blogs/rabbi-joshua-hoffman

Let's Go Build a Wall!

This year we will celebrate 70 years of statehood and national independence in the Land of Israel. It is a time to rejoice in the thousands of years old dream, “To be a free people, in our Land - Lihyot Am Chofshee B'Artzeinu,” as the words of Hatikvah proclaim. The unfolding drama of the State of Israel is focus of daily study and concern for us as it has been for millennia.

For me, I was raised in a world in which Israel was seen as a place to visit once in one's lifetime. Living there would never be a consideration. The choice to make aliyah seemed theoretical, even romantic, at best. And now, after several visits to Israel and even living there for some time, theory has become practice, Israel is a part of my identity.

The question of living in the Diaspora when the State of Israel exists is thrust into question as we reach this part of the Torah narrative, the final chapters of the book of Bamidbar. In these verses, we'll read this week about actively choosing not to live in the Land. The story of the tribes of Reuben and Gad uncovers a challenging split in the narrative of the Jewish people. These two tribes speak of their loyalty to Moses and the Israelite nation when the conquest of the Land occurs. They seek permission to settle their tribes on the Eastern side of the Jordan river, outside the Land, apart from the other tribes. They are loyal, to be sure, and their loyalty is confirmed when needed. This Torah teaches us that this core value of loyalty, of confidence and assurance in our unity, is not simply determined by location and presence alone.

There is a deeper question than whether or not to forgo the experience of thriving in our dispersion, of drinking thirstily from our abundant land, to be with our people in a land of our own. There is a fundamental question of what defines loyalty. At first, we ask, “Are we a confederation of tribes or are we a people? Do we have shared common roots and common aspirations that bind us together eternally, or does our confederation rely upon mutually beneficial concerns for which a rallying call brings us together in times of need?” The Torah introduces this idea with the tribes who stay behind, and we are eternally grappling with its consequences.

Gone are the places where loyalty is deep, profound, and all-encompassing. Where we feel strong and abiding connections to ideas, to people and to our core identities, the strength in such connections is found in the tension of letting go of one value system to take hold of another. There is no pure value system of loyalty in a global society. I think we learn that the condition of our boundary-less world is not the circumstances of our time; rather we learn that loyalty has always been a bit more subjective than we'd like to admit.

More than the uncertainty upon which relationships with families, tribes, and peoples are built today, a definition of conditional loyalty can easily descend into an abyss of comparative need. Loyalty is detemined by small groups or individual leaders. For us, it is painful to confront the gnawing questions about Israel. “Should we cast our destiny with our family in a Land fraught with conflict among its neighbors?” “‘Is it right to raise our children in a society with customs that challenge and grate at our genteel spirits?” “Can we stomach the intensity of a political system that confounds our educated and refined sensibilities?”  Maybe these questions reveal the more unseemly elements of living with the Jewish people as citizens of a great family.  Certainly we could ask the same questions about living here in the United States. We mustn't forget that the benefits are substantial and compelling too, both there and here.

The recent canceling of the agreement to build an egalitarian section at the Wall is so contentious precisely because loyalty is defined by small groups and not the collective. Our co-religionists are forgetting to study our Torah when they lobby for a retraction of the agreements made between the tribes. We can respond with anger and vehement protest to the caprice of leaders and political parties. Or, we can define what loyalty means between us.  For this, and for the tribes of Reuben and Gad, loyalty transcends one particular place in one particular time.

Loyalty, so defined, is a recognition that our tribal identity is a value as precious as our national identity. We value the belief that there is no one practice of the Jewish religion that is right, or true, or correct. In our diversity, there is a kaleidoscope of meaning and interpretation to enrich our identity, to strengthen our bonds, to profess a loyalty to ideas and ideals that transcend location. Our loyalties lure us toward the pursuit of justice, truth, and peace together.  No matter where we live or how we pray, this is the definition of loyalty our Torah teaches us. Let us therefore build a Wall and a nation where these loyalties are shared and celebrated.