Before We Answer the World

We should not let him define the conversation.

If we begin by debating whether Israel is guilty of genocide or apartheid, we have already accepted the premise that our legitimacy is something the accuser gets to put on trial.

Rashi, in his very first comment on the Torah, seems to anticipate moments like this.

Why does the Torah begin with the creation of the world?

Because one day the nations will say to Israel:

“לסטים אתם.”

“You are thieves. You have conquered the land of other nations.”

And Israel’s response is:

“כל הארץ של הקב”ה היא.”

“The entire world belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He. He created it, and He gave it to whom He saw fit.”

There is something remarkable about this response.

It is not merely a strategy for winning an argument with the nations. It is a reminder to Israel itself about how we understand our own story.

The danger is not only that others will call us thieves.

The danger is that, after hearing the accusation often enough, we begin to see ourselves through their eyes.

We spend all our energy answering: Are we genocidal? Are we colonialists? Are we occupiers? Are we apartheid?

But Rashi reminds us that there is a more fundamental question:

Who are we, and why are we here?

And the Torah’s answer is not particularly fashionable today:

God created this land, and God gave it to the Jewish people.

That is a religious claim. It is not a claim everyone will accept. And perhaps, in an age increasingly uncomfortable with the Bible and with speaking openly about God, it is a claim we ourselves have become hesitant to make.

We should not be.

We can and should examine our actions morally. We should care deeply about the lives and dignity of every human being. We should debate Israeli policy and ask difficult questions about how we conduct ourselves.

But none of that requires us to accept the premise that the legitimacy of Jewish sovereignty in our ancestral homeland is something Zohran Mamdani, or anyone else, gets to define for us.

Perhaps that is the deeper message of Rashi’s very first comment on the Torah: before we answer the accusations of the world, we have to remember our own story.

The Jewish story does not begin with October 7. It does not begin with the accusations made against us. And it certainly does not begin with the permission of those who question our right to be here.

בראשית ברא אלקים.

The Torah begins with God.

Perhaps we need to begin there too.