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Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

When that happens, he says, ‘You will morality and collective responsibility, The values for which the prophets
cry out for relief from the king you have the idea that ‘all Jews are responsible for fought could not be more relevant to
chosen, and G-d will not answer you.’ one another.’ Only one other nation has the politics of today. Israel, ancient
Is the Bible telling us that monarchy is ever had a similar dual founding, namely and modern, represents the search for
good or bad? Maimonides said ‘good;’ the United States, whose covenant is set freedom, justice and compassion against
Abarbanel, who worked with monarchs out in the Declaration of Independence the perennial temptations of tyranny,
in Spain, said ‘bad.’ (1776), and whose contract was resentment, cruelty and death. The dark
formulated in the Constitution (1787). forces have not disappeared. When it
It was the 19th century Talmudist, This is no coincidence: the Founding comes to the defense of freedom and the
Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Chajes, who solved Fathers of America were deeply sanctity of life, Israel is still on the front
the problem. What G-d and Samuel influenced by the Hebrew Bible. line.
were proposing was a social contract,
on the lines later expounded by the Israel’s dual structure enabled it to Israel’s enemies have come to the
founders of modern political thought: do what no other nation in history following judgment, based on an
Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau. A group has ever done: survive as a nation for insight of the great 14th century Arab
of self-interested individuals will find 2,000 years without a state. After the intellectual, Ibn Khaldun: affluent, city-
it worthwhile to appoint a leader who Roman conquest, Israel was no longer based civilizations eventually become
will defend them from lawlessness a kingdom. Its social contract was decadent and effete. They become
within and enemies outside. To do so inoperative. But it still had the covenant. hedonist and individualist. They lose the
they will have to sacrifice some of their Therefore it still remained a nation even will for the struggle and the sacrifices it
liberty and wealth, but the alternative is in exile. In Judaism, covenant is stronger entails. Eventually they fall to the desert
anarchy and foreign conquest. Samuel’s than contract. dwellers, who have no need for luxury
appointment of Saul is the first recorded and no fear of death.
instance of a social contract. That is what makes ancient Jewish
history so relevant today. Israel is a Israel’s enemies underestimate its
What makes the history of Israel highly successful state. But there are fault strength. It remains a nation of
unique is that this was its second lines within society, between religious indomitable courage, whose moral
political founding, not its first. That and secular, Ashkenazim and Sephardim, energy and prophetic ideals remain a
had happened centuries earlier at and many others. At times, fissures source of inspiration to the world, whose
Mount Sinai, when the people made a become open wounds. For anyone who story of remarkable achievement speaks
covenant with G-d. They were no longer remembers what happened in the wake not just to Jews, but to all who believe
a group of escaping ex-slaves. At Sinai of national divisions in the First and in the power of the human spirit as it
they became a body politic under the Second Temple periods, warning signals reaches out to G-d, as an everlasting
sovereignty of G-d with the Torah as should be sounding loud and clear. symbol of the victory of life over death,
their written constitution. In the days hope of despair. Inspired by Jewish
of Samuel they became a kingdom, but Prophets speak from within the society values and ideals, Israel made a barren
it was in the days of Moses that they they challenge. They are not armchair land bloom, an ancient language speak,
became a nation. critics, speaking from afar. Israel is a and the West’s oldest faith young again.
nation of heroes capable of meeting The time has come for a renewal of
Tanach makes a clear distinction any challenge. But heroes need a diet Israel’s covenant with history and hope.
between social contract and social of ideals not supplied by the market
covenant. Social contract creates a economy or liberal democracy alone.
state; social covenant creates a society. That is why politics and economics are
Social contract is based on self-interest; not enough to sustain a society. There Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks is Emeritus
social covenant is about shared identity. must be a richly textured sense of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew
Social contract belongs to the world common good. That needs not social Congregations of the Commonwealth
.
of politics; social covenant is about contract but social covenant. @RabbiSacks www.RabbiSacks.org

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