Page 3 - HaMizrachi #26 Tu Bishvat USA 2021

TORAT MIZRACHI
TORAT MIZRACHI

Rabbi Doron Perez

The Covenant

The Extraordinary Relationship Between a People and a Land

s there another people on earth who the ה ָ לי ִ מ תי ִ ר ְּ ב, the Covenant of Circum- As Rabbi Sacks zt”l defines it:
has a deeper relationship with and cision, where G-d commits himself to “Covenant occurs when two individuals
Istronger claim to a tract of land, than a number of things: to make Abram’s or groups, differing perhaps in power,
the Jewish people’s claim to the Land progeny into a great people, to change
of Israel? This relationship is a deeply his name to Avraham, meaning a father but each acknowledging the integrity
spiritual one and expresses itself in four of many nations, and then two everlast- and sovereignty of the other, pledge
convincing claims – religious, historical, ing pledges – to be a G-d to him and his themselves in mutual loyalty to achieve
together what neither can achieve
moral and legal. people and to grant them the Land as an alone... A covenant is not a contract. It
eternal inheritance.
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All are rooted in a powerful paradigm, differs in three respects. It is not lim-
in one of the most transformational and To understand the meaning of this con- ited to specific conditions and circum-
revolutionary concepts in all of religious nection, we need to understand what stances. It is open-ended and long-last-
history – תי ִ ר ְּ ב, covenant. a covenant is. Let us first distinguish ing. And it is not based on the idea of
between two similar yet very different two individuals, otherwise unconnected,
Covenant types of agreements, a covenant and a pursuing personal advantage. It is about
contract. the ‘we’ that gives identity to the ‘I’.
From a spiritual point of view, the rela-
tionship between the Jewish people and Contract or Covenant There is a place for contracts, but cov-
the Land is unique in that it is presented enants are prior and more fundamen-
in the form of a Divine Covenant. It is A contract is when both sides enter into tal. They form the matrix of mutuality
quite remarkable that G-d initiates and an agreement because it is mutually ben- within which contractual relationships
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enters into covenants with his creations. eficial. When the agendas align to the can exist.
extent that the agreement can serve both
The first such covenant G-d makes with parties, a contract is signed. The Religious Claim
humanity is after the flood – a Divine
commitment never to destroy the world A covenant goes much deeper. It is not It is this type of relationship which G-d
again. Then with Avraham Avinu, He based on interests but on shared values. created between the Jewish people and
makes two covenants, both about It is not built on what each party can get the Land. A covenant not dependent
granting the Land of Israel to his (and but on what each party ought to give. on any conditions or circumstances.
His) children. The first one is known It is not based on personal gain but on A covenant unlimited by time and one
as םי ִ ר ָ ת ְּ ב ַ ה ןי ֵּ ב תי ִ ר ְּ ב, the Covenant of the a greater good, where the goal is best which is built on a fundamental relation-
Pieces, which is exclusively about this: served by the sum total of the parties ship rooted in the spiritual mission and
“On that day, G-d made a covenant with entering into the agreement. destiny of the world and of the Jewish
Abram saying, to your descendants have A contract is about Me and You, a cov- people in particular. It is for this reason
I given this Land…” The second one is enant is about Us and We. our Sages have framed the relationship
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Continued on page 4

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