What a remarkable insight from the Ramban, perfect for Parshat Lech Lecha, the beginning of our people! Shirat Ha’azinu (Devarim 32: 26-27) teaches that Hashem does not eliminate the Jewish people even if we sin grievously. Although Hashem contemplates eliminating us, He feels he cannot. Ramban explains that Hashem miraculously sustains us for His sake since the Jewish People announce Hashem’s presence in this world! Hashem does not allow us to assimilate and guarantees that at least some Jews will always observe the Torah (Devarim 31:21, with Rashi). Hashem “needs” us to serve as His ambassadors to the world! It is our sacred mission/Shelichut!
Ramban explains that Hashem created the world for humanity to recognize Him. Hashem wants a relationship with us! After repeated failures of society, Hashem chose one nation, Am Yisrael (the nation most committed to Him), to represent Him. Hashem hides, as Yishayahu HaNavi (45:15) describes Him as a “Keil Mistateir.” We announce His presence lurking behind the wall, peering through the latticework (Shir HaShirim 2:9). No wonder why Kiddush Hashem is of paramount importance.
Judaism is unique in that many miracles were performed in the presence of our entire people. Our ancestors witnessed the Ten Makkot, Keri’at Yam Suf, the daily Mahn for forty years, and most important, Hashem giving the Torah at Har Sinai! We are the biological descendants of the nation that witnessed these great events! We are living testimony to these events! No wonder Hashem calls us His witnesses” (Atem Eidai, Ne’um Hashem; Yishayahu 43:10).
We know of Hashem giving us the Torah, Keri’at Yam Suf, etc., not only from the Torah but from our Mesorah, the unbroken chain of living testimony from generation to generation from Ma’amad Har Sinai. The Jewish People serve as the Torah’s “companion volume,” testifying to its authenticity!
No wonder Hashem feels that he cannot eliminate us! If God forbid the Jewish people were eliminated, there would be no means of announcing Hashem’s presence in this world! The world would no longer recognize Hashem since no one would pronounce His Kingdom. The purpose of Creation would end if there were no Jewish people. Therefore we must survive! We must also thrive, for otherwise, no one would pay attention to us.
The famous non-Jewish French philosopher Voltaire proclaimed that he knew no proof of God other than the miraculous survival of the Jewish People! The famous non-Jewish Russian writer Leo Tolstoy wrote, “The Jew—is the symbol of eternity…. He is the one who, for so long, had guarded the prophetic message and transmitted it to all mankind…. The Jew is eternal. He is the embodiment of eternity.”
The Ramban (Devarim 32:38-39) writes that Shirat Haazinu is a “Shtar Eidut,” a signed contract from Hashem guaranteeing our survival and thriving even after enduring the most intense punishments. Our survival and thriving are astounding miracles. From the Holocaust to “start-up nation” in only a few decades is stunning. Rav Yaakov Emden famously proclaimed (in the introduction to his Siddur) that the continued survival of our people is a miracle of greater magnitude than even Keri’at Yam Suf! Our very existence is vivid testimony to Hashem’s continued intervention in worldly affairs.
There is, however, a crucial condition to our survival. Only those committed to serving as Hashem’s ambassador/representative, to function (in the words of Yishayahu HaNavi 42:6, 49:6, and 60:3) as the light to the world/Or LaGoyim, and to serve (as Tolstoy said) a bearer of the prophetic message, are guaranteed eternal survival.
When I was a boy, most major American cities had at least one “Jewish neighborhood.” Most often, these were not necessarily Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods but simply Jewish areas. Only four decades later, due to massive assimilation, the idea of a Jewish neighborhood inhabited primarily by non-Orthodox Jews no longer exists. The cultural identity of non-observant Jews has an inordinately short “shelf life.”
Sadly, many of us have relatives who have forsaken their holy heritage and do not have even one Jewish grandchild. Not one! Eternity is guaranteed, the “Shtar Eidut” is reserved, only for those who follow in the footsteps of our Avot and Imahot and faithfully execute the mission Hashem assigned us.
The priceless reward for buying into the glorious mission of serving as Hashem’s ambassador is inclusion in eternity. Incorporation in eternity, though, is reserved for those whose actions and behaviors reflect and pronounce eternal Torah values.
May we remember our sacred mission, stay on task, and faithfully carry out our great mission! “Va’atem Hadevakeim BaHashem Elokeichem, chayyim kulchem hayom,” You who are fully devoted to Hashem remain alive until this very day (Devarim 4:4).
Rabbi Haim Jachter is the spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarei Orah, the Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck. He also serves as a rebbe at Torah Academy of Bergen County and a dayan on the Beth Din of Elizabeth.
