It is true that there are certain levels of semi-independent behavior that are tolerated even during exile. In Babylon, the Jewish people had their own exilarch. In medieval Spain and later in Poland, the kingdom granted Jewish courts the right to enforce their own laws. Today in New York we have a system of Jewish anti-crime watchmen. This behavior must cross a certain line to be considered “forcing the end.” But we have no way of knowing where that line is. It would be very presumptuous to assume that establishing an independent state on a level with, if not more powerful than, most other countries of the world today is not crossing that line. In such situations, our only safe route is to continue in the way of our ancestors through the centuries of exile, doing nothing that we did not see them doing. Today’s Zionist state certainly represents a level of independence unprecedented in Jewish exile. Thus, to permit it by calling it “exile” is a step we cannot take.