According to a Pew Research Center study, there has been a steady decline in President Obama’s Jewish support. One blogger at the New York Times suggests that this may be due to questions about Obama’s support for Israel. Ultimately, the entire observation begs the question, is Judaism defined by support for Israel?
While it is safe to say that many American Jews consider Israel an important piece of their Jewish and political identity, from a Jewish perspective (politics aside), the debate rages. In other words, if G-d Forbid there was not a Jewish homeland, would that mean the demise of Jewish identity? This concern is not a debate of whether we should support Israel, but rather whether support for Israel is a result of our Jewish identity or the cause of it.
In modern Jewish American life, Israel (rightly) plays a central role. If we took away that centerpiece, what identity would remain for the majority of Jews?
Ultimately, the question leads to an even bigger query: What does it mean to be Jewish? Are we defined as Jews by a shared history, homeland, language or cuisine?
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In this week’s Torah portion Ki Tavo, we read “This day, you have become a people to the Lord, your God.”
Historians may argue about when the Jewish people became a nation, but the Torah is clear about it. Moshe made this declaration while the Jews were wandering in a wilderness without a place to call home.
The remarkable implication of this statement is that there is something beyond a shared land (which they did not yet have), a shared heritage or language (which they already had previously) or a political movement (which Jews still can’t agree on) – that determines the nationhood of our people.
Moshe spells it out in the next verse, “You shall therefore obey the Lord, your God, and fulfill His commandments and His statutes, which I command you this day.”
Indeed, we are a unique nation. Unlike others, our peoplehood was forged by virtue of our commitment to uphold the Torah, not by developing a common culture.
So the debate may continue about Jews and Obama. But the debate about the Jews themselves can be put to rest.
If Moshe were around today, his rejoinder may have sounded something like, “It’s the Torah, stupid.”