The foundational creed of many religions is submission to a higher power. For example, the word Islam literally means submission. Yet, this is not the case for the Children of Israel. The word Israel means to struggle, as the angel conveys to Jacob after struggling with him throughout the night:1 Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled (sarita) with beings Divine and human, and you have prevailed.
By giving such a name to the Jewish people, G‑d was, in effect, teaching them about the importance of thinking critically and not passively accepting authority. This may have contributed to the development of the Jewish proclivity to challenge, an inherited irreverence for dogma, and an instinctive resistance to blind adherence.
When G‑d tells Abraham about the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorra, Abraham challenges G‑d2 : Will you sweep away the innocent along with the guilty?...Shall the Judge of the entire earth not deal justly?
Similarly, Moses was not willing to accept G‑d’s decrees without challenge. He humbly questions G‑d about the suffering of his brethren in Egypt3 : Why have You brought harm upon this nation? Why did you send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has dealt worse with this nation, and You still have not delivered Your people!
Later, after the sin of the Golden Calf, G‑d tells Moses,4 Now, leave Me be, that My anger may blaze forth against them and that I may destroy them, and make of you a great nation. But Moses again speaks up on their behalf: Turn from Your blazing anger, and renounce this plan to punish Your people. Moses goes so far as to put his own legacy on the line, boldly declaring: Now, if You will forgive their sin [then good], but if not, erase me from the book that You have written!
Indeed, we find that, according to the Talmud,5 G‑d congratulates Moses for having perpetrated a seeming act of sacrilege when he smashed the Tablets in order to protect the people.
In contrast to such holy chutzpah, the Zohar6 criticizes Noah for not challenging G‑d by praying for the people of his generation as Abraham and Moses did. According to the Zohar, G‑d said to him: “Where were you for the entire time that I instructed you to build the ark? Why did you not beg for mercy for the inhabitants of the world?” From here we learn that Judaism holds up as its role models and heroes those who stand up against perceived injustice, whether Divine or human.
Incredibly, such principled resistance brings G‑d great pleasure. As the verse in Isaiah7 says: G‑d desires to pronounce him [Israel] victorious.
Similarly, the Midrash relates8 how G‑d tells the Jewish people: “When I win, I lose, and when I am won over, I win.” G‑d wants to be challenged and held “accountable” to the values He has given us to uphold.
What’s more, Judaism views the existence of evil, suffering, inequality, and injustice not as unavoidable features of society and life but as conditions that exist for us to confront and transform. Indeed, throughout history, this is what the Jewish people have endeavored to do.
To quote historian Paul Johnson:
“Certainly, the world without the Jews would have been a radically different place. To them we owe the idea of equality before the law, both Divine and human; of the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person; of the individual conscience and so a personal redemption; of collective conscience and so of social responsibility; of peace as an abstract ideal and love as the foundation of justice, and many other items that constitute the basic moral furniture of the human mind. Without Jews, it might have been a much emptier place.”9
This is what it means to be an Israelite.
In the vivid words of a famous Apple ad: “Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently—they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones who do.”10
G‑d allows pain and injustice to exist in the world in order for us to challenge such suffering and participate in its healing and rectification.
In the aftermath of the sin of the Golden Calf, the Torah says11 that, G‑d told Moses: “Now, leave Me be, that My anger may blaze forth against them and that I may destroy them, and make of you a great nation.”
The Talmudic Sage R. Avahu taught: “Were the verse not written in this manner, it would be impossible to say what I am about to say, in deference to G‑d. The phrase: Leave Me be, teaches that Moses grabbed the Holy One, blessed be He, as a person who grabs his friend by his garment would, and he said before Him: ‘Master of the Universe, I will not leave You be until You forgive and pardon them.’”
The Talmud concludes: “Fortunate is the student whose teacher concedes to him [as the L‑rd conceded to Moses].”
R. Yitzchak said: “This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: ‘Moses, you have given Me life with your words. [I am happy that on account of your arguments, I will forgive the Jewish people.]’”12
Join the Discussion