The Blogs: The choice each of us must make

How we can have more faith in our future

There are two ways in which we can perceive ourselves as Jews, Rabbi Sacks taught. The one we choose has the power to change the course of our future – personally and as a nation too.

One way is to see ourselves as Jews by Fate. This is the outlook that we are bound to each other, united, by events that happen to us. Rabbi Sacks wrote: “Ever since [Egypt], Jews have known that we are thrown together by circumstance. We share a history all too often written in tears” ¹

The sense of being Jewish by Fate (also known as Brit Goral) “gives rise to a powerful sense that we are part of a single story – that what we have in common is stronger than the things that separate us”.

And despite the deep divisions within our nation, “in times of crisis we are still capable of heeding the call of collective responsibility, knowing as we do that Jewish fate tends to be indivisible”. For example, the way Jews in Israel and around the world responded with incredible unity after October 7th.

However, despite the unity that it brings, solely defining ourselves by our shared struggles has dangerous drawbacks. In this world view, we can easily fall into the mindset of seeing ourselves as perpetual victims of persecution.

This has serious consequences on a personal, community and national level.

When we struggle to see ourselves as capable of changing the way things are, when we feel powerless in the face of seemingly unceasing challenges, we may start to think that no action will change our situation. Inaction and despair become our close friends. This weakens our confidence in ourselves and reinforces the belief that we are defined by our struggles rather than our ability to forge the way forward.

This perception can affect our whole outlook on life. We may feel a chronic sense of frustration, or anxiety, as we feel trapped in this cycle of unfairness. And when we focus on what’s wrong rather than what can be done, our problem-solving skills weaken. Instead of seeking solutions, we ruminate on challenges that we feel are insurmountable.

Are you a Jew by Destiny?

Another way we can perceive ourselves is as a Jew by Destiny (also known as Brit Ye’ud)². Rabbi Sacks teaches that instead of solely being defined by external circumstances, we can define ourselves by the role we choose to play in history.

This perception is the belief that things will get better when we come together through a shared vision, proactively shaping our future. It is when “people join together to do what none could achieve alone” .

So while perceiving ourselves as Jews by Fate encourages unity because of what happens to us from the outside – a response to what has happened to us in the past – being Jewish by Destiny represents what we seek to achieve as one people in the future. It’s the ability, quoting Rabbi Soloveitchik, to “think, speak, communicate, envision a society different from any that has existed in the past, and to collaborate to bring it about”.

On a personal level, we can draw inspiration from Joseph as a model. Joseph easily could have seen himself as powerless over his circumstances: Hated by his brothers and thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, wrongly imprisoned after being falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife.

But by the time he met his brothers in Egypt, “Joseph had reframed his entire past… Everything that had happened to him was necessary so that he could achieve his purpose in life”.³

When we feel Jewish by Fate, we may ask: What has history done to me?

When we feel predominantly Jewish by Destiny, we might ask: How can my history help me build a better future?

We can see brilliant examples of being Jewish by Destiny in our recent history with the early founders of Zionism, from Theodore Herzl to Chaim Weizmann. People who had incredible hope and vision for our future and took action to make it happen, shaping our destiny as a nation.

And concerning the grand miracle of the State of Israel today, Rabbi Sacks wrote: “Whenever I visit Israel, I find myself awestruck by the way this ancient people in its history-saturated land is one of the most future-oriented nations on earth, constantly searching for new advances in medical, informational, and nano-technology”.⁴

And yet.

We are falling short in our shared vision as a nation. We are incredibly divided as the fissures in our nation have resurfaced.

In his book, Future Tense, Rabbi Sacks emphasises how “The inability of the Jews to contain their conflicts is a recurring tragedy, one that continues unabated to this day. … It remains Jewry’s single greatest weakness. Time and again, Jews find themselves unable to speak with a single voice”.⁵

He draws parallels to the divisions that raged between us leading up to the destruction of the First and Second Temple, urging us that the “warning signals should be sounding loud and clear”.

He highlights that “However deep the divisions between us, we remain one family in fate and faith”

And, now that our dreams of a return to Zion have been actualised, “Jews, whether in Israel or elsewhere, need to recover a sense of purpose. Until you know where you want to be, you will not know where you want to go”.⁵

How can we draw strength from our history to build resilience in challenging times?

“Jews survived because they never gave up their faith in the future. Judaism is a religion of hope, and to be a Jew is to be an agent of hope” , Rabbi Sacks argues in Future Tense.

Through 2000 years of exile and persecution, faith is what kept our nation alive. Our belief that L’Shana Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim – next year in Jerusalem – our longing for our return to Zion – was tied to our resilience through the worst of times. And now, against impossible odds, we are in this incredible position of having the State of Israel.

Rabbi Sacks highlights how Judaism is a faith of hope. But this is not a passive, naive optimism about an abstract better future. It is a force that beckons each of us as individuals to take action — rather than just lamenting the flames that we are witness to. ⁶

Our hope, HaTikvah, is a call to action.

We each have a role in shaping our future, even when the work seems overwhelming. Because in the story of our people, each person matters; “Every Jew is a letter. Each Jewish family is a word, every community a sentence, and the Jewish people at any one time are a paragraph”⁷

Each of our actions make a difference. We each form part of the story of our nation. This is how we can refuse fatalism and forge the way forward.

This is not to discard our zikaron – our memory – of suffering. Our memory is a core part of who we are. “[Our] tears are written into the very fabric of Jewish memory, which is to say, Jewish identity” Rabbi Sacks writes. “How can I let go of that pain when it is written into my very soul?”⁸

Especially as Pesach is here and we share the story of our Exodus from Egypt, we can experience Rabbi Sacks’ teaching that “one of the greatest gifts we can give to our children is the knowledge of where we have come from, the things for which we fought, and why. None of the things we value — freedom, human dignity, justice — was achieved without a struggle. None can be sustained without conscious vigilance. A society without memory is like a journey without a map. It’s all too easy to get lost.”⁹

So, when we remember, let us too recall our faith, hope, resilience and dedication to building a better world, and let us use it to pave a brighter future for ourselves.

Because ultimately, “Every Jew who stays loyal to her or his people, and contributes to it in some way, thereby adds something to the story of the Jewish people, and becomes an agent of hope in the world”⁵

As Jews, we each have a choice to make:

Will we solely be defined by circumstance, or will we choose to come together to become pioneers of a better future?

In which way will you choose to live your life?

What role will you choose to play in our story?

References

Sacks, Jonathan. The Duality of Camp and Congregation. Covenant & Conversation, Beha’alotecha. The Rabbi Sacks Legacy Trust. https://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/behaalotecha/the-duality-of-camp-and-congregation/
Sacks, Jonathan. Camps and Congregation. Covenant & Conversation, Beha’alotecha. The Rabbi Sacks Legacy Trust. https://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/behaalotecha/camps-and-congregation/
Sacks, Jonathan. Reframing. Covenant & Conversation, Vayigash. https://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/vayigash/reframing/
Sacks, Jonathan. Faith in the Future. Covenant & Conversation: Family Edition, Shemot. https://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/shemot/faith-in-the-future/
Sacks, Jonathan. Future Tense: A Vision for Jews and Judaism in the Global Culture. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2009, p. 203.
Sacks, Jonathan. A Palace in Flames. Covenant & Conversation, Lech Lecha. https://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/lech-lecha/a-palace-in-flames/
Sacks, Jonathan. Radical Then, Radical Now. London: HarperCollins, 2001, Chapter 4, p. 39. See also: https://rabbisacks.org/quotes/every-jew-is-a-letter/
Sacks, Jonathan. The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations. Continuum, 2002, p. 161.
Sacks, Jonathan. The Story We Tell. Covenant & Conversation: Bo, The Rabbi Sacks Legacy Trust, 2019, https://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/bo/story-we-tell/