FEBRUARY 1 • 2024 | 43
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We believe that God is universal. He
created the Universe. He set in motion
the processes that led to stars, planets,
life and humanity. His concern is not
limited to Israel. As we say in the prayer
of Ashrei, “His tender mercies are on
all His works.” You do not need to be
Jewish to have a sense of reverence
for the Creator or recognize, as Yitro
did, His hand in miraculous events. It
would be hard to find another religious
literature that confers such dignity on
figures who stand outside its borders.
This is true not only of the three
notable figures who said Baruch
Hashem. The Torah calls Avraham’s
contemporary, Malkizedek, King of
Shalem, a “Priest to God Most High.”
He, too, blessed God: “Blessed be
Avram by God Most High, Creator of
heaven and earth. And blessed be God
Most High who delivered your enemies
into your hand” (Gen. 14:19-20).
Consider also, the fact that the title
of our own parshah this week, which
contains the Ten Commandments as
well as the most significant event in
all of Jewish history, the covenant at
Sinai, carries the name of a non-Jew.
What is more, immediately prior to the
revelation at Sinai, the Torah tells us
how it was Yitro, the Midianite Priest
who taught Moshe how to organize the
leadership of the people.
These are remarkable expressions of
spiritual generosity to those outside the
covenant.
Or consider Tishrei, the holiest
month of the Jewish year. On the
first day of Rosh Hashanah, as well as
reading about the birth of Yitzchak,
we read of how an angel came to the
aid of Hagar and Yishmael. “What is
the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid.
God has heard the boy crying as he lies
there. Lift the boy up and take him by
the hand, for I will make him into a
great nation” (Gen. 21:17-18). Yishmael
was not destined to be a carrier of
the covenant, yet he was rescued and
blessed.
On Yom Kippur, in the afternoon,
after we have spent most of the day

fasting and making confession, we
read the book of Yonah, in which we
discover that the Prophet uttered a
mere five Hebrew words (“In forty days
Nineveh will be destroyed”) and then
the entire population — Assyrians,
Israel’s enemies — repented. Tradition
takes this as the model of collective
repentance.
On Sukkot, we read Zechariah’s
prophecy that in days to come all the
nations will come to Jerusalem to
celebrate the festival of rain (Zech.
14:16-19).
These are three stunning examples of
universalism. They do not imply that
in the fullness of time everyone will
convert to Judaism. Rather, that in the
fullness of time everyone will recognize
the one God, Creator and Sovereign of
the Universe. That is quite a different
thing.
This idea that you can stand outside
the faith and still be acknowledged by
people within the faith as someone who
recognizes God, is very rare indeed.
Far more common is the approach of
one God, one truth, one way. Whoever
stands outside that way is Godless,
unsaved, the infidel, unredeemed, a
lower class of humanity.

RECOGNIZING THE OTHER
Why then does Judaism distinguish
between the universality of God and
the particularity of our relationship
with Him? Answer: because this helps
us solve the single greatest problem
humanity has faced since earliest
times. How can I recognize the dignity

and integrity of the “other?” History and
biology have written into the human
mind a capacity for altruism toward the
people like us, and aggression toward
the people not like us. We are good,
they are bad. We are innocent, they are
guilty. We have truth, they have lies.
We have God on our side, they do not.
Many crimes of nation against nation
are due to this propensity.
Which is why Tanach teaches
otherwise. Noach, Eliezer and Yitro
were people of God without being
members of Israel. Even the people of
Nineveh became an example of how to
heed a Prophet and repent. God blessed
Yishmael as well as Yitzchak. These are
powerful lessons.
It is hard to think of a more
compelling principle for the 21st
century. The great problems humanity
faces — climate change, economic
inequality, cyberwarfare, artificial
intelligence — are global, but our
most effective political agencies are
at most national. There is a mismatch
between our problems and the available
solutions. We need to find a way of
combining our universal humanity with
our cultural and religious particularity.
That is what the Torah is doing when
it tells us that Noach, Eliezer and Yitro
said Baruch Hashem. They thanked
God, just as we, today, thank God.
God is universal. Therefore humanity,
created in His image, is universal. But
the revelation and covenant at Mount
Sinai were particular. They belong to
our story, not the universal story of
humankind.
I believe this ability to be both
particular in our identity and universal
in our commitment to the human
future is one of the most important
messages we, as Jews, have to deliver in
the 21st century. We are different, but
we are human. Therefore, let us work
together to solve the problems that can
only be solved together.

The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the

chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of

the Commonwealth, 1991-2013. His teachings have

been made available to all at rabbisacks.org.

CONVERSATIONS
• What is Judaism’s approach to
non-Jews?
• If Judaism is Divine Truth,
why isn’t it the religion of all
humankind?
• How does Judaism teach us
to recognize the dignity and
integrity in the “other?”