Friday 22 December 2017

Yerushalayim and the World

This is not the first time that my choice of topic has been motivated by current events, but usually I have not stated this explicitly. In the relatively short time that I have had this blog, until now no news item was significant enough in my eyes to deserve the dedication of an entire article. Although politics is important to me, this blog is strictly for Torah and in my view not everything that is important fits into this category.

I know that many will disagree, but I see the recognition by the American President of Yerushalayim as our capital city as a point of great significance in the history of the Jewish People. As such, it was immediately obvious to me that I would try to explain this from a Torah perspective.

The function of Yerushalayim

The first thing we must try to clarify is what the significance of Yerushalayim is to us. The well-known Midrash tells us that Yerushalayim is the ‘light of the world’ and the light of Yerushalayim is Hashem.[1] How does this express itself?

The answer is also in a well-known source:

הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר חָזָה יְשַׁעְיָהוּ בֶּן אָמוֹץ עַל יְהוּדָה וִירוּשָׁלִָם: וְהָיָה בְּאַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים נָכוֹן יִהְיֶה הַר בֵּית ה' בְּרֹאשׁ הֶהָרִים וְנִשָּׂא מִגְּבָעוֹת וְנָהֲרוּ אֵלָיו כָּל הַגּוֹיִם: וְהָלְכוּ עַמִּים רַבִּים וְאָמְרוּ לְכוּ וְנַעֲלֶה אֶל הַר ה' אֶל בֵּית אֱ-לֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב וְיֹרֵנוּ מִדְּרָכָיו וְנֵלְכָה בְּאֹרְחֹתָיו כִּי מִצִּיּוֹן תֵּצֵא תוֹרָה וּדְבַר ה' מִירוּשָׁלִָם: וְשָׁפַט בֵּין הַגּוֹיִם וְהוֹכִיחַ לְעַמִּים רַבִּים וְכִתְּתוּ חַרְבוֹתָם לְאִתִּים וַחֲנִיתוֹתֵיהֶם לְמַזְמֵרוֹת לֹא יִשָּׂא גוֹי אֶל גּוֹי חֶרֶב וְלֹא יִלְמְדוּ עוֹד מִלְחָמָה:

(ישעיה ב, א-ד)

The (prophetic) word that Yeshayahu, the son of Amotz saw concerning Yehuda and Yerushalayim: “At the end of days the Mountain of Hashem will be prepared at the top of the mountains, loftier than hills, and all the nations will flock to it. Many nations will go, and say “Let’s go and ascend to the Mountain of Hashem, to the House of the G-d of Ya’akov, so that He will teach us from His ways and we will go in His paths.” Because the Torah will emanate from Zion, and the word of Hashem from Yerushalayim. He will judge between the nations and rebuke many peoples, and they will grind their swords into spades and their spears into sickles. A nation will not raise a sword to another nation, and they will no longer learn war.”

(Yeshaya 2:1-4)

The Torah is Hashem’s way to give spiritual light to the world,[2] and this light is supposed to emanate from Yerushalayim. Chazal learn from these verses that the ultimate authority to decide halacha is with the Sages of Yerushalayim and Eretz Yisrael, unless there is someone in the Diaspora unmatched by anyone in Eretz Yisrael.[3]

Direction of Prayer and Monotheism

Just as the Torah emanates from Yerushalayim, Jews all over the world direct their prayers to Yerushalayim.[4] The main form of worship during the times of the Beis Hamikdash, the offering of korbanos, can only be done in Yerushalayim. As I have written before, the emphasis on one place reinforces the worship of one God,[5] and the same is true about the centrality of Yerushalayim in regards deciding halacha.

The message of monotheism has taken a long time to emanate from Yerushalayim. For much of the period of the first Beis Hamikdash, it was the pagan world outside that influenced Yerushalayim and not the other way round. This eventually led to the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash.[6]

Ultimately, shortly after the building of the second Beis Hamikdash the leaders of the Jewish People concluded that this problem would not be overcome by natural means. The only solution was to pray that the inclination for idol worship should be terminated, a prayer that was answered in the affirmative.[7] It seems that this ended all (or virtually all) Jewish pagan practice, setting the stage for the rest of the world.

A few hundred years later Christianity started.[8] At the time, and for many centuries, this religion was theologically no better than the pagans beforehand. Although it claimed to be monotheistic, the ‘one’ god believed in by the Christians had three parts.[9] And although there were no graven images worshipped, the belief in incarnation was an equivalent.

However, the Rambam writes that the birth and proliferation of Christianity was a step towards bringing Mashiach. Despite the claim that the mitzvos of the Torah no longer apply, Christianity and Islam made the words of the Torah known to the world, and caused people to think and talk about them.[10]

In modern times we have seen a positive process that the Rambam did not see. Gradually, philosophy has led many sects of Christianity to shed their corporeal take on monotheism. The decline in antisemitism of the Church as a whole is certainly connected to this process.

Education or Submission

Monotheism is a crucial part of the light of Torah, but there is far more to it than that. The main struggle we face today is with a religion whose monotheism is not in question. But this religion does not have the same goal described by Yeshayahu. Instead of wanting to teach the world the ways of Hashem, its aim is to force the world to submit.

In Judaism, although war can be a mitzvah, it is never ‘holy.’[11] It is a necessary evil in order to lead to the world peace described by Yeshayahu. The nations who will flock to Yerushalayim in the future will do so out of realisation of the truth, and not out of fear.

The recognition of Yerushalayim as the Jewish capital is, at least to an extent, a recognition of the superiority of the vision of Yeshayahu. It also shows an understanding that terror will not be defeated by the traditional Christian method of turning the other cheek.[12]

What next?

Despite the significance of the new policy of the most powerful nation in the world, it is no secret that there is still a long way to go. The decision was not exactly met with the universal praise that it deserved. I am not even convinced that the Israeli government were as delighted about it as they made out to be. However, so far at least the expected violent reaction has been limited, perhaps indicating that some progress has been made even within the Muslim world.

What happens next is to a great extent in our own hands. The US President rightly did not say anything definite about final arrangements, leaving it up to us to make the truth clear to the world. This task is multi-faceted, and starts from our own understanding of the significance of Yerushalayim.

With this understanding, we can remember to focus all our religious activity on Yerushalayim and not on other sites (see He has no physical form). We must do all that we can to hasten the building of the Beis Hamikdash, by teshuva but also by practical action (see Building the Beis Hamikdash). And in order for Torah to once again emanate from Yerushalayim in the ideal way, we must create the unity necessary to re-establish the Sanhedrin (see 'Ubitul Sanhedreya'). If we fail in these tasks, the opportunity given to us by the US may be wasted.

Chazal dispute whether redemption is dependent on teshuva or not. R’ Eliezer says that if we do teshuva we will be redeemed, and if not we will not. R’ Yehoshua responds that this is unthinkable. Rather, (if we don’t do teshuva of our own accord) Hashem will bring a king whose decrees are as hard as those of Haman, and we will be forced to repent.[13]

The straightforward understanding is that just in the times of Purim, the evil decree of Haman succeeded in uniting us in teshuva, if necessary a similar decree will force us to do teshuva in the future. In light of recent events, maybe we can suggest a different explanation.[14]

The declaration of the US President was for many ‘as hard as the decree of Haman.’ Much of the world reacted with outrage, and even some of our own people (and possibly leaders) weren’t exactly delighted about it. But it has forced us to say to the world that yes, Yerushalayim is our eternal capital. Let’s hope that no further decrees will be necessary to bring us to full teshuva!




[1] Bereishis Rabba, Chayei Sara 59:5
[2] See Mishlei 6:26
[3] Berachos 63a-b
[4] See Berachos 30a, based on Melachim 1, 8:44
[6] Yoma 9b
[7] Sanhedrin 64a, based on Nechemia 9:4
[8] According to Sanhedrin 107b, ‘Yeshu the Nazarine’ was a disciple of Yehoshua ben Perachia, which would place his birth only about two hundred years after the building of the Second Beis Hamikdash. Although non-Jewish accounts put him considerably later, it is likely that this was engineered by the Christians in order to depict the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash as punishment for his execution. Further elaboration is beyond the scope of this post.
[9] Although some understood this belief as being permitted for non-Jews, this was based on a probable misunderstanding of earlier sources. See Pischei Teshuva, Yoreh Deah 147:2.
[10] Hilchos Melachim 11:4
[11] A search on the Bar-Ilan Responsa Project for the term מלחמה קדושה (holy war) returned not a single entry.
[12] As Christianity has no national aspect to it, it can have no concept of a mitzvah to go to war. It is no coincidence that the Vatican continues to take the side of the Arabs (it also remains attached to the belief in incarnation). Although the truth is that the traditional Christianity prevalent in Ashkenazi countries has often influenced our own leaders, leading to failed appeasement policies.
[13] Sanhedrin 97b
[14] Bearing in mind what we wrote in Drush and Divrei Agada

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