Judaism

Fixing the World

by Philip J. Bentley

Jewish activists on all parts of the political spectrum claim Jewish tradition for their own ideology. The truth is that Judaism is a living tradition almost four thousand years old, while Western political philosophies are a few centuries old at most. Jewish tradition is on a completely different track from the spectrum that includes "Left" and "Right." Nonetheless it is true that the Jewish vote and Jewish activism generally tend towards the Left. Why is that? The purpose of this essay is to explore briefly some aspects of Judaism that may help explain this undeniable fact.

Fixing the World

The ultimate basis for understanding of any system of ethics, public or private, is the answer to the question, "What is humanity?" One answer is given in the account of Creation from Jewish mystical tradition (Kabbalah).

Before Creation, God was infinite-and, for reasons we cannot conceive, withdrew to create spacetime. Into space-time God sent emanations of ten divine attributes which were to take shape in vessels. A cosmic accident occurred and the vessels for the emanations were shattered, causing the divine sparks to be mixed up and hidden among the shards. It was then that Heaven and Earth were created and humanity placed on earth in order to retrieve the sparks. This process is called Tikkun Olam, or Fixing The World, translated also as "repairing" or "reforming" the world. The role of humanity is to reestablish this world as it was meant to be, by releasing the divine spark hidden in everything in the world and restoring it to its Source.

Judaism is a this-world religion, even in its mystical expression. The relationship between a human being and God includes not only that individual's faith and observance of religious precepts and laws, but also the way he or she treats other human beings. Most of the 613 Commandments (Mitzvot) in Judaism are concerned with social relationships. All of the piety and religious observance in the world means nothing if a person does not use life to make the world better.

The Most Important Verse

A group of rabbis, many centuries ago, argued about which was the most important passage in the Bible- the one that sums up the purpose of all of the Scriptures. The "winner" was "This is the record of Adam's line-when God created man' he was made in the image of God" (Genesis 5:1). That verse is followed by a series of "begats" telling the genealogy of ten generations of Adam and Eve's descendants. The Rabbis, however, read this verse as affirming that all of humanity has one ancestor and that every human being is made in the divine image.

Why, the Talmud asks, was all of humanity descended from one couple? There are several answers given, including one that says no person should be able to say that their ancestry was superior to another's. Another says that this establishes the life of every human being as equal to an entire world. Thus we have the famous dictum, "One who destroys a single human life destroys an entire world; and one who saves a single human life saves an entire world." Human life in this world is considered the highest ethical imperative in Judaism.

Every single human being who has ever lived or who will ever live must be considered as made in the divine image and worth the life of the entire world. Anyone who takes this doctrine seriously must see in every human being a face of God. It then becomes impossible to intentionally harm or degrade any person.

Who Would Believe It?

The Jewish religion cannot be understood without knowing the unique historical experience of the Jewish people. Our very existence defies the rules of history. Deutero-Isaiah commented twenty-five centuries ago, "Who can believe what we have heard?" (Isaiah 53:1) as an expression of amazement at our survival.2

The Land of Israel was situated between two ancient powerful rivals: Egypt and Mesopotamia (that area is modern Syria and Iraq). For over four thousand years, down to the present day, these two giants fought over the small territory that divided them. We suffered from the passage of huge armies through our land, and sometimes we were pawns in international rivalry. In Jeremiah's day, Pharaoh convinced the King of Judah to rebel against Babylonia with a promise of support. The rebellion took place. No help was forthcoming. As a result, Jerusalem and the Temple were burned to the ground , and those people who did not escape to Egypt were exiled to Babylonia.

Thus throughout our Scriptures there is distrust of great cities, kingdoms, and empires. The powers of the Jewish king were always limited, because the king was to be subject to the law and to the ethics that ruled everyone else. In the Bible the person who is a great warrior or athlete or who has great political power or wealth is not regarded as a hero. The great person is the one who is just, kind, and learned. Our peculiar historical situation gave us a view of the world different from that of other peoples.

Now We Are Slaves

Most nations tell of their glorious, heroic origins. Every year on Passover Jews sit down at a table and tell how we began our history as slaves in Egypt. But we do not stop there. We affirm that if we had not been taken out of Egypt, we would still be there. In the course of the Passover Seder ritual we try our best to relive the experience of slavery and liberation. "In every generation it is incumbent on each person to see him or herself as having personally experienced the Exodus from Egypt." We do not even credit Moses as our liberator: he is barely mentioned in the traditional text. God took us out from Egypt. Furthermore we state, "Now we are slaves; next year may we be free." We see liberation as an ongoing process rather than as a static ancient event.

The Torah (The first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures) tells us thirty-six times: "You shall not oppress the stranger, for you know the heart of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt." The purpose of constantly reminding ourselves of our humble origins is to make us remember that we must have compassion towards others, including those who are not like us.

Among the Nations

When Solomon's Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians (in 586 BCE), we began the Diaspora which makes us truly unique. More of our people have lived outside of our ancestral homeland than within it. Since the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans (in 70 CE), we have been scattered to every corner of the globe and have survived as a vulnerable minority under all sorts of conditions.

We have, therefore, had to learn to survive every imaginable kind of situation without resort to force of arms. Our situation has often been precarious. We were forced to perform social and economic functions which those in power preferred to give to outsiders. We were not allowed to own or even work land, join craft guilds, or participate in the military. We were forced to become moneylenders, tax and rent collectors, and do other services for the local sovereign who, in return, was supposed to protect us. Sometimes Jews were even given such powerful or sensitive positions as royal financier, physician, or even chief minister of government. The reason for this was that no Jew could possibly be a threat to the throne, and therefore no Jew would be likely to use power against the king. Of course when times became bad the Jews were typically blamed, and were made to suffer persecution or even expulsion.

In a sense we were like a canary placed in a mine shaft. When poisonous gases are released, the canary will stop singing and die before the miners are in danger. Often the first victims of social and economic unrest have been the Jews. We have had to learn to be sensitive to changing conditions.

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