The State of Israel and the Redemption of the Shechina

 

Earlier we presented a summary of Professor Eliezer Berkovits' eloquent elucidation of the connection between Jewish messianism and the Nation of Israel's return to its Land (based upon the final chapter of his book Faith After the Holocaust).

We now present parallel comments of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (taken from the article Jewish Sovereignty and the Redemption of the Shekhina, Tradition Magazine, 53:1).

Given that Torah expresses a unitary truth, it is not surprising that the philosopher and the Talmudist present the same thoughts.

Rabbi Soloveitchik writes that Torah can reach its complete fulfillment only within the Jewish homeland:

Piety in countries where one is a minority means being pious only in his private personal life – Shabbat, family purity, kashrut, etc. – surrounded by the curtains of one's home-sanctuary. It is completely impossible to represent such a life as an embodiment of a full and complete Torah. My social-economic existence is linked to the general political-economic structure, which is based upon other principles. As such, it does not embody my social, political, or legal relationships with society. … The entire complex of my external interactions with society is divorced from Judaism. 

Thus, it is clear that Torah Judaism can be fully realized exclusively within the Land of Israel and in accordance with the mitzvot.

            Further, Torah requires the Land because it "is not a literary trove of documents and books. Torah means learning and realizing an organic Torah society – concrete Torah actualization. Only when the vision is total – not only of laws of kosher meat and prayer-book, but also of the Hilchot Melakhim (Laws of Kings), Sanhedrin (Supreme Religious Court), financial law concerning corporations and the employment of workers, the individual and public Torah, at home, the street, and the factory – does the whole Torah reveal itself."

The challenge of the State of Israel is to be not merely a state of Jews but a Jewish state in the full sense:

The social-political economic life of Israel needs to be expressed via the seal of Judaism, of Jewish law and morality. The various phases of state life must be permeated with the Jewish spirit, understood and interpreted by Torah and spiritual giants. Our treasure of halakha regarding laws between man and his fellow man, from the laws of damages to the laws of kings, must be built and transformed into action and facts. ... I am convinced that when the Israeli social-political institutions embody the Torah's ideal civil code, we will be the most advanced state in regard to social justice and truth.

            The sweet singer of Israel composed a song of ascents in which Israel sings "When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were as dreamers." [Psalms 126:1] The dream of the return to Zion must be "a dream about Torah life, about 'And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?' [Deuteronomy 4:8]."

            Realization of Torah within the Land can be achieved only as the result of Israel's actions within her:

The Torah will find its realization in Israel … only through participating in building the Land, by hewing stones and draining swamps, defending cities and colonies, by working devotedly.

            For the state to fulfill herself, the collective Israel must differentiate between means and goal:

As vital and historically important as the state may be … (it) is important not as a goal, but as a means. The goal transcends statehood, time, and history. The objective is to create a Torah nation.

            Rabbi Soloveitchik's article is taken from an address he delivered at the Mizrachi of America convention, the month after the State of Israel came into existence. Rabbi Soloveitchik masterfully articulated the challenge which still stands before the State of Israel, seventy-four years later.