A SPECIAL PEOPLE

“You are children to the Lord your God. You shall not cut yourselves and you shall not place a bald spot between your eyes for the dead. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and you the Lord chose to be His people of distinction from all the peoples that are on the face of the earth.” (Devarim 14:1-2)

The rarefied description of the Nation of Israel being “the Chosen People “is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it denotes a group that has been selected to serve God and sanctify His name in the world. It is an awesome responsibility and a great privilege. On the other hand, it implies – at least as far as the anti-Semites are concerned – that Jews view themselves as superior to  other people. This false understanding of chosenness has led to the justification of oppression, exclusion and violence against Jews.

In a nauseating interview with the social media influencer and self-proclaimed Jew-hater, Dan Bilzerian, Piers Morgan called out his guest for his insidious and brazen form of anti-Semitism. Bilzerian basically blamed all the problems of the word on the Jews. In an attempt to defend himself, he said, “Well, when you have a religion that promotes supremacy, when you have a religion that says you are better than other people, when you have a religion that says it’s okay to steal from other people, as long as they are not Jewish…when you have a religion that promotes these things and promotes supremacy, I think you are going to have problems…” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KICYv4O03CA) I am under no illusion that there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people who believe in the type of conspirational nonsense spewed by people like Bilzerian. In their minds, “Jews are always up to something”, from controlling Hollywood, running the banks, influencing the government and even manipulating the weather for their nefarious purposes.

Last Shabbat I read a profound piece from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, that is pertinent to this topic. Commenting on a verse from parashat Eikev (Devarim 9:5), Rabbi Sacks writes, “This is a point of immense consequence. A chosen people is the opposite of a master race, first, because it is not a race but a covenant; second, because it exists to serve God, not to master others. A master race worships itself; a chosen people worships something beyond itself. A master race produces monumental buildings, triumphal inscriptions, and a literature of self-congratulation. Israel, to a degree unique in history, produced a literature of almost uninterrupted self-criticisms.” (Magerman Edition of the Humash, page 1289)

The last point he makes is something I have often thought about. If I were to found a religion and produce its holy books, the contents of such volumes would be completely different from what is found in the twenty-four books of the Tanach (Jewish Bible). In my sacred works, the great men would be infallible, the followers would be loyal and obedient and the trajectory of the story would be smooth and without bumps, as befits a narrative inspired by a deity. But this is not the case with the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings. From the very beginning of our nation, when we were yet a family, our heroes have been people who stumbled and fell, sometimes in very dramatic ways. Consider the patriarchs and matriarchs: Sarah mistreated Hagar, Avraham’s maidservant, which ultimately led to a schism between their children (Yitzchak and Yishmael) and their descendants (the Jews and the Arabs). Reuven interfered in his father’s intimate relationship with his wife. Yosef’s brothers apprehended him and intended to kill him. Yehudah suggested they sell him as a slave instead. Later, Yehuda had a promiscuous relationship with his former daughter-in-law Tamar.

When the family of Yakov became the Children of Israel, they consistently rebelled against God and His prophet Moshe. They complained about the water and the food. They failed to follow Moshe’s instruction regarding the collection of the manna on Shabbat. They worshipped the golden calf only forty days after God revealed Himself to them at Mt Sinai. They rejected the land of Canaan and believed the malicious report of the spies. Later, Korach led a doomed rebellion against Moshe and Aharon. And in the fortieth year of traversing the wilderness, the men of Israel engaged in immoral acts with the women of Moab and Midian.  In the words of Moshe (Devarim 9:25), “You have been defiant of the Lord from the day that I first knew you.”

The books of the prophets are not much better. There is gang-rape and civil war (the incident of the concubine in Giva); idolatry (the statue of Micah in the era of the Judges and the golden calves of Yerevam ben Nevat in the Kingdom of Israel); hatred in the royal family and fratricide (Saul and David; the case of the rape of Tamar by Amnon and Avshalom’s revenge); adultery (King David and Bat-Sheva) and calculated conspiracies to appropriate land (Ahab and the vineyard of Navot). Even the righteous Solomon does not escape unscathed. He marries too many wives and they lead him astray. His son, Rechavam, makes a spectacularly bad decision that results in the split of the Jewish people into two kingdoms, Yehuda in the south and Israel in the north.

The Tanach does not cover up any scandal nor does it attempt to whitewash the past. Our ancestors were human and it is by learning from their errors and misjudgments, that we are able to grow as servants of God. We are told on countless occasions to remember our humble beginnings and to serve as a light to the nations. I recall an amazing observation that I heard when studying at yeshiva. It was a remark attributed to the very wise Rebbe of Kotzk (Rabbi Menachem Mendel Morgensztern, Poland, 1787–1859). The Rebbe said words to the effect that “the Torah is the accumulated sins of the Jewish people.”  That is the content of our holy books and that is why we can never be a master race.

Lee, Chani Merryl & Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom! Rabbi Liebenberg.

My family and I are away in Johannesburg for several family simchas. I return on 14 August and Lee, on 24 August.

This week’s YouTube message: https://youtu.be/nGJXv_Qac1w?si=NSj9BiDCzyIFPPv9

*Thursday 13 and Friday 14 August – Rosh Chodesh Elul

The month of Elul is a time of Divine Favour. In the first year after the Exodus, Moshe spent forty days on Mt Sinai receiving the Torah. When he descended, he discovered the betrayal of the golden calf. He broke the Tablets and returned to the mountain to seek forgiveness for a further forty days. Hashem then informed him that He would forgive the Israelites. Moshe descended, fashioned a new set of Tablets for Hashem to engrave, and ascended for a third period of forty days. He ascended on Rosh Chodesh Elul and remained on the mountain for forty days, descending with the new Tablets on the 10th of Tishrei, Yom Kippur (Rashi Shmot 33:11). During Elul, we sound the shofar daily; we add Psalm 27 at Shacharit and Maariv; and towards the end of the month, we recite Selichot, prayers for forgiveness. The Molad (appearance of the new moon) for Elul is on Thursday 13 August at 08h15.