The Torah and ownership of the land
YES. I am returning to a theme discussed many times before. And yes, one could object and say that this week is really meant to be a new beginning as we commence a new Torah reading cycle — so why return to previously discussed themes?
But then the very point of this week’s beginning is that we start again what we have read in the past. So it is indeed timely to revisit a theme that has implications that repeat themselves -— of which we need to remind ourselves again and again.
Just last Shabbat we heard the words of Kohelet: “et lachashot ve’et ledaber” — “there is a time to be silent and a time to speak”. This week, as we proceed with the first parshah of sefer Bereshit that we first read on Simchat Torah, I turn to the first Rashi and ponder its implications.
Rashi begins his famous commentary on the Torah -— the commentary that is always referred to as p’shat, straightforward, without hidden meanings —- by quoting a person believed by many to have been his father.
“Rabbi Yitzchak said: the Torah should really have begun with Hachodesh hazeh lachem [Exodus 12:2 -— the law establishing Nisan as the beginning of the year] for it is the first command given to Israel as a nation.
And why did it begin with Bereshit — the story of creation? Because, according to Psalms 111, ‘He declared the might of His deeds to His people in order to give them an inheritance among the nations.’
For if the nations will say to Israel, you are listim [armed robbers] in that you conquered the land of the seven nations, they [Israel] shall say to them, all the earth belongs to the Holy One Blessed be He, He created it and gave it to the appropriate one in His eyes. His will [originally] gave it to them, and in accordance with His will, He took it from them and gave it to us.”
We know that sometimes the words of the Torah appear unfashionable. There are arguments for and against the adoption of absolute theologically based positions in regard to politics.
And it is certainly possible to argue, even from a Torah perspective, that in regard to Israel, there are differences between the ownership to which Rashi (or Rabbi Yitzchak) is referring, and the political realities of today.
Nevertheless, if from a religious perspective, “living with the times” involves living with the lessons of the parshah of the week, then let us at least reflect on the words of this opening Rashi of the whole Torah.
We may well have varying political views in regard to current developments and those we expect (and even fear) may take place this year, but we can still reflect on the meaning of the Land of Israel to the Jewish nation — and also on the fact that establishment of its ownership is the first over the coming weeks and months, a key lesson of so many parshiyot will be to emphasise the ancient Jewish connection with our land that so many today seek to deny.
A religious Jew cannot divorce his or her attitude towards Israel from Torah. And in that context, the term “religious Jew” need not coincide with one observant in the traditional sense.
David Ben-Gurion himself waved the Bible in front of those querying our deed to our land saying that it is in the Bible -— accepted by civilisations worldwide -— that our rights were first established.
Of course, one may argue that there are different Torah values to be considered in regard to any particular matter. At the most basic level, saving human lives is an ultimate Torah value, and accordingly, our approaches to modern Israeli political issues may vary on the basis of our estimation of the tension between saving life and maintaining the integrity of the land under Jewish dominion.
Extrapolation of this, or other aspects of the issues, may lead to totally opposite approaches to any political initiative past, present or future. The common thread, however, should be that a religious person decides on an approach on the basis of a Torah philosophy -— not as a separate matter from religious practice.
The basis of Torah is a unity between worldly life and religion — not just religion of a ritual nature while other aspects of life go on. Let us all approach the New Year with that philosophy. Hopefully, resultant decisions and actions will be the correct ones.
Yossi Aron is The AJN‘s religious affairs editor.