Tzav 5782-2022

Judaism, on the other hand, prides itself as being a highly enlightened faith–an equitable, fair and revolutionarily moral system. When it comes to equality, the Torah repeats the mitzvah of loving the stranger 36 times–more often than any other mitzvah in the Torah! Yet, amazingly, there seems to be a caste system in Judaism as well. After all, we have the כֹּהֲנִים—Cohanim–priests, לְוִיִּים—Leviim–Levites, and Israelites. In this week’s parasha, Tzav, we learn extensively of the special position and privileges of the כֹּהֲנִים —Cohanim–the priests, all of which seem to be discriminatory, and quite dissonant with Judaism’s views of universal equality before the Creator.

How is this seemingly discriminatory communal structure of Israel rationalized within Jewish law, Jewish theology, and Jewish philosophy?

There is a fundamental debate in Judaism about who is the “Ultimate Jew.” Maimonides, deals with this issue in his Moreh Nevuchim, the Guide to The Perplexed (Book 2, chap. 32 ff). Strongly influenced by Greek philosophy, Maimonides, in effect, employs the Platonic model of the “Philosopher King,” arguing that the “ultimate human being,” the person who can come closest to G-d, must be a philosopher—by which he means, a brilliantly endowed scholar, and King–the possessor of great natural leadership abilities. Translating these terms into Jewish nomenclature, the “Ultimate Jew” must be a great תַּלְמִיד חָכָם—Talmid Chacham, a great Jewish scholar, and a brilliantly talented מַנְהִיג—manhig, leader.

In practical human terms, the Maimonidian model for the philosopher king is, of course, Moses. As the Yigdal hymn affirms: לֹא קָם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל כְּמשֶׁה עוֹד , no person has ever arisen in Israel as great as Moses. Unfortunately, this model leaves the majority of mortals with little hope of ever coming close to G-d. After all, who can aspire to be as great as Moses? Who is blessed with the prodigious natural endowments of Moses? Moses was singularly unique, and will remain unique. Confirming the uniqueness of Moses, is the epitaph that appears on Maimonides’ tomb in Tiberius: “From Moses to Moses, no one rose like Moses.”

At about the same time as Maimonides, another great Jewish philosopher and poet by the name of Rabbi Judah (Yehuda) HaLevi flourished. Rabbi Yehuda Halevi wrote a famed philosophy tract known as The Kuzari. The Kuzari was based on the historic conversion to Judaism of the king of the Kazar tribe in central Russia during the 8th century. In the philosophical discussion that takes place in the Kuzari (Book 1, statement 19), HaLevi raises the question of who is the “ultimate Jew.” HaLevi suggests an entirely different model from that presented by Maimonides, pronouncing the “ultimate Jew” to be the person who works up to his or her potential. One’s relationship with G-d does not depend on a person’s natural endowments, but rather on what one does with those endowments.

It is told that the Chassidic Rabbi, Rabbi Meshulam Zusha of Hanipol once dreamt that he died and came back to earth. His Chassidim asked him, “Well, Zusha, what did the Al-mighty ask you?” The rabbi responded, “The Al-mighty and his tribunal did not ask me why I was not as great as Moshe, why was I not the “sweet singer” like King David, why I was not the great thinker like Rabbi Akiva.” “They asked me,” said Zusha, “Why weren’t you Zusha?! Why didn’t you live up to your own potential?!”

The Kotzker Rebbe was once asked, “Who’s higher on the ladder, the person on top, or the one on bottom?” Recognizing that the question was a set up, he responded by stating that the answer depends upon which direction the people on the ladder are going. If the person on the bottom of the ladder is on his/or her way up, and the person on top is on his or her way down, then, theoretically, the person on the bottom may be higher than the person on top! We see, once again, through this illustration, that what counts in Judaism is constant growth and working up to one’s potential.

In life, we are all dealt a seemingly arbitrary “hand,” and are forced to deal with the hand that we’re dealt. Some people are born tall, others short, some blond, others brown-haired, some blue-eyed, others dark-eyed. Some are born in the United States, others in Israel, or South Africa, or in the Himalayas. All of us have to deal with what “fate” has meted out to us. That’s exactly what the Jewish “caste system” of Cohen, Levi, and Israelite represents. The fact that there are Cohanim, Leviim and Israelites underscores that there is an arbitrariness to life, and that a good part of life consists of confronting and dealing with the arbitrariness of our natural endowments and the environmental vicissitudes. We simply have to operate with the hand that life has dealt us.