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The Jewish People - A Unique Nation?
Source Materials
Description
Three writers produce a continuum of concepts on this issue which
are debated to raise consciousness among Jewish youth and support
this with Jewish sources. The topic serves as an approach to self-awareness
and development as Jews, appropriate to the approach to the Jewish
New Year, and is also relevant to Succot.
Introduction
There is an ever-increasing trend today to move towards universal
values and away from an elitist stream of consciousness. In contra-distinction
to this tendency, Jews have always had to come to terms with an
awareness of being different. By their self definition or through
a response to the outside world they have been elected or selected.
In the liturgy of Sukkot, for example, the Jew has for generations
expressed the belief in the Chosen People. How is it possible,
however, to understand this Jewish condition within both an historic
and a modern context?
To help us answer this question we present below three interpretations
of the uniqueness of the Jewish people each of which can serve
as a base for developing an expanded consciousness among Jewish
youth.
Synopsis of Viewpoints
Our first concept attempts to define the Jewish condition in terms
of the religious task given to the Jews, as opposed to the nations
of the world. Intrinsic to this line of thought is a belief in
the Divine source of the directive. The major component of life's
purpose for the Jew is seen as the introduction of righteousness
into the world.
The second approach suggests that Israel's uniqueness lies in its
spiritual genius and the effect that the message of ethical monotheism
has had on the humanisation of man. In contrast to the previous
approach, this is less a matter of faith than of national psyche;
more a question of contribution than the source of its inspiration.
The third writer takes a modernistic and nationalistic approach:
The uniqueness of Jewish nationhood lies in its history of dispersion,
attachment to the land and consequent re-unification in its ancient
homeland. Despite this uniqueness, however, the writer stresses
the similarities between the emergence of the Jewish liberation
movement and other nations, in our day. He concludes that national
feeling is a natural feeling and that it is sufficient for nations
to recognise each other's right to be different, while also incorporating
the good of other peoples into their culture.
None of these ideas is mutually exclusive. Each to his/her own
interpretation; each to his/her own world-view . . .
Concept One: The Essence of the People of Israel's Selection
In essence, explains Rabbi Isidore Epstein in his now classic work
"Judaism", Israel's selection lay in her special purpose to be
in the vanguard of the continuing process of Creation:
"Made in the image of God, man must conform to the character
of God. Because God creates, man must also create."
Thus the rationale for man's creating is the emulation of God;
emulation is creating. This emulation expressed itself in the
attempt to approximate God's morality. The means for accomplishing
this is obedience to the moral law of the Torah.
This moral law falls into two types:
1) Justice --- which is concerned with the recognition of human
rights;
2) Righteousness --- which stresses the acceptance of religious
duties.
Unlike other religions of the world, Judaism went beyond belief
in - or knowledge of - a godhead; it went further than love of
God. Judaism requires of its adherents to express justice and
righteousness through social and personal conduct.
Justice
The process of justice was started historically when Noah was enjoined
to respect sanctity for human life. The Noachide precepts, such
as the prevention of the spilling of blood, on the one hand, and
the consumption of blood, on the other, were offered as a modus
vivendi to a society which stood in need of re-creation.
This process of justice continued to expand and develop among the
nations of the world, insofar as it was essential to safeguard
human rights. But justice alone was but the negative aspect of
moral law: Justice is regulative; not creative.
Righteousness
It was the covenant with Abraham, later ratified at Sinai, that
entrusted a universal task to the people of Israel. This task
was the additional feature of making known the meaning of righteousness
in the world. As a "holy nation," the Jewish people accepted upon
themselves a particular way of life in which moral conduct would
become a religious duty. These duties were spelt out for the Jew
in the Torah. And it would be this behaviour that would enable
them to participate in the creative process and would mark the
Jews off as a distinct people among the nations of the world.
Concept Two: The People of Israel's Special Contribution
Whether one believes in Divine revelation or not, it is clear that
the Jewish people were the medium by which the message of monotheism
was introduced into the world. The late Chief Rabbi of England,
Dr. Hertz, in his commentary on the liturgy of the festival of
Sukkot, elaborated on Israel's unique contribution to civilisation
and suggests that this alone is enough to justify Israel's selectivity:
Each historic nation points with pride to its own peculiar
contribution to the spiritual treasure of mankind whether in art
or science, law of government. Israel's contribution to the humanisation
of man transcends that of all others in eternal significance.
"For only in Israel did ethical monotheism exist. And, wherever
else it is found later on, it has been derived directly or indirectly
from Israel, and was conditioned by the existence of the people
of Israel. Hence the term "election" expresses merely an historical
fact" (Leo Baeck).
When we think of the abominations that were part of human life
in Egypt, Canaan, Assyria; when we recall that in Rome the cruelties
of barbarism were combined with shameless indulgence of every
vice, there is ample conviction that Israel was a people apart
. . .
Thus, according to Dr. Hertz, there are no grounds for taking an
elitist approach to the notion of chosenness. The contribution
of the Jewish people to the world is the product of a spiritual
genius and, perhaps, a propensity that lies in every Jewish soul
towards righteousness. This was a unique input which has to be
evaluated in the context of history.
Concept Three: The Right to be Different
Eliyahu Elon, contemporary writer and artist, picks up the notion
that it is the people's unique history and attachment to the land
that makes her an outstanding people. But the unique elements
of the Jewish people, in his opinion, should not lead its adherents
to reject the cultures of the world around them, in this day and
age. In what follows, we can detect the dialectic of singularity
and uniformity:
"Perhaps it was through a peculiar sense of destiny, shaped
by its early history, that the People of Israel appears as
the first group with a clear national identity. At a later
stage, we can note that the Greeks resembled the Jews in some
rEspects insofar as there was breakdown into tribes and city-states
or into kingdoms. And, like the Jews, there was always a strong
sense of belonging to a national framework, in contrast to
other nations of the time. Despite the development of a strong
national consciousness, however, it is not difficult to point
out that the Jewish entity did not completely disassociate
itself from the symbolism of surrounding, not entirely differentiated
nations . . .
"It is the nineteenth century that historians call the 'Spring
of Nations' in which the national consciousness of the European
and American peoples arose. The twentieth century saw a continuation
of this process among other nations of the world. And, in
this context, the dispersed people of Israel returned to rebuild
their national home in the land of their fathers: even she
achieved national liberation. And, we too, are obliged to
interpret this national consciousness in terms that are understandable
in modern times...
"A nation can be defined as a group of people tied together,
as it were, by a common destiny which may be identified on
the basis of common ancestry, language, territory, culture
and other such variables. Any one of these criteria may delineate
one or other nation. But, however doubtful the existence of
a given nation is, it can rightly be said that as soon as
a national consciousness emerges amongst a given people, a
national entity has been formed.
"There is no concensus on what really are the sufficient conditions
of nationhood. Some theoreticians agree with the above notion:
a nation consists of those who make a claim to nationhood.
Others suggest that the achievement of independence is the
important index. There are those who will yet take issue with
both these approaches. They will search out the basic units
of self-sufficiency and government --- the basic organisational
framework --- without which any form of struggle for liberation
is impossible.
"The birth of Israel contained all these three ingredients.
Firstly, there was a national consciousness embedded in the
tradition of Israel and which found its expression in the
literature of the ages, the early messianic movements and
the Zionist movement of modern times. Next, the founding of
the Yishuv --- the early Jewish settlement of Palestine ---
spurred on by the anti-Semitism of Eastern Europe, gave rise
to two phenomena: the formation of a state-in-embryo and the
feeling that the people had returned to their homeland. With
the development of the community and the building of self-government
the path was set for the meeting of the third condition of
nationhood --- independence. Each condition, we can see, was
tied to the other in time.
"The Jewish people was not the only people to have suffered
dispersion; nor is the ingathering of exiles a particularly
unique phenomenon to the Jews. But there are few people who
can claim to have brought back masses to their homeland. There
are even fewer nations that have lost their independence,
been dispersed, and maintained their unique national consciousness
while in exile. And there is only one nation that lost both
its independence and motherland but preserved itself, namely,
the Jewish people.
Acknowledgments
Editors, Menachem Persoff, Zehava Albert, "Sukkot", Youth & Hechalutz
Dept., WZO (Joint Authority for Jewish Zionist Education), Jerusalem.
Revised Edition.
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