Ken Spiro

 Six Jewish Ideas That Have Transformed the World

By Ken Spiro - April 2022

If you were to stop the average person on the street and ask him or her what values are essential for the proper functioning of society, the vast majority would probably mention these five:

-Value of life

-Peace

-Equality before the law

-Education

-Social responsibility

These values are so essential, basic, and obvious to us today that we might assume that they are innate in human consciousness and have always been part of society throughout human history.  You might be shocked to hear that in fact, these values were far from obvious in the ancient world, even amongst the most highly developed, sophisticated civilizations of antiquity.

To get a better understanding of how radically different were the values of the ancient world, let’s hop in our time machine and travel back a few thousand years.  No matter where on the planet we travel to in the ancient world, the contrast between then and now is quite unbelievable.

-Value of life – The right to life is certainly the most basic of all values, yet in the ancient world, it was shockingly absent.  Human sacrifice was commonplace as were blood sports like gladiators. The killing of newborn children (infanticide), was universally practiced as means of both population control and sex selection.

Here is an excerpt from a letter from a Roman citizen named Hilarion, written to his pregnant wife 2,000 years ago:

Know that I am still in Alexandria...I ask and beg of you to take good care of our baby son, and as soon as I receive payment, I will send it up to you. If you deliver a child [before I get home], if it is a boy, keep it, if a girl discard it... (1)

-Peace – When we look at how the world reacts with outrage at the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we see how unacceptable war has become in modern consciousness, yet this was hardly the case until relatively recently in history.

The ancient world was a place of constant battles and conquest- a world where heroes were the warriors who killed the most and greatest opponents and the only countries that weren’t conquered were those that were strong enough to fight off the conquerors.

-Equality before the law – Equality before the law is the single most fundamental principle of modern liberal democracy, yet for the vast majority of history, this principle was far from fundamental to the political systems of virtually every country and civilization on the planet. For most of human history, in most of the world especially in the highly-developed civilizations, a small group of privileged elites maintained a tight hold on virtually all wealth and power.  The average person was poor and powerless and even the greatest minds of antiquity saw no reason to change this.  The great Roman statesman, Cicero wrote:

What is called equality is really inequitable. For when equal honor is given to the highest and lowest-for men of both types must exist in every nation-this very “fairness” is most unfair, but this cannot happen in states ruled by their best citizens. (2)

-Education – Today free education and universal literacy are a given, but it was a very different story in the ancient world.  Poverty and the struggle for survival forced the majority of children to work from a young age, while deliberate government policy and the desire to control the population led to mass illiteracy for most of human history. While the rates of literacy have varied from place to place and time to time, historians estimate that, on average, until about 500 years ago, only about one in a thousand people could read!

-Social responsibility – Every developed country in the world has social welfare infrastructure to help those in need and there are countless international organizations that fight poverty, and disease, help countries in need and deal with natural disasters.  Almost all of these programs and institutions came into being in the last 200 years, before that time there was virtually nothing.  The philosopher Plutarch clearly expresses the contempt that those who had in the ancient world had for those who had nothing:

But if I gave you, you would proceed to beg all the more.  It was the man who gave to you in the first place who made you idle and so responsible for your disgraceful state. (3)

Even this cursory look at the ancient world shows, that compared to our standards today, it was a pretty brutal and callous world-even in the most advanced civilizations and our list of essentials values was basically absent.  So where do these values come from?

The British historian, Paul Johnson, gives us the answer:

Certainly, the world without the Jews would have been a radically different place... To them, we owe the idea of equality before the law, both divine and human, of the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person, of the individual conscience and so of personal redemption; of the collective conscience and so of social responsibility; of peace as an abstract ideal and love as the foundation of justice and many other items which constitute the basic moral furniture of the human mind. Without the Jews, it might have been a much emptier place. (4)

To understand why the tiny Jewish people were able to have such a huge and transformative impact on the values of the world, we have to look at one more “idea.” All the previous values really come from this one “idea” and without it, we would have none of the others.  That “idea” is one God and one God-given, absolute standard of morality.  This concept, often described as “Ethical Monotheism,” has been history’s most transformative idea in terms of values and morality.

In the very beginning of the Book of Genesis, the Bile describes Humans as being made “in the image of God” – with a unique, higher spiritual soul.  In Hebrew the word is “Nishamah” and the moral implications of every person possessing this unique, God-given spark, this piece of the infinite are tremendous:

-If every person has this higher soul, then every human life has infinite value, which is why the Talmud states: “He who saves a life it is as if he saves an entire universe.” (5)

-If every human being has this divine spark within him or her, there is fundamental equality amongst all of us as the prophet Malachi states: “Have we not all one father?  Did not one God create us all?” (6)

-If we are made in God’s image, we have an obligation to emulate him... Deuteronomy 28:9 states: “…and you shall go in His ways.”  Just as God is kind and merciful, so too do we have an obligation to be kind and merciful.

John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers of America and the second president, summed it up beautifully when he wrote:

“... I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation.  If I were an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. If I were an atheist of another sect… I should still believe that chance had ordered the Jews to preserve and propagate for all mankind the doctrine of a supreme, intelligent, wise almighty sovereign of the universe, which I believe to be the great essential principle of all morality, and consequently of all civilization… They have given religion to three-quarters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of mankind more, and more happily than any other nation, ancient or modern. (7)

The explanation as to how a tiny, exiled, persecuted and powerless people was able to shape the collective conscience of humanity is the topic for another discussion, but there is no question that ethical monotheism, first brought to the world by Abraham 3,700 years ago, has transformed the world.

 The Jews were the first people to break out of this circle, to find a new way of thinking and experiencing, a new way of understanding and feeling the world, so much so that it may be said with some justice that theirs is the only new idea that human beings have ever had.  But their worldview has become such a part of us that at this point it might as well have been written into our cells as a genetic code. (7)

              

(1) Stager, Lawrence E. “Eroticism and Infanticide at Ashkelon,” Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August 1991

(2) Cicero, Laws, XIII,35.

(3) Plutarch, Morals 235A

(4) Paul Johnson- A History of the Jews

(5) Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin 4:22

(6) Malachi, 2:10

(7) Thomas Cahill, The Gift of the Jews, 1998)

(7)  Joh Adams-Letter to F.A, Van der Kemp, 1808

 The Boy who Cried Messiah: False Messiahs in Jewish History

 By Ken Spiro - March 2022

“Messiah” is one of those Hebrew words, like “Amen” and “Hallelujah” that has slipped into the English lexicon.  While the concept of the Messiah originated in Judaism, it was later adopted as a theological concept in both Christianity and Islam.  

What does the word really mean and how do we know who is the real Messiah? 

The root of the word “messiah” is derived from the Hebrew word “to anoint” and is first mentioned in the book of Exodus: 

"God spoke to Moses saying: “Now, take for your self choice spices…pure myrrh, fragrant cinnamon…fragrant cane…cassia…and a hin of olive oil. Of it you shall make oil of sacred anointment.  With it you shall anoint the tent of Meeting (Tabernacle) and the Ark of the Covenant…You shall anoint Aaron and his sons and sanctify them to minister to me. "        Exodus 30:22-30 

Pouring some of this holy oil on objects and individuals designated them as having a God-appointed, higher function. Throughout the Bible different prophets such as Samuel, Nathan and Elijah use this oil to anoint the kings of Israel, and even non-Jewish kings, signifying them as God’s chosen rulers. 

This idea of God using an emissary to designate a ruler as a king, with God-given authority, was adopted in Medieval Christian Europe as the basis for the concept of “divine right of kings”- a practice which continues until today. In 1953, when Elizabeth II was crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey in London, the Archbishop of Canterbury dabbed oil on her, in imitation of the prophets of ancient Israel. Following this coronation ceremony, the choir sang “Zadok the Priest” composed in 1727 by Handel for the coronation of King George II, which opens with the lyrics “Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet anointed Solomon king.” 

While there are many anointed individuals throughout the Bible, in Judaism there is only one anointed one who has the title “The Messiah.”  This messiah has a very special role to play in history and is viewed as an essential part of traditional Jewish beliefs.  He appears during the “End of Days” – the final chapter and the climax of human history to act as a catalyst to speed up the process of redemption for the Jewish people, and ultimately for all of humanity. 

The great medieval Jewish scholar Maimonides, also known as the Rambam, gives a short but clear job description: 

"The King Messiah will arise and restore the kingship of David to its former state and original sovereignty.  He will rebuild the sanctuary and gather the dispersed of Israel.  All the ancient laws will be re-instituted in his days….”

                        Maimonides Mishna Torah; Laws of Kings, Chap. 12.

The job is by no means easy.  This messiah, this final king of Israel, has to bring all the Jewish people physically back to the Land of Israel and transform the spiritual level of the nation by having the nation recognize the reality of God’s existence and the Divine origin of the Torah and its commandments. The Messiah must also rebuild the Temple, reinstitute the Temple service and defend Israel against anyone or any nation that tries to stop this process. Once he accomplishes all this, he will be appointed the King of Israel. 

Maimonides continues: 

“If there arise a king from the House of David who meditates in Torah, occupies himself with the commandments…observes the precepts prescribed in the Written and Oral Law, prevails upon Israel to walk in the way of Torah…fights the battles of the Lord, it may be assumed that he is the messiah.  If he does these things and succeeds, rebuilds the sanctuary on its site, and gathers the dispersed of Israel, he is beyond all doubt the Messiah.  He will prepare the whole world to serve the Lord together."                Maimonides Mishna Torah; Laws of Kings, Chap. 12. 

While there may have been numerous individuals throughout history who had the potential to be the messiah, you only get the title if you actually complete the job. 

This concept of “the coming of the Messiah” at the “End of Days” is not linked to a specific date. Judaism believes that redemption can come at any time and messianic expectation among the Jewish people has fluctuated dramatically throughout history. 

In keeping with the idea that “It’s always darkest before the dawn,” we see a pattern emerge in Jewish history:  Messianic expectation is highest when the Jewish people are at their lowest.  

Here are a few good examples: 

• The Great Revolt against Rome from 67 to 70 CE, which culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the Second Temple.  The final tragic act in this story was the fall of the mountain fortress of Masada in 73C.E. 

The Bar Kochba Revolt, from 132 to 135 C.E. The leader of this revolt, Shimon bar Kosiba, was initially so successful that he earned the support of the great Rabbi Akiva who saw him as a potential messiah. Bar Kosiba was nicknamed “bar Kochba-son of a star,” as an allusion to his messianic potential.  Tragically, this revolt ended in failure with the death of hundreds of thousands of Jews, including Bar Kochba and Rabbi Akiva, and the total decimation of much of the Land of Israel. 

• The expulsion from Spain in 1492.  This calamitous event led to the complete destruction of one of the largest and most important Jewish communities of the Diaspora and is one of the most traumatic events in Jewish history. 

• The Khmelnitsky Massacre of 1648-1649- This Cossack revolt decimated numerous Jewish communities in Eastern Europe and led to the murder of as many as 100,000 Jews. 

During and immediately after these terrible events, there were huge upswings in messianic expectations. This messianic fervor was also accompanied by another fascinating phenomenon: false messiahs who claimed to be the saviors of the Jewish people. 

Of all the false messiah who have appeared throughout Jewish history, the best-known and most impactful was Shabtai Zvi (1626-1676). Born in Izmir, Turkey in the Ottoman empire, Shabtai was highly intelligent, charismatic, mystically inclined, and already an ordained rabbi by the age of 18.  Unfortunately, he was also mentally unstable and probably manic-depressive. 

He left Turkey and his wanderings eventually led him to Israel where he met another interesting character by the name of Nathan of Gaza. Nathan convinced Shabtai that he was in fact the Messiah and that Nathan was his prophet. Coming after centuries of horrendous persecution, expulsion, and slaughter, and only a few years after the very traumatic Khmelnitsky Massacres, the Jewish people were in a very low place and ripe for redemption

 

Word of Shabtai’s miracles spread far and wide throughout the Jewish world and a huge number of Jews were convinced that he was the real deal. The diary of a Jewish woman by the name of Gluckel of Hamelin, Germany, gives us a first-hand account of these events: 

"About this time people began to talk of Shabtai Tzvi…Throughout the world servants and children rent themselves with repentance, prayer and charity for two, yeah, for three years my beloved people Israel sat in labor, but there came forth naught but wind…    

Our joy when the letters arrived from Smyrna is not to be told.  Most of them were addressed to Sephardim.  As fast as they came, they took the letters to the synagogue and read them aloud. Young and old, the Germans, too, hastened to the Sephardi synagogues…   

 Many sold their houses and lands and all their possessions for the day they hoped to be redeemed. My good father-in-law left his home in Hamlin, abandoned his house and lands and all of his goodly furniture."

                                                            The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hamelin 

The story didn’t end well. Shabtai went to the Sultan of Turkey and demanded that the sultan place his crown on Shabtai’s head. The sultan’s response was that Shabtai could either convert to Islam or lose his head.  Shabtai converted and much of the Jewish world was devasted.  

These traumatic events led to a massive backlash against messianism and messianic expectation which continues to reverberate in Jewish consciousness until today.

Like “the boy who cried wolf,” the sad saga of Shabtai Zvi and other pretenders has made the Jewish people very cautious about the whole phenomenon. 

While multiple tragedies and false messiahs may have somewhat dampened messianic expectation, the idea has never disappeared from Jewish consciousness and remains not only a central concept in Judaism but a huge source of hope throughout the long and often difficult history of the Jewish people. 

As to the question of when the real messiah finally the come-the best answer is found in the great Jewish mystical work-The Zohar: 

“It is not God’s will that the date of the Messiah’s arrival be revealed to man, but when the date draws near, even children will be able to make the calculation.”                                  Zohar-Breishit 118a

 

Five Famous Gentiles who said the same thing about the Jews

Ken Spiro – February 2022

 

One of the great challenges of being Jewish is learning to appreciate how totally weird Jewish history is.  When I say “weird” I mean how completely out of the ordinary Jewish history is compared to the history of other peoples. Things happen to us, for better and for worse, that just don’t happen to anyone else.  The reason this is so challenging is that we have come to accept what is basically supernatural as natural and normal and have lost the sense of wonder as to just how amazing it is that we are still here! 

Sometimes it’s worthwhile to take a step back and look at ourselves and our history through the eyes of outsiders, non-Jews who can more objectively appreciate the uniqueness of Jewish history.  Let’s take a look at five famous non-Jews who have all taken note of the uniqueness of the Jews.  

We’ll go in chronological order starting with the 17th-century French philosopher and mathematician, Blais Pascal: 

This people are not eminent solely by their antiquity, but are also singular by their duration, which has always continued from their origin...and in spite of the endeavors of many powerful kings who have a hundred times tried to destroy them...they have nevertheless been preserved... 

Next comes the 18^th century Bishop of Bristol, England, Thomas Newton: 

The preservation of the Jews is really one of the most signal and illustrious acts of Divine Providence…and what but a supernatural power could have preserved them in such a manner as none other nation upon earth hath been preserved …. We see that the great empires, which in their turn subdued and oppressed the people of God, are all come to ruin… 

Now let’s see what the famous Russian novelist, Leo Tolstoy had to say about us: 

What is a Jew?  This question is not at all so odd as it seems.  Let us see what kind of peculiar creature the Jew is, which all the rulers and all the nations have together and separately abused and molested, oppressed and persecuted, trampled and butchered, burned and hanged...and in spite of this is still alive. 

Here’s what American author, Mark Twain wrote about the Jews in 1899: 

The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream -stuff and passed away; the Greek and Roman followed and made a vast noise, and they are gone The Jew saw them all, beat them all… All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains.  What is the secret of his immortality? 

Finally, let’s see what early 20th-century Russian philosopher and theologian, Nikolai Berdyaev thought about Jewish history: 

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... 

If we had to summarize in one sentence what all five of these famous personalities are saying it would be: “Isn’t it amazing that the Jewish people have suffered for so long at the hands of so many, yet have survived, while so many of those nations that persecuted them are gone.” 

The question is why are they all focusing on the same theme?  To understand this, we need to take a quick look at a few of the really usual aspects of Jewish history: 

Hated - The Jewish people have been around for a very long time, more than 3,000 years yet since we first appeared on the planet we have been the objects of such intense hatred and persecution that a special word was invented just to describe it-“antisemitism. “Throughout our very long history the Jewish people have lived in a lot of places yet, where ever we have gone, in any significant numbers, antisemtism has followed.   Jew hate has proven to be history’s longest, most universal, most irrational, and deepest hatred.  Logic would dictate that such an intense hatred would make the odds of Jewish survival small indeed yet, this wasn’t the only obstacle we had to overcome. 

Exiled – We may have begun our national history in the land of Israel 3,300 years ago and lived there as a nation for over a thousand years yet, we have spent the majority of history, the last two thousand years in exile, wandering around the world as strangers in a strange land.  Most of the ancient nations of the world are no longer with us yet, very few of them were exiled. To survive as a nation in exile is no easy accomplishment, but what makes Jewish history even more amazing is that we were exiled more than once and that is unheard of in history!  The first time was around 2,500 years ago at the hands of the Babylonians.  We survived that and came back to our homeland but were exiled again about 2,000 years ago by the Romans 

Scattered – If surviving as a people in exile for millennium wasn’t a big enough challenge, for most of that time we have lived in hundreds of communities scattered around the world, from one end of the earth to the other.   Isolation, persecution, expulsion, forced conversion, and outright slaughter destroyed many of the communities and stifled population growth so despite being around for thousands of years and traditionally having high birthrates, the Jewish people remained a tiny nation, and until today are just .2% of the world’s population! 

Persecution, exile, expulsion, wandering and slaughter have sadly been such a large part of the Jewish historical experience that we, as a people, have come to accept them as normal.  Non-Jews, like the ones quoted above, can look at us from a more objective perspective and see clearly that Jewish survival is one huge contradiction. To be exiled, dispersed, few in number, and constantly persecuted should have all been nails in the coffin of Jewish people’s existence yet, not only did we survive, we outlasted many of those nations that tried to destroy us. If you go back and reread these quotes again, you will see that is  precisely what these great non-Jewish minds found so amazing. .  (None of the people quoted above lived to see the return and rebirth of Israel in the mid-20^th century. Imagine what they would have written if they had lived to see that!?) 

The first prime minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion once said “To be a realist as Jew, you have to believe in miracles.”  If we can start to look at our history through the eyes of others, we can begin to appreciate how truly miraculous and amazing our history and our exitance really is.