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Divine Promises and Jewish Responses
Religious Zionists declare that we are living at an auspicious time, "the beginning of the flowering of our redemption". Such claims have enormous repercussions for the way that we relate to the rights to Jews and Arabs in the State of Israel. But how should Divine promises affect our day to day conduct and our claims to the Land of Israel?

I think we can find some clues in a powerful scene in this week's parasha, where we find our forefather Abraham and his nephew Lot arguing.

And Lot who went with Abram also had sheep and cattle and tents. And the land was not able to bear them that they might live together because their wealth was too great.  (Genesis 13: 5-6)

What were Abraham and Lot arguing about? The Ramban focuses on the enormity of the flocks, suggesting that wherever Abraham went to graze his flocks, Lot followed. Their combined herds looked colossal and Abraham was acutely aware that he and his family were only guests in other people's lands. He was nervous that this spectacle would unnerve the local populations, making them jealous and potentially leading to conflict and his expulsion from the land. He begged Lot to take a more modest approach which would ensure good relations with the neighboring tribes. When Lot adamantly refused to do this, Abraham felt it would be best to separate.

Rashi also sees the problem as stemming from Lot's lack of sensitivity, to the local tribes but he casts the dispute in larger theological terms which have fascinating parallels to the contemporary debates in the religious world between moderate Zionists and those who take extremist positions.

Rashi quotes a Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 41: 5) which suggests that while Abraham was very careful to ensure that his animals never grazed on anyone else's land, Lot was quite happy to let his animals stray over to other people's fields and feed there. Abraham tried to correct his nephew's behavior, but to no avail.

Why was Lot so adamant that he could abuse other people's property? The Midrash suggests that he made a logical deduction. He knew that God had promised the Land of Israel to Abraham's descendants and that Abraham was childless. Therefore, he reckoned that as Abraham's next of kin, he was the natural heir to the Divine promise of the Land of Israel, in which case, he saw no reason to delay staking his claim and asserting his territorial rights.

There was just one flaw to Lot's logic. God made clear that the land would only pass to Abraham's descendents when the time was right, in the meantime it belonged to its inhabitants, as the continuation of the verse informs us:

And the Canaanites and the Perizites were already in the land.

Lot's assertion that he could grab other people's land on the basis of a Divine promise sounded deeply religious, but Abraham was unimpressed by this robbery and greed cloaked in the guise of religious nationalism. He begged Lot to leave him, wherever Lot chose to go, he would take the opposite path.

And Abram said unto Lot: 'Let there be no strife, I pray you, between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? separate yourself, I pray you, you, from me; if you wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.' (Genesis 13: 8-9)

Later on in the Parasha, when Lot is kidnapped by local kings, Abraham rushes to his nephew's rescue showing his deep, ongoing family commitments. But Abraham can no longer bear Lot's lifestyle. His disdain for Lot's tactics is shared by God. Only when Lot departs from his uncle heading off for the luscious valley of Sodom, does God renew His conversation with Abraham: The Bible pointedly notes

And God said to Abram, after Lot had parted from him … (Genesis 13: 14)

Rashi explains that so long as Lot was living with Abraham, God did not speak to him, only when Lot had left the scene was revelation restored.

The Chief Rabbi of Israel, at the time of the establishment of the state was Rabbi Yitzhak Halevi Herzog (1888-1959). He addressed questions of how the law and constitution of the country could be reconciled with halacha and how non Jewish minorities should be treated in a Jewish state. Rabbi Herzog stressed that Muslims and Christians are monotheists, who worship God and are entitled to their stake in the land. Furthermore, he noted that Israel was established in partnership with the United Nations on the condition that it would be a fair and democratic country. We have no right or reason to renege on those commitments. The Jewish State must treat it minorities fairly.

As the newest member of the Shomrei Mishpat team, directing the Beit Midrash for Human Rights at Beit Hillel in Hebrew University, I am enormously proud to be working for an organization dedicated to sensitivity and justice for all the inhabitants our country; ensuring real, Jewish values in the State of Israel. It is this type of honest, decent, religious leadership which bears the finger-prints of the Divine and will take us forward to Messianic times "when nation will not lift up sword against nation nor will they learn war anymore" (Isaiah 2: 4).

Shabbat Shalom