Rabbi, one final rebuttal (unless there’s another one)
Of course I beleive like you do Zionism was the instrument of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, just as I believe that (please forgive the comparison) Pharoh and Hitler were instruments of HKB”H. We are all instruments. That doesn’t take away from the fact that we may have been wrong or made wrong decisions. Because we all have bechirah.
So, yes, Hashem planned it that we should have the State, and ultimately it is the best thing for us, based on the choices we made. I once had a teacher who repeated the following statement every day, “EVERYTHING THAT HASHEM DOES IS THE ABSOLUTE VERY BEST THING THAT COULD POSSIBLY HAPPEN, DUE TO THE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH WE PUT OURSELVES IN, BY OUR OWN FREE CHOICE.”
As to your assertion that history should be our best teacher, i already responded to that, that we dont really know the true history. The “truth” could have been falsified, slanted, exagerated, edited etc. on either side.
Incidentally, I agree with your analysis on the chasiddim/misnagdim controversy. But in this issue, until our gedolim themselves change their perspective, we continue to take guidance from them. Call me narrow-minded if you will. To me, that’s THINKING BIG.