האחדות ביהדות, סובלנות ואחוהUnity in Judaism, Tolerance and Peace
א׳
1What positive results may one expect from a dialogue among the plurality of existing positions? It depends on whether common ethical principles beyond the differing ideologies have the power to move us toward unity and curb the radicalism of the ideologies. Today it is almost forgotten that talmudic and midrashic teaching contains a rich tradition that points the way. Although, by the nature of Judaism, that teaching is couched in religious terminology, it has much to say to secularists as well.
ב׳
2What happens to the relationship between God and his people when they do not live as prescribed in the Torah? In the Talmud there is a discussion of the subject between two teachers of the Mishna, Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Meir (Kiddushin 36a). They disagree in the interpretation of these biblical words addressed to the children of Israel: “You are children of the Eternal One, your God” (Deut. 14:1). Rabbi Yehuda explained: “If you behave as children ought to behave, you are called ‘children’; if you do not behave as children ought to behave, you are not called ‘children.’” Rabbi Meir disagreed with him strongly: “Whether they behave this way or that way, once they are God’s children, they remain His children forever.” He adduced an entire series of biblical verses to prove his point. According to Jeremiah they are called “foolish children” (Jer. 4:22). Foolish, yet children! In Deuteronomy (32:20), they are referred to as “children in whom there is no faithfulness.” Faithless, yet children! Isaiah (1:4) calls them, “A seed of evildoers, children that deal corruptly.” They do deal corruptly, but children they are! And for the sake of added emphasis, Rabbi Meir concludes with Hosea’s prophecy: “…and it shall come to pass that, instead of that which was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ it shall be said to them, ‘You are the children of the living God.’” Even the completely estranged children will one day know Him as the living God.
ג׳
3It is worth noting that while, as a rule, all cases of disagreement between Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Meir are decided in accordance with Rabbi Yehuda, in this case Rabbi Meir’s position is acknowledged as authoritative. According to one of the great talmudic scholars of all time, Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet (usually referred to by his acronym, Rashba, 1235-1310), this is due to the numerous biblical passages that Rabbi Meir is able to marshal in proving that all Jews, whatever their behavior, are children of God.
ד׳
4Furthermore, according to the rabbis, Moses and other prophets were punished for their offensive statements about their people. Moses told the Israelites: “Listen ye, rebels” (Num. 20:10). Soon afterward he was told: “…you shall not bring this assembly to the land that I gave them.” The prophet Elijah complained to God: “For the children of Israel left your covenant” (1 Kings 19:10). And a few verses later we read of God’s command to appoint a successor: “And Elisha, the son of Shafat, you should anoint in your place.” Isaiah, too, used language that, in the opinion of the rabbis, was objectionable. During an overwhelming experience of the vision of the Divine, he exclaimed his own unworthiness: “Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips.” But he also added: “And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isa. 6:5). Soon after these words we read how one of the angels of God “with a glowing coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar,” touched the mouth of the prophet and said:
ה׳
5Lo, this hath touched thy lips,
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6And thine iniquity is taken away,
ז׳
7And thy sin expiated (Isa. 6:7).
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8According to a midrashic interpretation, this was an expiation for the sin of calling his fellow Jews, in the midst of whom he dwelt, “people of unclean lips” (Yalkut Shimoni, Isa., ch. 6). According to another version in the Talmud, King Menashe put Isaiah to death, and he died when the instrument of execution reached his mouth (Yevamot 49b).
ט׳
9This condemnation of prophetic accusations against the Jewish people was given dramatic expression in the case of the prophet Hosea. The same Hosea who -- as we saw earlier -- prophesied that an Israel completely estranged from God would one day be called “children of the living God” was not always so hopeful or tolerant. The rabbis used this aspect of his personality to explain the rather strange instruction God gave him early in his career: “Go, take unto thee a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry…” (Hos. 1:2). The marriage that Hosea was ordered to undertake had symbolic significance, and its meaning is fully explained in the subsequent biblical text. But the rabbis were not satisfied. How could a prophet be ordered to marry a prostitute for the sake of a symbol?
י׳
10This, then, is how they interpret the marriage: God had complained to the prophet saying, “Your children [meaning the children of Israel] have sinned.” To this divine complaint Hosea should have responded: “They are your children; children of [Your] graciousness, they, the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Turn Your loving-kindness to them.” Not only did Hosea not do that, but he said before God:
י״א
11“Creator of the universe! The whole world is Yours. Exchange them for another people.” Said the Creator of the Universe: “What shall I do with this old fellow? I shall tell him: ‘Go and take a harlot for a wife and she will bear you children of harlotry.’ After that I shall say to him: ‘Send her away from you!’ Let us see if he will be able to send her away. So will I too send Israel away” (Pesahim 87a).
י״ב
12The rabbinic aversion to condemning one’s fellow Jews, no matter what their behavior, is conveyed in the following story about two great talmudic sages which is startlingly relevant to contemporary relations between Jewish groups (Midrash Shir Hashirim 1):
י״ג
13Rabbi Abahu and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish entered the city of Caesarea. Said Rabbi Abahu to Rabbi Shimon: “Why did we come here, into this country of abusers and blasphemers?” Rabbi Shimon got off his donkey, took some sand in his hand, and pushed it into Rabbi Abahu’s mouth. “What’s this?” asked Rabbi Abahu. Answered Rabbi Shimon: “The Holy One, blessed be He, does not approve of the person who slanders Israel….”
י״ד
14*
ט״ו
15Does this mean that Jewish unity entails the cessation of all criticism of the Jewish people? Nothing could be further from the truth. There has never been a people on earth as self-critical as the Jews. But there is a world of difference between accusation and criticism. Moses might have said: “Listen! You have rebelled,” but he said: “Listen, you rebels.” The prophet Elijah might have accused the people of breaking the law; but he maintained that he was all alone, because the children of Israel “left Your covenant, o God.” In other words, they are no longer the people of the covenant. Similarly, Isaiah might have called the Jews “a people who contaminated their lips with their lies,” but he called them “a people of unclean lips.” Worst of all was Hosea when he suggested that God exchange them for another nation. They all made the same mistake. In their anger, or in the bitterness of their disappointment, they condemned Israel as a people in its totality. It is this kind of accusation that Rabbi Meir was talking about when he explained, with the help of his proofs from the Bible, that no matter how sinful Israel may be, they will forever be called “children unto the Eternal One, your God.”
ט״ז
16What these teachings convey is: This is the Jewish people. No individual Jew can be a Jew without them. There is no other Jewish people; there never was, there never will be. In talmudic style it was stated of them: “Yisrael [meaning any Jew], who has sinned, remains Yisrael” (Sanhedrin 44a). In his prophetic encounter with God, Jeremiah, describing order in nature as the work of the Creator, exclaims:
י״ז
17If these ordinances depart from before Me,
י״ח
18Saith the Eternal One,
י״ט
19Then the seed of Israel also shall cease
כ׳
20From being a nation before Me forever (Jer. 31:36).
כ״א
21Thus it is within the comprehensive unity of destiny that the continuous internal criticism of Judaism finds it place.
כ״ב
22However, in order to render criticism authentic, furthering unity rather than undermining it, a high degree of self-criticism is also required. We should accept guidance in this matter from two outstanding rabbinic personalities of recent times. One is a master of the Habad hasidic movement, the author of Zemah Zedek. He describes and interprets a certain type of zealot:
כ״ג
23When such people happen upon transgressors, they immediately become hot and filled with anger, ready to punish them cruelly…. They will not rest until they perform on them evil deeds. They do this because of their own evil nature. Even though they clothe their activity in the garb of “for the sake of heaven,” because the one punished is a sinner, that is not the truth. For in truth He, the blessed One, is full of mercy and loving-kindness. What they do is due to their own evil constitution (quoted in S. Federbush, Ahdut Ha’Am, p. 100).
כ״ד
24How often indeed is zealotry in the name of a “great cause” only a cover under which hatred and violence are released!
כ״ה
25A different type of great talmudic personality, Rabbi Naftali Zvi Berlin, the head of the renowned yeshiva at Volozhin (second half of the 19th century), analyzes the concept of sin’at hinam, “causeless hatred,” in the service of a “good cause.” His comment is attached to a passage in the Talmud (Yoma 9b) that discusses the reasons for the destruction of the First and the Second Temples in Jerusalem. The First Temple was destroyed because of three sins: idolatry, sexual immorality and the spilling of innocent blood. During the Second Temple period, however, the Jews were occupied with the Torah, practiced the mitzvoth (divine commandments) and were charitable. Why then was the Temple destroyed? It happened because of sin’at hinam, causeless hatred.
כ״ו
26However, this requires explanation. Why should people who live in accordance with the values of the Torah hate their fellow men? What, indeed, is causeless hatred? Rabbi Berlin explained it by interpreting two divine attributes. In Deuteronomy (32:4) God is described as being righteous and fair (straight, honest). What need is there to add the attribute of fairness? Does righteousness not include it? He explains that to be righteous is not enough, since it can go hand in hand with a lack of fairness in dealings with other people.
כ״ז
27Such were “the righteous” during the era of the Second Temple. Whenever they saw a person conducting himself in a manner not in keeping with their own opinion of what constitutes “the fear of God,” they would immediately suspect him of being a heretic. This led them to enmity and hatred, even to bloodshed, until finally the Temple was destroyed. God punished these “righteous ones” for their lack of fairness. “Even though their intention was for the sake of Heaven, they caused destruction … and ruination” (Ha’amek Davar, introduction to commentary on Genesis).
כ״ח
28Nothing is more dangerous to society than zeal inspired by honest conviction, whether based on religion or on secular ideologies. How can we control the overflowing energy of honest conviction that may become morally as well as materially destructive? Let us examine the example of B’rooryah, the wife of Rabbi Meir. The Talmud recounts that some hoodlums lived in Rabbi Meir’s neighborhood and caused him a great deal of trouble. Finally, in despair, he prayed that they might die. (This is the same Rabbi Meir who -- as we saw earlier -- taught: “No matter how sinful they might be they are still the children of God!”) At this, B’rooryah intervened. “What’s the idea?” she asked. “You think, because it is written: ‘Let sinners cease’ [such indeed is the authorized translation of Ps. 104:35]? But does it really say ‘sinners’? ‘Sins’ is written. [“Let sins cease out of the earth.”] And also pay attention to the conclusion of that verse: ‘And let the wicked be no more.’ Once sins will cease, there will be no more wicked. Therefore,” she said, “ask for God’s mercies to help them repent. Then, indeed, the wicked will be no more.” He prayed for them and they “returned” in repentance (Berakhot 10a).
כ״ט
29B’ruriah suggests that criticism be directed at causes, not against people. But she asks for much more: “Rabbi Meir, pray for them, for those ‘wicked ones’ who are so different from you in their impiety, in their way of life, and who caused you so much suffering.” He could only do so by adopting two ideals that go beyond all differences and personal estrangement. One is the ideal of peace, and the other, well established in Jewish tradition, teaching and living, is ahavat Yisrael, the love of Israel, the love of our people, the Jewish people.
ל׳
30Without peace there can be no unity; without love for all Israel, unity might be an organizational game, but not a living reality. “Peace, peace, to him that is far off and to him that is near,” says God (Isa. 57:19). And without ahavat Yisrael neither the Torah nor the fear of God can be authentic. In popular tradition the prophet Elijah, who never died, may still be occasionally encountered. According to one story, Elijah told of a meeting he once had with a man who asked him about subjects in the Torah. “Then he said to me: ‘Rabbi! There are two things close to my heart -- I love them very much -- Torah and Israel. But I do not know which one comes first.’ I said to him, continued Elijah: ‘People usually say that Torah comes before anything else. But I would say: Israel … comes first. The Torah was given to Israel; not Israel to the Torah’” (Tana devei Eliahu 16).