{"id":51681,"date":"2019-03-20T05:55:26","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T03:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=51681"},"modified":"2022-10-11T15:41:13","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T12:41:13","slug":"community-of-faith-vs-community-of-fate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/community-of-faith-vs-community-of-fate\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Of Faith vs Community Of Fate"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[783,444,539,354],"acf":{"old_id":"51681","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33923,"related_cahpter":"179","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"A nation linked by history and destiny","content":"

The Exodus is normally seen as the birth of Israel as a nation. But was it? To this the Bible gives two conflicting answers. The first occurs in a passage we read on Passover at the seder table:<\/span><\/p>\n

A wandering Aramean was my father,<\/span>
\n<\/span>And he went down to Egypt<\/span>
\n<\/span>And sojourned there, few in number;<\/span>
\n<\/span>And there he became a nation [<\/span>vayehi sham le-goi<\/span><\/em>] . . . (<\/span>Deuteronomy 26:5)<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The other occurs in the wilderness of Sinai immediately prior to the revelation of the Ten Commandments and Israel\u2019s acceptance of the covenant with God:<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

You have seen what I did to Egypt<\/span>
\n<\/span>And how I carried you with eagles\u2019 wings<\/span>
\n<\/span>And brought you to Myself.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Now if You obey Me fully<\/span>
\n<\/span>And keep My covenant,<\/span>
\n<\/span>Then out of all the nations<\/span>
\n<\/span>You will be My treasured possession,<\/span>
\n<\/span>For all the earth is Mine.<\/span>
\n<\/span>You will be for Me a kingdom of priests<\/span>
\n<\/span>And a holy nation [<\/span>goi kadosh<\/span><\/em>] . . . (Exodus 19: 4-6) <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

There is an evident contradiction between these two passages. The first says that the Israelites became a nation in Egypt. The second says that they became a nation only after they left Egypt and had begun their journey through the desert. There at Mount Sinai God offered them the covenant, they accepted and only then did they become a nation. <\/span><\/p>\n

How do we to reconcile these two accounts? <\/span><\/p>\n

The answer is that there are two ways in which individuals coalesce into a group with its own distinctive identity. The first is the way of history. Individuals feel bound to one another because they share the same ancestry, the same ethnic origins, the sense of a shared past. When they look back they find ties of collective memory. They are what they are because of where they came from and what has happened to them. This is the unifying bond of peoples and ethnic groups. They are a community of fate, an \u2018<\/em><\/span>am<\/span><\/em>, a people. <\/span><\/p>\n

The second is based on the future. Individuals can be bound together as a group not just because of where they came from but where they are going to; not just because of what happened to them but because of what they are called on to achieve. They share ideals, a common vision. They participate in a collective life with a distinctive set of rules, values and virtues. They are linked not by history but by destiny \u2013 by the journey that lies ahead and the task they have undertaken to fulfill. Such a group is not a community of fate but a community of faith. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Bible calls this an edah<\/em>, a word which political scientist Daniel Elazar translates as \u201cthe assembly of all the people constituted as a body politic.\u201d \u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Letter in the Scroll, p.110-111<\/em><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":47353,"id":47353,"title":"shutterstock_521443675","filename":"shutterstock_521443675.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-good-old-days\/shutterstock_521443675\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"shutterstock_521443675","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":47340,"date":"2019-01-12 18:28:46","modified":"2019-03-20 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