Rashi begins his commentary to the Torah with a famous question and this begets a new and pressing one. Rashi wishes to know: why bother starting the Torah with the creation narrative instead of jumping directly to the mitzvot? As the Ramban notes, the creation narrative is so mysterious that it contains explicit meaning only to a select few scholars. Why not get to the parts of the Torah that we can all understand?
And Rashi gives the answer of the Sage Rabbi Yitzchak:
Rabbi Yitzchak said, “There was no need to begin the Torah from anything other than ‘This month will be for you’ [Shemos, chapter 12], since that was the first commandment that Israel received. And for what reason did it open with ‘In the beginning’? [Because] as it says, ‘He has declared to His people the power of His works in giving them the inheritance of the nations.’”
In other words, as Rashi goes on to explain, if the nations of the world should criticize Israel as thieves for conquering the land that once belonged to the seven nations of Canaan, Israel can retort “All of the earth is G-d’s; He created it and gave it to whom He saw fit. When He desired, he gave it to them, and when He desired He took it from them and gave it to us.”
The whole thing is a little strange. For one thing, why should we think that the nations of the world will be convinced when we prove our ownership through reference to the Torah? As it stands, so many people either do not believe in G-d or in His interest in the affairs of human beings. So why should they be compelled by this argument?
The second matter is a question of ethics. Is Rashi making the argument that G-d gives portions of land to nations on a whim? Isn’t that unfair?
Let us take these questions one at a time, acknowledging both that they raise interesting and thorny issues that we may not be able to fully resolve and that the first question is much more difficult to resolve than the second.
So, why should anyone believe us? Periodically, some representative of Jews from the heartland of Judea and Samaria makes precisely this argument on the news. If the anchors do not roll their eyes at them, it is because they are professionals or because they think such declarations make their interviewees sound foolish. By allowing Jewish and Israeli interviewees to make comments like this, they may convince their viewers that the Jews are fanatical idiots, after all. Alternatively, they may simply drive more eyeballs to their show to see the weird people making outlandish arguments.
So what good does this do us and our case? In my opinion, we can provide several reasons why Rashi is correct on this matter and that it would be wrong to be too skeptical. It is probably worth noting that this question does not apply only to this issue and only to the other nations of the world. Indeed, we should ask: does it really help to tell our own children and students to believe in certain things because the Torah says so? How should we convince skeptical children and students with this kind of argumentation?
This itself is a huge challenge in our community and educational institutions. Please, reader, take note ahead of time: I will make that argument that it is indeed essential to tell our children, and indeed anyone who will listen, that we trust our tradition and when the Torah says something, it is good enough for us. At the same time, children will not listen to parents and teachers who do not have an interest in caring for them, spending time with them, answering their questions thoughtfully, giving them space to question, think, and work things out on their own. While we cannot fire parents who do a poor job educating their children, we can at the least make sure teachers know what to do and how to act. And at the very least, a teacher who does not have interest in his charges should be trained or fired.
And now let us return to our point. How shall our argument of “because G-d said so” convince the world? What good does it do?
First, we should know that it is not always important to convince other people that they need to agree with us. Instead, we should treat is as essential that they know they need to respect us. Just as when we meet people from other cultures and religions and treat them with respect – we would never prevent them from their religious worship, interrupt them in their prayers, prevent them from getting the right foods or ritual items – others will treat us with respect because we act with self respect. And so when we tell people that this is what it says in our book, we may look for respect, and not agreement. They will not agree with us regarding the Land of Israel, Shabbat, or the laws of gossip? No matter, they will respect us for sticking to our guns. This is so important to teach our children as well. They don’t have to think like we do. But we must show them that we have self respect as a people and confidence in our tradition. This will go very far without being domineering.
In other words, perhaps we make this argument for ourselves and for goodhearted and respectful people. We must show our children that they should respect themselves as Jews. It will not be hard to win this respect from the majority of people in the world since most people are not cynical or cruel.
Second, our claims of ownership are not so different from the claims of ownership people make all over the world. What makes a given person the owner of a particular piece of land? Usually, they have some record from their government declaring it so. In general, we do not ask to see that piece of paper unless we wish to actually purchase the space or home from them. At any rate, our claim is no different from theirs. They own their home because their government gave them a record. So do we. This might throw some people off, but an honest conversation will yield that if they accept that they own their home, they should accept that we own ours no less. And if the person is intellectually dishonest or hateful, you will not get very far anyway. Most people will be stumped with this issue and need to grapple with it intellectually.
Third, do not forget that billions of people already concede the point that you are making. They may make the argument that G-d did at one time give the Land of Israel to the Jewish people but that He has since rejected us. But even in making that argument, they concede our point. We can both agree that G-d gave this land to the Jewish people. And as for the rest? We will simply have to respectfully disagree.
Our fourth argument is addressed to skeptics. There are indeed many millions of people in the world – perhaps hundreds of millions, even – who cannot currently imagine that G-d has a special interest in people. Yet, people change. Their experiences, studies, and cultural contexts may cause them to one day change their minds. And when they begin to believe that G-d shows an interest in human beings, they will be forced to at least deal with the argument we have made: G-d has a special interest not only in people in general but in the Jewish people in particular. And this idea is harder for people to avoid than you’d think. This leads to our fifth argument.
Why can’t people shake their cultural interest in the Jews? Aren’t there other peoples and faiths in the world that claim G-d chose them, has a special relationship with them, and gave them a particular land, religion, or way of life? Indeed, there are many and there have always been many. Yet, the Jewish claim is the most troubling. Only the Jews can feature in the writings, media, and legacies of so many peoples throughout history. Perhaps this is for the simple reason: when other people make their claims, no one believes them. When we do, many of them really do believe us. This may not make people feel good. It may make some people feel jealous or inferior just as it makes many – Jewish and otherwise – fear its potential for a terrible chauvinism or even be embarrassed by it. Yet, the truth has a particular ring to it. Maybe the reason so many people believe us is because we are telling the truth. And so we should keep on telling it. And people will believe us.
All of these arguments, I hope, will shed some light on how to deal with this kind of issue in our own community. We have plenty of skeptics of all colors and kinds and we must be dedicated to them and rid ourselves of teachers and leaders who will not be. But in the end, if we respect ourselves and make our case, we will be find success in our educational endeavors.
Let us come, then, to the second question. Is Rashi arguing that G-d is being capricious in deciding who will get which land? I do not think so. Let’s cite the Ramban’s answer in summary.
The Torah begins with a series of displacements. Adam and Eve, the generation of the Tower of Babel, and the generation of the Flood. In each of these cases, people are found guilty and then exiled, just as the Torah promises us very explicitly. If we sin, we too will be vomited out of our land, as we have experienced. And now that we are back, we should take that as a warning. At any rate, G-d gives portions to various peoples for reasons that are generally beyond us but that should be presumed to be ethical. This is an area where trust is readily warranted, though I concede the argument can be made otherwise by the Yeshayahu Leibowitz students of the world.
In short, let us keep making our case. It is the case for Jews, our tradition, and the land of Jews. Let us make that case with confidence, let us communicate that confidence and self respect to our children and to the billions of good hearted people of the world. Together, we will eventually convince the others.