'Providence and Power': Examining the statesmanship of Jewish leaders - review

Around the time of my bar mitzvah many moons ago, I came across one of the early editions of the Junior Jewish Encyclopedia published in New York by Shengold Publishers. An entry in this encyclopaedia that resonated especially strongly for me at the time was the one on Louis D. Brandeis who, in 1916, was nominated by president Woodrow Wilson to the United States Supreme Court. Justice Brandeis was the first Jew to be appointed to this court.

Brandeis is one of the people included in Providence and Power: Ten Portraits in Jewish Statesmanship, Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik’s new book on Jewish statesmen and stateswomen. Soloveichik is the director of Yeshiva University’s Strauss Center for Torah and Western Thought and is rabbi of New York’s Congregation Shearith Israel. Anyone familiar with even a small part of Rabbi Soloveichik’s voluminous literary output could not be other than enormously impressed by the depth and breadth of his Jewish learning, his mastery of the Western canon, and his highly honed skill as a wordsmith. His Bible 365 online lecture series and his frequent columns in Commentary magazine, for example, attest to his high standing as both a spiritual leader and leading public intellectual in today’s Jewish world.

Soloveichik’s intellectual prowess is yet again illustrated in this new book. Providence and Power is bookended by portraits of King David and, in the penultimate chapter, Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin. In his analysis of Begin’s Jewish statesmanship, Soloveichik compares and contrasts him, in some detail, with Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion. Arguably, therefore, “Eleven Portraits” may have been a more accurate subtitle for this book.

From David to Begin: Portraits of Jewish leaders

In between King David and Begin, Soloveichik explores the statesmanship of Queen Esther, Queen Shlomtzion, and six other leaders, namely, Yohanan ben Zakkai; Don Isaac Abravanel; Menasseh ben Israel; Benjamin Disraeli; Theodor Herzl; and, as noted, Louis Brandeis.

In the early pages of the book, Soloveichik outlines the conceptual framework into which he seeks to fit all the Jewish leaders portrayed in Providence and Power. His concern is with leaders of the Jewish people as distinct from Jews who attained leadership roles in non-Jewish governments or in the pursuit of non-Jewish causes. Further, he conceives of Jewish statecraft as involving the marshaling and exercise of available power on behalf of Jews, as well as representing Jews before those in power.

As for the other part of the book’s main title, “providence,” Soloveichik takes this to entail a certain humility – a consciousness of the important role played by the God of Israel in a leader’s accomplishments. Logic would suggest that this providential element requires, as a prerequisite, both a knowledge of and engagement with Jewish religious traditions and faith in God. However, some of the leaders, as described by Soloveichik in his book (namely, Disraeli, Herzl and Brandeis), to varying degrees fall short in this regard. But they are nevertheless included because “guiding the efforts of all is the fixed lodestar of their own Jewish identity and the high compelling duty of service to the well-being of the Jewish people” (p. xvii).

The elements of his framework are most clearly demonstrated in Soloveichik’s treatment of King David and Menachem Begin, both of whom, in their political maneuvers, embraced both providence and power (p. xvi). In sharp contrast, and rather surprisingly on the face of it, the book includes a chapter on Benjamin Disraeli. Disraeli served twice as British prime minister (1868, 1874-80). Although born a Jew, he and his three siblings, at their father’s behest, were converted to Anglican Christianity when Disraeli was 12 years old. Despite the rejection of Judaism seemingly imposed upon him by his father, Disraeli did not renounce his identity as a Jew, was a lifelong staunch supporter of the Jews, and made much ado of Christian Europe’s debt to them. He also believed that the Jews would one day return to and reclaim the Land of Israel.

Only two women, Esther and Shlomtzion, are included in the book. I found the chapter on Shlomtzion (“the peace of Zion”) to be particularly interesting. Although I have walked past and through Shlomtzion HaMalka (Queen Shlomtzion) Street in downtown Jerusalem numerous times, until I read Soloveichik’s book I had little notion of who she was. Indeed, relatively little is known about her generally. That is why the chapter on Shlomtzion is shorter than most of the others and why it piqued my curiosity more than others. However, Soloveichik succeeded in locating and drawing upon a sufficiently wide body of literature to allow him to paint for the reader a woman of great stature – an outstanding Jewish leader.

In the secular world, Shlomtzion is known as Salome Alexandra. One of only two queen regnants in Jewish history (queens who ruled in their own right rather than as the spouse of reigning kings), she ruled Judea for about nine years (76 BCE to 67 BCE) during the Second Temple period. Initially married to Aristoblus (there is an Aristoblus Street in downtown Jerusalem located just off Jaffa Road near Zion Square), upon his death she entered into a levirate marriage with Alexander Yannai. What is impressive about Shlomtzion is her tremendous courage in publicly opposing Alexander Yannai, an ally of the Sadducees, in his brutal effort to put down the Pharisees during the civil war between the two groups. In addition, this apparently much-loved monarch instituted universal education, as well as the ketubah (marriage contract) to protect Jewish women. As Soloveichik points out, both enactments contributed greatly to Jewish continuity (p. 45).

In assembling a cast of ten Jewish statesmen and stateswomen, Soloveichik does not, with the exception of King David and Menachem Begin, provide an explicit rationale for their inclusion, given that there have been many other leaders of the Jewish people who engaged in Jewish statecraft. These include, for example, Moses; Revisionist Zionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky; and rabbis Joseph B Soloveichik (Meir Soloveichik’s great-uncle. who was generally known as The Rav) and Jonathan Sacks, prominent modern leaders of American and British Orthodox Jewry, respectively. Among many notable women who might also have been included in a book of this genre are, for example, judge and prophetess Devorah, the first female leader of the Jewish people; and, from a later era, 16th-century Portuguese philanthropist Gracia Mendes Nasi.

While King David and Begin, more so than the other political personalities, reflect the embrace of both providence and power, Soloveichik’s judicious inclusion of the other eight allowed him, in the final chapter, to draw out four observations regarding Jewish leadership, observations partially related to the era in which the leader lived. The Jewish leaders Soloveichik chose for portrayal in his book manifested: (1) a tension between majesty and humility; (2) an ability to lead a people which for 2,000 years was without a state but nevertheless retained a strong national identity; (3) a vision of how lost sovereignty might be restored; and (4) a profound connection to past Jewish characters and events which infused their leadership. Soloveichik not only provides the reader of Providence and Power with a taste of some fascinating and larger-than-life characters, but he also leaves the reader with an appetite to learn more about these political personalities. While drawing on a wide range of cited sources, including the writings of The Rav, the reader with a hunger for delving further into any one (or more) of the ten characters, would have been assisted with a detailed bibliography and index.

I don’t recall why the entry in the Junior Jewish Encyclopedia on Justice Brandeis resonated so strongly for me at the time. However, many years later I had the great privilege of attending graduate school at Brandeis University. Perhaps this was another expression of the divine providence that animated the Jewish political personalities described in Soloveichik’s fascinating, highly engaging and eminently readable book.■

Allan Borowski PhD is professor emeritus of social work and social policy, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. He lives in Jerusalem. 

• Providence and Power: Ten Portraits in Jewish Statesmanship
• Meir Y. Soloveichik
• New York: Encounter Books, 2023
• $29.99; 224 pages