In my December 2006 lecture on Russia at the Global Security Seminar in Los Angeles, I laid down, as the key point of my presentation, the concept of nation-idea, and how it applies to Russia. Here is a short recap, with a significant elaboration of the Jewish component, which is the subject of this entry, but obviously was not the focus of my GSS lecture.
I am well aware of a number of the world’s nations trying to formulate for themselves some sort of national idea, but this is not what I have in mind. My “nation-idea” is not something labored and trivial, to end up as a generic appeal to certain generic “national” values. In my description, it is a historically established image, consistently affecting the nation’s collective and individual consciousness, in other words, nothing “thought up” on the spur of the moment. There is a second criterion here, too. In order to qualify, the nation must have a well-developed sense of Superpower Mission, or Manifest Destiny, if you like. Rather than inward-looking, it must be outward-looking. The nation must see itself supra-nationally, combining the way it sees itself with how it ought to be seen by others. Under these criteria, I have been able to identify only three such nations. In addition to Russia, with her “Third Rome” nation-idea (see my entry The Russian National Idea, posted on January 22, 2011) and America, with her historical self-awareness as “A City upon a Hill” (see my entry A City Upon A Hill, posted on May 29, 2011), the third such nation in my categorization have been the Jews.
(I confess that I do not know enough about the Chinese to make a definite judgment, but, from what I know, I have not been able to find a comparable profession of superpower destiny coming from them.)
Now, how can that possibly be?! A nation without a country (that’s what the Jews used to be, for the most part of their history), yet one of only three to possess the necessary stuff, which could be identified as a superpower consciousness? Mind you, I am not talking here about the state of Israel, but about the state of Judenthum, to use the German word, in recognition of the well-known fact that, prior to World War II, the German-speaking Ashkenazic Jews had been, by far, the most literate and the most sophisticated part of the Jewish Diaspora in modern history.
But there is nothing in the concept of Jewish nationhood that should surprise any Bible reader. “And I will make of thee a great nation,”-- such is God’s promise to Abram/Abraham in the Torah. (Bereshit [Genesis] 12:2.) And then, of course, country or no country, this is how God addresses the Jews: “Hearken to Me, My people, and My nation…” (Yeshayahu [Isaiah] 51:4.) The idea that the Jews are not only a nation (granted, I am using the English translation, which is, however, authorized by both Chabad and the KJV), but a “great nation,” and also God’s nation, thus has the official Scriptural imprimatur, and there is apparently nothing unusual and even slightly debatable here.
The most intriguing remaining question concerns not this already settled concept of the Jewish nation, but the actual identity of the Jewish nation-idea, as I have put it. I am sure that many of my readers have already questioned the telltale title of this entry. As a matter of fact, I have chosen it to build surprise, rather than to ruin it. Talking of the national idea of the Jews, the idea of Chosenness, as contained in the Bible, is the one that comes to mind the most naturally. I would argue, however, that the Biblical explanation of Chosenness is only partially indicative of the Jewish “superpower mission.” Without trying to be offensive, most nations see themselves under special Divine protection and guidance, thus, the idea of a special relationship between a nation and God can be called… generic. It is only the religious acceptance of the Bible, which makes this particular relationship religiously special. There is a catch here, however. From the Christian point of view, the New Testament effectively abolished the special relationship of the Old Testament two thousand years ago. From the Jewish point of view, the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD effectively suspended Torah Judaism until the future coming of Mashiach, substituting it by Rabbinical Judaism and reducing the Jewish national mission to passive patient waiting and prayer. This is the religious view, of course, but then the Chosenness idea is also entirely religious, and one cannot just pick and choose what to believe and what to dismiss.
It is therefore impossible for me to accept the idea of the Jewish Chosenness as the Jewish national idea. Its unmistakable presence is felt in one later Rabbinical/Kabbalistic idea, which I find perfectly answering every criterion of superpower national consciousness, and here it is.
Alongside Russia’s Third Rome and the American City upon a Hill, I see the Jewish nation-idea definitively formulated as Tikkun Olam.
What Tikkun Olam is, and what it really means in world-historical, social-political, national-psychological, mystical, and other terms, becomes the subject of my next entry.
I am well aware of a number of the world’s nations trying to formulate for themselves some sort of national idea, but this is not what I have in mind. My “nation-idea” is not something labored and trivial, to end up as a generic appeal to certain generic “national” values. In my description, it is a historically established image, consistently affecting the nation’s collective and individual consciousness, in other words, nothing “thought up” on the spur of the moment. There is a second criterion here, too. In order to qualify, the nation must have a well-developed sense of Superpower Mission, or Manifest Destiny, if you like. Rather than inward-looking, it must be outward-looking. The nation must see itself supra-nationally, combining the way it sees itself with how it ought to be seen by others. Under these criteria, I have been able to identify only three such nations. In addition to Russia, with her “Third Rome” nation-idea (see my entry The Russian National Idea, posted on January 22, 2011) and America, with her historical self-awareness as “A City upon a Hill” (see my entry A City Upon A Hill, posted on May 29, 2011), the third such nation in my categorization have been the Jews.
(I confess that I do not know enough about the Chinese to make a definite judgment, but, from what I know, I have not been able to find a comparable profession of superpower destiny coming from them.)
Now, how can that possibly be?! A nation without a country (that’s what the Jews used to be, for the most part of their history), yet one of only three to possess the necessary stuff, which could be identified as a superpower consciousness? Mind you, I am not talking here about the state of Israel, but about the state of Judenthum, to use the German word, in recognition of the well-known fact that, prior to World War II, the German-speaking Ashkenazic Jews had been, by far, the most literate and the most sophisticated part of the Jewish Diaspora in modern history.
But there is nothing in the concept of Jewish nationhood that should surprise any Bible reader. “And I will make of thee a great nation,”-- such is God’s promise to Abram/Abraham in the Torah. (Bereshit [Genesis] 12:2.) And then, of course, country or no country, this is how God addresses the Jews: “Hearken to Me, My people, and My nation…” (Yeshayahu [Isaiah] 51:4.) The idea that the Jews are not only a nation (granted, I am using the English translation, which is, however, authorized by both Chabad and the KJV), but a “great nation,” and also God’s nation, thus has the official Scriptural imprimatur, and there is apparently nothing unusual and even slightly debatable here.
The most intriguing remaining question concerns not this already settled concept of the Jewish nation, but the actual identity of the Jewish nation-idea, as I have put it. I am sure that many of my readers have already questioned the telltale title of this entry. As a matter of fact, I have chosen it to build surprise, rather than to ruin it. Talking of the national idea of the Jews, the idea of Chosenness, as contained in the Bible, is the one that comes to mind the most naturally. I would argue, however, that the Biblical explanation of Chosenness is only partially indicative of the Jewish “superpower mission.” Without trying to be offensive, most nations see themselves under special Divine protection and guidance, thus, the idea of a special relationship between a nation and God can be called… generic. It is only the religious acceptance of the Bible, which makes this particular relationship religiously special. There is a catch here, however. From the Christian point of view, the New Testament effectively abolished the special relationship of the Old Testament two thousand years ago. From the Jewish point of view, the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD effectively suspended Torah Judaism until the future coming of Mashiach, substituting it by Rabbinical Judaism and reducing the Jewish national mission to passive patient waiting and prayer. This is the religious view, of course, but then the Chosenness idea is also entirely religious, and one cannot just pick and choose what to believe and what to dismiss.
It is therefore impossible for me to accept the idea of the Jewish Chosenness as the Jewish national idea. Its unmistakable presence is felt in one later Rabbinical/Kabbalistic idea, which I find perfectly answering every criterion of superpower national consciousness, and here it is.
Alongside Russia’s Third Rome and the American City upon a Hill, I see the Jewish nation-idea definitively formulated as Tikkun Olam.
What Tikkun Olam is, and what it really means in world-historical, social-political, national-psychological, mystical, and other terms, becomes the subject of my next entry.
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