Between tribalism and compassion 

Jewish tradition contains powerful and contradictory messages about our responsibility to our own community and way of life versus our responsibility to others.  

We encounter this tension in the final book of the Torah, Devarim (Deuteronomy) which we read now as we approach the end of the Jewish year. It is Moses’ farewell address to the Israelites, a recounting of their history and moral instruction for their future. It is a book of strict law and harsh tribalism and yet embraces justice and is, to quote Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, “saturated with the language of love”. 

Devarim emphasises national destiny and a militant ethos which echoes in current events. Israel is promised that in conquering the land of Canaan “You shall be blessed above all other peoples” and (God) will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall obliterate their name from under the heavens; no one shall stand up to you, until you have wiped them out.”  

However, Devarim is also a book of mercy and love. The Torah teaches “You shall love your neighbour as yourself”. Rabbi Sacks wrote that it is easy to love a neighbour who is usually quite like yourself. “What is hard is to love the stranger, one whose colour, culture or creed is different from yours. That is why the command, “Love the stranger because you were once strangers”, resonates so often throughout the Bible.”  

We read that God “…upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing him with food and clothing. You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” This is a vision of Jewish life embracing compassion and social justice and again, echoes current events and the needs of those ravaged by war in Gaza.