Tag Archives: Kibbutz

The Ideal Torah Government

This week’s parasha (outside of Israel) is Korach, about the eponymous revolutionary who sought to change the social structure of the nation in the Wilderness. Korach infamously accused Moses and Aaron of consolidating all the power for themselves and their family. After all, the supreme leader was Moses, the high priest was his brother Aaron, the military chief of staff was best friend Joshua, and the chief of the Levites was cousin Elitzafan. The final straw may have been when, at the end of last week’s parasha, God promised the kohanim numerous privileges for their priestly service (Numbers 15). Understandably, many did not like this. Korach argued that “we are all holy”, not just the priests. As Rashi comments, Moses did agree with Korach in principle, however, the reality is that people are not the same. Moses replied to Korach with something often echoed today by those on the political right against those on the left: equality does not mean sameness.

Interestingly, the Zohar (I, 17a) tells us that Korach represented the left side of Gevurah, while Moses and Aaron stood on the right side of Chessed. It seems the divide between Left and Right already existed over three millennia ago! There is an important message here for today: we would actually expect the platform of Korach to be on the side of Chessed, “kindness”, the side of unlimited giving—after all, they want everyone to be equal and the same and receive the same benefits. And we would think that Moses should be on the left side of Gevurah, “severity”, separation, and restraint. Yet, the Zohar says it is exactly the opposite. Trying to make everyone the same is not an act of kindness at all, and will ultimately fail. The real Chessed is the position of Moses and Aaron: we are indeed equal, and should have equal opportunities, but people are not the same, and sameness cannot be imposed on society.

The total failure of the Soviet Union proved the futility of attempting to impose sameness in the form of communism and excessive socialism. The kibbutz movement in Israel was closer to the original communist ideals, and was voluntary, not imposed. It enjoyed far more success than the USSR for a time, but ultimately floundered anyway. Such utopian societies sound good in principle, but never work in reality. As the old saying goes, one who is not a socialist at age 20 has no heart, and one who is still a socialist at age 40 has no brain. Still, Jews have played prominent roles in communist history, and antisemites often accuse Jews of pushing socialism. (Ironically, antisemites also accuse Jews of being greedy capitalists at the same time!) What is the actual Jewish approach to proper government and social structure? How does the Torah envision the ideal society? Continue reading

Itzchak and the Kibbutz: Transforming Israel

1906 illustration of Isaac, constructing a well.

This week’s parasha, Toldot, is the only one in the Torah that speaks at any length about Isaac. Abraham is introduced at the end of parashat Noach, is the protagonist of Lech Lecha and Vayera, and concludes his story in Chayei Sarah. Isaac, on the other hand, is only briefly discussed in Vayera, reappears only at the end of Chayei Sarah, and fairly quickly makes his exit in this week’s parasha (appearing just once more in Genesis 35, when he passes away). Thereafter, Jacob becomes the subject in the next few parashas. Of the three patriarchs, Isaac is least spoken of—by far.

What we are told of Isaac is that he was a diligent worker; digging wells, sowing seeds, and turning the barren lands of Israel into flourishing oases:

And Isaac sowed in that land, and found in the same year a hundred-fold; and God blessed him. And the man waxed great, and grew more and more until he became very great. And he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of herds, and a great household; and the Philistines envied him. Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. And Avimelekh said unto Isaac: “Go from us; for you are much mightier than we!” … And Isaac dug again the wells of water… (Genesis 26:12-18)

Reading this passage, one can’t help but sense a certain familiarity with this narrative. A Jew comes to work a difficult land, and finds great prosperity. The Philistine becomes jealous, and seeks to expel the Jew from the land. Instead of trying to build up his own prosperity, the Philistine instead wastes time and effort trying to sabotage the Jew. When this doesn’t work, and the Philistine feels powerless, he continues to protest and shout at the Jew: “Go from us; for you are much mightier than we!” All along, the Jew quietly perseveres, and re-digs the wells. This is the story of Isaac and the Philistines; it is the story of modern Israel and the Palestinians.

In fact, of all the patriarchs and biblical figures, it is Isaac that is most associated with the land of Israel. He was the only patriarch never to leave the Holy Land, spending his entire 180-year lifespan there. The Torah says little of Isaac except for his diligent love and labour of the land. Of course, as we read at the start of the parasha, Isaac and Rebecca literally produced Israel—their son, that is. Every child is the product of three partners: father, mother, and God. Beautifully, the gematria of “Isaac” (יצחק), his wife “Rebecca” (רבקה), and God (יהוה) add up to 541, the value of “Israel” (ישראל). And just as it was the labour of Isaac and Rebecca that produced the boy Israel, it was their labour that first transformed the land of Israel.

Our Sages explain that the reason Isaac isn’t discussed very much in the Torah is because he actually did not complete his mission (see, for instance, Ba’al HaTurim on Deuteronomy 7:21). The Arizal further notes that the name “Isaac” (יצחק) is an anagram of קץ חי, meaning that his spirit will “live again at the End of Days” (Sha’ar HaPesukim, Lech Lecha). And this is precisely the spirit that guided and infused the Jewish pioneers who re-established modern Israel.

Like Isaac, these pioneers came to a completely barren land. It is worth recalling that when Mark Twain visited the Holy Land in 1869, he wrote:

A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action… We never saw a human being on the whole route… There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of the worthless soil, had almost deserted the country… Of all the lands there are for dismal scenery, I think Palestine must be the prince… Can the curse of the Deity beautify a land? Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes. Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies. (The Innocents Abroad)

Similarly, when President Ulysses S. Grant visited in 1878 (becoming the first American president to do so), he described nothing but misery and poverty, concluding that the entire trip was “a very unpleasant one”. Who would ever think that less than a century later, Israel would be a prosperous, flourishing Middle-Eastern powerhouse?

When we think of the re-establishment of Israel, we often think of those statesmen and warriors: Herzl and Weizmann, Ben-Gurion and Jabotinsky, Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, and so on. But the real heroes were those simple Jews who made aliyah against all odds, sacrificing everything they had, working tirelessly to turn a desert into a sanctuary. Like Isaac long before them, they drained swamps and dug wells, sowed seeds and irrigated the land. And soon, like Isaac, they found me’ah she’arim, “hundred-fold” blessings.

Today’s Jerusalem neighbourhood of Mea Shearim was founded in 1874 by a group of religious Jews, at this very time during the week of parashat Toldot, where the name of the neighbourhoud comes from. We often forget that the first Jewish groups to make aliyah were deeply religious folks who yearned to return to the Holy Land, and to usher in the Final Redemption. Long before the Zionist movement, Rabbi Yehuda HaHasid Segal (c. 1660-1700) brought some 1500 Jews to Jerusalem in 1697. Eighty years later, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk (c. 1730-1788), one of the early Hasidic leaders, led a group of 300 Jews. In 1808, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Shklov (c. 1750-1827), a disciple of the Vilna Gaon, fatefully brought another 150 Jews. This is not to mention the countless Sephardic Jews who settled in Israel in the 16th century following the Spanish Expulsion. (One of them, Don Joseph Nasi, nearly established a Jewish state then, and was granted the title “Lord of Tiberias” by the Ottomans!) These early returnees paved the way for future waves of larger aliyot.

Starting in 1882, those aliyot were primarily composed of thousands of secular Eastern European Jews. Truly, the word “secular” is inappropriate. While they had, for the most part, abandoned traditional Judaism and the old shtetl mindset, they fervently wished to return to their Biblical home, reclaim their Biblical language, work their God-given land, and reinvigorate the Jewish people. It was Rabbi Avraham Itzchak Kook (1865-1935) who best understood them.

Rav Kook

Rav Kook never critiqued these pioneers, and recognized their old frustrations and resentments. He would say that they were not rebelling against the Torah, but against galut. They were tired of being weak, poor, and downtrodden; exiled and persecuted. He would say that, indeed, Jews had forgotten that they not only possessed a holy soul, but also a holy body. And he would point out that the work of these pioneers—draining swamps, digging wells, sowing seeds—was also holy work, and a fulfillment of the Torah. This is the work of Isaac, described in Jewish mysticism as the very embodiment of Gevurah, “strength”. Gevurah is associated with fire and passion, with self-sacrifice and perseverance, with working hard and overcoming challenges. This is a fitting description of Isaac and—political leanings aside—every one of those early Jewish pioneers. They were all, as Rav Kook described it, “a fiery spirit encased in powerful muscles.”

That these pioneers organized themselves into kibbutzim is no coincidence. In his Eros and the Jews, historian David Biale points out that the earliest origin of the word “kibbutz” is from the Tzfat Kabbalists of the 16th century! These kibbutzim referred to holy, mystical gatherings, with the ultimate aim of hastening the Redemption. Later on, Hasidim would adopt the term to refer to their own religious gatherings. Biale notes how Breslover Hasidim in particular would refer to their congregation as hakibbutz hakadosh. (See pgs. 118 and 270, with footnotes.)

The farms of the first official kibbutz, Degania, in 1939

Certainly, the secular kibbutz could not be described as “religious”, but it definitely had a mysticism to it, and the very same goal of hastening the redemption of the Jewish people. More than anything else, it was the kibbutz that made modern Israel possible. It was the kibbutz, through unceasing collective labour and brotherly unity, that transformed a wasteland into a haven. To this day, Israel’s kibbutzim still produce 10% of its total industrial output (some $8 billion in wealth), and a whopping 40% of its agriculture! Needless to say, Hasidic Jews in Mea Shearim would have had little to eat without kibbutznikim in Degania.

These kibbutznikim still carry the spirit of Isaac, the very first hard-working agrarian, shepherd, hydrologist Jew who tirelessly worked the land of Israel to make it flourish with meah she’arim. And so, it may not be much of a stretch to point out that the gematria of “Isaac” (יצחק) is 208, exactly equivalent with “kibbutz” (קיבוץ). Our Sages explained that the Torah speaks so little of Isaac because his task was not finished. They prophesied that the spirit of Itzchak would return at the End of Days, ketz chai, to complete his work. How fortunate are we to see this prophesy realized right before our very eyes.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Meir Yehezkel Holtzberg (1881-1956), bringing a Torah for the establishment of Kibbutz Hanita in 1938.

1909: End of the “Jewish Curse” and Fulfilment of Prophecy

Towards the end of this week’s parasha, Ki Tavo, we read a long list of horrifying curses with which God threatens the Jewish people if they stray from the path of righteousness. What’s more shocking than reading this terrible list is realizing that the Jewish people have experienced just about every one of these curses in our long history: oppression, destruction, injustice, fear, poverty, starvation, exile, genocide, desperation, forced conversion, captivity, expulsion, and utter annihilation. The Torah says that these travails will be so extensive that the Jewish people “will become an astonishment, an example, a byword among all the peoples to whom Hashem will lead you.” (Deut. 28:37) Israel will become the very epitome of curses and suffering. Indeed, history has confirmed this unfortunate prophecy.

Thankfully, the prophecies don’t end there. The haftarah for this parasha is a passage from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah prophesies the very opposite, and says that a time will come when all of these curses will be reversed into blessings. Whereas Moses says God “will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other,” (28:64), Isaiah says that “all have gathered, they have come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be raised…” (60:4). While Moses warns that “your skies above you will be copper, and the earth below you iron” (28:23), Isaiah says that “Instead of the copper I will bring gold, and instead of the iron I will bring silver.” (60:17) God confirms that He has put us through many trials in the past, and while this was long in duration, it was nonetheless only temporary, for “in My wrath I struck you, and in My grace I have had mercy on you.” (60:10)

Amazingly, we are living the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecies. The Jewish people have returned en masse to the Promised Land, have made the barren deserts bloom once more, and have miraculously defended their borders time and again. In the span of just several decades, the State of Israel has transformed into an agricultural, technological, and military powerhouse – despite very few natural resources, a small landmass, and a tiny population. As Isaiah predicted “…the abundance of the west shall be turned over to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you.” (60:5) Now, all that remains to be seen is the last part of Isaiah’s promises:

Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither robbery nor destruction within your borders, and you shall call your walls “salvation”, and your gates “praise”… And your people, all of them righteous, shall inherit the land forever, a scion of My planting, the work of My hands in which I will glory. The smallest shall become a thousand and the least a mighty nation; I am Hashem, in its time I will hasten it. (60:18, 21-22)

Israel will finally have true peace, with the world no longer questioning the indigenous Jewish people’s legitimacy to inhabit their Holy Land. The very last verse of this prophecy then says that when that time finally comes, God will “hasten” its arrival. This is quite the perplexing statement, and one that has kept rabbis and scholars thinking for millennia. The problem is as follows: If something is being hastened, then it is obviously coming before its time, and if it is coming on time, then it hasn’t been hastened!

Another way of looking at it is that one makes haste when they are already late. Few would disagree that this final redemption is long overdue. Since it is so late in coming, God will make haste to bring it about. An even simpler explanation is that when the time comes, God will hasten the series of events to bring about that happy ending. Recent history has shown that this is exactly what has happened.

In the late 1800s, the thought of an independent Jewish state in the Holy Land was still a very distant dream. The “first aliyah” began in 1882, and though as many as 35,000 Jews migrated to Israel by 1903, some scholars estimate that up to 90% of them left Israel soon after because of unfavourable conditions.

Then came 1909. In that year, a group of ten men and two women established a unique collective near the Galilee which would become the first kibbutz. The model of the kibbutz proved successful, and expanded from twelve people in 1909 to four thousand people living in thirty kibbutzim across the country by 1929. The kibbutz became one of the most significant factors in the rebirth of Israel, playing a key role in defending the land, driving agricultural innovation, and inspiring the “Israeli dream”.

Degania Alef, the first kibbutz, in 1910 (Left), and in 1931 (Right)

Degania Alef, the first kibbutz, in 1910 (Left), and in 1931 (Right)

Around the same time in 1909, a group of 66 families parceled out a plot of land outside of Jaffa (which was previously purchased by a wealthy Dutch Jew named Jacobus Kann). By 1922, this little settlement had become the bustling city of Tel-Aviv, with a population hitting 34,000 just a few years later. It would only take two more decades for the declaration of independence to be proclaimed from that city, and two more to liberate all of Jerusalem.

66 Families Parcel Out Tel-Aviv in 1909 (Left), the city in 1922 (Middle), and Tel-Aviv today (Right)

66 Families Parcel Out Tel-Aviv in 1909 (Left); the city in 1922 (Centre); and Tel-Aviv today (Right)

Events have certainly progressed very quickly, and a glance at today’s geopolitical situation shows that they continue to rapidly accelerate. The spark for it all appears to have been lit in 1909 by those two seminal events – the first kibbutz and the first city – which propelled the rebirth of Israel and the fulfilment of Biblical prophecy. What’s most interesting is that this special number – 1909 – is precisely the gematria (numerical value) of that final cryptic verse of Isaiah: “The smallest shall become a thousand and the least a mighty nation; I am Hashem, in its time I will hasten it.”


The above is adapted from Garments of Light: 70 Illuminating Essays on the Weekly Torah Portion and Holidays. Click here to get the book!