SEPTEMBER 7 • 2023 | 45

our range of legitimate choices, 
with grave consequences if we 
transgress. Had we not been 
Jewish, we could have worked 
on Shabbat, eaten non-kosher 
food and so on. You can 
confer a benefit upon someone 
without their consent, but not 
a liability.
In short, this is the question 
of questions of Jewish identity. 
How can we be bound by 
Jewish law, without our choice, 
merely because our ancestors 
agreed on our behalf?

WHY STAY JEWISH?
In my book Radical Then, 
Radical Now I pointed out 
how fascinating it is to trace 
exactly when and where this 
question was asked. Despite 
the fact that everything else 
depends on it, it was not asked 
often. For the most part, Jews 
did not ask the question, 
“Why be Jewish?” The answer 
was obvious. My parents are 
Jewish. My grandparents were 
Jewish. So I am Jewish. Identity 
is something most people in 
most ages take for granted.
It did, however, become an 
issue during the Babylonian 
exile. The prophet Ezekiel 
says, “What is in your mind 
shall never happen — the 
thought, ‘Let us be like the 
nations, like the tribes of the 
countries, and worship wood 
and stone’” (Ez. 20:32). This 
is the first reference to Jews 
actively seeking to abandon 
their identity.
It happened again in 
rabbinic times. We know 
that in the second century 
BCE there were Jews who 
Hellenised, seeking to become 
Greek rather than Jewish. 
There were others who, 
under Roman rule, sought 
to become Roman. Some 
even underwent an operation 

known as epispasm to reverse 
the effects of circumcision 
(in Hebrew they were known 
as meshuchim) to hide the fact 
that they were Jews.
The third time was in 
Spain in the 15th century. 
That is where we find two 
Bible commentators, Rabbi 
Isaac Arama and Rabbi Isaac 
Abarbanel, raising precisely the 
question we have raised about 
how the covenant can bind 
Jews today. The reason they ask 
it while earlier commentators 
did not was that in their time 
— between 1391 and 1492 — 
there was immense pressure 
on Spanish Jews to convert 
to Christianity, and as many 
as a third may have done so 
(they were known in Hebrew 
as the anusim, in Spanish as 
the conversos and derogatively 
as marranos, “swine”). The 
question “Why stay Jewish?” 
was real.
The answers given were 
different at different times. 
Ezekiel’s answer was blunt: “
As 
I live, declares the Lord God, 
surely with a mighty hand and 
an outstretched arm and with 
wrath poured out I will be 
King over you” (Ezek. 20:33). 
In other words, Jews might 
try to escape their destiny, 
but they would fail. Even if it 
were against their will, they 
would always be known as 
Jews. That, tragically, is what 
happened during the two 
great ages of assimilation, 
15th-century Spain and in 
Europe in the 19th and early 
20th centuries. In both cases, 
racial antisemitism persisted, 
and Jews continued to be 
persecuted.
The Sages answered the 
question mystically. They said 
that even the souls of Jews 
not-yet-born were present 
at Sinai and ratified the 

covenant (Exodus Rabbah 
28:6). Every Jew, in other 
words, did give their consent 
in the days of Moses even 
though they had not yet been 
born. Demystifying this, 
perhaps the Sages meant that 
in their innermost hearts, 
even the most assimilated Jew 
knew that they were Jewish. 
That seems to have been the 
case with public figures like 
Heinrich Heine and Benjamin 
Disraeli, who lived as 
Christians but often wrote and 
thought as Jews.
The 15th-century Spanish 
commentators found this 
answer problematic. As Arama 
said, we are each of us both 
body and soul. How then is it 
sufficient to say that our soul 
was present at Sinai? How can 
the soul obligate the body? Of 
course the soul agrees to the 
covenant. Spiritually, to be a 
Jew is a privilege, and you can 
confer a privilege on someone 
without their consent. But for 
the body, the covenant is a 
burden. It involves all sorts 
of restrictions on physical 
pleasures. Therefore, if the 
souls of future generations 
were present but not their 
bodies, this would not 
constitute consent.
Radical Then, Radical 
Now is my answer to this 
question. But perhaps there 
is a simpler one. Not every 
obligation that binds us is 
one to which we have freely 
given our assent. There are 
obligations that come with 
birth. The classic example is 
a crown prince or princess. To 
be the heir to a throne involves 
a set of duties and a life of 
service to others. It is possible 
to neglect these duties. In 
extreme circumstances, it is 
even possible for a monarch 
to abdicate. But no one can 

choose to be heir to a throne. 
That is a fate, a destiny, that 
comes with birth.
The people of whom God 
Himself said, “My child, My 
firstborn, Israel” (Ex. 4:22) 
knows itself to be royalty. That 
may be a privilege. It may be a 
burden. It is almost certainly 
both. It is a peculiar post-
Enlightenment delusion to 
think that the only significant 
things about us are those we 
choose. For the truth is that 
we do not choose some of the 
most important facts about 
ourselves. We did not choose 
to be born. We did not choose 
our parents. We did not choose 
the time and place of our birth. 
Yet each of these affects who 
we are and what we are called 
on to do.
We are part of a story that 
began long before we were 
born and will continue long 
after we are no longer here, 
and the question for all of 
us is: Will we continue the 
story? The hopes of a hundred 
generations of our ancestors 
rest on our willingness to do 
so. Deep in our collective 
memory the words of Moses 
continue to resonate. “It is not 
with you alone that I am 
making this sworn covenant, 
but with … whoever is not 
here with us today.” 
We are each a key player 
in this story. We can live it. 
We can abandon it. But it is a 
choice we cannot avoid, and 
it has immense consequences. 
The future of the covenant 
rests with us. 

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (1948-

2020) was a global religious leader, 

philosopher, the author of more than 

25 books and moral voice for our time. 

His series of essays on the weekly 

Torah portion, entitled “Covenant & 

Conversation” will continue to be shared 

and distributed around the world. 

