Why the Obsession with Israel?

One of the intriguing things about the Ten Commandments, that we will read on this Shabbat Torah portion Yitro given to the Jewish people is that they were engraved on two separate tablets. Was G-d short of granite that He needed to use two tablets? Why could He not carve the commandments onto a single stone?

There is the stereotypical Jew-bashing joke about this. Before coming to the Jews, G-d approached all the nations and asked if they would like to accept the Torah. Each of them refused because of some commandment in the Bible to which they could not possibly adhere. When G-d presented the offer to the Jews, their sole question was: How much do you want for it?

To which G-d responded: “It’s for free.”  

So the Jews replied: “Give us two.”

I do not see a way of rationally explaining the obsessive hatred to Israel and Jews without the faith that Jews are G-d’s chosen people to make the world a place of goodness and kindness.

The obsession with Jews, a people that does not even constitute a quarter of a percent of humanity, is going on for almost 4000 years. It makes no sense. 500,000 people were murdered in Syria, including tens of thousands of children, and I did not hear of one demonstration. Israel is trying to protect its children from being slaughtered, fighting an enemy that wants its children to die, so Israel can be demonized, and yet the Jews are condemned.

Traumatized self-hating Jews and anti-Semites even had the chutzpah to call Gaza a Jewish “concentration camp,” when Israel expelled every last Jew from Gaza in 2005. Had the Gaza population not voted in Hamas in 2006 and chosen to spend all its resources to murder Jews, Gaza could have been the Singapore of the Middle East. They blame Israel for having checkpoints, which only exist because, without them, there would be terrorist attacks daily. They want an airport in Gaza so that planes can murder tens of thousands of Jews daily.

The obsession with Israel makes no sense unless you can appreciate the truth that we are G-d’s people. We were chosen to serve as a light onto the nations, a Divine flame lit on the cosmic way, hence we trigger the world in unimaginable ways.

But this is not easy for Jews to accept, even though the world knows it. When you tell a Jew you are chosen, he says: “Me? Never. I am just a human being.”

Of course, Jewish chosen-ness cannot be racist because Jews are not a race; there are Jews of every race. What is more, any person of any race, ethnicity, or nationality can become a member of the Jewish people and thereby be as chosen as Abraham, Moses, Maimonides, or the chief rabbi of Israel.

The Alter Rebbe Baal Hatanya conveys a profound idea: In the Jewish understanding, closeness leads not to arrogance, but rather to humility. If it were some human king who chose us to be his special people, then your assumption would be correct — we would become elitists. When a mortal power shows favoritism towards a subject, that subject will become more arrogant as a result — the closer you are to the king, the more significant you are, and the more significant you are the higher respect you feel you deserve.

But we were chosen by G-d. And the closer you are to G‑d, the more you sense your insignificance. While being buddy-buddy with a human leader inflates your ego, a relationship with G‑d bursts your selfish bubble. Because G‑d is an infinite being, and all delusions of petty self-importance fall away when you stand before infinity. Being close to G‑d demands introspection and self-improvement, not smugness.

In Judaism, G-d is the core of reality. We are all part of reality, we are all part of G-d, in G-d, in reality. There is an organic oneness that unites all of existence, all of humanity, all the cosmos—and that organic unity is what we call G-d. “Hashem Echad,” G-d is one, does not only mean there is one G-d and not twenty gods; it means that G-d is synonymous with oneness. The word G-d is another way of saying that “there is only one.” There is the oneness that pervades all of existence. We are all reflections of One reality: One core. We are all manifestations—diverse expressions—of a singular reality.

To be conscious of G-d means to never allow your ego to wrap you in its superficial imagination. “Ego” stands for Easing G-d Out. When I do not realize my true greatness and value, as a reflection of G-d’s infinite oneness, I must resort to my ego to feel good about myself and to put you down. Becoming G-d conscious means that at every moment I need not protect my ego, as an expression of Divine light. The more G-d conscious I am, the smaller I become and the greater I become: On one level I become nothing, as there is nothing but the organic oneness, the absolute infinity of G-d, which pervades all. At the same time—I become the greatest, as my life becomes a full and seamless expression of the higher, unifying, integrating, eternal consciousness of the eternal core of all reality.

Being close to G-d summons you to respect others more, not less. The more G-d conscious, the more loving and charitable you become, as you are aware that G-d’s light pervades every person and every creature. When in the name of chosenness a person becomes bigoted, disrespectful, elitist, and arrogant—they miss the boat. When you become aware of G-d choosing you, it eliminates the judgementalism we resort to protecting our egos and feel better about ourselves and our place in the world. Your success never equals my failure. I reflect one aspect of G-d, as you reflect another one.

This is the idea of the Chosen People — a nation of individuals who have been allowed to sense G‑d's closeness, hear His truth, and relay His message to the world. All agree that it was the Jews that introduced the world to monotheism and a system of ethics and morals that has shaped the modern view of life and its purpose. And it is the survival of Judaism to this day that attests to the eternal value of this system.

And that is a Jew.

And that is why so many people loathe the Jewish people.

We have been chosen to teach every person alive that each of them has been chosen—to serve G-d and become an ambassador of love, light, and goodness to His world.

When we realize we have been chosen, we cultivate a healthy confidence that comes not from ego but from humility. It is about respecting our role as Divine ambassadors for goodness and truth. Then we never duck to the pressure of those who want us to compromise our eternal mission to eliminate evil and cultivate goodness.
 

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky