The life example and the teaching of Rabbi Shlomo Goren, zt?l, provide a set of teachings that, taken as a whole, provide a much needed ethical guide for Israel today. Rabbi Goren?s life story was one of incredible devotion and dedication to the redemption of the people of Israel, to the building of the Jewish state, and to the service of God. He synthesized within himself and through his life actions, qualities and values that today are considered the exclusive possession of only one particular kind of Jew and Israeli.
Rabbi Goren was, on the one hand, a great student of Torah, one who from an early age showed tremendous brilliance, and throughout his life continued to study, write and teach, making a unique contribution to the whole world of Jewish learning. On the other hand, he was a man of action, whose physical courage in the War of Independence was legendary. For him, fighting for Israel was a first moral duty, and his building of the foundations of the Israeli Army as a Jewish army is one of the great achievements of his life. He gave most of his time to Torah, but he did not turn his back on the world of secular and university learning, and there, too, in his studies and teaching of philosophy, he excelled. His hunger for knowledge was immense and as a posek he delved into and mastered new fields of learning. Not only was he the first great modern posek in all matters connected with military life, but he was also a pioneer in all areas of medical ethics. As a posek, his compassion was immense and his decisions that released the agunot of the men aboard the lost Israeli ships Eilat and Dakar were models both of Halachic scholarship and true social concern. Fierce in his love of justice he was even more fierce in his concern for each and every Jew who he felt was suffering unjustly. Thus, in the notorious Lenger case he drew upon himself the wrath of a great deal of the Old Yishuv?s religious establishment, but made certain that justice was done for two young people who had risked their lives to defend the state of Israel.
Rabbi Goren believed in the creation of the Jewish state as historical manifestation of the divine process of Redemption. He pointed to the ingathering of the exiles and the Jewish winning of sovereignty in the land of Israel as first signs, however incomplete, of the Messianic era to come. As one who lived through the time of the destruction of European Jewry, as one who had lost many family members during that time, he believed most deeply in the Jewish state as home and refuge, as the one true sanctuary for the Jewish people. And wherever he went throughout the world, he spoke with pride in Israel and was its defender in the deepest way.
Perhaps, at a time when so much of the discourse of Israeli life revolves around the needs and interests of particular sectors, ethnic groups, economic classes, and political parties, one central value of Rabbi Goren?s stands out. All his life, he struggled for the unity of the people of Israel, for a common cause and meaning. As the first Chief Rabbi of the IDF, he cancelled the separate religious units and strove to integrate soldiers of all kinds into a shared experience. He tried to teach others to think not of their own narrow interest, but of the well-being of the people as a whole. At the height of his greatest moments, even at the taking of the Temple Mount and the Western Wall in 1967, in which he played such an important inspirational role, he turned to care for the needs of individual soldiers and their families.
Rabbi Goren?s belief in the Jewish people and their story, in their covenant with God, and their historic and eternal connection with the land of Israel can, at a time when so many are filled with confusion and doubt, give us new strength. The struggles he went through, as the struggles the Jewish people have gone through as a whole, have been immense. But with faith like his, with vision and inspiration that has at its heart the love of God and Israel, enemies can be overcome, and the future can, in hope, again be regained.
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Shalom Freedman is a freelance writer in Jerusalem whose work has appeared in a wide variety of Jewish publications.
Rabbi Goren was, on the one hand, a great student of Torah, one who from an early age showed tremendous brilliance, and throughout his life continued to study, write and teach, making a unique contribution to the whole world of Jewish learning. On the other hand, he was a man of action, whose physical courage in the War of Independence was legendary. For him, fighting for Israel was a first moral duty, and his building of the foundations of the Israeli Army as a Jewish army is one of the great achievements of his life. He gave most of his time to Torah, but he did not turn his back on the world of secular and university learning, and there, too, in his studies and teaching of philosophy, he excelled. His hunger for knowledge was immense and as a posek he delved into and mastered new fields of learning. Not only was he the first great modern posek in all matters connected with military life, but he was also a pioneer in all areas of medical ethics. As a posek, his compassion was immense and his decisions that released the agunot of the men aboard the lost Israeli ships Eilat and Dakar were models both of Halachic scholarship and true social concern. Fierce in his love of justice he was even more fierce in his concern for each and every Jew who he felt was suffering unjustly. Thus, in the notorious Lenger case he drew upon himself the wrath of a great deal of the Old Yishuv?s religious establishment, but made certain that justice was done for two young people who had risked their lives to defend the state of Israel.
Rabbi Goren believed in the creation of the Jewish state as historical manifestation of the divine process of Redemption. He pointed to the ingathering of the exiles and the Jewish winning of sovereignty in the land of Israel as first signs, however incomplete, of the Messianic era to come. As one who lived through the time of the destruction of European Jewry, as one who had lost many family members during that time, he believed most deeply in the Jewish state as home and refuge, as the one true sanctuary for the Jewish people. And wherever he went throughout the world, he spoke with pride in Israel and was its defender in the deepest way.
Perhaps, at a time when so much of the discourse of Israeli life revolves around the needs and interests of particular sectors, ethnic groups, economic classes, and political parties, one central value of Rabbi Goren?s stands out. All his life, he struggled for the unity of the people of Israel, for a common cause and meaning. As the first Chief Rabbi of the IDF, he cancelled the separate religious units and strove to integrate soldiers of all kinds into a shared experience. He tried to teach others to think not of their own narrow interest, but of the well-being of the people as a whole. At the height of his greatest moments, even at the taking of the Temple Mount and the Western Wall in 1967, in which he played such an important inspirational role, he turned to care for the needs of individual soldiers and their families.
Rabbi Goren?s belief in the Jewish people and their story, in their covenant with God, and their historic and eternal connection with the land of Israel can, at a time when so many are filled with confusion and doubt, give us new strength. The struggles he went through, as the struggles the Jewish people have gone through as a whole, have been immense. But with faith like his, with vision and inspiration that has at its heart the love of God and Israel, enemies can be overcome, and the future can, in hope, again be regained.
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Shalom Freedman is a freelance writer in Jerusalem whose work has appeared in a wide variety of Jewish publications.