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THE LEVEL OF THE JEWS
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The Jewish people finds itself the axis around which major world events seem to revolve, although they have never been more than a tiny percentage of the world population.
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Another phenomenon which has accompanied the Children of Israel in the Diaspora is the prominent role which they play within their host society. Here in modern-day America, we have a prime example of this anomaly. In 2007, America's Jews constituted 1.7% - 2.2% of the total population of the United States.
In contrast, 37% of the Americans awarded Nobel Prizes have been Jews. This is a whopping 19 times their percentage in the population. The John Bates Clark Medal awarded to the nation's outstanding economist under the age of forty is considered by many to be second only to the Nobel Prize for economic. An astounding 71% of the John Bates Clark Medal winners have been Jewish, thirty-five times the percentage in the general population.
Since many jobs/careers in science, business, and academia generally pay well, Jewish Americans also tend to have a higher average income than most Americans. A 2008 Pew Research Center study found that "46 percent of Jews in the US make more than $100,000 a year."
This is not a new phenomenon. In Spain and Portugal, five hundred years ago, Jews served as trusted advisors at royal courts, and proved themselves so invaluable to the crown that they were offered exemption from the general decrees of expulsion (which they declined to accept).
Recognizing the financial and cultural potential of an expanded Jewish presence, Sultan Bayezid II, head of the Ottoman Empire, invited the Jews expelled by Spain and Portugal to settle in his territory. The wealth and widespread commercial expertise the Jewish refugees brought with them meant increased income for the crown and prestige for the Muslim ruler who wisely opened his land to the refugees. As happened so many times beforehand, the new Jewish arrivals contributed extensively to the development of the country – out of all proportion to their numbers – and the Ottoman Empire reached its pinnacle during the century that followed.
This pattern appears repeatedly throughout the history of the Jews in exile: either the Jews excel and distinguish themselves, so that they are on the top of the barrel, or they are persecuted, so that they fall to the bottom of the barrel and are brutally crushed.
We never find them just blending in with the crowd, as ordinary, everyday "normal, average" members of society and citizens of their country. The Jewish apple just does not stay put in the middle of the barrel.
So much for Jews taken as individuals. If we consider the People of Israel as a nation, we find the picture very similar. Although it has never been more than a tiny percentage of the world population, the Jewish people finds itself the axis around which major world events seem to revolve. Today's precarious situation in the Middle East is a prime example. In territory, the modern State of Israel ranks it as number one hundred fifty-one in size. In contrast, the "territory" it covers in the headlines of world media is out of all proportion to the minuscule scrap of land over which it holds sway.
Why are so many people concerned with what is happening in this tiny corner of the globe? Not because of its deposits of gold, silver and diamonds; nor because great resources of "black gold" lie hidden under its soil. Neither the Suez nor the Panama Canal lies within its boundaries, nor, for that matter, any other commercially strategic landmark.
Yet world events have kept the eye of the media focused on Israel for decades, and there is no prospect of its surrendering the limelight in the near future.
Even when the Jewish People found themselves at the bottom of the barrel, their fate could never be described as ordinary, average, or within the norm. The brutal anti-Semitism to which they have been subjected is also without precedent or logical explanation. It is not by chance that the greatest crimes against humanity were perpetrated against the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And who was the fuhrer who led his nation to unprecedented extremes of satanic bestiality? A statesman of exceptional talent and charisma? An international figure who won the respect of friend and foe alike?
Not at all; it remains an enigma how so mediocre a figure came into such sweeping power.
The Jewish response to this enigma is its deep faith that Heaven constantly takes the reins in hand and supervises the fate of the Jewish nation. Why should this be so?
The answer lies in the unique role the Creator has assigned to the People of Israel. G-d wants us to carry out our assignment, and manipulates history so that His nation will fulfill the role assigned to it over three millennia ago.
It is just as Bilaam declared: "...lo, it is a nation that shall dwell on its own, and shall not be reckoned among the nations" (Numbers 23:9).
This was a recurrent theme addressed by the prophets in their messages to the people. "You have a mission to fulfill, assigned to you by the Creator of the universe, when He told you: 'And you shall be a treasured nation for Me.'"
Regarding this divine mission, the prophets urged the Jewish people: "Fulfill your role willingly. Adhere to the moral code G-d has given you, and you will be blessed and raised on high. If you choose instead to pursue only the pleasures of this world, and to assimilate among the gentiles and to become 'a nation like all nations', you will be set apart from them, against your will, and compelled to fulfill your role nonetheless."
Despite centuries of attempts to become fully accepted members of the gentile society around us, and despite their successes in so many fields, the Jews have not yet overcome the resentment which gentiles harbor against them. It is important to keep in mind that not all Jews conduct their lives in keeping with the moral and spiritual standards which Heaven expects of them. When this happens, we do not merit the fulfillment of G-d's blessing "And G-d will set you above all the nations of the earth" (Deuteronomy 28:11).
Nonetheless, even then, Heaven does not allow His people to blend in with society in general; He ensures that their singularity continue to be obvious to one and all.
In this we see a clear fulfillment of the predictions of our prophets. Time and again, they stressed to the people of Israel that their national goal must be to serve G-d as His special people: "And you shall be My cherished treasure from all the nations" (Exodus 19:5).
The Divine plan will be carried out whether or not Israel is willing to cooperate. It would be far better that the Jewish people play their role willingly, delighting in the opportunity to please their G-d. They must keep in mind, however, that even if they turn their backs on G-d's will as it is expressed in the Torah, and even when they strive to assimilate among the nations, Heaven will never allow their efforts to be crowned with success. To the contrary, events will be manipulated in such a way so as to insure that they remain a distinct and separate people, set aside from all the nations on the face of the earth.
In short, Heaven does not allow the Jewish People to merely sink to the middle of the barrel and conduct its life as do the gentiles around them. When their less-than-perfect level of morality threatens to make them indistinguishable from the gentiles, G-d manipulates events in such a way as to isolate them from the gentile society. He sends a fuhrer or a "Great Father Stalin" to forcibly set them apart through persecution.
Let us give a historical example to clarify the matter. If we go back over two thousand years, to the days of Mordecai and Queen Esther, we can observe this axiom in action. Haman complained to his sovereign, Ahashverus, that the Jews in the vast kingdom of Persia were strange and did not blend in with all the other ethnic groups: "... and their customs are different from every other nation" (Esther 3:8).
Again and again, he harped on the same point: "You don't know what they are like!" he declared. "These Jews live all over your empire, and wherever they are, they have to be odd. They don't fit in anywhere. Just look how they dress! They always look different, and they speak their own language. They don't keep your highness' laws. Why can't they just blend in with everyone else?
"They make a whole religion out of being different; it's in the better interests of the empire to keep them here."
On the basis of this accusation, he sought license from the throne to commit genocide; his "final solution" was a proposal to annihilate the entire Jewish population, in one day, by enlisting the avarice of the general population, who were promised the right to the property of any Jew they slaughtered.
Why would Heaven allow such a threat to be made against the people of Israel? The Sages teach us that one must go back to the events of several years previously in order to understand the process involved here.
Ahashverus had celebrated the third year of his reign by inviting the court officials, ministers, and nobles to join in extended banqueting, drinking, and indulgence with a variety of diversions and forms of entertainment.
Of course, the whole city of Shushan, the capital, heard about the events at court. Ahashverus feared that the local populace might be jealous and revolt, so he decided to hold a week-long celebration for the citizens of Shushan.
The Jewish community of the capital city, Shushan, were also invited, which presented them with a dilemma. Should they attend or not? The atmosphere of the celebration would clearly not be in keeping with the principles of Judaism and Torah; on the other hand, how could they explain their absence to a conceited, arrogant sovereign who demanded blind obedience to his every whim? Should they risk angering such a tyrant? Would they not be putting their lives and those of all Persian Jewry in mortal danger?
The greatest sage of the generation, Mordecai, advised his brethren not to take part in the festivities. The more learned of the community accepted his decision, but the majority were too fearful to stay away. They argued that if they failed to appear at the festivities, their absence would be interpreted as an outrageous insult to the crown.
'We'll just be proving to his majesty that Haman was right when he protested that we Jews are different from everyone else," they argued.
Later, this same line of reasoning convinced them to bow down to Haman, despite the Torah prohibition involved. They declared that it was too dangerous to be different from everyone else. Haman was the last member of the royal court that they could afford to irritate they reasoned. Notwithstanding, when Haman issued a decree that one and all must prostrate himself before him, Mordecai refused to give in. Although his path crossed that of Haman on a daily basis, the Jewish scholar and leader would not even nod his head, must less bow down before the enemy of his people.
As the Book of Esther reports: "But Mordecai bowed not down, nor prostrated himself before him" (ibid. 3:2).
Here we can follow Heaven's plan as it unfolds. In the end, nothing spared the Jewish people from Haman's wrath, not their participation in Ahashevrus' feast and celebration, and not all the Jews who groveled at Haman's feet, when he demanded that one and all bow before him. To the contrary, it was just the fact that the Jews attended the festivities at court, and took pleasure in them, which led to their undoing. In their extreme concern not to appear different from everyone else, the Jewish community brought about the horrific decree to "destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey" (Esther 3:13).
Let us look back to what Haman said the first time he complained to the crown about the Jews:
"There is a certain ethnic group scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are diverse from those of every people; neither do they keep the king's laws. Therefore the king gains nothing by putting up with them" (Esther 3:8).
Haman stressed the fact that no matter how hard the government tried to erase the unique character of this stubborn sect, nothing came of their efforts. They persisted in maintaining their national identity. The Jews continued to stick out like a sore thumb. They absolutely refused to take the authorities' message to heart and to adapt to their new homeland.
It was only after Haman's decree of genocide had been issued and copies of the proclamation sent to all the provinces of Persia and Media that the people realized how wrong they had been to ignore Mordecai's directive not to attend the royal banquet years beforehand. In the end, they were to see for themselves that when they repented for their error, and they gathered together to pray and mend their ways, Heaven saved them and performed miracles for them, as related in the Book of Esther.
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There are several additional references to Israel's future years in exile that we find in the Torah. One striking instance can be found in the Book of Deuteronomy, written long before the people of Israel even entered their homeland, much less were exiled from it:
How can one individual pursue a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, were it not that their Rock had given them over and the L-rd had delivered them up to their enemies? Deuteronomy 30:32
It is not by chance that we read of instances during our long exile in which Jews have taken flight seemingly without reason. This was all a part of G-d's process to bring Israel to fulfilling its destiny through the experiences in the Diaspora.
Not only does G-d control our destiny; He also has made certain that we be aware of the fact that it is He who is holding the reins in hand, and directing our "travels" along the path of history to the specific end for which He created us.
By predicting these events millennia before they took place, G-d teaches us that we are not tossed about on the waves, without purpose, and without a destination or destiny. To the contrary, He has demonstrated that everything is planned in advance, and every step we take brings us that much closer to fulfilling the historical role assigned to us. The fear and the persecutions are an integral part of the experiences planned for our "training camp" while in exile:
And you will I scatter among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you; and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
And as for those that are left of you, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, and the sound of a driven leaf shall pursue them, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall, and there is no one chasing after them. (Leviticus 26:33 and 36)
How painful it is to recall the many times that the prophecies expressed in these verses and those that follow, were fulfilled during the centuries of our exile and persecution.
We would do well to keep in mind that the Torah contains not only the dire predictions of suffering, but even more so, prophecies of rejoicing and redemption, return to our land, the ingathering of the exiles, and rejuvenation. Just as the verses foretelling of our suffering have come to pass, we look forward to witnessing the fulfillment of the promises of joy and jubilation.
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