This posting is dedicated to the memory of Yoni Jesner, a yeshiva student from Scotland who was killed in the bus bombing which took place in Tel Aviv before Succos. Yoni was named after Yoni Netanyahu who was killed on July 4th, 1976, when he was leading the successful Israeli raid in Entebbe that saved the lives of 104 hostages. I am unable to say more about Yoni, for there are no eulogies given during a Festival. In fact, there is no mourning during a Festival, for a Festival celebrates the eternal life of Klal Yisrael - the Community of Israel, and each member of Klal Yisrael is connected to that eternal life. In addition, each Festival connects us to the final stage of the messianic age, when the Creator will eliminate death, as it is written: "He will eliminate death forever, and my Lord, the Compassionate and Just One, will erase tears from all faces"(Isaiah 25:8).
In a previous posting, we discussed the seventy offerings that the People of Israel brought to the Temple during the Festival of Succos on behalf of the seventy primary nations of the earth. As a prominent Torah educator of the past century, Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov, reminds us: "We brought these offerings as an atonement for the nations of the world and in prayer for their well-being, as well as for universal peace and harmony between them." (The Book of Our Heritage, Vol. 1).
Our offerings of love on behalf of the nations did not evoke a loving response from many nations, and according to tradition, our grievance against these nations is expressed in the words from the following psalm:
"And with words of hatred they have encircled me, and attacked me without cause. In return for my love, they accuse me, but I am prayer. They placed upon me evil in return for my good, and hatred in return for my love." (Psalm 109:3-5)
Rabbenu Bachya, a noted 13th century sage and biblical commentator, cites the following commentary of our sages on the above passage:
"You find that on the Festival of Succos Israel offered seventy young bulls for the nations of the world, who should have loved us for our action. Instead of loving us, however, they hate us." (Encyclopedia of Torah thoughts by Rabbi Chavel, Kad HaKemach, chapter on Sh'mini Atzeres).
A similar interpretation is cited by Rashi in his commentary to the above words, "They placed upon me evil in return for my good." Rashi, citing Midrash Shachar Tov, interprets Israel's grievance in the following manner: "Seventy bullocks I offer each year for the seventy nations and I request rain for them, yet they do evil to me."
Rabbenu Bachya points out that despite their hatred against us, we did not stop praying on their behalf, as it is written in the above verse: "In return for my love, they accuse me, but I am prayer." Rabbenu Bachya explains that Israel is proclaiming: "I continue to pray and bring an offering for them." Israel's gracious proclamation is in accordance with the law of the seventy offerings, for the Torah makes no distinction between righteous or wicked nations; it mandates offerings for "all" the seventy nations. Even if there are nations that hate us, we are still obligated to bring offerings on their behalf!
How are we to understand this? Does it not seem "masochistic" to pray for the life and well being of our enemies? I discussed this question with my teacher, Rav Aharon Feldman. He reminded me of another law regarding the seventy offerings which can respond to this question and also help us to understand the mitzva of the seventy offerings in a deeper way. When the Torah discusses the mitzva of the seventy offerings that we are to bring during the seven days of Succos (Numbers 29:12-32), it tells us that on the first day of the Festival we are to offer thirteen young bulls; on the second day we are to offer twelve young bulls; and on the third day we are to offer eleven young bulls, etc. The total of all the offerings at the end of the Festival adds up to seventy. Rabbenu Bachya cites the teaching of the sages that the gradual decrease in the number of young bulls offered each day alludes to the gradual decrease in the number of nations. This raises an obvious question: If the number of nations is to decrease, then why are we offering seventy offerings, so that they may all merit life? Rav Feldman responds that the decrease in the number of nations refers to the decrease in the number of separate national entities that oppose the will of Hashem - the Compassionate One. Instead of these separate entities - each living only for itself - the peoples of the earth are to eventually form one society that will fulfill the Divine purpose on earth. In the decrease of the number of offerings each day, we are expressing our desire for the elimination of a divided world.
A united world, however, does not mean that all cultural differences will disappear. The very fact that we offer seventy offerings, one for each of the earth's nations, implies that we desire that some measure of diversity among humankind be preserved. What then do our sages mean when they say that the decrease in the number of offerings each day alludes to the decrease in the number of separate nations? Based on my Torah studies, I would like to suggest that what will gradually disappear are not the "peoples" of the earth, but the "nation-states" of the earth. The term for nation-states in biblical Hebrew is "goyim," and the term for peoples is "amim?. Instead of seventy separate goyim, each striving to take from the other, we seek the establishment of a united society where each of the earth's amim is striving to give and to serve, for the goal of human history is the fulfillment of the following prophecy: "For then I will cause the amim to speak a pure language, so that they will all proclaim the Name of Hashem, to serve Him with a united resolve" (Zephaniah 3:9). In this verse, we do not speak of "goyim"; instead, we speak of "amim" joining together in unity. This hints at the idea that in the messianic age, there will no longer be nations or nation-states; there will only be "peoples?. This teaching is expressed in the writings of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, the noted 19th century sage and biblical commentator. Rabbi Hirsch writes: "At present, the nations, each an isolated unit to itself, stand against one another, armed to the teeth. But these differences will come to an end when the One God will one day reign supreme over them all. Human beings will differ from one another only by such peculiarities as are conditioned by national characteristics" (Commentary to Psalm 67:5). In the final stage of the messianic era, there will no longer be separate goyim, but diverse amim. It is then - when the goyim will be eliminated - that all human beings will acknowledge the sovereignty of the Compassionate One. This vision, says Rabbi Hirsch, is expressed in the following verse: "Hashem is Sovereign forever and ever, when the goyim will perish from His earth" (Psalm 10:16).
Through the seventy offerings, we seek the survival of the earth's diverse amim; however, through the decrease in the number of these daily offerings, we seek the elimination of the earth's arrogant and separate entities known as "goyim." In fact, the Prophet Zechariah states that before the dawn of the messianic age, the Compassionate One will break the power of the goyim who seek to destroy the People of Israel and the ideals that they represent. This prophecy is recorded in the section from the Book of Zechariah, which we read on the first day of Succos, where it states: "Hashem will go out and wage war with those goyim" (14:3). With the elimination of these powerful and oppressive goyim, adds the Prophet Zechariah, all human beings will finally acknowledge the sovereignty of the Compassionate One:
"Hashem will be the Sovereign over all the earth; on that day Hashem will be One and His Name One" (14:9).
Chag Samayach - A Happy Festival
Related Teachings and Comments:
1. During the biblical period, the Hebrew word "goy" referred to nations or nation-states. When the exile began, the word "goy" also began to refer to the individual members of the nation-states.
2. Regarding the dawn of the messianic era, it is written: "The mountain of the Temple of Hashem will be firmly established as the head of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills and all the goyim will stream to it" (Isaiah 2:2). The ancient Aramaic translation known as "Targum Yonason" translates "goyim" as "malchusa" - kingdoms or nation-states. The use of the term "goyim" in this verse implies that at the very beginning of the messianic era, there will still be nation-states. However, in the next verse, it states: "Many amim will go and say, 'Come, let us go up to the Mountain of Hashem, to the Temple of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways and we will walk in His paths'; for from Zion will come forth Torah and the word of Hashem from Jerusalem" (v.3). As the messianic age progresses, many "amim" - peoples - will make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem in order to study Torah. They no longer think of themselves as "goyim," but as "amim"!
3. For a Torah perspective on the demise of the nation-state, study the commentary of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch to Psalm 67. The book, "Psalms" - Rabbi Hirsch's translation and commentary, is published by Feldheim: www.feldheim.com. For a similar perspective on the demise of the nation-state, see the Art Scroll commentary to Psalm 148:11-13. It appears in the anthology of commentaries on the Book of Psalms by Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Feuer: www.artscroll.com.
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