Chosen Nation vs “Like All the Nations”

 Dr. Nahum Goldmann was a founder of the World Jewish Congress and its president from 1951 to 1978, and was also president of the World Zionist Organization from 1956 to 1968. In 1967 he delivered a speech in Basel, Switzerland to mark the 70^th anniversary of the First Zionist Congress. Here is an excerpt from that speech that I found relevant to our parsha and to our current events:

      Zionism has never had a clear-cut position on this question of the character of the State. Zionism was always based on two contradictory ideals. The one ideal was a normalized Jewish life, to create a state like all others, to have a land like all others, a language like all others, a majority like all others, an economy of its own like all others. Its foremost representative was Herzl, an assimilated Jew who did not have a proper knowledge of what Judaism was. What moved him was concern for the Jews: he saw Jewish distress and said that the solution was a land of our own, a life like all other nations. The other ideology, whose classic representative was Ahad Ha’Am, said that the State was only an instrument and that the main aim was to set up a spiritual center that would guarantee the existence and uniqueness of the Jews all over the world. This was not even a purely Zionist dichotomy. In the Hebrew Haskalah literature, we already find this conflict. There was one group that said: Lo kechol hagoyim beth Yisrael, the people of Israel are unlike other peoples and the other replied: Nihye kechol hagoyim, let us be like all other nations. These two contradictory trends have always developed side by side inside Zionism. We wanted to be a normal people, and at the same time to preserve the abnormal, the unique.

      It's interesting how this tension plays itself out in surprising ways. Those who subscribe to Religious Zionism firmly believe that Israel is not meant to be like every other country, but rather a unique country inspired by Torah values that strives to be a light onto the nations. And yet, on my recent trip to Israel I visited the Knesset and met with a Member of Knesset from the Religious Zionist camp. This Member of Knesset was among those in the opposition who heckled Prime Minister Naftali Bennet while he was speaking while Knesset was in session. When we asked him about his behavior, as well as that of other religious MK’s, he explained it as political theatre, similar to what you might find in British Parliament. While political theatre may be a justification for rude behavior in some political settings, I wonder if government officials inspired by Jewish values should perhaps hold themselves to a different standard.

      While the Jewish State may strive to hold itself to unique standards based on Jewish tradition and Jewish values, we cannot allow others to treat Israel differently than all other countries. This week Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Company announced that it would stop selling products in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Singling out Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict in this way is a form of modern anti-Semitism. As Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z’l explained in an important and insightful (and short) video, throughout history Jew haters have sought to demonize the medium through which Jews collectively identify. For most of history that meant attacks against the Torah. After the Enlightenment and Emancipation attacks were also directed against Jewish culture. Today these attacks are also launched against the State of Israel, a modern facet of collective Jewish identity.

      Moshe warned us about this at the end of Parshat Vaetchanan, when he said (7:6-7): “For you are a holy people to the Lord, your God: the Lord your God has chosen you to be His treasured people, out of all the peoples upon the face of the earth. Not because you are more numerous than any people did the Lord delight in you and choose you, for you are the least of all the peoples.”

      Let us embrace the unique role of the Jewish People and the Jewish State, yet not let anyone get away with anti-Semitism under the guise of holding us to a different set of standards.