Translation: Midbar Shur (Parshat Lech l’Chah)
“And G-d appeared to Avram and said to him… ‘Go before Me and become complete (lit. תמים). Your name will no longer be called Avram. Avraham will be your name, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.” [1]
Our forefather Avraham was initially a citizen of Aram and worked diligently for their welfare, as is appropriate for any citizen of a country. When Hashem appeared to him and said “Go before Me,” He was exhorting Avraham to broaden his horizons and further Hashem’s purpose for the entirety of creation. G-d was telling him “Become complete [2] in going before Me, without a heart divided between special loyalty to one’s nation and lesser concern for others. Seek the welfare not just of your Aramean countrymen, but of all of humanity, for that is My objective.”
After all, there is no fundamentally sound reason for an individual to pursue the advancement of any particular nation exclusively, even one that counts him among its members. However, this does not mean a vigorous and special concern for one’s own nation is unacceptable – only that nationalism should not be an end of itself, but rather a means of benefiting all of humanity.
This is why it is at this specific point that Hashem tells Avraham “Your name will no longer be called Avram,” a name which means ‘father of Aram.’ G-d raised Avraham above the social convention of simplistic nationalism, which arbitrarily dictates a special concern for one’s nation over others, and is not founded upon pure virtue.[3] Rather, “Your name is Avraham, because I have made you a father of a multitude of nations.”[4] You shall be a father to all of them, the entire human race, and are charged with seeking their welfare.[5]
It was precisely through this universal mission that Avraham’s descendants would be definitively set apart from the rest of the world. The Jewish people are separated from the other nations in order to maintain the level of purity required to benefit the rest of humanity. Without this separation, we would not be able to serve as a beacon of Divine light to the world.
Commentary
This is our first introduction to Rav Kook’s views on one of the most important subjects of Jewish thought – the relationship between Israel and the other nations, and the ramifications of G-d’s choice of Israel on the stature of the rest of humanity. Rav Kook writes that every nation is precious in G-d’s eyes. The Jewish people are meant to be a “kingdom of Priests”[6] that ministers to all humanity, serving as a role model and source of spiritual inspiration. Jews and non-Jews alike are all ultimately charged to work toward the same goal, albeit with different tools and different paths.
This position contrasts strongly with the understanding (most strongly emphasized in kabbalah and Chasidut) that G-d’s choice of the Jewish people was and is a rejection of the rest of humanity. Although this is not the forum for a comprehensive overview of the complexities of bechirat yisrael,[7] at the very least this piece in Rav Kook reminds us that things are not as simplistic as we might have thought (or been taught). Choseness and universalism are not necessarily a contradiction. According to Rav Kook, the reason we were set apart is precisely so that we are able to maintain the integrity and spiritual purity of our universal Divine message.
Rav Kook also expresses a strident criticism of simplistic nationalism, i.e. pursuing the advancement of one’s nation exclusively, at the expense of the rest of the human race. This chauvinistic attitude is an ethical failure and a denial of G-d’s concern for all of His creation. This notion was not merely a matter of theory for Rav Kook (1865-1935), who lived in a period characterized by nationalist upheavals and revolutionary movements, and who poured so much of his spirit into Zionism and its revival of the Jewish national spirit. According to Rav Kook, only the Jewish people, given their mission of concern for the rest of humanity, are able to model a healthy and ethically complete form of nationalism.
[1] Bereishit 17:1, 5.
[2] As we will see, Rav Kook understands תמים to mean complete, unblemished. See Vayikra 22:21, regarding korbanot, for a similar usage of the word.
[3] In another passage of Midbar Shur (Parshat Vayishlach), Rav Kook expresses the Torah’s rejection of nationalism far more forcefully. The following is an excerpt from Bezalel Naor’s translation:
The statement of the rabbis concerning Abraham contains a universalist message; it condemns in the harshest terms possible the evil of nationalism. There is a certain convention that has become accepted by practically the entire human race, and that is the right of every nation to aggrandize itself at the expense of other nations. Even supposedly righteous rulers are guilty of having shed blood to bring enhanced material prosperity to their nation, without so much as a thought to the havoc wreaked on surrounding nations. Even though human decency dictates that the individual not pursue success through the destruction of fellow humans, on the national level—so according to conventional wisdom—there is free license to achieve success, come what may. Even those who shun military exploits, are incapable of desiring the success of other nations to the same degree they seek their own nation’s advancement.
The most righteous of individuals would find strange the thought that all human beings be given the same advantage seeing as one God created us in His image. This chauvinist thinking is so ingrained in human nature, that even the great champions of justice defend this notion by saying that the scientific and material development of the world requires that nations compete against one another…. The very thought of nationalism is despicable to God, for He equates all mankind. The goal is to seek the true success of all God’s creations. True justice means that one views with equal concern the advancement of the entire human race.
[4] As Rav Kook understands it, the command to “Walk before Hashem and become complete” is related to the change of Avraham’s name that is delivered several verses later. One might have understood that they are unrelated. See the various interpretations quoted by Rashi on verse 1, s.v. veh’yay tamim.
[5] In Ein Ayah (Berachot 13a), Rav Kook explains that Sarah was charged with the same mission, and had her name changed for the same reason. As Rashi (Bereishit 17:15) explains, Sarai means “my princess,” whereas Sarah is unqualified and means “princess over all.” Avraham was to be a father to all of humanity and Sarah was to be the mother.
[6] See Seforno on Shemot 19:6, one of the primary sources for this understanding of bechirat Yisrael.
[7] An excellent overview of the topic is available here, in the shiurim of my teacher Rav Netanel Wiederblank, and here, in an article by Rav Chaim Eisen.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
- When Rav Kook talks about the Jewish people pursuing the welfare of humanity, what do you think he is talking about? Traveling across the world to build orphanages? Serving as ethical role models? Preaching about morality? Some combination of the above?
- According to Rav Kook, the Jewish people are set apart precisely so that they are able to maintain their universal mission. What are some of the difficulties involved in maintaining this balance?
- The last few years have witnessed a revival of populist and nationalist political movements, both in the United States and overseas. Would Rav Kook understand this revival as healthy? Why or why not?
About This Piece
This piece was published in Midbar Shur, which is a collection of drashot on the parsha that Rav Kook wrote when he was the rav of Zeimel, Lithuania. Unlike Rav Kook’s later works, Midbar Shur is written in normal (i.e. non-poetic and non-kabbalistic) rabbinic Hebrew. Although the drashot were written in the 1880s, Midbar Shur was not published until 1999. It has not been translated into English, but various excerpts are adapted in the works Gold From The Land of Israel, Silver From the Land of Israel, and Sapphire From the Land of Israel, available here, here and here.
