The Glory and Calamity of Human Diversity (2009)

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November 19, 2009

The Glory and Calamity of Human Diversity (2009)

Pesach

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At the end of Passover, when we celebrate the redemption of the past, the Exodus from Egypt, our Haftorah bids us turn to the future. It speaks of the coming of the Messiah, the redemption that we still await. This connection between past and future is even more pronounced on the 8th day of Passover when we recite the Yizkor. It is not only the remote past that we tie in with the distant future, but the immediate past that we call upon in order to summon us to greater activity and greater dedication for the days to come. And the more we investigate this relationship, the more profound and germane does it become. The Talmud (Sanh. 98b) records a strange passage. What, asks the Talmud, will be the name of the Messiah? The answers are obscure, even startling. The school of Rabbi Shila answered: the name of Messiah will be Shilo. The school of Rabbi Yannai maintained that the name of the Messiah would be Yinnon. The school of Rabbi Chaninah held that Chaninah shemo, his school would be named Chaninah. Each school gave the name of its own Rabbi to the Messiah!What the Talmud tries to tell us is that, on the one hand, the Messiah would not be a strange, unassociated, unrelated soul dropping right out of Heaven. His character would be a composite of all the finest traits of the teachers of old. And on the other hand, there is a little bit of the Messiah in every one who has ever made a creative effort in his life. Every one has something invaluable in his life, something unutterably precious, to contribute to the redemptive process.It is hard for us to discern what it is that we ourselves can give to the future, to the Messiah. But those after us, contemplating us in retrospect with a sense of perspective and proportion, will be able to tell what in our lives is worth perpetuating, what we can offer to the Messiah, to the redemption.So, each school and each student examined the role of the teacher and found something unique – for a name is a symbol of uniqueness, of indiv…

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One of the most seminal thinkers in the Jewish tradition about whom legend has woven many beautiful stories, was the great מהר”ל מפראג, R. Loewe (MaHaRaL) of Prague. In his work “גבורות ה”. The MaHaRaL discerns one central teaching that emerges from a number of the laws relating to Passover. That principle is, the unity of God.Thus, MaHaRaL explains that the Passover sacrifice could not be offered on the altar with any of its parts missing or burnt separately, but ראשו על קרבו וכרעיו, the entire animal had to be offered as one. Hence, the principle of an unfragmented unity. Similarly, the very idea of matzah suggests the same theme. It consists of nothing but flour and water, the simplest and most minimal ingredients for bread, without any additives such as yeast or sourdough. The commandment to eat matzah and to refrain from hametz is thus again suggestive of the unity theme. Finally, as we read in today’s Torah recitation, לא תוכל לזבוח את הפסח באחד שעריך, we are not permitted to offer up the Passover sacrifice outside of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Every family had to come to the center of the nation and there, on the Temple Mount, offer the Paschal Lamb, slaughter it, and eat it. Here, the principle of geographical unity is affirmed in the laws of Passover. Hence, from all these laws, we learn to rededicate ourselves to the concept of oneness.But Passover suggests not only the oneness of God but also the oneness of man; not only preachment but prophecy; not only doctrine but vision of the future. Thus it is that for the Haftorah of this last day of Passover, we read the immortal words of Isaiah, who speaks of the redemption to come in the end of days when the Messiah will arrive. Isaiah's words are known to all mankind:וגר זאב עם כבש, ונמר עם גדי ירבץ… ופרה ודב תרעינה…“And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid... and the cow and the bear shall feed together.” In these metaphors does the prophet paints for all men the…

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Triumph Without Triumphalism (1973)

The downing of the Libyan jet over the Sinai desert by Israeli forces some weeks ago has, by now, been surpassed and overshadowed by other traumatic events in the turbulent Middle East. Nevertheless, it is worth discussing that incident at this date, because of the instructive reactions that it evoked in the Jewish community at the time. Two extreme positions immediately crystallized in the Jewish community throughout the world. The first was a breast-beating, humanitarian apology loudly offered by a number of Jews, especially in Great Britain, in letters to the British press, and in the United States, as was evident in a number of articles which appeared in Shma, a journal of which I am one of the editors. This vocal group was embarrassed and announced their shame and chagrin at what Israel had so brutally done. The other group was just the opposite in its point of view: it quickly latched on to the first faltering explanations given by the Israeli Defense Forces, and staunchly proclaimed that Israel was completely in the right, as if implying that Israel is always right. In time, common sense prevailed, and the world – all the world – recognized that a tragic error had occurred, one that was perhaps unavoidable in the context of the political and military tensions in that area of the world.Yet, the reverberations were quite significant. These two polar attitudes that so quickly emerged are indicative of two basic Jewish attitudes regarding the State of Israel in its contemporary predicament.At the very outset, let me say that I dissociate myself completely from the so-called “intellectuals” who are mostly New Left Jews, who are more concerned with Israel’s image than its survival, with abstract principles other than with the facts and reality.But the burden of my message is that I am also not enamored of the opposite stance: the feelings of many Jews, both in Israel and in the Diaspora, that the essence of Jewishness is the picture of the efficient, technological…