This article has been written by Rav Ari Shvat (Chwat), Rosh Midreshet Tal Orot in Michlelet Orot, Elkana. He has graciously offered to share his wisdom with the readers of Tzipiyah.com, and given me a few, very powerful and all very relevant, articles to share with you. This is the fourth part of the second article. Enjoy!3. The State – An Answer to Anti-Semitism
Upon examination, we find that the Rambam, in that very source, already explains the reasoning behind the cardinal importance of having a Jewish State.[1] He points out that the battle for the establishment of the state of the Hasmoneans, was to alleviate several problems:
“… the kings of Greece issued decrees against them... confiscated their money and their daughters... And the Jews suffered greatly, and they were intensely pressured".
Under foreign rule, the danger to our physical existence as a nation was very real. We have learned from our history in exile, that a Jewish state, with a Jewish army are inevitably the only answer to anti-Semitism. On both a national and individual level, only self-reliance and self-defense enable the fulfillment of “… and you shall live by them”;[2] “do not stand by the blood of your friend”;[3] “saving Jews from an enemy who comes against them”;[4] “to save the pursued”;[5] “your eyes should not have pity”.[6] If we had had a Jewish state, the fate of European Jewry at the time of the Holocaust could have been completely different.
4. The State- Insures Freedom of Religion
The Rambam mentions an additional problem that necessitated the battle for independence: “… the kings of Greece issued decrees against the Jews and invalidated their religion, and did not allow them to observe torah and miztvot... they broke into the sanctuary and defiled the pure".
This attack on our religious freedom is not an insignificant matter, as the Rambam writes elsewhere:
“Because of this, all of the Jews, their prophets and sages, yearn for the days of mashiach. So that they will be freed from rulers who do not allow them to fulfill torah and mitzvot, and they will find rest, and advance in wisdom so that they will merit the world to come... The days of mashiach are in this world, and the world will continue as usual, only the sovereignty will return to the Jews, and our early sages have already said: “the only difference between the days of mashiach and this world is the servitude to other nations”.[7]
Here we have another reason why the modern State of Israel is vital, in that it insures religious freedom, with no fears of decrees forbidding the fulfillment of torah and mitzvot, the kidnapping of children to serve in foreign armies for decades, or persecutions forcibly converting to Christianity, Islam, or Hellenism. Although the idea of outlawing mitzvot sounds extremely outdated, until very recently in the Soviet Union, it was illegal to circumcise Jewish children or not to work on Shabbat. Although the communists claimed to grant freedom of religion, and gave plausible explanations to these prohibitions (as did the Greeks and Romans, respectively), that doesn't solve the problem!
5. The State – An Answer to Assimilation
Even today, when freedom of religion is basically a universally accepted concept, there is still a need for a Jewish State. Today, we have the opposite problem, that of "too much freedom of religion", or assimilation.
Every person is influenced by his surroundings. Accordingly, chazal instruct us: “do not befriend an evil person";[8] “woe to the wicked and to his neighbor”;[9] “even if you will give me all of the gold, silver and precious stones in the world, I will only live in a place of Torah,”[10] and more. The rate of assimilation and the percentage of intermarriage in the diaspora attest to the problem of Jews living amongst non-Jews. The fear of assimilation due to peer pressure and influence is not only an important concern,[11] but is actually cited in the Mishna Brura, “One should not live in a city where the market day is on Shabbat, as it is impossible not to sin”.[12]
From here we see the obligation to live specifically in a Jewish State, as indeed the Rambam instructs:
“Even if there were to be two Jewish states, and one of them has better deeds and is more precise in their performance of mitzvot than the other - a G-d fearing person is obliged to leave the city whose actions are worse and move to the superior city... This is true even when there are two Jewish states. But, if the place is amongst non-Jews, how much more so that a Jew who lives there is obligated to leave and go to a good place (i.e. to the only Jewish state) as David said: ‘for you have exiled me today from being in the inheritance of Hashem saying: go and serve other gods’.[13] From here we see that living amongst non-Jews is considered as serving other gods”.[14]
It is true that our state is unfortunately not living up to all of our spiritual expectations, nevertheless, there is no other place in the world where the Jewish holidays and shabbat, kashrut and the jewish customs are the state’s culture, even of the irreligious. If a Jew must choose between being embarrassed of his brit milah or a place where one is embarrassed if he is not circumcised, the preference is obvious. No other country in the world would even consider producing 300% more dairy products for the week of Shavuot, nor eliminate daylight-savings-time in order to ease the Yom Kippur fast. Thank G-d, we have merited to see the center of torah learning and the yeshivot return to Zion, fulfilling the messianic words of Yishayahu: “for the Torah will go out from Zion and the word of Hashem from Yerushalayim”.[15]
The advantages mentioned here by the Rambam, attest to the essentialness of the State of Israel, even if it were to be located in Uganda!
In this context, it is interesting to note that the earliest documented connection between the Jewish people and the nation of Khazar who converted to Judaism, is when R. Chasdai ibn Shafrut, heard a rumor of the existence of that Jewish kingdom. Immediately, he dispatched a letter to the king stating that he wanted to ascertain whether it was true, "For if I knew that it is correct, I would be disgusted with my honor and abandon my high post,[16] leave my family and hasten over the mountains, oceans, and dry land, until I arrived to your kingdom".[17]
In other words, just as we saw in the Rambam's correspondence, if there is a Jewish state, even if it were a far and difficult journey, even if it were not even in the Land of Israel, we should all be living there (if impossible to make aliya).[18] How much more so, when the only Jewish state in the world is in the Holy Land of Israel.
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[1] Rambam, Hil. Chanuka 3,1.
[2] Vaykira 18, 5.
[3] Ibid, 19,17.
[4] Rambam, Hil. M'lachim 5,1.
[5] ibid, Hil. Rotze'ach 1,6.
[6] ibid.
[7] Rambam, Hil. T'shuva 9, 2.
[8] Avot 1,7.
[9] N'ga'im 12, 6.
[10] Avot 1, 9.
[11] See, for example, G. Perl and Y. Weinstein, "A Parent's Guide to Orthodox Assimilation on University Campuses". The authors, graduate students at Harvard and MIT respectively, warn Jewish parents of the moral and spiritual corruption that awaits their children should they direct them, as is often the case, to elite secular universities.
[12] Mishna Brura 307, 16.
[13] Shmuel I 26, 19.
[14] Iggeret HaShmad, Mossad HaRav Kook, 1981/ 5741, p. 64.
[15] Y'shayahu 2, 3.
[16] R. Chasdai ibn Shafrut held a position equivalent to foreign minister and chief advisor in the court of the caliphs Abed el Rachman the III and the IV, of tenth century/4700 Spain.
[17] The entire letter is brought in the Vilna 5665/1905 edition of the Kuzari, p. 5.
[18] However, if a Jewish state existed outside of the Land of Israel, yet it is possible to live in Israel despite the absence of a Jewish state, the Rambam himself in Hil. M'lachim 5, 12 rules: "One should always live in the Land of Israel, even in a city which is mainly idolaters, and should not live outside of Israel, even in a city which is mainly Jews". In other words, the "atmosphere of the Land of Israel" is preferable over "a Jewish atmosphere". This is despite the importance that the Rambam attributes to the influence of the surroundings, as we saw in his letter, see footnote 42, and in Hil. De'ot 6, 1. It is of interest that the Rambam's source, Tosefta Avodah Zara 5, 2 and K'tuvot 110b, that the Land of Israel is more important than living in a Jewish state, is the same pasuk – "for you have exiled me…saying: go and serve other gods". Indeed, this is the original drasha on the pasuk, and not as he cites in his letter.
