Torah: Higher and Higher
The Lord said to Moshe, “Go, ascend from here… to the Land that I swore to Avraham, to Yitzchak, and to Ya’akov, saying, ‘I shall give it your descendants.’” (Exodus 33:1).
Rashi comments on this verse that “Eretz Yisrael is higher than all other lands. Therefore it says, ascend.” Rashi here is not referring the physical height of the land of Israel, but rather the metaphysical stature of the land. We see both in non-Jewish and Jewish sources the centrality of the Holy Land, illustrated by the map from 1581 placing the land of Israel at the center of the world and Midrashim describing the land as the center of the world as well (see Midrash Tanchuma). All of these sources demonstrate the spiritual pull that the Holy Land has had on the world, and it continues to captivate the world today.
In Zionist writings, this way of thinking continued on in the writings of the students of Nietzsche, who took up his vision of a new society created by those with superior powers and applied it to the Jewish people and the land of Israel. Some thinkers, like Micah Berdichevski, kept the view that a new people of superior might must be created, but others, like Martin Buber, sought the heroism of a morality rooted in service to God. In his essay Hebrew Humanism (1942), Buber writes,
“The Book still lies before us, and the Voice speaks forth from it as on the first day… What it does have to tell us… is that there is truth and there are lies, and that human life cannot persist or have meaning save in the decision in behalf of truth and against lies; that there is right and wrong, and that the salvation of man depends on choosing what is right and rejecting what is wrong; and that it spells the destruction of our existence to divide our life up into areas where the discrimination between truth and lies, right and wrong, hold, and others where it does not hold… The humanitas which speaks from this Book today, as it has always done, is the unity of human life under one divine direction which divides right from wrong and truth from lies as unconditionally as the words of the Creator divided light from darkness.”
Here, Buber lays the claim for the importance of the Torah, a moral Truth, which helps us to distinguish between right and wrong. This, he claims, gives purpose to the Jewish state.
“I am setting up Hebrew humanism in opposition to that Jewish nationalism which regards Israel as a nation like unto other nations and recognizes no task for Israel save that of preserving and asserting itself… If it [the Zionist movement] decides in favor of national egoism, it too will suffer the fate which will soon befall all shallow nationalism, i.e., nationalism which does not set the nation a true supernational task. If it decides in favor of Hebrew humanism, it will be strong and effective long after shallow nationalism has lost all meaning and justification, for it will have something to say and to bring to mankind.”
This debate of nationalism vs humanism can still be found today. Those in the nationalist camp say, “Look at who surrounds us! Do you think so and so Muslim person would have nearly as many rights or nearly as much equality in any of our neighboring states?” While this is enticing, it’s too easy to become complacent. Hebrew humanism, on the other hand, gives the nation a purpose that is authentic to itself. A state that is authentic to its Jewish identity does not ask “How am I compared to others?” It does not concern itself with how others feel about it. It is only concerned with living up to its own Jewish ideals and aspirations. It asks “Am I being the most fair, just society that I can be? Am I responding to a true threat to my security or am I acting out of a fear that is largely unjustified?” Only the latter state will inspire generations of Jews and non-Jews alike. Only the latter will live up to its Jewish potential, and as Buber says, “have something to say and to bring to mankind.”
The verse above commands us to ascend. Not only to physically ascend to the Holy Land, but once there, to continue to strive higher and higher to create our moral society. May the Holy Blessing One bless us with leaders for a vision of how Israel can be, and the strength to continually reach higher and higher.
T’fillah: Al Netilat Yadayim
Hashem spoke to Moses, saying: “You shall make a copper Laver and its base of copper, for washing; place it between the Tent of Meeting and the Altar, and put water there. From it, Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands together with their feet. Whenever they come to the Tent of Meeting they shall wash with water and not die, or when they approach the Altar to serve, to raise up in smoke a fire-offering to Hashem. They shall wash their hands and feet and not die. (Exodus 30:17-21)
One of the first mitzvot we’re commanded to perform in the morning is netilat yadayim, the ritual washing of the hands. Commentators have a number of different explanations for why we do this ritual, but one reason has to do with the work of the kohanim, as seen in the pasuk above. The Rashba (1235-1310) comments (Responsa 1:191):
“Since in the morning we are like a new creation [biryah chadashah]… we must thank God Who created us for His glory, and to serve and bless His name. It is upon this that they instituted the berakhot we recite every morning. Therefore we must sanctify ourselves and wash our hands from a vessel, like the kohen in the Beit HaMikdash who washed from the basin before his service.”
According to the Rashba, we act like the kohanim, sanctifying ourselves to the Divine at the beginning of the day. This higher level of awareness of our words and actions is part of our spiritual practice. By sanctifying ourselves, we remember that we are part of something much larger, that we live to accomplish a larger goal. What higher purpose do you need to work towards today? What steps do you need to take to accomplish that goal?
Sam Blustin is an alumnus of the Conservative Yeshiva (2014-2015) and a current Rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary (Class of 2020). You can view more divrei Torah at www.samblustin.com or contact Sam directly at samblustin@gmail.com.
