Isaac is preparing to leave Israel. A famine has struck, and he considers going down to Egypt, where food is more plentiful, as did his father, Abraham. But God intervenes, instructing him to remain in the land.
This is one of only two divine revelations Isaac experiences, in contrast to his father, who encountered God repeatedly. What makes this revelation significant is the message God delivers at this critical moment.
God reaffirms the covenant with Abraham, promising Isaac His protection and blessing. Isaac will inherit his father’s mission of spreading monotheism, his descendants will multiply like the stars in the heavens, and the nations of the world will be blessed through them. The religious mission of Abraham will continue through his son.
Yet God also reaffirms the promise of the land. The timing is crucial. Precisely when Isaac considers leaving Israel, God reminds him that the covenant includes both a universal religious mission and a particular national homeland. The Jewish people is destined to bring blessing to humanity, but its mission remains bound to the land promised to its ancestors.
From the very beginning, Jewish identity and our attachment to Israel are presented as inseparable parts of the same covenant.
For centuries, Jewish identity was sustained by the dream of returning to Israel. Though scattered across the earth, we turned toward Jerusalem three times a day in prayer. Every year, we gathered around our Seder tables to celebrate our shared history and concluded the evening with the words “Next year in Jerusalem.” Across continents and generations, Jerusalem remained the center of our spiritual imagination, even for Jews who had never seen its hills or walked its streets.
No one needed to remind us that our national story was still unfinished, or that its final destination was inseparably bound to the Land of Israel.
Jerusalem became optional
Beginning in the 19th century, we were invited to leave the ghettos and enter European society as equal citizens.
Granted freedom of worship and opportunities long denied to us, we became active participants in science, medicine, commerce, culture, and public life.
Through these contributions, we helped advance human progress and welfare, one of the central aspirations of our historic mission.
As Jewish integration deepened, many began to imagine a Jewish future rooted in the countries where they lived.
Alongside Jewish contributions to human progress, another dimension of the Jewish mission also appeared to be advancing.
Even as European society became less formally religious, monotheistic faiths had become dominant across much of the world.
To many Jews, it appeared that both dimensions of Judaism’s mission, spreading monotheism and advancing human welfare, could be fulfilled within the societies in which they lived.
The dream of returning to Israel gradually lost its centrality. Some prayer books and Haggadot even removed traditional references to Zion, including “Next year in Jerusalem.” A hope that had sustained Jewish identity for centuries was no longer universally regarded as essential to its future.
Return of sovereignty
The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 dramatically altered this picture. A Jewish mission that many had come to imagine unfolding primarily in the Diaspora could now be pursued in our ancestral homeland. We could apply our religious and moral ideals to the challenges of governing a society, managing an economy, and defending a population, all in our ancient homeland.
However, 1948 did not convince everyone that the restoration of Jewish sovereignty was part of the process of redemption.
Many haredim, while deeply committed to Eretz Yisrael and the eventual redemption, do not view the establishment of the State of Israel as a step toward redemption. They distinguish between the sanctity of the land, rooted in the biblical covenant, and the modern state, established through secular political movements.
Yet this distinction does not diminish the centrality of the land for them. Quite the opposite. They firmly believe that Jewish destiny remains bound to Eretz Yisrael and that the Jewish mission will ultimately reach its fulfillment there, even if they envision a different path to that destiny.
Judaism without Israel
A more fundamental divide exists, however, among Jews over the role of Israel in our national destiny.
Unfortunately, many Jews believe that Jewish destiny can be realized outside the State of Israel and even outside the Land of Israel. The Jewish mission of teaching humanity about God and morality, advancing justice, and improving human welfare is not necessarily confined to any particular geographic location.
From this perspective, attachment to Israel and Jewish identity are distinct commitments. A person can embrace Jewish religion, culture, and values without considering a connection to Israel essential to that identity. In their view, Israel is an important part of Jewish history, but not an essential part of its future.
Unwelcome reminders of history
Yet history has a way of challenging such assumptions. Jewish history is filled with irony. Sometimes, when we lose sight of the foundations of Jewish identity, the societies around us force us to confront the deeper bonds that define who we are as a people. Unfortunately, those reminders are sometimes delivered through hostility and hatred.
As worldwide anger toward Israel continues to grow, it has spread from street protests and college campuses into political discourse and national policies directed against the Jewish state.
Though much of this hostility is focused on Israel and its right to exist in peace and security, it has increasingly spilled over into broader antisemitism, targeting Jews regardless of their personal identification with the land or the State of Israel. Jews are being attacked, boycotted, and discriminated against because of their presumed attachment to Israel, even when they have little connection to the state or openly oppose its policies.
This latest wave of antisemitism reminds us how deeply Jewish identity is bound to the Land of Israel and the modern Jewish state. Our enemies recognize this connection even when we ourselves overlook it or choose to minimize it. They make little distinction between Jews and Israel, even when Jews themselves seek to separate the two.
A similar pattern emerged in Germany over 90 years ago.
Many Jews had come to regard Judaism primarily as a religion and believed they could live as Europeans who happened to worship the God of Moses. Others had abandoned Judaism altogether, giving up religious practice and embracing their place as full members of European society.
Hitler and the Nazis shattered these assumptions. Their grotesque racial ideology classified Jews by ancestry, regardless of religious belief or observance. Their hatred exposed something that assimilation had led some Jews to overlook: Jewishness is an inherited peoplehood, linking individuals to a historical community even when they no longer practice its religion. Our relationship with God is rooted in our membership in this historical community, a bond that endures regardless of our personal religious beliefs or practices.
Once again
History is again reminding us of something some Jews have chosen to overlook.
The State of Israel is vital to Jewish continuity and identity. Without it, our people’s future would be far more precarious, and our ability to fulfill our historic mission would be severely diminished. Israel is woven into the fabric of Jewish identity.
The Jewish world is divided by a fundamental question: Is the Land of Israel central to Jewish identity and destiny, or can the Jewish mission flourish independently of it?
Oct. 7 and its aftermath have convinced many Jews, though certainly not all, that Jewish identity and Israel are inseparably connected. What history has repeatedly taught us must become clear to all Jews: Our peoplehood, our mission, and our homeland have always belonged to the same story.■
The writer is a rabbi and educator at Yeshivat Har Etzion (Gush). Find his latest book, Echoes of Rashi: Bereishit, at
www.mtaraginbooks.com
Source: The Jerusalem Post · MOSHE TARAGIN
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