Haftorah Ezikiel
The haftorah of Parshat Parah this week tells us that the exile of the Jewish people is a desecration of God’s name, a Chilul Hashem: “I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries, I punished them in accordance with their ways and their deeds. But when they came they caused My holy name to be profaned, in that it was said of them, “These are the people of the Lord, yet they had to leave His land.” God has a purpose and project for the world, to sanctify God, the Jewish people’s exile undermines this because they must be in the land and be seen there in a certain way in order to sanctify God.
The first thing God commands the first Jew is when God tells Abraham what the project is. “Go to the land that I will show you…and you shall be a blessing to the rest of the world.” Our purpose is to make a Kiddush Hashem, to sanctify God, in the land. What does it mean to sanctify God? The following piece of Talmud describes a Kiddush and Chilul Hashem and in fact quotes a verse in our haftorah (Ezekiel 36:20) as a proof.
“Abaye said: As it was taught in a baraita that it is stated: “And you shall love the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 6:5), which means that you shall make the name of Heaven beloved. How should one do so? One should do so in that he should read Torah, and learn Mishna, and serve Torah scholars, and he should be pleasant with people in his business transactions. What do people say about such a person? Fortunate is his father who taught him Torah, fortunate is his teacher who taught him Torah, woe to the people who have not studied Torah. So-and-so, who taught him Torah, see how pleasant are his ways, how proper are his deeds. The verse states about him and others like him: “You are My servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified” (Isaiah 49:3). But one who reads Torah, and learns Mishna, and serves Torah scholars, but his business practices are not done faithfully, and he does not speak pleasantly with other people, what do people say about him? Woe to so-and-so who studied Torah, woe to his father who taught him Torah, woe to his teacher who taught him Torah. So-and-so who studied Torah, see how destructive are his deeds, and how ugly are his ways. About him and others like him the verse states that the gentiles will say: “Men said of them: These are the people of the Lord, yet they had to leave His land” (Ezekiel 36:20). Through their sins and subsequent exile, such people have desecrated the name of God.” -Yoma 86a
It seems from the Gemara and the Torah that there are several components to sanctifying God:
-
The Jewish people must be in the land as a nation
-
We must be identified with, study and observe the Torah
-
We must be a nation in the land to which people look and say, “How refined are their deeds, how pleasant are their ways.”
This does not mean that we must do everything other nations would like us to do, but it does mean that we have a mission in the land, to be a country and a refined people who are seen as noble and good.
This week my daughter was sworn into the Israeli army at the Kotel. It felt like a historic moment. To my mind the last 75 years show that Maimonides’ position on the redemption was correct. That as the Talmud states, it will be a normal, this worldly process, not a supernatural one (Shabbat 63a). That we will slowly go to Israel and have a sovereign nation there as the Mishnah says, “There is no difference between this world and the messianic era except that the jewish people will be sovereign in their land.” Now we must be sure the other nations are prompted to look upon us and say, “How refined are their deeds.”