If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of smoke lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of; but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world's list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning, are also way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all ages: and has done it with his hands tied behind him.All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?(1)
The answer to this question can be found in the remote beginnings of the Jewish people, in the earliest stories in the Bible.
As mentioned previously, history is a guidebook for the future. The early lessons of Jewish history reveal a pattern, so we have to pay extra special attention to anything that happens at this period of time. We also have to pay special attention to the characters themselves. Just as these early stories are the paradigm for future events, so too are the earliest personalities in Genesis the model for the collective nature of the Jewish people throughout history.
If this is the case, then from the Jewish perspective, the most important Biblical character to understand is Abraham. This is why I call Abraham "the proto-Jew." He personifies everything that could be characterized as the "Jewish personality." His strengths, mission, drive and idealism are reflected in all the generations of the Jewish people that come after him.(2)
Abraham was certainly one of the great truth-seekers of all time. He was also famous for his kindness and hospitality(3). But the attribute that probably stands out more than any other and truly epitomizes the essence of what Abraham, and therefore the Jewish people, is all about is drive. To stand alone for thousands of years against the entire world; to dedicate oneself, heart and soul, to the ultimate cause of perfecting the world requires tremendous strength of character. This drive is an outstanding feature of Abraham's personality and we see its manifestation in every generation of the Jewish people. From Abraham onward, we see this idealism -- an uncompromising drive to "change the world" -- in the collective Jewish personality.
It is because of this drive that the Jews have historically been tremendous over-achievers and have been at the forefront of virtually every major advance, cause, or social movement in world history. (Jews have not only been awarded a disproportionate number of Nobel prizes for their intellectual contributions, but have led movements such as communism, socialism, feminism, civil rights, labor unions, etc.)(4) Notes professor of Social Philosophy Ernest Van den Haag:
Asked to make a list of the men who have most dominated the thinking of the modern world, many educated people would name Freud, Einstein, Marx and Darwin. Of these four, only Darwin was not Jewish. In a world where Jews are only a tiny percentage of the population, what is the secret of the disproportionate importance the Jews have had in the history of Western culture? ... The Jews have invented more ideas, have made the world more intelligible, for a longer span and for more people than any other group. They have done this indirectly, always unintentionally and certainly not in concert, but never the less comprehensibly... Jews continue to feel the yoke, the task, the moral mission of being Jews-of preserving themselves as such, and to the surprise, scorn, and at times hatred of the rest of the world, of refusing to become anything else... Jews may call themselves humanists, or atheists, socialists or communists...they may even dislike Jewishness and deny it in scientific terms. But, rarely do they refuse to carry it...They won't give up being Jewish even when they consciously try to, when they change their names, intermarry, and do everything to deny Jewishness. Yet they remain aware of it, and though repudiating it, they cling to it; they may repress it, but do act it out symptomatically. Their awareness of their Judaism is shared by others simply because their denial is so ambivalent. Unconscious or not, at least some part of every Jew does not want to give up its Jewishness(5).
The answer to Van den Haag's question lies in understanding the personality of Abraham.
PATTERNS FOR THE FUTURE
If the Bible is our paradigm for Jewish history and if Abraham is the model for generations of Jews then we must pay special attention to the earliest descriptions of Abraham in Genesis. By examining just the first few sentences in Genesis 12 we can identify several sweeping and unique patterns that will characterize all future Jewish history.
God said to Abram, "Go from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father's house to the land that I will show you. (Genesis 12:1)
We know that the Bible isn't like the writings of Charles Dickens. Dickens got paid by the word, and he would be as verbose as possible. God is the exact opposite. Instead of filling the text of the Bible with pages of details and minutia, the narrative is limited to the bare minimum of relevant information that we need to know. So the question we have to ask is: Why does God, Who uses words so sparingly throughout the whole Bible, repeat this command so emphatically? "Separate yourself completely, not just from your land, but from your birthplace, from your father's house."
If you grew up in a specific house for a period of time, that place will always be home for you. When you think of home, no matter where you've lived after that and how comfortable you've been, you'll always think about it as home. There's a very deep connection. So God is saying to Abraham: "Separate yourself on the most basic emotional level."
More importantly, from the macrocosmic, historical perspective, God is saying to Abraham, and therefore the Jewish people: "Separate yourself completely and go in a different direction."
The journey that God is directing Abraham to undertake is not just a physical journey; it's a journey through history that is going to be different from anyone else's. Abraham is going to become a father to a unique nation with a unique destiny. "...a nation that dwells alone and is not reckoned among the rest of the nations." (Numbers 23:9) As already mentioned, we see this concept of the Jews as a unique nation manifest itself in the double standard constantly applied to modern Israel.
This is the first unique characteristic of Jewish history.
In this first sentence we see that God not only commands Abraham to leave his homeland, but to go to a specific piece of real estate which will later be know as the Land of Israel. This is the first promise of the land to Abraham and his descendants. From this point on we will see that there is a special relationship between the Land of Israel and the Jews. This special relationship is the second unique aspect of Jewish history. We will discuss this relationship in more detail in the next chapter.
The third unique aspect of Jewish history we see in the next verse:
"I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you and make your name great; and you will be a blessing." (Genesis 12:2)
This verse conveys God's promise that He will be actively involved in Jewish history: "I will make you ..."
In the 17th century when Blaise Pascal, the great French enlightenment philosopher, was asked by Louis XIV for proof of the supernatural, he answered, "The Jewish people, your Majesty." Why? Because he knew Jewish history and he realized that for the Jewish people to survive to the 17th century, violated all the laws of history. Can you imagine what he'd say seeing the Jews made it to the 20th century?! Jewish history is a supernatural phenomenon.
The Jewish people should never have come into existence. With Abraham's wife Sarah being barren, that should have been it. Abraham would have died childless, and his mission would have died with him. But it didn't. A miracle happened.
Many scholars and well-known personalities have taken note that Jewish history is in fact unique, that it violates all the laws of history. Writes Professor Nicholai Berdyaev (Russian philosopher 1874-1948):
Their [the Jews] destiny is too imbued with the "metaphysical" to be explained either by material or positive historical terms... Its survival is a mysterious and wonderful phenomenon demonstrating that the life of this people is governed by special predetermination... The survival of the Jews, their resistance to destruction, their endurance under absolutely peculiar conditions and the fateful role played by them in history; all these point to the particular and mysterious foundations of their destiny...(6)
Thus we learn that the Jewish people come into being miraculously and survive all of human history miraculously, outlasting even the greatest empires.
Things happen to the Jews that don't happen to other peoples. This is so because the Jews are a nation with a unique mission, a nation with a unique history-A nation whose role is so essential that they cannot be allowed to disappear.
To live for 2000 years as a nation without a national homeland is not normal. It's unique in human history. To re-establish a homeland in the place that was yours 2000 years ago is not normal. It's unprecedented in human history.
The fourth unique aspect of Jewish history is found in the second half of the same sentence: "...and you will be a blessing." The tiny Jewish nation that should never have come into existence and should certainly never have survived will profoundly impact all of humanity. This point refers back to what was already mentioned: the unique mission of Abraham and his descendants as "a light to the nations."(7) More than 3,700 years after the birth of Abraham, there is no doubt that the world has been profoundly blessed by the Jews. In the words of John Adams, second president of the United States:
I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation...They are the most glorious nation to ever inhabit this earth...They have given religion to three quarters of the Globe and have influenced the affairs of Mankind, more and more happily than any other nation, ancient or modern.(8)
You can see the incredibly positive impact the Jews have had on the world. The most basic of all is that the Jews have contributed the values that are now linked with democracy -- the values that come from the Torah -- respect for life, justice, equality, peace, love, education, social responsibility etc.
And number five:
"I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you, and through you, will be blessed all the families of the earth." (Genesis 12:3)
God is saying here to Abraham that he and his descendants -- the Jews -- will be under God's protection. The empires, nations and peoples that are good to the Jews will do well. Empires, nations and peoples that are bad to the Jews will do poorly. And the whole world is going to be changed by the Jewish people.
That is one of the great patterns of history. You can literally chart the rise and fall of virtually all the civilizations in the western world and the Middle East Spain, Germany, Poland, America or Turkey etc, by how they treated the Jews. (Ironically, most nations have treated the Jews both benevolently and malevolently. It is an oft repeated pattern that the Jews are first invited into a country and then later persecuted and expelled from the same country) We will see this pattern time and time again as we go through the history of the Jews in Diaspora.
Part of this phenomenon, by the way, is not so supernatural, because if you have a group of people living within your country -- an educated, driven, dedicated, loyal, creative, well-connected people -- and you're nice to them and you allow them to participate and contribute in a meaningful way, your country is going to benefit. If you crush those people and expel them, you're going to suffer, because of the economic fallout. But, of course, there's much more going on than just that. In the words of Thomas Newton (1704-1782), the Bishop of Bristol:
The preservation of the Jews is really one of the most signal and illustrious acts of Divine Providence...and what but a supernatural power could have preserved them in such a manner as none other nation upon earth hath been preserved. Nor is the providence of God less remarkable in the destruction of their enemies, than in their preservation... We see that the great empires, which in their turn subdued and oppressed the people of God, are all come to ruin...And if such hath been the fatal end of the enemies and oppressors of the Jews, let it serve as a warning to all those, who at any time or upon any occasion are for raising a clamor and persecution against them(9).
So we have a final pattern -- the rise and fall of nations and empires is going to be based on how they treat the Jews, which is an amazing idea, and one you can clearly demonstrate in human history.
So from these three verses in Genesis we see the key underlying patterns of all of Jewish history.
Abraham's journey is the paradigm. His personal life and the life of his immediate descendants are going to be a mini-version, a microcosm, of what Jewish history is all about.
- Mark Twain, The Complete Essays of Mark Twain (New York: Double Day: 1963) 249.
- The Talmud (Tractate Shabbat 97a) discusses this concept and uses the phrase Hen maminim b'nei maminim, "They (the Jews) are believers, the sons of believers" The first believer is of course Abraham. He passes on to his children a kind of spiritual genetics-a drive and intensity that has always characterized the he Jewish people.
- See Talmud: Sota: 10b for an explanation of how Abraham used hospitality as a tool to bring people back to God.
- "Disproportionate" is really an understatement. Take virtually ANY cause in modern history (communism, socialism, Black civil rights, anti-apartheid, labor unions, anti-globalization, SDS, feminism etc, etc) and if it isn't founded by Jews (who make up just one quarter of one percent of the world's population) it is overwhelmingly, disproportionately run by Jews. The explanation of this phenomenon is that nothing comes as close to Abraham's original mission to perfect the world as a cause. This explains why so many Jews today, the vast majority of who are disconnected from their Jewish heritage, none-the-less still have that high-powered Jewish soul pushing them to make an impact.
- Van Den Haag, Ernest, The Jewish Mystique. ( New York: Stein and Day, 1969): 13, 38-44.
- Prof. Nicholai Berdyaev The Meaning of History. (London. 1935) 86-7.
- For a more detailed explanation of this impact see my book WorldPerfect-The Jewish Impact on Civilization. (Health Communications Inc., Deerfield, Florida, 2003)
- John Adams, From a letter to F.A. Van der Kemp, 1806.
- Allan Gould, ed. What Did They Think of the Jews? (Northvale, New Jersey :Jason Aronson Inc..1997), 92-93..
History Crash Course #5: The Promised Land
God gave Abraham the Land of Israel as a laboratory to create a model nation for the world.
The early history of the Jewish people begins in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 12, when God first speaks to Abraham, and continues through to the end with the death of Jacob and Joseph. This segment can best be described as the development of the "family" of Israel, which in the Book of Exodus will become a "nation."
We have already learned that Abraham was born in Ur Kasdim in Mesopotamia (today's Iraq) then moved with his father to Haran (today's northern Syria/southern Turkey) and that is where God instructed him to go to Canaan, the Promised Land, which will become the Land of Israel.
God said to Abram: "Go from your land ... to the land that I will show you." (Genesis 12:1)
This is a key statement and the promise is repeated several times in Genesis. For example:
On that day, God made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river the Euphrates. The land of the Kenites, Kenizites, Kadmonites; the Chitties, Perizites, Refaim; the Emorites, Canaanites, Gigashites and Yevusites." (Genesis 15:18-21)"And I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your temporary residence, all the land of Canaan as an eternal possession and I will be a God to them." (Genesis 17:8)
We say that Judaism encompasses three core ideas: God, Torah and the Land of Israel. The Land of Israel is not a pay off. God did not say to Abraham: Support me and if monotheism spreads throughout the world, I will give you a good piece of real estate for your own. God gave Abraham and his family the Land of Israel as a unique homeland where his descendants are supposed to create the nation that's the model for the world.
A SPIRITUALLY SENSITIVE PLACE
The Land of Israel is a special place; it's the only place on the planet earth where the Jewish people can achieve their mission. A model nation cannot come to be anywhere else. So, it is very important to understand the Jewish relationship with the land.
And because it's a special place, a spiritually sensitive place, a place of tremendous potential, it's also a place where one has to behave in a special manner.
For the Land which you come, to possess it-it is not like the Land of Egypt that you left...the eyes of the Lord , your God, are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the year's end. (Deut. 11:10-12)
The Jews were only given the land because of their mission. If they abandon the mission, they lose the land. This is another very important lesson in Jewish history which is repeated, and it is also one of the most often repeated prophecies. The Jewish people will only live and prosper in their homeland if they maintain their relationship with God and carry on the mission of Abraham:
It will be that if you hearken to My commandments that I command you today...then I shall provide rain for your land in its proper time...that you may gather your grain, your wine and your oil...and you will eat and be satisfied. Beware for yourselves, lest your heart be seduced and you go astray...the ground will not yield its produce and you will be swiftly banished from the goodly land that God gives you. (Deut. 11: 13-17)
Throughout the early part of the Bible, God is constantly talking about giving the Jewish people the Land of Israel and reaffirming that commitment.
Indeed, the great 11th century Biblical commentator Rashi asks a question of the very first sentence in the Bible (SEE: Gen.1:1): Why does God begin the Bible with the creation of the universe?
If the Bible is a book of theology for the Jews, why not begin with the creation of the Jewish nation and go immediately to the story of Exodus. That's when the Jews become a nation, get the Torah, and go into the land.
And Rashi answers, stating that in the future, the nations of the world will say "you are thieves" to the Jewish people. You have stolen the land from the Canaanite nations. So God begins the Bible here at the creation of the universe to tell the world: "I am the Creator of the Universe. Everything is mine. I choose to give the Land of Israel to the Jewish people."(1)
CLAIMS OF CONQUEST
Virtually every nation in the world bases its claim to its land on conquest. A people came (for example, the English or the Spanish) conquered the indigenous people (for example, the Native Americans) took the land, settled it, and called it by a new name (for example, United States of America). "Might makes right" is the historical claim of almost all nations in history. "To the victor belongs the spoils" or in this case the land.
However, the Jewish people base their claim on God's promise. It is a moral claim because God is God and God is by definition truth, and God is by definition morality. God gave the Jewish people the Land of Israel. Without that, the only claim the modern State of Israel can make is it is stronger and was able to win all its wars with the Arabs.
This is an extremely important point that is often lost on modern Israeli politicians and those who seek to defend the State of Israel -- which is not a religious state and often far removed from Jewish values -- to realize that the Bible gives the Jews their only moral claim to the land.
Indeed, the early founding fathers of the modern state of Israel, even if they were not religious, were deeply steeped in the realization of Biblical heritage of the Jewish people and their connection to the land. Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, had an appreciation of the necessity of anchoring a modern, even secular Israeli state in the Bible and Jewish tradition. (We'll get more on Zionism later in the series.)
ISHMAEL
After Abraham arrives in the Promised Land, he is faced with a dilemma. His wife Sarah is barren, and she wants Abraham to have an offspring. So she suggests that Abraham take a surrogate wife, Hagar, who joined Abraham's camp when he passed through Egypt. Hagar is the daughter of the Pharaoh and she had elected to travel with Abraham as Sarah's maidservant. Great people have great servants. And so Abraham takes Hagar as his second wife and from that relationship is going to come a child by the name of Ishmael.
Ishmael does not carry on Abraham's mission. He will go off and found his own lineage; this is all recorded in the Bible, in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 16.
When we look back on history, we see that two great monotheistic faiths will branch off from Judaism during the last 2,000 years: Christianity and Islam.
Islam is a religion that originated with the Arab peoples more than 1,300 years ago. The Arabs, according to their own tradition and according to the Jewish tradition, are the descendants of Ishmael. One of the great attributes of Arab culture is hospitality. And the Bible tells us that Abraham was famous for hospitality.
It seems therefore that even though Ishmael does not carry on Abraham's mission he can't help but be great. Even though his descendents do not become the Jewish people, he carries within himself some of the greatness of his father Abraham. He's blessed. By the way, the Bible says specifically that Ishmael is going to be great and that he's going to be at odds with the rest of the civilized world.
"You shall call his name Ishmael ... And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him... (Genesis 16:11-12)
SUPERNATURAL BEGINNING
When it is clear that Ishmael will not carry on the mission, God tells Abraham, who is then 99, that Sarah, who is 90, is going to become pregnant. And this is how Isaac is born, supernaturally.
As we noted earlier, this is one of the unique aspects of Jewish history-from its very beginnings it's supernatural. By all the laws of nature Abraham and Sarah should have died childless and the Jews nation never should have come into existence. The Jews certainly shouldn't have survived, yet they did and still are here.
Before Sarah conceives God tells Abraham:
"Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an eternal covenant to his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael ... I have bless him and I will make him fruitful and will increase him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve princes and I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish My covenant with Isaac who Sarah will bear to you at this time next year."(Genesis 17:19-21)
So Isaac is the person who will carry on the mission of Abraham, the mission of the Jews. A rivalry will exist between Sarah and Hagar and their children, Isaac and Ishmael. Because of this rivalry Hagar and Ishmael will be sent away. (Jewish tradition notes that after Sarah's death, Abraham takes Hagar back as wife and he fathers more children through her.(2) ) This rivalry will carry on for generations is viewed as the metaphysical root of the modern rivalry between the descendants of Isaac (the Jews) and Ishmael (the Arabs)(3)
1) See Midrash: Breishis Rabbah 1:2; Rashi, Breishis 1:1
2) See Rashi on Genesis 25:1- Ketura is Hagar...
3)Muslim tradition, as portrayed in the Koran, re-inserts Ishmael back into the lineage of Abraham where he is usually mentioned before Isaac. (see Koran Sura II, verses 110-140.). It's also interesting to note that Moslems celebrate a holiday called Id al Adchah-The Feast of the Sacrifice, which commemorates Abraham's attempt to sacrifice Ishmael. (Note the Muslims altered the binding of Isaac story, Gen 22, and replace Isaac with Ishmael.)
2) See Rashi on Genesis 25:1- Ketura is Hagar...
3)Muslim tradition, as portrayed in the Koran, re-inserts Ishmael back into the lineage of Abraham where he is usually mentioned before Isaac. (see Koran Sura II, verses 110-140.). It's also interesting to note that Moslems celebrate a holiday called Id al Adchah-The Feast of the Sacrifice, which commemorates Abraham's attempt to sacrifice Ishmael. (Note the Muslims altered the binding of Isaac story, Gen 22, and replace Isaac with Ishmael.)
History Crash Course #6: Isaac and His Sons
History repeats: The groove that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob carve will be for their descendants.
We will not take the time here to go through stories of Isaac's life. What we want to focus on is the patterns that are set for the rest of Jewish history, because as we noted earlier, "the actions of the fathers are assigned to the children."
RE-RUNS
One of the great patterns we see with Isaac is a re-run of a situation that Abraham also confronted. The Book of Genesis (chapters 20 and 21) relates that Abraham went to the land of the Philistines and he lived among them for a while. But he had some problems -- for example, they tried to take his wife, Sarah.
A few years later, (Genesis, chapter 26) Isaac faces the same situation. He's living amongst the Philistines somewhere on the coastal area of Israel, they try to take his wife, Rebecca. Also his servants start to have problems with the servants of Abimelech, the King of the Philistines.
And what happens eventually? The Philistines become jealous of Isaac's success and throw him out, even though he's done nothing to deserve it as far as the Bible tells us. In addition, they plug up all the wells that Isaac has dug(1) -- an illogical act given the value of water in the arid climate of the Middle East and the difficulty of digging wells. (This demonstrates an oft-repeated pattern of the anti-Semite who hurts himself in an effort to obliterate Jewish presence. There are numerous examples of European cities expelling the Jewish and then, realizing the loss, inviting them back again! The city of Speyer, in Germany, did so at least three times in the 15th century!)
But then something interesting happens -- Abimelech comes after Isaac and he says, "I see that we prospered because of you." Because once Isaac leaves, things go downhill for the Philistines. Their economy declines. Nothing's going well, and the Philistines come to realize it's because of the Jews. So the king offers a treaty and asks Isaac to return.
This is the great pattern of Jewish interaction with non-Jews in history. The Jews are often invited in. The country does incredibly well because of their contribution (see God's blessing to Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3). Then for no reason -- I'm aware of virtually no example in history of Jews ever doing anything that caused them to be hated the way we've been hated -- the country decides to throw the Jews out, undermining its own economy in the process. So the Jews are thrown out, the country suffers. This is what's going to happen over and over again. It's so irrational yet such an oft repeated pattern. It's probably the greatest love/hate relationship in history where the non-Jewish world vacillates between "can't live with 'em and can't live without 'em."
THE TWINS
Isaac is married to Rebecca. Rebecca is pregnant with twins, and the twins are fighting in the womb already -- it's a difficult pregnancy for Rebecca. When they're born there is a rivalry between them. And what are the twins' names? Jacob and Esau.
Although they are twins, Jacob and Esau have totally different personalities and they are also physically very different. The Bible describes Esau as hairy and Jacob as smooth-skinned. Esau is a hunter, a man of action. Jacob is a scholar; he's more a man of thought than of action.
It's also clear from the narrative that Isaac is favoring Esau who is the first-born of the twins. He's a couple of minutes older but that's significant when it comes to who will be the one to inherit the family mantle. Isaac probably realizes that Esau is a man of action-a do-er and to change the world requires such a personality. Jacob, on the other hand, is described as being pure and spiritual. Much less a man of action and much more an intellectual.
Rebecca is clearly favoring Jacob. The Bible says that women havebinah yeserah, an added intuitive intelligence. She no doubt loves Esau, but also sees that there is something off in his personality. Esau may have "the gift of the gab" (he's a great talker) and may be able to fool his father, but his mother sees through his smooth talking. (2)
If we jump ahead in the narrative we come to the story of when Isaac is old and blind, he decides to give each of his sons a blessing, and, of course, he wants to give an extra-special blessing to the first-born, Esau.
When a great spiritually connected person like an Isaac gives someone a blessing, that blessing has tremendous power of potentiality that can have a huge impact not only on the recipient of the blessing but also on history itself.
Although Esau doesn't really want the position of the first-born with all the responsibility to carry on his father's mission, he does want the blessing of wealth and power which goes along with it. But Rebecca realizes that the blessing has to go to Jacob as he is the one who is willing and able to change the world in the manner of Abraham.
So while Esau is off hunting to catch something for his father's dinner so he'll bless him, what does Rebecca do? She covers Jacob's arms with a goat skin so they will feel hairy like Esau's. And Isaac, who is blind, is fooled.
THE SYMBOLS
It's a mistake to read the Bible stories only on a simplistic, first-grade Sunday school level. This is not simply the story of some old, blind man who's confused by his wife and son. There are very profound things going on here.
When Isaac encounters Jacob pretending to be Esau, he remarks:
"The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."(Genesis 27:22)
What does "the voice" symbolize? Speech is uniquely human. Animals may communicate, but they cannot speak or communicate abstract ideas. Speech is therefore representative of spirituality and intellect. Later in our story, Jacob will have his name changed to Israel (Genesis 32:29) and his children will create e the Jewish nation. The voice is therefore symbolic of the real power of the Jewish people-their spirituality and intellect.
Golda Meir once said that she was angry at God for making the Jews wander in the desert for 40 years and then bringing them to only place in the Middle East with no oil. That is precisely the point-the Land of Israel is weak in natural resources. The people of Israel are its greatest natural resource. Their intellect, drive and spirituality have given them an edge that not only enabled them to outlast the greatest empires in history, but to impact the world far out of proportion to the smallness of their number. Jacob's voice represents the spiritual power of the Jewish people.
The hand symbolizes the power of action, of might and of sword. (It's interesting to note that the human hand is also unique. Other primates do not have the same kind of thumb and therefore lack human dexterity.)
Esau, who embodies the power of might and sword, will, through his descendants, give rise to the Roman Empire or "Edom" as the Bible calls it. The power of Rome clearly lays in its ability to conquer, dominate, and build an Empire. Even after the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, the spirit and power of Rome will perpetuate itself through the rise of the West and the Empires of Europe. And, of course, it is the Romans (as in Roman Catholic Church) that converted the world to Christianity, the other great monotheistic faith.
So, in Esau, we see yet another example of an offshoot of the children of Abraham, who, like Ishmael, does not carry on the mission, yet becomes a great power, both physically and spiritually.
As intense as the rivalry is between Isaac and Ishmael (the Jews and the Arabs) they are only half brothers. Jacob and Esau are twins with the same genetic material. This rivalry (Israel and Rome/The West) is understood to be the ultimate rivalry in history. This is nothing less than a cosmic struggle. These two -- Jacob and Esau -- started fighting in utero, and they're going to be fighting throughout history. The battle continues until today and does not end until the final showdown during the messianic era. It's not an even battle ever. Esau will always be stronger in the physical sense, but the Jewish people have inner strengths, resources and a destiny that will ultimately lead to their triumph and humanity's return to God.
AMALEK
The descendants of Abraham can't help but be great; even if they don't become Jews they become people who have a huge impact on the world. Indeed, the greatest enemies of the Jews come from within the family.
Who is the ultimate enemy of the Jewish people in history? The nation of Amalek. This is the people that epitomize evil and rebellion against God. There is a commandment in the Bible to wipe them off the face of the earth. With Amalek there is no compromise. It's a fight to the finish. This is a nation whose pathological hatred for Jews is so great that they will show no mercy. Given the have a chance they will wipe the Jews off the face of the earth.
Amalek is Esau's grandson through his son Eliphaz. (See Genesis 36:1-15) From this individual named Amalek will ultimately emerge the Amalekite nation-the arch-nemesis of the Jewish people. (We will talk about Amalek many more times in this book as his descendants emerge throughout history to do battle with the Jews)
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who wrote the chief work of the Kabbalah, the Zohar, some 2,000 years, said that "It's a know law that Esau hates Jacob(3)." These are the spiritual laws of reality, so to speak, that describe the interaction between the Jews and descendants of Esau. This deep-seated hatred is deeply embedded in the collective conscience of the descendants of Esau and especially concentrated in the descendants of Amalek. As we will see later, the nation of Amalek is no longer identifiable, but his spirit lives on. To understand the relationship and rivalry between Jacob and Esau is understand the deeply-rooted anti-Semitism of those nations that emerged from Rome. No matter what happens, the descendants of Esau are going to hate the Jews.(4)
So we have a confrontation between Esau and Jacob. Jacob steals the blessing and then Esau shows up and finds out what happened. And patriarch Isaac realizes that he's been tricked. He's not angry, however, because he sees now that Jacob is capable of action and can carry on the mission.
Now Rebecca, overhearing that Esau's plans to kill his brother, sends Jacob away. She tells him to quickly go to her brother, who lives in Haran. (today located in Turkey)
MR. WHITE
In Haran lives Laban -- Lavan, in Hebrew, meaning "white" -- Rebecca's ne'er-do-well brother. Never trust anyone named Mr White as he turns out to be anything but -- Mr. White is one of the biggest crooks in the Bible. The first member of his family that he encounters is his cousin and from his first encounter with her he realizes that she is his soul mate. Next He wants to marry Rachel but he has arrived penniless on his uncle's doorstep. Jacob offers to work seven years for her hand. At the end of the seven years, Laban substitutes Rachel's older sister Leah and demands Jacob work another seven years to get Rachel. In the end, Jacob winds up with four wives -- Leah, Rachel, and their handmaidens Zilpah and Bilhah. From these women will come 13 children, 12 sons and 1 daughter.
Unlike previous generations where a child went off in a different direction and did not follow in the foot steps of Abraham, all of Jacob's sons are going to be totally dedicated to the mission. They are the core group -- an extended family that is going to make the nation that is going to change the world.
Despite Laban's attempts to keep him dependent and working for peanuts, Jacob manages to accumulate a big fortune. It is fascinating to watch Jacob's metamorphosis. He starts out totally straight and pure (Sort of like the worst kind of guy for a poker game). He is forced to interact with the most deceptive characters in the Bible. In the end, he successfully develops the skills necessary to overcome the challenges presented by both his brother and his uncle/father-in-law. This is yet another great pattern in Jewish history. During the long Diaspora the Jew constantly found himself at a disadvantage, economically and politically marginalized, with his hands tied behind his back. In order to survive, the Jew has had to learn to be very resourceful and creative. History has proven that despite having the odds constantly stacked against him, when given the slightest opportunity the Jews has done remarkably well, even in a very hostile environment.
Next God tells Jacob that he must return to the Land of Israel because he has a mission. Just as Abraham knew that Israel was the only place where Jewish potential could be actualized, so too Jacob realizes that this is the only place to be. Despite his lingering fear of Esau's revenge (even though 20 years has passed) he gathers up all his family and his belongings and heads home.
REUNION
And this brings us to another scene which becomes a powerful pattern in Jewish history. The re-uniting of Jacob and Esau.
As he makes his way home, Jacob hears that Esau is coming out to meet him with an army of 400 men. In response, always using his brains, he pursues a multi-pronged strategy to protect himself against any eventuality: First, he prepares for war by dividing his family into two parts in case one is attacked the other half will survive. Next he pursues the diplomatic track by sending elaborate gifts to his Esau. Finally, he prays realizing that ultimately the outcome of the coming encounter is in God's hands.
We know that the Rabbis believed strongly in the concept of the actions of the fathers are a sign to the children. Two thousand years ago when they would have to interact with Roman officials they would first study the story of Jacob's meeting with Esau. They knew that Jacob's strategy toward Esau was the key to successful Jewish interaction with Rome.
They meet. Esau doesn't try and kill Jacob although it's very clear that he still hates him.(5) Esau invites Jacob to travel together with him, which is no doubt an offer to ultimately live together. (It's interesting to speculate on what would have been had the spiritual/intellectual power of Jacob united with the physical power of Esau). Jacob is not interested in the offer, no doubt aware that Esau still harbors deep enmity toward him.
He tells Esau, "You go ahead of me. I'll catch up later." Now we know from the narrative Jacob never goes to Har Sa'ir to live with Esau. What is the deeper meaning behind the statement?
The great biblical commentator Rashi (6) asks " and when will Jacob go to Esau. Rashi quotes the Prophet Ovadiah who says: "A redeemer will go forth from Zion to judge the mountain of Esau." This is a clear allusion to the Messianic Era when even Esau's descendants will return to God and recognize the Jewish people's unique role in history. In effect, Jacob, representing the great intellectual, spiritual force in human history, is saying to Esau, the great physical force: "I give you permission to go on ahead and dominate human history physically. But at the end of days, when the 'lion lies down with the lamb,' then we'll get together. Then the Jews will be "on top." (7)
This "end of days" refers to the Messianic era when the whole world will follow the Jewish lead and come to recognize one God and live with one standard of morality in peace and brotherhood. The Jewish mission will be fulfilled then, but in the meantime, Esau is going to be on top.
The ultimate struggle in history will be between Jewish ideas and the ideas of Esau and the culture that Esau is going to create. Jewish sources depict this as a cosmic battle and a major theme in Jewish history. The Talmud uses the analogy of Caesaria (Roman administrative capital of Israel, built on the coast of Israel over 2,000 years ago by Herod the Great.) and Jerusalem to illustrate this rivalry:
Caesarea and Jerusalem: If someone will tell you, "Both are destroyed," do not believe it. If someone will tell you, "Both are settled," do not believe it. But if they tell you, "Caesarea is destroyed and Jerusalem is settled," or "Jerusalem is destroyed and Caesarea is settled" -- you may believe it. (Talmud, Megillah 6a)
1) The Biblical commentators allude to the deeper meaning behind the well story. Wells and water are a symbol for Torah and spirituality. Stuffing them up is symbolic of the historic Gentile rejection of the spiritual/moral mission of the Jews.
2) For a deeper understanding of this story as-well-as Isaac's perception of his two sons, see: Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch's commentary on Genesis chap.27.
3) See: Rashi on Genesis 33:4
4) This of course helps us understand why the enlightened Europe of the mid 20th century could explode into such deep and violent antisemtism during the Holocaust. This doesn't mean that everyone who comes from a Western country is an antisemite. Clearly this is not the case. Most people today are a mish mash of many ancient races.
5) See: Rashi on Genesis 33:4
6) See Rashi, Genesis 33:14
7)See: Talmud, Avoda Zara 8b
2) For a deeper understanding of this story as-well-as Isaac's perception of his two sons, see: Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch's commentary on Genesis chap.27.
3) See: Rashi on Genesis 33:4
4) This of course helps us understand why the enlightened Europe of the mid 20th century could explode into such deep and violent antisemtism during the Holocaust. This doesn't mean that everyone who comes from a Western country is an antisemite. Clearly this is not the case. Most people today are a mish mash of many ancient races.
5) See: Rashi on Genesis 33:4
6) See Rashi, Genesis 33:14
7)See: Talmud, Avoda Zara 8b
History Crash Course #7: Joseph
Joseph demonstrates a classic pattern: The Jew arrives impoverished, works hard, and rises to the top.
Had Jacob married Rachel as he had intended ― instead of being tricked into marrying Leah ― Joseph would have likely been his first-born son. Although he was Jacob's 11th son, he dominates the narrative of the 12 brothers, and, in his story, we see a great many historical patterns.
To begin with, Joseph has a key position in the family as a result of his being the long-awaited first child of Jacob's favorite wife. His father seems to be showing him a considerable amount of favoritism ― he buys him a special coat ― and this engenders jealousy from his brothers.
However, it would be a mistake to view their behavior simplistically, as typical of a dysfunctional family. While these great people make mistakes, spiritually they are on an incredibly high level. So we have to look deeply at what is really going on here.
Joseph is having dreams and he interprets those dreams. As we learn, he has a special gift for dream interpretation, and his dreams and interpretations are accurate and prophetic. He tells his brothers, for example, that one day they will bow to him (which does indeed happen many years later).
But to his brothers his dreams appear to verge on megalomania. And since they know that they are the family that will build a nation that's supposed to change the world, they probably think he is endangering the whole future of humanity. They know the family history ― that in each generation there was one "bad apple" ― first Ishmael, then Esau. It is possible that they concluded that Joseph must be the bad one in this generation.
They contemplate killing him, but instead they sell him into slavery. They take his fancy coat, smear it with goat's blood and present it to Jacob as if Joseph had been killed by a wild animal.
Meanwhile, Joseph is taken by a caravan of Ishmaelites to Egypt, where he becomes a slave in the household of a nobleman named Potiphar.
Ancient Egypt
At this juncture, we have to consider what Egypt was like at this time in history when it was the second of the two great civilizations in existence. (The first was the Mesopotamian civilization which we described earlier.)
Geographically, Egypt is mostly desert except for the Nile River. The Nile is the greatest river in the world, and if it didn't flow through Egypt the country would be just sand. In ancient times only 3% of Egypt was inhabitable, arable land.
A huge desert is a great natural defensive barrier making Egypt totally isolated and virtually impossible to invade. (The Hyksos invaded it once, then the Assyrians, and finally Alexander the Great. But that's only three times in 3,000 years.) Egypt was the longest-surviving civilization in human history which changed very little in three millennia. You think about how little Egypt changed in 3,000 years and how much the modern world has changed in even a few hundred years. It's mind-boggling how stable that society was and to a large extent it's due to its geography.
Although we don't have exact dates for the beginning of the Egyptian civilization, it is believed to have started in the Early Bronze period, over 3000 years ago. It was a very sophisticated culture, considering the feats of engineering that the pyramids represent. The Great Pyramid of Khufu, known as "Cheops," is the largest ever built, 13 acres in area, almost 500 feet high, composed of over 2 million blocks of stone weighing more than 5 million tons; and it was built by people who did not have any iron tools. (It was also the tallest man-made structure in the world for 43 centuries!) Even with all of our modern technology, we would have a hard time duplicating such a feat today. They obviously had tremendously sophisticated stone cutting techniques and engineering knowledge, enabling them to move large blocks of stone. They had pulleys, levers, and a lot of muscle power.
It's estimated that Cheops took 100,000 men and thirty years to build. Why spend so much effort on building a tomb? Because the Egyptians were also spiritually sophisticated. It was a dark spirituality but not to be lightly dismissed. They were preoccupied with death, which is why they perfected mummification, and their holy book was called the Book of the Dead. How's that for a lively read?
They believed that Pharaoh was a living god, he had absolute power, and that Pharaoh's position in the afterlife would affect the prosperity of Egypt. The future of Egypt was dependent on Pharaoh's proper entry into the afterlife. So you had to make a really good tomb for him, and you had to give him the right gifts, and you had to make sure that he got into the afterlife correctly, otherwise things would go badly for everybody. This explains why it was a national project of the entire Egyptian people to create such extra-ordinary tombs for the Pharaohs.
This very sophisticated culture was antithetical to Judaism as is humanly possible, because it practiced idolatry. They worshipped an estimated 2,000 different gods in ancient Egypt. Gods with hippo heads, falcon heads, and crocodile heads. This was a civilization that was idolatrous to the extreme ― very religious and spiritual in its own sense and yet very idolatrous at the same time. They were not primitive or superstitious or stupid; they understood spiritual power and were a very sophisticated people who truly believed in the power of idolatry(1).
This is a crucial point to understand about ancient civilizations. In our modern arrogance we often tend to look at the ancients as less sophisticated or even primitive. We have science and modern technology. What did they have thousands of years ago? Nothing could be further from the truth. Ancient civilization's knowledge of engineering, math, astronomy, medicine etc was often very impressive. Spiritually, the contrast is even more extreme. Jewish tradition and archaeology both show that the ancients were much more spiritually connected than we are to today. Thousands of years ago there was real spiritual power, both idolatrous and pure, that could be tapped into. We today have largely lost this connection. This explains why ancient civilizations put so much effort into religion and religious construction and why the idolatry portrayed in the Bible had such a powerful allure.
Jewish tradition teaches that ancient Egypt, besides being a place of idolatry, was also a place of immorality ― a very licentious place.(2)
So to throw young Joseph into this environment is bad news. Very bad news.
A Slave Rises to the Top
Separated from the monotheistic influence of his family at an early age (He is seventeen when sold as a slave), Joseph has a major disadvantage for a licentious society ― he is very handsome. And his master's wife, Mrs. Potiphar, finds him very attractive.
Besides that, Joseph has a lot going for him ― he is very smart and hardworking and he rises from his position as lowly teenage servant to head of Potiphar's household. This is the classic historic pattern of the Jew in the Diaspora which will be repeated over and over again for thousands of years ― he arrives impoverished in a foreign land, deals with a bad situation, works hard, and very rapidly rises to the top.
Now Potiphar's wife is not happy that Joseph refuses her advances. Eventually, she picks a time when everyone is out of the house attending a national celebration and she tries to rip his clothes off. He runs away. Outraged, she screams rape. Mr. Potiphar comes home, his wife retells the lie to him and Joseph ends up in prison.
So here Joseph, who was the head servant, is on the bottom again. This is the Jew in the Diaspora. They come into a country, they rise, they fall and have to start at the bottom somewhere else. Joseph is now in prison and he rises very quickly to be the head prisoner. This again is the Jew. Even as a prisoner you can't keep a Jew down..
Into prison is thrown Pharaoh's wine steward and Pharaoh's baker. And they have dreams. Now as we know Joseph is the master dream interpreter, and therefore it's not surprising that Joseph interprets these dreams and he tells the wine steward that the Pharaoh is going to reinstate him into his position, and he tells the baker that he's going to lose his head. And that's exactly what happens.
As the wine steward is being released from prison Josephs asks him to put in a good for him Pharaoh so that maybe he'll be released. What happens? The wine steward forgets all about him and Josephs sits in prison for another two years. Even in this little detail there is a pattern for the future: Historically Jews have not been able to count on the non-Jewish world for help. It is the rare Gentile who has come forward the help the Jew in his time of need.(3)
Pharaoh's Dreams
Then the Pharaoh himself has a couple of disturbing dreams. He dreams of seven fat cows coming out of the Nile and being devoured by seven thin cows. And then he has another dream of seven fat sheaves of wheat being devoured by seven thin sheaves of wheat. And he's very disturbed. And believe me, if living-god-on-earth-Pharaoh can't sleep, no one in Egypt sleeps.
The Pharaoh wakes up all his magicians and his soothsayers and his astrologers and none of them can figure out what the dream was about, and then the wine steward says, "I remember, there was this Jewish kid in prison who interprets dreams."
Now this, by the way, is the ultimate Jewish success story. They take Joseph out of prison; they shower him, shave him and bring him before Pharaoh. When he hears the dream, Joseph tells the Pharaoh: "There's going to be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine."
"What should I do?" asks the Pharaoh. And Joseph says, "You'd better stockpile all the grain in Egypt so that when the famine hits you'll have what to eat." Joseph then outlines an entire plan to prepare for the famine. Pharaoh says, "You thought of it, you do it."
And this is how Joseph becomes Viceroy, for all practical purposes the most powerful man in the whole land in terms of infrastructure of Egypt, the most powerful empire at the time. How's that for promotion ― from prisoner to viceroy. And he marries ― Osnat, the daughter of Potiphar. Here too we see important patterns for the future: Throughout history when the Jewish people rise, this rise can be very dramatic. Within this idea we see another pattern: The situation the Jewish people find themselves in, for better or for worse, can change very rapidly. (4)
Before the famine hits he has two children, Menashe and Ephraim. To this day, observant Jews bless their children every Friday night. Girls receive a blessing that they should be like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah ― the great matriarchs of the Bible. One would assume that boys would receive the blessing that they should be like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the great Patriarchs, but instead they are told they should be like Ephraim and Menashe. Why? First, unlike all the previous brothers in the Bible ― Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob and Esau and even Joseph and his brothers ― they love each other and there is no jealousy. (The jealousy of Joseph's brothers almost caused his death.) As we travel through Jewish history we will see that one of the great Achilles heels of the Jewish people is sinat chinam ― the causeless hatred of one Jew for another. This hatred is one of the driving forces behind the disunity in the Jewish world until today. It is a flaw that haunts the Jewish people throughout history. Its primary source is rooted in the rivalry and jealousy that constantly plagues the Jewish people. Ephraim and Menashe are the model for the unconditional love essential for Jewish unity and the success of the Jewish people.(5)
There is another extremely important lesson we need to learn from these brothers. Throughout history Jews have been rich and poor, free and enslaved, tolerated and persecuted. History has long since proven that it is much easier to remain Jews when things are bad. It's not the poor persecuted Jews that assimilate, but the comfortable accepted ones. More Jews have probably disappeared through assimilation than through persecution. This remains one of the great challenges of Jewish history ― how to remain Jewish when things are good. Ephraim and Menashe have the inner spiritual strength essential for Jewish continuity. These kids grow up as sons of the Viceroy, they could have been totally assimilated, spoiled, Egyptian brats, yet it's very clear that they grow up completely loyal proto-Jews in an incredibly hostile environment.
Now that Joseph is Viceroy the stage is set for his early dreams to come true, when he saw his brothers bowing before him. And this is indeed what happens next.
1) That fact that these ancient, sophisticated nations were so into idolatry is proof that there was really some kind of power in them. (Which explains the massive effort and expense put into building tombs and temples)Yet one of the most fundamental principles of Judaism is that there is no other power besides God ― Idolatry is an illusion. So where did idolatry get its power from? The answer is God, Himself. The essence of being human is to use free will to make choices and the ultimate choice a person makes is to live with the reality of God. To make this choice meaningful there has to be other "real" options. God put real power into idolatry to enable humanity to exercise its free will in this most-meaningful of decisions. Today the power of idolatry is largely absent ― the reason for this will be explained later.
2) See: Rash ―Vayikra 18:3
3) Planted around Israel's national Holocaust (Yad VaShem) memorial in Jerusalem are approximately 6 thousand trees. These trees are known as The Forest of the Righteous Gentiles. The trees were planted in recognition of gentiles who helped Jews during the Holocaust, often at great personal risk. To date Yad VaShem has a compiled a list of approximately 21,000 people listed as "Righteous Among the Nations." As beautiful as this is it is also sad. Hundreds of millions of people lived in Europe during the Holocaust yet only a fraction lifted a finger to offer assistance.
4) See: Sforno on Genesis 41:18. Examples of dramatic and very changes for the worse can be seen in Expulsion edict of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and the Nuremberg Laws in Germany in 1935.
5) It is precisely for this reason that I am a huge advocate for all Jews, religious, secular or anywhere in between, to learn the laws of lashon hara ― correct speech. The pen is mightier than the sword and the damage wrought by slander is incalculable. Correct speech is not just for Jews ― it lies at the foundation of all civil society
2) See: Rash ―Vayikra 18:3
3) Planted around Israel's national Holocaust (Yad VaShem) memorial in Jerusalem are approximately 6 thousand trees. These trees are known as The Forest of the Righteous Gentiles. The trees were planted in recognition of gentiles who helped Jews during the Holocaust, often at great personal risk. To date Yad VaShem has a compiled a list of approximately 21,000 people listed as "Righteous Among the Nations." As beautiful as this is it is also sad. Hundreds of millions of people lived in Europe during the Holocaust yet only a fraction lifted a finger to offer assistance.
4) See: Sforno on Genesis 41:18. Examples of dramatic and very changes for the worse can be seen in Expulsion edict of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and the Nuremberg Laws in Germany in 1935.
5) It is precisely for this reason that I am a huge advocate for all Jews, religious, secular or anywhere in between, to learn the laws of lashon hara ― correct speech. The pen is mightier than the sword and the damage wrought by slander is incalculable. Correct speech is not just for Jews ― it lies at the foundation of all civil society
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