The concept of Jewish survival appears in all sorts of contexts nowadays - as an argument against assimilation, in political defense of the State of Israel, and even as an explanation for the laws of kashruth. Given this prominent emphasis among today's Jews and Jewish movements, it seems worthwhile to re-examine the importance of national survival as a religious value. Is preservation of the Jewish people an important priority in the Bible, as it is among today's Jews?
It may come as a surprise to many that there is little specific impetus for Jewish self-preservation in the Hebrew Bible. The closest thing we find to a description of "Jewish survival" is the promise God makes to Abraham and Jacob: Your children will be as the sands of the sea, as the stars of the sky in number (Gen. 15:5, 22:17, 28:14). If we believe this promise, then Jews need not fear total annihilation, for their survival is guaranteed by God.
An examination of the Israelites in the desert provides an interesting counterpoint. The Israelites are constantly on probation by God, who seems happy to wipe them off the face of the Earth at a moment's notice if they misbehave (Ex. 32:32; Num. 14:11). They are warned, you are going into a land that can spew out its inhabitants (Lev. 18:24). The Canaanites before you were immoral, and are being exiled from the land. You, too, will be exiled, if you are not found worthy in your hearts.
And indeed, this is what actually happens in the Bible. The Israelites inherit the land, but fail morally. They are eventually conquered and exiled, just as the Canaanites were before them.
It may come as a surprise to many that there is little specific impetus for Jewish self-preservation in the Hebrew Bible. The closest thing we find to a description of "Jewish survival" is the promise God makes to Abraham and Jacob: Your children will be as the sands of the sea, as the stars of the sky in number (Gen. 15:5, 22:17, 28:14). If we believe this promise, then Jews need not fear total annihilation, for their survival is guaranteed by God.
An examination of the Israelites in the desert provides an interesting counterpoint. The Israelites are constantly on probation by God, who seems happy to wipe them off the face of the Earth at a moment's notice if they misbehave (Ex. 32:32; Num. 14:11). They are warned, you are going into a land that can spew out its inhabitants (Lev. 18:24). The Canaanites before you were immoral, and are being exiled from the land. You, too, will be exiled, if you are not found worthy in your hearts.
And indeed, this is what actually happens in the Bible. The Israelites inherit the land, but fail morally. They are eventually conquered and exiled, just as the Canaanites were before them.
If the Bible doesn't consider national preservation to be such an important value, why then has it risen to such prominence among today's Jews? I think the answer to this question is likely to be complex and psychological. Part of it has to do with the Holocaust being such a recent and devastating event in the national Jewish psyche. Another part of it has to do with the natural human tendency to identify with an ethnic group and see it as above reproach (just as we as individuals have a tendency to overlook our own personality flaws).
Nevertheless, it behooves us as a nation to remember that the single-minded preservation of the Jewish sub-race is not at all what Judaism is about. We are Jews; we are charged with creating a holy nation that interacts with God and creates a positive force in the world. If we do this, self-preservation is guaranteed, and we don't need to worry about it; if we fail to do this, nothing we can do will save us from annihilation. Let kindness and justice guide our path, not fear.
Nevertheless, it behooves us as a nation to remember that the single-minded preservation of the Jewish sub-race is not at all what Judaism is about. We are Jews; we are charged with creating a holy nation that interacts with God and creates a positive force in the world. If we do this, self-preservation is guaranteed, and we don't need to worry about it; if we fail to do this, nothing we can do will save us from annihilation. Let kindness and justice guide our path, not fear.
There is a TV show called Battlestar Galactica in which the human race is reduced to about 50,000 survivors, off in space. Their leader, a certain man named Adama, makes a great speech right at the beginning of the show. "It's not enough to survive," he says, "we must be found worthy of survival." That is a value worthy of the Jewish people.
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