Page 13 - HaMizrachi 1 Chicago Edition
P. 13

the template of biblical   law, which covers "


                                                 But because Judaism is also the code of a
                                                 society, it is also about the social  emotions:
                                                 righteousness (tzedek/tzedakah), justice
                                                 (mishpat), loving-kindness    (chessed) and
                                                                                        Without a
                                                 compassion (rachamim). These structure

                                                 its welfare   systems, its education, family  land and state,
                                                 all aspects of the life of society, its economy,
                                                 life, employer-employee relations, the
                                                 protection  of the environment and so on.   Judaism

                                                 The broad principles driving this elaborate   is a shadow
                                                 structure, traditionally enumerated   as 613
                                                 in dire poverty. No one  should lack access  of itself
                                                 commands, are clear. No one should be left

                                                 to justice and the courts. No family should
                                                 be without its  share of the land. One day in
                                                 seven, everyone should be free. One year   Only in Israel can Jews today speak the
                                                 in  seven all debts should be cancelled. One   Hebrew of the Bible as the language of
                                                 year in 50 all land that had been sold  was     everyday speech. Only there can they live
           Cherry tomatoes, an Israeli innovation (GPO)
                                                 to revert to its original owners. It was the   Jewish  time  within  a  calendar   structured
                                                 nearest  thing  the  ancient  world   had  ever   according to the rhythms of the Jewish
           festival of Passover to remind them of what   seen to an egalitarian society.   year.  Only  in  Israel  can  Jews   once  again
             they were to avoid. It would be the only                                   walk where the prophets walked, climb the
           nation in the world whose sovereign   was   None of this was possible without a land.    mountains Abraham  climbed and to which
           God Himself, and whose constitution – the   The sages said, “Whoever lives outside Israel   David lifted his eyes. Israel is the only place
           Torah – was His word.                 is as if he had no God.” Nachmanides in the   where Jews  have been able to live Judaism
                                                 13th  century said that    ”The  main  purpose   in anything other than an edited edition,
           Judaism is the code of a self-governing   of all the commands is for those who live in     continuing the story their ancestors began.
           society. We tend to forget this, since  Jews   the land of the Lord.” These are  mystical
           have lived in dispersion for 2,000 years,   sentiments but we can translate them into   The reborn State of Israel in a mere 70 years
           without the sovereign power to   govern   secular  terms. Judaism is the constitution of   has surely exceeded even the  highest hopes
           themselves, and because modern Israel   a self-governing nation, the architectonics   of the early pioneers of the return to Zion,
           is a secular state. Judaism is a   religion of     of a society dedicated to the service of God   and this despite the  fact that it has had to
           redemption rather than salvation: it is   in freedom and dignity. Without a  land and   face almost ceaseless threats of war, terror,
           about  the  shared  spaces  of   our  collective   state,  Judaism  is  a  shadow  of  itself.      God     delegitimation and defamation. Despite
           lives,  not an interior drama of the soul,   may still live in the heart,   but not in the   all this, it stands as a living testimony   to
           though Judaism, in the  books of Psalms and   public square, in the justice of the courts,   Moses’ great command:  “Choose life, that
           Job, knows this as well.              the morality of the   economy, and the   you and your children may live.”
                                                 humanitarianism of everyday life.
           The Jewish God is the God of love: You                                       May the light of the State of Israel, which
           shall love the Lord your God with all  your   Jews have lived in almost every country   shines a little brighter each year,  continue
           heart, all your soul and all your might. You   under the sun. In 4,000 years, only in  Israel   to be a blessing, not just to the Jewish
           shall love your neighbour as  yourself. You   have they been able to  live as  a free,  self-  people, but also to the world.
           shall  love  the  stranger. The  Hebrew  Bible   governing people. Only in Israel  have they
           is a book suffused with  love – the love of   been able to construct an agriculture, a   Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks is
           God for humanity, and the love of a people   medical system, an economic  infrastructure,   the Emeritus  Chief Rabbi of the
           for God. All its  tense emotions of anger and   in the spirit of the Torah and its concern for   United Hebrew  Congregations
           jealousy are part of the story of that often   freedom, justice  and the sanctity of life.   of the Commonwealth
                                                                                                     .
             unreciprocated love.                                                       @RabbiSacks   www.RabbiSacks.org
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