by Rav Yehezkel Frankel (slightly abridged), yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel
The word "narrative" has been with us for several years now, and is a fairly manipulative term. It is not quite a "story," but rather a specific choice as to which events to relate and in what order, rendering it a particular expression of a story, rather than the story itself.
As we know all too well, a "narrative" is often told by an ethnic group or people. But when a group does not have its own narrative, there will always be people who will create one for them. Consider the Palestinian "nation," for example. It had no land? Let it adopt a history that says that it has been here, in the Land of Israel, "from time immemorial!" It has no "defining event"? So let it adopt something that can pass for its own holocaust, or maybe call it a 'Nakba'… - and then they can also gain, as a bonus, "justification" for its natural bent towards terrorism against the remnants of the real Holocaust, the people of Israel.
In any event, what is our "story," the story of the Jews? Where does it start?
Some modern Jews might start it with the Holocaust, while others would start it from the First Aliyah of the Zionist Movement in the 1880's, or from the Aliyah of the students of the Baal Shem Tov and the Vilna Gaon. [Most] others point to the Giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai as the founding moment of our nationhood.
But it would seem that if someone truly seeks to explain the existence of the Jewish People, he can find it in the commandment to circumcise every male, which appears in this week's Torah portion: "On the eighth day [of his life], his foreskin must be circumcised" (Lev. 12,3). The upshot of this commandment is that we are marked with a symbol of servitude to, and acquisition by, the Creator of the World. Engraved on our skin is total self-sacrifice and dedication for the word of the Eternal G-d.
The Jewish People, throughout its generations, has never abandoned this brit, covenant. It is a victory for the Jewish People's loyalty to G-d! It is pure dedication on the part of parents throughout history and all over the world, and specifically of each mother who watches the ceremony from afar, stifling tears of pain as her infant son wails away – and who also feels great joy at the entry of yet another kosher and stellar Jew, whom she bore just a week earlier, into the Jewish Nation.
What is the source of this strength, of our strength?
We must begin by emphasizing that we are not referring to "strength" in its usual sense of physical might or even great leadership. "Jewish strength" is something different. Yes, it shares aspects of the strengths with which we are familiar – but it also has something beyond, something strange, something bordering on downright craziness. In fact, the Jew has always been something of a mystery to the non-Jews; they have never really understood us or what makes us tick. This is especially true regarding the mitzvah of circumcision (brit milah) – and this does not bother us. The non-Jew is not bound by this mitzvah, and he has no need, or ability, to comprehend it. The non-Jew is of This World (as opposed to the World to Come): it is designed to advance him from stones to buildings, from gravel to streets, from lightning to electricity.
This is how the renowned Maharal of Prague explains it:
"Nature, which is physical, is that which separates between G-d and His creatures. When the Patriarch Abraham appeared on the scene, this changed; G-d chose him and forged a connection with him, thus removing mankind from the purely natural and physical, so that there should no longer be a blockage between G-d and man. And G-d commanded that the foreskin, the obstruction, be removed; the act of milah, circumcision, is our covenant and connection with G-d… This is why G-d commanded that it be done on the eighth day, which follows the seven days of nature [thus leading to the super-natural]."
To perform this "mini-Akedah" on an 8-day-old babe – this is something to which the Gentile intellect cannot connect. To be so "far beyond rhyme and reason" (based on a Chabad concept) appears to them to be too detached – and they are right. It is a solely Jewish ability to connect heaven and earth, to live G-dliness in a physical world, to sanctify life and not to hover groundlessly above it or be defiled by its brutishness. These are unrealistic expectations, because they are above the realistic, supernatural. A Jewish soul who gives over the fruit of her womb to milah – that which is "beyond rhyme or reason" is imbued in her very essence. And this is what is imprinted in the eight-day-old infant as well.
This enables us to understand the power of the role models in the Jewish "narrative" that is actually our very history: models such as Chana and her seven sons; Rabbi Akiva and his fellow teachers in Israel; the Jews of Mainz, Worms, and Speyer during the Crusades; those who were burnt on the altars of the Inquisition; those who defied the Nazis; and thousands of men, women and children in Judea and Samaria who for so many years have absorbed rocks, Molotov cocktails, shootings on the roads, and more - and still their communities are expanding at an explosive pace.
Yes, it's crazy; it's beyond nature, because it is Divine. The covenant, brit milah, imbues the strengths of our covenantal partner, our Father and King, not only in our consciousness via Torah study; and not only in our souls via good deeds; but also in our flesh, in our physical essence. This is the source of our total dedication to His will, which leads us to draw from His strength.
The Land of Israel has similar qualities: It is physical, of course – but not mere "real estate," as those who detract from our Torah-Land-Nation covenant call it – but also sanctified.
We thus have two covenants: Milah and Torah-Land-Nation. The Maharal explains that in order that we not think that the Land is merely physical, we mention in the Blessing of the Land (part of our Grace After Meals) the concepts of "covenant" and "Torah" – for all three of these render Israel separate and Divine.
This also helps us understand how those who have seemingly detached themselves from the sanctity of the Jewish covenant with G-d are able to even consider giving some of our land to the Ishmaelites. And on the other hand, we can see how those who are imbued, physically and otherwise, with the sign of the holy covenant, will not be moved by any power in the world – neither weakness within, nor enemies from without – to abandon their holy land.
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