October 31st: Lech Lecha
THIS WEEK IN THE TORAH
Rabbi David E. Ostrich
Though the word Jewish is not technically and historically accurate for our people until around 500 BCE, we often generalize and say that “Judaism and Jewish History begin around 2000 BCE,” when, in Chapter 12 of Genesis,
“The Lord said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you and curse him that curses you;
And all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you.”
Abram responds to God’s call, and he and his wife Sarai and their followers travel to the Land of Canaan. God assigns it to them, and they sojourn there. It is the beginning of a long and holy relationship.
Now here are the caveats:
Abraham and Sarah were known as Iv’rim/Hebrews, a term which probably meant that they were part of a group that moved back and forth between Mesopotamia and Egypt. It might have originally been more a description of semi-nomadic shepherding in the region, but it eventually became a kind of ethnic designation.
This is all before the subsequent ethnic designation of Yis’ra’el/Israel—a name that emerges from the mysterious wrestling match between Jacob (Abraham and Sarah’s grandson) and the angel. In the Torah and in the rest of the Tanach, this new name—Yis’ra’el/Israelites/Children of Israel is used, but not exclusively. In the stories of our people’s time in Egypt—first as welcome guests, then as slaves, and finally as the beneficiaries of God’s miraculous rescue, both Hebrew and Israel are used. And sometimes Ya’akov/Jacob. Notice this poetic synonymity in Psalm 114:
“B’tzet Yis’ra’el mimitz’rayim, Bayt Ya’akov me’am lo’ez…
When Israel came forth out of Egypt, the House of Jacob from a foreign people…”
The time of our enslavement in Egypt is hard to date, but many figure that the Exodus took place around 1300 BCE. One clue is on an Egyptian stone monument—the Mernepta Stele—which mentions Israel inhabiting the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean around 1200 BCE.
There is another use of the term Ivri/Hebrew in the Bible, but it may not be helpful. In Jonah, when the ship from Jaffa to Tarshish is caught in a terrifying storm, the sailors and passengers cast lots to see who is at fault, and
“…the lot fell on Jonah. They said to him, ‘Tell us, you who have brought this misfortune upon us, what is your business? Where have you come from? What is your country, and of what people are you?’ ‘I am an Ivri/Hebrew,’ he replied. ‘I worship the Lord, the God of Heaven, who made both sea and land.’” (Jonah 1.7-9)
The Book of Jonah is hard to date—and hard to verify as historical (as opposed to allegorical), but it is of note that Jonah identifies himself as a Hebrew—seemingly after the word Israel had begun to be used.
The words Jews, Jewish, and Judaism do not come into play until quite a bit later. Around 500 BCE, most of those returning from the Babylonian Exile were from the Tribe of Judah. Their country had been called Yehudah/Judah before the conquest in 586 BCE, and the Persians let them call their restored nation Yehudah/Judah. The people were thus called Judeans.
This was an identifier for the people, but what we call their religion is another story. The Biblical Hebrew/Israelite religion was based on a sacrificial worship system and was led by Prophets and Priests. However, around 200 BCE, a new leadership group of scholars—the Rabbis—took charge and directed the Priests in their holy work. And then, the unthinkable happened: the Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, and these Rabbis found themselves shepherding our religion though an existential crisis. The needs were twofold: (1) maintaining our covenantal relationship with God, and (2) figuring out how to reconfigure worship and piety. This reformulated and reimagined religion—developed and defined in the Talmud (200 BCE-500 CE)—is when the term Judaism becomes operative.
Though these various caveats qualify and contextualize the words we use to describe our historical and continuing relationship with God, we can nonetheless trace our spiritual and communal endeavor back to that call to Abram. Throughout the years, ours has been an ever-evolving religious response as we continue to learn about God and how to live in God’s Presence. It is thus important, in every generation, to remember our original charge and our continuing possibilities.
“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you and curse him that curses you;
and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you.”
Afterthought:
Even in more modern times, our choice for a self-identifying term has varied. In the 18th and 19th Centuries, the word Jew was considered derogatory, and Jews preferred Israelite or Hebrew. Jewish institutions founded in the 1800s reflected this word choice: Hebrew Union College, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. It was not until after 1900 that Jews started self-identifying as Jews, and institutions founded after 1900 include: The Jewish Theological Seminary, American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, and the Jewish Institute of Religion.
Going back a little further, one can see the use of words-other-than-Jew in George Washington’s Letters to the six Jewish communities in the new United States (Newport, New York, Savannah, Charleston, Philadelphia, and Richmond). Known as Hebrew congregations, each wrote a letter of congratulations to President Washington, and he wrote back. The most famous is his letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Israel. Included in his remarks: “…May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid…”