Introduction:
One does not have to be
a sociologist to realize
that a major cause of
our internal disputes in
Zion is the lack of
agreement concerning the
definition and meaning
of our people’s
identity. During the
next stage of our
series, we will examine
classical Torah sources
which offer a radical
definition of our
identity; moreover,
these sources will help
us to understand the
connection between our
identity and our radical
role in Zion.
Our discussion will
begin with a review of
the liberating Divine
message to our people
that appears in the
Torah portion of this
week:
Dear Friends,
When we were still
enslaved in Egypt,
Hashem, the
Compassionate and
Life-Giving One, told
Moshe to convey to us
the following message
regarding the initial
four stages of the
approaching redemption:
1. “I am Hashem, and I
shall take you out from
under the burdens of
Egypt” (Exodus 6:6).
2. “I shall rescue you
from their bondage”
(ibid).
3. “I shall redeem you
with an outstretched arm
and with great
judgments” (ibid).
4. “I shall take you to
Me for a people” (Exodus
6:7).
In his commentary on the
Divine promise regarding
the fourth stage of
redemption, Rabbi Samson
Raphael Hirsch writes:
“When Hashem says, ‘I
shall take you to Me for
a people,’ it means:
Your social lives are to
be guided by My wisdom;
your social lives are to
be a revelation of My
spirit.”
When did we become
Hashem’s people? After
the Exodus from Egypt,
we received the Torah –
the Divine Teaching – at
Mount Sinai. According
to a number of biblical
commentators, the Divine
promise, “I shall take
you to Me for a people,”
is referring to our
receiving the Torah. (Ramban,
Ibn Ezra, Sforno,
Rabbeinu Bachya, and Ohr
HaChaim)
We therefore became
Hashem’s people through
receiving the Torah. In
addition, we are to
fulfill the precepts of
the Torah in the
Promised Land, as Moshe
later proclaimed to our
people: “See, I have
taught you statutes and
social laws which Hashem,
my God, has commanded
me, so that you may act
accordingly in the midst
of the Land”
(Deuteronomy 4:5). This
is why the Divine
promise, “I shall take
you to Me for a people,”
is followed by the
following Divine
promise:
“I will bring you to the
land about which I have
raised My hand to give
it to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob; and I shall
give it to you as a
heritage – I am Hashem.”
(Exodus 6:8)
“After” we become the
people of Hashem through
receiving the Torah, we
receive the Land which
Hashem promised to
Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. Our becoming the
people of Hashem is
therefore a prerequisite
for receiving the
Promised Land as a
heritage to be passed on
to all the future
generations.
Our emergence as the
people of Hashem will
also enable us to become
“a light to the nations”
(Isaiah 42:6). Our
becoming the people of
Hashem is therefore the
beginning of an
historical process which
will lead to the
spiritual elevation of
all peoples. This
universal goal is
described in the
following Divine message
to our people in Zion,
whom Hashem addresses as
“the daughter of Zion”:
“Sing and be glad, O
daughter of Zion! For
behold, I am coming, and
I will dwell in your
midst – spoke Hashem.
Many nations will join
themselves to Hashem on
that day, and they will
become a people unto Me,
and I will dwell in your
midst” (Zechariah 2:14,
15).
Before we can attain the
universal goal described
in the above prophecy,
we ourselves have to
become Hashem’s people
through fulfilling the
Torah. As Rabbi Hirsch
writes:
“The Torah, the entire
Jewish heritage, is one
great elaboration upon
these words, to Me
for a people.” (The
Hirsch Haggdah – Essay
on the 4th Cup)
Regarding Hashem’s
redeemed people, Rabbi
Hirsch adds:
“In the fulfillment of
God’s will, they will
find their spiritual
bond and their national
unity…Here will they
find their sole duty,
individual happiness,
national honor, and
lasting peace.” (Ibid)
Rabbi Hirsch reminds us
that the attainment of
this ideal is an ongoing
process, and he writes:
“Jewish history serves
as the educational
process leading to this
ideal. Through it one
thing becomes certain:
whether they remain
faithful or they
backslide on their way
towards this ideal,
whether they draw near
or pull away, hesitate
or persevere, ‘Hashem
will never cast off His
people nor will He
forsake His inheritance’
(Psalm 94:14). Hashem
will be with them
through the centuries of
trials and darkness,
through pain and
deprivation, until they
reach their pinnacle of
perfection, the goal set
before them by the
Torah, and the fullness
of joy that it
promises.” (Ibid)
As
an example of
“backsliding” on the way
to this ideal, Rabbi
Hirsch writes:
“We have shown, over and
over again, that to be
Hashem’s people does not
quite satisfy us. We are
still eying other
nations, and their
shimmering glamour has
not yet lost its
temptations for our
hearts.” (Ibid)
During the late 19th
century and early 20th
century, there arose
secular movements among
our people, including
the secular Zionist
movement, which were
drawn to the “shimmering
glamour” of other
nations, and they
therefore rejected the
idea that we have a
spiritual identity as
the people of Hashem. As
we discussed in this
series, the secular
Zionist movement sought
to emulate the
nationalism of other
peoples and thereby have
nationalism replace the
Torah as the guiding
spirit of our people. An
example of the secular
Zionist approach can be
found in the following
statement of Jacob
Klatzkin, a leading
Zionist thinker and
editor:
“Let us be like all the
nations!” (Cited in the
introduction to “The
Zionist Idea” by Arthur
Hertzberg)
In its chapter on Jacob
Klatzkin, “The Zionist
Idea” cites statements
of this Zionist thinker
which indicate that
Zionism is opposed to
those who believe that
we have a spiritual
identity, and these
statements are followed
by the following
statement of Klatzkin:
“Zionism is opposed to
all this. Its real
beginning is the Jewish
State and its basic
intention, consciously
and unconsciously, is to
deny any conception of
Jewish identity based on
spiritual criteria.”
As a result of the
influence of these
secular Jewish
movements, combined with
the trend towards
assimilation, many of
our brethren lost the
awareness that we are a
spiritual people. For
example, when I
connected with
spiritually-searching
Jews of my generation
from both the Diaspora
and the Land of Israel,
many were not even aware
that they could search
for spirituality within
their own Jewish
heritage, for they were
under the impression
that being Jewish was
primarily an ethnic or
nationalistic
experience. (Although
many had a bar-mitzvah
or bas-mitzvah
celebration, they found
the celebration to be a
lavish ethnic event
which lacked
spirituality.)
We therefore need to do
a tikun –
fixing – for this
rejection of our
spiritual identity, and
the tikun begins by
remembering that we are
the people of Hashem
that are to serve as a
model for all the
peoples. We can then
renew our relationship
with the Compassionate
and Life-Giving One
through becoming a
social model of the
Divine teachings in the
Land of Zion. In this
way, we will experience
the full fulfillment of
the following Divine
promise to the People of
Zion:
“And I have placed My
words in your mouth, and
with the shade of My
hand I have covered you,
to implant the heavens
and to set a base for
the earth and to say
unto Zion, ‘You are My
people!’ ” (Isaiah
51:16)
Have a Good and Sweet
Shabbos,
Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen
(See below)
Related Teachings and
Comments:
1. In the messianic age,
when all peoples will
become Hashem’s people,
we will still have a
special role as
“Kohanim” – ministers –
who will serve as
teachers to the peoples,
as the Prophet Isaiah
proclaimed to us
regarding our role in
this new age:
“You shall be called
‘Kohanim of Hashem’;
‘ministers of our God’
will be said of you.”
(Isaiah 61:6)
The commentator, Sforno,
elaborates on this idea
in his commentary on the
following Divine call to
our people at Mount
Sinai: “And you shall be
to Me a kingdom of
Kohanim” (Exodus 19:6).
Sforno writes: “For you
are to become a kingdom
of Kohanim, to
understand and to teach
the entire human species
that all shall proclaim
the Name of Hashem and
serve Him with a united
resolve. This shall be
the role of Israel in
the future, as it says,
‘You shall be called
Kohanim of Hashem’
(Isaiah 61:6), and as it
says, ‘For from Zion
will go forth Torah’
(Isaiah 2:3).”
2. As we know, there
are kibbutzim and
moshavim in Israel that
have defined themselves
as “secular”
communities. In previous
letters, I mentioned the
unifying outreach work
of Ayelet HaShachar – a
chareidi organization
which helps the members
of these communities to
rediscover our
collective identity as
the people of the Torah.
The following new
development is another
step in this process of
renewal:
Kibbutz Geva, a
“secular” kibbutz, has
experienced signs of
spiritual renewal. There
was therefore a joyous
celebration when Ayelet
HaShachar placed a Torah
scroll in a new Aron
Kodesh – holy ark
for the Torah – that
Ayelet HaShachar had
brought to the kibbutz.
As Arutz Sheva reported:
“The members of Kibbutz
Geva responded with
great excitement to the
placing of the Torah
scroll in their kibbutz.
Some were talking about
the victory they felt
they being descendants
of Holocaust victims and
some wished to thank the
organizers for bringing
‘unique joy and a sense
of transcendence spirit’
to the Kibbutz.”
A few years, ago, Ayelet
HaShachar helped the
members of Kibbutz Geva
to experience their
first Yom Kippur
service. A member of the
kibbutz wrote a thank
you letter to the
director of Ayelet
HaShachar expressing
appreciation “for having
created for us a
Mikdash Me’at
(Miniature Sanctuary) in
the midst of our
everyday lives and
secular existence, and
for having made it
possible for us to touch
the holiness, the
elevation, of this
unique day – Yom
Hakippurim.” The
kibbutz member added:
“The emotions during the
prayers broke down all
barriers, and enabled us
to touch every link in
the chain of our common
tradition, reaching back
to the roots of our
common existence.”
May these new
developments lead to the
fulfillment of the
following Divine promise
to our people regarding
our renewal in the
messianic age:
“I will seal a covenant
of shalom with them; it
will be an eternal
covenant with them; and
I will emplace them and
increase them, and I
will place My Sanctuary
among them forever. My
dwelling place will be
among them; I will be
God to them, and they
will be a people unto
Me. Then the nations
will know that I am
Hashem Who sanctifies
Israel, when My
Sanctuary will be among
them forever.” (Ezekiel
37:26-28)
“My dwelling place will
be among them” – I will
place My Shechinah among
them (Targum).
3. The Hirsch Haggadah
is published by Feldheim:
www.feldheim.com