Gaze on them from the heights,
There is a people that dwells apart,
Not reckoned among the nations,
(א) אֵיכָ֣ה ׀ יָשְׁבָ֣ה בָדָ֗ד הָעִיר֙ רַבָּ֣תִי עָ֔ם הָיְתָ֖ה כְּאַלְמָנָ֑ה רַבָּ֣תִי בַגּוֹיִ֗ם שָׂרָ֙תִי֙ בַּמְּדִינ֔וֹת הָיְתָ֖ה לָמַֽס׃ {ס}
Lonely sits the city
Once great with people!
She that was great among nations
Is become like a widow;
The princess among states
Is become a thrall.
(מו) כׇּל־יְמֵ֞י אֲשֶׁ֨ר הַנֶּ֥גַע בּ֛וֹ יִטְמָ֖א טָמֵ֣א ה֑וּא בָּדָ֣ד יֵשֵׁ֔ב מִח֥וּץ לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֖ה מוֹשָׁבֽוֹ׃ {ס}
(יח) וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ ה' אֱלֹקִ֔ים לֹא־ט֛וֹב הֱי֥וֹת הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְבַדּ֑וֹ אֶֽעֱשֶׂה־לּ֥וֹ עֵ֖זֶר כְּנֶגְדּֽוֹ׃
הן עם לבדד ישכון. לא כדרך כל אומה ולשון כשהולכים בגולה ומתערבים עם המגלים אותם משיגים בזה אהבה וחשיבות כל אחד בעיניהם יותר משהיו נפרדים מהם. אבל לא כן עם ישראל כשהוא לבדד. ואינו מתערב עמהם ישכון במנוחה ובכבוד. וראו כל עמי הארץ כי שם ה׳ נקרא עליו ואין איש מתחרה עמו:
For every other nation, when its people went into exile and assimilated into the dominant culture, they found acceptance and respect. With Jews, the opposite was the case. In exile, when they remained true to their faith and way of life, they found themselves able to live at peace with their gentile neighbors. When they tried to assimilate, they found themselves despised and reviled. (Translation by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Judaism's Life-Changing Ideas, p. 224-225.)
For some early Zionists, Zeev Jabotinsky and his Revisionist party in particular... argued that Jews could not rely on non-Jews for their physical and economic wellbeing. We will always be alone, they claimed, and the only way for us to survive is with our own state and enough power to defend ourselves, because we cannot rely on anyone else...
However, it’s important to remember that other early Zionists, including Theodor Herzl, Ahad Ha’am, and Martin Buber, saw the establishment of the state as an opportunity to enter into the family of nations. By agreeing to be held to the universalist standards of nationhood, they claimed, we would gain respect and also make friends, so that we would never again be alone in our struggles...
127 years after the 1st Zionist Congress, 76 years after the establishment of the democratic State of Israel, we are no longer a nation set apart. We have friends, allies, and defenders. That acceptance isn’t free; those friends also push us to live up to the other half of the bargain that is joining the family of nations: When we decide not to be alone, when we decide to be in community, that means that others will make demands of us, both in order to maintain the community itself and in order to strengthen its foundations. We must hold ourselves to moral standards, and make decisions that lead our society, our dependents, and the region as a whole toward equality, stability, and prosperity.
Rabbi Shoshana Cohen, Hartman Institute (https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-people-dwelling-apart-no-longer/)
To be different is not necessarily to be alone. Indeed, it is only by being what we uniquely are that we contribute to humankind what we alone can give. Singular, distinctive, countercultural – yes: these are part of the Jewish condition. But alone? No. That is not a blessing but a curse.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks