judaism, and Hinduism and who speak English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. You know, I only recently discovered that there is a Zoroastrian community in Singapore! And of course there is a Jewish community with Baghdadi roots that goes back to the 19th century. It’s a small but dynamic community whose members have played leading roles in our country’s growth and development.
So in short, Singapore pursues its goal of excellence by creating a common space for our citizens, and a common baseline for all young Singaporeans. Then it’s up to you, no matter your origin, religion or skin colour, from school through mandatory military service. Let’s see what you’ve got. It is not easy to maintain this system and there are real challenges. Meritocracy creates its own “traps.” We try to remain aware of these traps and to minimize them, but we are constantly critically evaluating our practices, and in the meantime our economy is transparent, free and dynamic and our government constantly rates among the highest in the world for citizens’ confidence and lack of corruption.
SIM: What do you think drives Singapore’s meritocratic impulse?
BK: Necessity. Concrete necessity. When we became independent in 1965, we were a dirt-poor country with no natural resources to speak of. So, we needed to realize the human potential of our citizens if we wanted to survive. It’s really as simple as that. Like Israel, we need to be exceptional in order to survive.
SIM: So how do you respond to those who call Singapore an autocracy?
BK: I laugh. It’s very foolish and extraordinarily misinformed. It’s about as accurate as calling Israel an apartheid state. People resort to these epithets because of intellectual laziness. When confronted with something that does not fit their preconceptions of what things should be, rather than think through a new experience, they resort to insults drawn from their usually limited stock of old familiar mental frameworks, regardless of whether they are appropriate. People like to see the world in terms of oversimplifications. It’s a basic problem that isn’t particular to Singapore. The world is intricate and chaotic and unpredictable. I think that Isaiah Berlin got it right, that the human world consists of multiple notions of the good that are mutually contradictory, that’s life. It’s a complex reality, and in order to deal with it, people inevitably resort to mental frameworks that simplify reality. Having said that, even though all mental frameworks are accompanied by a certain degree of distortion, the degree of distortion varies. There are people who love binary distinctions and whose mental framework reduces the world to two kinds of states: liberal democracies and autocracies. I have met them on occasion. If that’s your mental framework, you will have a very distorted view of Singapore. And other countries, too, like the UAE. You will have a very distorted view of the world.
SIM: The notion of ‘mental frameworks’ is one of your contributions to the field of International Relations. You’ve written that, in the international arena, the problem of mental frameworks has become more acute following the Cold War. Please expand upon that briefly. Why is this a more acute problem today?
BK: Because there was one virtue to the Cold War, it determined the parameters of what is possible with stark clarity. No matter where you stood with regard to the ideological divide, you saw the ideological divide, and that divide provided the clearly defined structure within which states acted. But that structure is gone, and no alternative structure has emerged. In this situation, there are fewer constraints upon mental frameworks, and all kinds of dangerous nonsense is peddled, sometimes with very real consequences.
SIM: So let’s please conclude with the question of identity and the common challenge facing both Israel and Singapore. Please frame the problem for us.
BK: Look, every society needs common assumptions. Singapore is a small city-state, a recent, artificial creation with a widely diverse population. We need to create a common space in which citizens can cooperate, and that needs to be done on the basis of some sense of shared identity. We haven’t been around long enough for any thick sense of Singaporean identity to develop. So it is very important that we prevent outside forces, whether Islamist or Chinese or western, from undermining our social contract by telling our citizens that their primarily loyalty is to the Umma or to Beijing or ‘democracy’ as that protean term is understood in the US or Europe or some other place. Singapore’s identity is real, but it’s shallow. We don’t have historical roots. In this respect we are very different from Israel.
I have been to Israel at least twenty times, probably more although I don’t exactly remember, and I have many Israeli friends. I understand that Israel is full of tensions and that Israelis argue, sometimes fiercely, often about what it means to be Jewish. But whatever their disagreements, Jews in Israel pretty much all agree that they are Jews, and there is a shared, bedrock consensus that has been hammered into the consciousness of Jews because of the history of persecution and exile that there is a need for a Jewish state. This is a greater strength than many Israelis may think.
Now put yourself in our position. Imagine you are a Singaporean who wants to protect the country’s relatively new identity – not yet even 60 years old. What are we to think if Israel, a country with deep historical roots, cannot maintain social cohesion. If this ancient people can’t agree, what chance do we have?
SIM: So how do you see the present constitutional crisis in Israel?
BK: I’m rooting for Israel to emerge from its present crisis with a workable modus vivendi. I think my Israeli friends will get there. Human things being what they are it will be difficult, but when they get there, and no doubt they eventually will, it will be a substantive achievement and make Israel a better place.
For Further Reading:
“Southeast Asia between Major Powers: Lessons for the Middle East” Bilahari Kausikan, The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune:
“Dealing with an off-shore balancer is different from dealing with a power prepared to intervene directly. The typical Middle Eastern strategy to ensure security has been to identify the strongest external power and cling to it. Since the Second World War, the US was the choice of most, although some states in the Levant bet on the Soviet Union. Many in the Middle East, including in Israel, have been discombobulated by the realization that the US is now reluctant to play this role. Although Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been particularly quick to adapt to the new situation, Southeast Asia’s half century of experience in dealing with the US as off-shore balancer may still be of interest to the Middle East.”
“China prefers to keep its Middle Eastern engagements primarily economic. It remains to be seen if this is possible, and the restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran announced in Beijing on 10 March signaled a new phase in Chinese policy towards the Middle East. Still, Beijing’s desire to simultaneously maintain as good as possible relations with Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel is a delicate balance that sets limits to what China can do. During the recent visit of Mahmoud Abbas to Beijing, Xi Jinping reportedly pushed China as a mediator in the Palestinian issue. If I were Israel or the US, I would welcome this: it’s a thankless task that is almost certainly bound to fail!”
“Navigating the New Age of Great-Power Competition”
Bilahari Kausikan, Foreign Affairs:
“Apocalyptic scenarios of an exceptionally complex global system dividing cleanly across all sectors into two separate systems (as existed during the Cold War) will not come to pass. The costs to the two great powers and to other countries would simply be too high. Competition between the great powers will certainly contribute to the slowing down of globalization but not its reversal.”
“Like it or not, China and the United States must accept the risks and vulnerabilities of remaining connected to each other. China and the United States will compete and do so robustly, but they will compete within the single system of which they are both vital parts. The dynamics of competition within a system are fundamentally more complex than those of a binary competition between systems as existed during the Cold War.”
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The Monthly Sage החכם החודשי
The Sage for the month of June, 2023, is Hakham Abraham Haim Naeh (1890-1954).
In retelling Jewish history and observing Jewish life, our mental frameworks sometimes blind us to cultural worlds that we usually don’t connect, such as the legacy of Ottoman Chabad embodied in Hakham Abraham Haim Naeh.
Abraham Haim Naeh, popularly known as “Reb Haim Naeh,” was born to Moussia and Rabbi Menachem Mendel Naeh in 1890, in Hebron. Young Abraham studied Torah with his father, one of the leaders of the Chabad Hassidic movement in Israel and the head of Hebron’s Magen Avot Yeshiva. In 1905 the family moved to Jerusalem, where Abraham Haim Naeh was later ordained to the rabbinate by Rabbi Yitzhak Yeruham Diskin. He married Deborah Foenigstein, and the couple had nine children.
In 1910, Hakham Abraham Haim Naeh travelled to Lubavitch and met with the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom DovBer Schneersohn, who sent him to Bukhara as an emissary. Hakham Abraham ultimately settled in Smarakand, Uzbekistan, where he authored Hanoch LaNa’ar for Bar Mitzvah boys, as well as a Bukhari-language legal work on Tefillin.
Hakham Abraham returned to the Land of Israel in 1914, but in short order was expelled with many other Jews to Egypt. There, he jointly established the Yeshivat Eretz Israel for expatriates together with Hakham Nissim Nachum and the sages of Alexandria. After the war, Hakham Abraham returned to Jerusalem, where he served as the Eidah HaHaredit’s scribe and Rabbi of the Bukhari neighborhood.
Hakham Abraham Haim Naeh served as one of the heads of the Chabad Kollel in Israel, and in 1921 he re-established the Torat Emet Yeshiva on Me’ah She’arim Street. In 1924, Hakham Abraham accompanied Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, leader of the Eidah HaHaredit, to the his meeting with King Abdallah of Jordan, and in 1929 Hakham Abraham accompanied the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, to his visit with Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook, Israel’s well-known Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi who celebrated in the Zionist rebirth.
During the period of the 1936 riots, Hakham Abraham Haim Naeh’s son was killed and two of his daughters injured when the family was attacked on their way back from a brother’s wedding in Tiberias. The mother of the family, Deborah, died in 1938.
In 1944, the anti-Zionist Eidah HaHaredit movement separated from Agudat Israel because of their differing approaches to the question of the Zionist movement. Hakham Abraham Haim Naeh sided with the more pragmatic Agudat Israel position, which de facto worked with the Zionist movement, and participated in the Mo’etzet Gedolei HaTorah Rabbinic Council.
Hakham Abraham Haim Naeh developed a halakhic approach regarding measurements and quantities that posited an essential physical similarity between present and ancient times, as in, ancient eggs and modern eggs are the same size. His position differed from that of the venerable Hazon Ish, Rabbi Yishayahu Kerlitz, but leading sages of his generation, including R’ Kook, followed him. Hakham Abraham Haim Naeh publicized his method in Shiurei Torah, Shiur Mikve, Shiur Zion and Kuntrass HaShiurim.
Hakham Abraham Haim Naeh passed away on the 20th of Tammuz, 5714 (1954), and was buried on Har Hamenuhot in Jerusalem.
In the following passage, Hakham Abraham Haim Naeh reaffirms the Egyptian custom of not saying the penitential Tahanun prayer when a Bar Mitzvah boy first lays tefillin in a synagogue, because of the joyous nature of the occasion:
The custom of Egyptian Jews is not to recite Tahanun when a youth, learning how to fulfill the commandment of tefillin, is present in the synagogue. It seems that the origin of the custom concerning a youth turning 13 years of age lies in the fact that at this moment he resembles a groom, as the Magen Avot wrote, in section 225, in the following words: “It is a mitzvah for a person to hold a festive meal on the day his son becomes Bar Mitzvah, just as when he comes under the wedding canopy.” His joy engages the congregation, so that they do not recite the Tahanun. The congregation is also joyful because an additional adult has joined them. Also, it was the custom to put tefillin on the youth on the exact day of his Bar Mitzvah, and some may have thought that laying Tefillin precludes reading Tahanun, so that even in our day – when the precise age of the youth is not taken into account, and some put on the Tefillin before [the date] and some do so after (which is not according to rule) – the custom, not to recite Tahanun on the day of the laying of Tefillin, has remained.
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Our Story: The Jews of Sepharad; Celebrations and Stories
By Lea-Nora Kordova Annette and Eugene Labovitz
Celebrations and Stories, a special publication of the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education with the American Sephardi Federation, is an essential work that enhances the teaching of Sephardi history, traditions, and cultures.
The life cycle and calendar sections are designed to horizontally connect to the teaching of customs and ceremonies from the Spanish & Portuguese, Syrian, Judeo-Spanish, and Moroccan traditions. Other sections include translations of classic texts and poetry, tales of our history’s heroes, and classroom activities.
Exploring Sephardic Customs and Traditions
By Hakham R’Marc D. Angel, Ph.D
Over the centuries, Jewish communities throughout the world adopted customs that enhanced and deepened their religious observances. These customs, or minhagim, became powerful elements in the religious consciousness of the Jewish people. It is important to recognize that minhagim are manifestations of a religious worldview, a philosophy of life. They are not merely quaint or picturesque practices, but expressions of a community’s way of enhancing the religious experience. A valuable resource for Sephardim and Ashkenazim alike.
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities
The ASF’s Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
The Aden Conference
Building on the success of the ASF and E’eleh B’Tamar’s “The Yemenite Conference: Jews and Muslims in Yemen” held in 2017 at New York’s Center for Jewish History, the Aden Conference will bring together the world’s leading scholars from Aden, Israel, US, UK, and Europe to explore the historical, cultural, and communal dynamics that intersected in Aden and its environs, particularly under British rule.
28-30 August 2023
Opening Night | JW3, London
Conference | Woolf Institute, Cambridge
Sign-up Now!
Co-Presenters:
Woolf Institute, ASMEA (Association for the Study of the Middle East & Africa), Aden Jewish Heritage Museum, Zalman Shazar Center, and Harif: Association of Jews from the MENA
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American Sephardi Federation presents:
Convergence: Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian Calligraphy in Conversation
Featuring the multilingual art of Ruben Shimonov Convergence creates a visual world where Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian languages interact with, and speak to, one another; a world where stylized letters and words dance together on the page; a world where cultures, religions, communities, and philosophies intersect.
Juxtaposing cognates from these ancient West Asian languages, artist Ruben Shimonov encourages the viewer to explore the deep-rooted connections between these tongues, as well as the multilayered and transnational identity of the artist himself.
On View in the Leon Levy Gallery through 16 July 2023
@ the Center for Jewish History
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American Sephardi Federation and Mimouna Association’s Rebuilding Our Homes Project present:
Re-Creation: Judaica by Moroccan Muslim Artisans
Explore the exhibition of Judeo-Moroccan art, Moroccan Judaica, cultural and religious objects, including Menorot, Mezuzot, Yads, Shabbat Candleholders, Seder Plates, Hallah Covers, and much more.
On View through 31 December 2023
@ the Center for Jewish History
As Moroccan Jewish populations largely left the mellahs (Jewish quarters) in the latter half of the 20th century, there was a danger that not only designs but even the traditional artisanal techniques needed to create them would be lost. Passed down from one artisan to another and perfected over time, these designs and techniques. ranging from vibrant patterns to intricate metalwork and soulful wood carvings, are expressions of Moroccanity and reflect the individual character of each city. The materials and craftsmanship of Rabat are different than Fez, and Essaouira is distinct from both.
Mimouna Association and the American Sephardi Federation’s Rebuilding Our Homes Project, a multi-year USAID-supported New Partnerships Initiative, brought three notable experts-Ms. Zhor Rehihil, Ms. Deborah Koenigsberger Gutierrez, and Ms. Meryem Ghandi to train Moroccan Muslim artisans in the history of Judeo-Moroccan art and guided them in re-creating Moroccan Judaica, which encompasses a diverse array of cultural and religious objects, including Menorot, Mezuzot, Yads, Shabbat Candleholders, Seder Plates, Hallah Covers, and much more.