Jerusalem: The City of Truth and Peace שבת פרשת וישב Bendavid, Derasha Delivered by Rav Eitan קהילת שבטי ישראל, רעננה 1 President Donald Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the official capital of the State of Israel comes at an auspicious time one week before we celebrate Chanukah, a holiday which celebrates the rededication of Jerusalem. How are we supposed to respond to this announcement - with open arms or skepticism? Is this a significant historical milestone or a meaningless political statement that is only going to spur further violence in the region? For the Jewish people, the idea that Jerusalem is our capital is not up for discussion or debate. We debate many things in our religious tradition. The centrality and holiness of Jerusalem is not one of them. Jerusalem is close to us as our right hand - אם אשכחך ירושלים תשכח ימיני If I forget thee o Jerusalem, let my right-hand wither. It is an integral part of our Jewish identity. In this sense, Trump was simply affirming something that we already know for 3000 years that Jerusalem is at the heart of Jewish existence. This fact is not only obvious to Jews who are religiously observant. It is also the official position of the State of Israel dating back to the founding of the state. The following document from the first official Knesset captures this perspective. In this statement, David Ben Gurion writes in his memoirs that there was no need for Knesset to ever debate the status of Jerusalem or officially affirm its status as the capital of Israel. This work was already accomplished for us by King David 3000 years ago. Any attempt to deny the fact that Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people and the State of Israel is not only a denial of indisputable historical fact, but it is also veiled way of delegitimizing the State of Israel. And this is the story of Chanukah as well! 1 This written version of the derasha is substantively the same one I delivered on Shabbat with some stylistic and structural changes. 1
The Maccabim fought for Jewish sovereignty from the Greek Hellenizers. But more importantly they sought to gain the right to practice their Judaism as they saw fit. The Greeks denied the Jewish people their right to religious freedom. According to historical sources the Greeks set up a temple to Zeus on the Temple Mount, and forbade the observance of Shabbat, the laws of kashrut, and the performance of Brit Milah. The Study of Torah was also outlawed. The Greek edicts of Antiochus in 168 BCE were the first instances of religious persecution in our history. It was an attempt to rip apart Jewish identity. For the Jewish people, Shabbat, kashrut, and Torah are integral parts of our identity. Stripped of these things, we are bereft and identity-less. Torah to a Jew is like oxygen. Depriving the Jewish people of Shabbat and Torah is like spiritual death through suffocation. The following story about Rabbi Akiva s response to the Hadrianic persecutions of the 2 nd century captures this sentiment. The Sages taught: One time, after the bar Kokheva rebellion, the evil empire of Rome decreed that Israel may not engage in the study and practice of Torah. Pappos ben Yehuda came and found Rabbi Akiva, who was convening assemblies in public and engaging in Torah study. Pappos said to him: Akiva, are you not afraid of the empire? Rabbi Akiva answered him: I will relate a parable. To what can this be compared? It is like a fox walking along a riverbank when he sees fish gathering and fleeing from place to place. The fox said to them: From what are you fleeing? They said to him: We are fleeing from the nets that people cast upon us. He said to them: Do you wish to come up onto dry land, and we will reside together just as my ancestors resided with your ancestors? The fish said to him: You are the one of whom they say, he is the cleverest of animals? You are not clever; you are a fool. If we are afraid in the water, our natural habitat which gives us life, then in a habitat that causes our death, all the more so. The moral is: So too, we Jews, now that we sit and engage in Torah study, about which it is written: For that is your life, and the length of your days (Deuteronomy 30:20), we fear the empire to this extent; if we proceed to sit idle from תלמוד בבלי מסכת ברכות סא. תנו רבנן: פעם אחת גזרה מלכות הרשעה שלא יעסקו ישראל בתורה; בא פפוס בן יהודה ומצאו לרבי עקיבא שהיה מקהיל קהלות ברבים ועוסק בתורה, אמר ליה: עקיבא! אי אתה מתירא מפני מלכות הרשעה? אמר לו: אמשול לך משל למה הדבר דומה: לשועל שהיה מהלך על גב הנהר וראה דגים שהיו מתקבצים ממקום למקום; אמר להם: מפני מה אתם בורחים? אמרו לו: מפני רשתות שמביאין עלינו בני אדם! אמר להם: רצונכם שתעלו ליבשה ונדור אני ואתם כשם שדרו אבותי עם אבותיכם? אמרו לו: אתה הוא שאומרים עליך פקח שבחיות? לא פקח אתה אלא טפש אתה: ומה במקום חיותנו אנו מתיראין, במקום מיתתנו על אחת כמה וכמה! אף אנחנו: עכשיו שאנו יושבים ועוסקים בתורה, שכתוב בה )דברים ל כ( ]לאהבה את ה' אלקיך לשמע בקלו ולדבקה בו[ כי הוא חייך ואורך ימיך ]לשבת על האדמה אשר נשבע ה' לאבתיך לאברהם ליצחק וליעקב לתת להם[ כך, אם אנו הולכים ומבטלים ממנה על אחת כמה וכמה! 2
its study, as its abandonment is the habitat that causes our death, all the more so will we fear the empire. אמרו: לא היו ימים מועטים עד שתפסוהו לרבי עקיבא וחבשוהו בבית האסורים... Just like Torah and mitzvot, Shabbat and Brit Milah are a core part of our identity, the same is true of Jerusalem. Depriving us of Torah and Mitzvot, or our connection to Jerusalem is depriving us of our right to exist. This is why the Maccabees were forced to fight for Jerusalem over 2000 years ago, this is why we will never give up on our historical and religious right to this city, and this is why we welcome Trump s decision to affirm the most basic truth of Jewish history that Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Unfortunately, our narrative, a narrative grounded in irrefutable historical fact, has been altogether ignored by the mainstream media and Western countries this last week as they reported on Trump s announcement. I am not one to automatically disqualify mainstream news media as being fake news, even if they do at times have their biases; for the most part they follow pretty rigorous journalistic standards. However, I found how this issue is being reported to be deeply disturbing. Media outlets have been reporting something along the following lines, "Donald Trump to declare Jerusalem as Israel's Capital, violence likely to follow." While we know that the Arab world is not so happy with Trump s decision, why does the mainstream media assume that violence is sure to happen? I believe that Arabs and Palestinians are human beings who have the ability and the responsibility to exercise moral agency. They might disagree with a political decision, but that does not justify violence! I think reporting the events this way seems to provides political cover for anyone to engage in violence and if/when they do, everyone can look back and say, "hey, told you so." As is often the case, the Arabs are judged according to a different standard than we are - If they feel rage, well then, violence is justified. This perspective infantilizes the Arabs, rather than demanding that they grow up and take responsibility for their children and future. If an intifada were, God forbid, to break out now as Hamas and other organizations (and even the PA are calling for), I believe the media will have been responsible for helping to incite it, by playing into this narrative of victimhood that has defined Palestinian and Arab identity for seventy years. A Day of Rage was declared throughout the Middle East this last Friday over Trump s decision. 3
Where has the rage been for the last six years of a brutal civil war in Syria in which Muslims have brutally targeted other Muslims? Where was the rage when over 300 people were killed by other Muslims in Sinai? I don t buy it. Then there are those who say this decision my Trump has destroyed prospects for peace. This is the end of the peace process, we are being told. Besides for the fact that one can make a very compelling argument that the peace process came to a halting screech when Yasir Arafat orchestrated and unleashed the second Intifada, why do we need to deny a basic historical fact (that Jerusalem is Israel s capital) in order to make peace? I think the opposite is true. When the Arab world and Palestinians are able to recognize the basic truths of Jewish history - that Two temples once stood on the current location of the Dome of the Rock, and that the Maccabees fought for and defended the Jewish right to practice their own religion against Greek oppression in 168 B.C.E, then peace might be a little bit more achievable. Truth is a precondition for peace, not an obstacle towards its fulfillment. As a Jew, it is very frustrating and even painful to sit and watch the world embrace a Palestinian/Arab narrative that does not even consider the basic facts of Jewish history. But we can also find consolation in the fact that this is what it means to be part of Jewish destiny. It means that we must embrace our unique Divine covenant with God and not look for affirmation or approval from the nations of the world. We are an עם לבדד ישכון a nation that dwells alone. Like Jacob who struggled with the Angel alone in the night, we too must engage in that struggle alone, in the dark of the night. But, we must stand tall, and proud, and not panic at the hypocrisy and cowardice of the nations of the world. The last question I would like to address is the nature of God s intervention in the world. 2 I do not claim to know God s thoughts or to know His plans. We do know that God works in mysterious ways. We know that God can intervene in the world through the actions of other human beings 1) In some cases, God influences events through human actors whom we have great admiration for great heroes of world History. 2 This idea of God intervening through human activity and the example of the Ish is taken from Rav Soloveitchik s book on Chanukah. He speaks about this idea in a very different context, but I have adapted it for my own purposes. 4
Winston Churchill, an ardent Zionist and supporter of the Jewish State is one such example. Harry Truman s fateful decision to embrace the State of Israel might be another example. 2) In other cases, God steers history through nondescript figures such as the איש who Yosef encounters while searching for his brothers by Shechem in this week s parsha בראשית פרק ל"ז וימצאו איש והנה טעה בשדה וישאלהו האיש לאמר מה תבקש.ויאמר את אחי אנכי מבקש We have no idea who this איש is. According to the Midrash, he was the Angel Gabriel, but surely, history would have unfolded differently had Yosef not encountered this mysterious man who then lead him to his brothers. 3) Finally, God also can work through terribly wicked and evil men such as Pharaoh, who became a tool in order to bring about the Exodus from Egypt. It is in this vein that Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik understands the role of the United Nations in the formation of the State of Israel. In his lectures on the religious significance of the State of Israel, Rav Joseph Soloveitchik, argued that with the creation of the State of Israel and Israel s military victories, God has been knocking on the door, to bring about miraculous changes on the behalf of the Jewish people. In the following excerpt, Rav Soloveitchik speaks about the role of the UN in this regard. Kol Dodi Dofek Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik 3 Eight years ago, in the midst of a night of the terrors of Majdanek, Treblinka, and Buchenwald; in a night of gas chambers and crematoria. The Almighty, who was hiding in His splendid sanctum, suddenly appeared and began to beckon at the tent of the Lover, who tossed and turned on her bed beset by convulsions and the agonies of hell. Because of the beating and knocking at the door of the mournful Lover, the State of Israel was born. How many times did the Beloved knock on the door of the Lover? It appears to me that we can count at least six knocks. First, the knock of the Beloved was heard in the political arena. From the point of view of international relations, no one will deny that the rebirth of the State of Israel, in a political sense, was an almost supernatural occurrence. Both Russia and the Western nations supported the establishment of the State of Israel. This was perhaps the one resolution on which East and West concurred [during the Cold War era]. I am inclined to believe that the United Nations was especially created for this end for the sake of fulfilling the mission that Divine Providence had placed upon it. It appears to me that one cannot point to any other concrete accomplishment on the part of the United Nations. 3 This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the religious significance of the State of Israel. Interestingly, while Rav Soloveitchik embraces the miracle of the State of Israel, he is careful not to presume that we are living in Messianic times. Thank you to my teacher, Rabbi Shaul Robinson for pointing out this source to me in our discussions about this issue. 5
Our Rabbis of blessed memory already expressed this view: At times rain falls on account of one individual and for one blade of grass (Breishit Rabbah 66:2). I do not know who the representatives of the press, with their human eyes, saw to be the chairman in that fateful session of the General Assembly in which the creation of the State of Israel was decided, but he who looked carefully with his spiritual eye saw the true Chairman who conducted the proceedings the Beloved. He knocked with his gavel on the lectern. Do we not interpret the passage On that night the king could not sleep (Esther 6:1) as meaning that the King of the Universe could not sleep? If Ahasuerus alone had been sleepless, 4 the matter would not have been at all important and salvation would not have arisen on that night. If, however, the King, the Master of the Universe, could not sleep, as it were, redemption would be born. If just anyone were to have opened the session of the United Nations, the State of Israel would not have been born. But it was the Beloved who rapped on the Chairman s lectern, and the miracle materialized. Listen! My Beloved Knocks! According the Rav Soloveitchik, the United Nations might have been formed for the singular purpose of voting for the creation of a state on November 29, 1947! How should we view events in our own time? Without doubt, Trump is no heroic figure like Winston Churchill, 5 but the statement that he made is true and the world needs to hear this message and who knows - perhaps this is all part of God s plan? And so, we must be thankful for Trump s commitment to the Jewish people and the truths of Jewish history. And there is a real irony here about how this situation is unfolding You have the first post-truth president, a president who will often twist or deny any fact depending on whether it suits him, offering a statement to the Arab world who are the ultimate deniers of historical fact (especially with regards to Jewish History and our connection to the Land of Israel). And what is he telling them about? The most basic fact of Jewish history - that Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people! And he is doing this as a mouthpiece of the Jewish people and the State of Israel - for the people who have a historical memory like no other people! For a people who value the concept of זכור as a religious command! That s an interesting twist of fate and perhaps God s hand knocking at the door. Let us hope and pray that doing the right thing will not lead to violence or destruction but to the ultimate rebuilding of Jerusalem. 4 Rav Soloveitchik s reference to King Achashveirosh is interesting for our own context. במצב שלנו האם טראומפ יותר דומה לדמותו של אחשורוש או המן? צריך עיון 5 I ll even go further, I believe Trump is responsible for emboldening White Supremacists and Neo-Nazi groups in America today, and perhaps in Europe as well. These people are no friends of the Jewish people. 6
In our tradition, Jerusalem is a place that symbolizes many things. It is meant to be a place of,שלום hence its name. It is also meant to be a city of truth as the prophet Zechariah prophesizes זכריה ח ג כ ה אמ ר י הו ה ש ב ת י א ל צ יו ן ו ש כ נ ת י ב תו ך י ר וש ל ם ו נ ק ר אה י ר וש ל ם ע יר ה א מ ת ו ה ר י הו ה צ ב או ת ה ר ה ק ד ש. It is my belief that there is no contradiction between these two things: When אמת (the אמת of history) rings forth from,ירושלים then perhaps שלום might as well 7