Monday, February 05, 2018
Destiny: The Incredible Story of the
Jewish People
By Ken Spiro
When John F.
Kennedy was a young man he told his mother, Rose Kennedy, that he wanted to be
an actor. She answered, “Why play
someone great when you can be someone great?”
He certainly took her advice seriously.
The same can
be said about us. We run off to the
movies to escape our mundane existence and feel like we are part of something bigger,
part of a great adventure.
But if it’s adventure
that we want, we need look no further than our own history which is as
exciting, action-packed and intense as the greatest Hollywood blockbuster! Unfortunately too many Jews don’t have the
knowledge and perspective to realize how epic and unbelievable the story of the
Jewish people really is.
Jewish
history is so unique and unbelievable, but when the unbelievable happens to you
on a regular basis you get desensitized to it and it just seems normal. David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first prime mister,
probably said it the best: “In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must
believe in miracles.” This is true not
just about modern Israel but for all of Jewish history.
Even a quick
look at some of the major facts of Jewish history clearly shows that there is
something remarkable and unique about the Jewish people and their history:
∙ Despite its
tiny size, no people, pound for pound, have contributed more to the world than
the Jews. (The fact that Jews are but .2% of the world’s population yet have
received 23% of all Nobel Prizes since 1901 is just one of many examples of the
Jewish people’s disproportionate impact.)
∙ Despite all
these contributions, no people have been more threatened, hated and persecuted
than the Jews.
∙ Notwithstanding
this hatred and animosity, no people’s ideas have been more impactful and more
transformative than the Jewish people’s.
∙ Israel, the
newest old nation on the planet and the only western, democratic state in the
Middle East, is the most criticized, condemn, vilified and threatened country
in the world.
∙ Despite existential
threats and political and economic isolation, Israel prospers and has
contributed proportionally more to the world than any other nation on the
planet.
Even the
most cursory look at Jewish history begs us to ask so many questions:
∙ What is so
unique about the Jewish people and their ideas and how does this explain the
transformative impact they have had on the world?
∙ Why have they
been so hated and why have so many of the most dangerous and evil people and
nations throughout history felt so threatened by the Jewish people to the
extent they have tried to wipe them off the face of the earth?
∙ How have the
Jewish people managed to survive and prosper when so many nations, including
the greatest empires, have vanished into history books and museums?
∙ How could any
nation survive multiple exiles, be dispersed around the world for thousands of
years yet come back millennia later and re-establish its state in its original
homeland?
Throughout
history, many of the greatest minds have taken note of the fact that there is
something very unique – even supernatural – about Jewish history. Soviet-era
Russian political and Christian religious philosopher Nicholai Berdyaev summed
it up beautifully when he wrote:
Their [the Jews] destiny is too imbued with the
"metaphysical" to be explained
either by material or positive historical terms...Its survival is a mysterious
and wonderful phenomenon demonstrating that the life of this people is governed
by special predetermination...The survival of the Jews, their resistance to
destruction, their endurance under absolutely peculiar conditions and the
fateful role played by them in history; all these point to the particular and
mysterious foundations of their destiny...
Prof. Nicholai Berdyaev The Meaning
of History. (London. 1935)
Jewish history
is not a Hollywood epic; it is reality, a reality that is relevant to each and every
Jew on the planet. The Jewish historical
experience begs us to ask so many important and pertinent questions:
∙ Why has such
a tiny nation played such and huge and fateful role in history?
∙ Where is this
story going?
∙ And most
importantly of all: What is my role in the story and how can I make a
difference?
My just-published
book “Destiny” attempts to answer these and many more questions that at are at
the center of Jewish identity. This book explores the meaning of the Jewish
people’s mission, from its very beginnings almost four thousand years ago to
today and beyond. And it’s the greatest real-life story ever told.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
