Shavuot 2024: A new 10 commandments for Israel and Jewish destiny

There was a time when humanity lived in darkness and confusion. In a tangled world of multiple gods, no common baseline of morality emerged. The human imagination could not conceive of a moral God who scrutinized the behavior of humans and held them accountable. This chaos and moral anarchy continued until, finally, God delivered His word and His will to our nation. 

We were selected to live a “godlike” lifestyle, obeying a system of 613 eternal divine commandments that permeate every aspect of human experience. God summarized this network of commandments by issuing 10 foundational sayings which, like the stone tablets upon which they were etched, are absolute and unchanging. The Ten Commandments, by underscoring immutable religious and moral responsibilities, provided moral clarity to a muddled world. 

We are living through a baffling period of history. Our people and our land were viciously attacked, and yet we are blamed and denounced with baseless and spurious claims. The world around us has gone berserk with hatred and antisemitism. This Shavuot, alongside the Ten Commandments of Sinai, the following 10 guiding principles can provide clarity and sanity during our time of bewilderment. 

Here are 10 fundamental doctrines regarding Israel, Jewish destiny, and Jewish universalism. 

The new 10 commandments

• I. God chose us as His people, tasking us with inspiring the world to higher religious and moral ground. We were awarded the Land of Israel to better broadcast our divine message. Jewish settlement of Israel is both a nationalist and a universal agenda. In an ideal world, the Jewish presence in Israel provides broader benefits to the entire world.  
• II. We were originally intended to establish a Jewish homeland and monarchy in Israel and to educate humanity through the nation-state we assembled. After our repeated betrayals of God, we were expelled from the Land of Israel and, for the past 2,000 years, we have lived on the margins of history and society. We are slowly repairing that rupture and gradually reconvening Jews into our ancient homeland. This gathering will not be swift, nor will it be easy. We continue to face domestic challenges and international opposition. Repairing historical breakdowns takes time. 
• III. Antisemitism is woven into the fabric of history. We are the moral and religious conscience of humanity, and no one likes a whistle-blower. Though antisemitism can be traced to political, economic, ethnic, and sociological factors, it stems from the larger reality that Jews challenge the world to a higher accountability. 
• IV. For centuries, we were cast as outsiders, a sub-human race of religious infidels unfit for membership in general society. We were hated and marginalized. We weren’t viewed as central, or even as relevant, to human history. Now that we have returned to Israel, the tables of history have turned. Our battle to defend our homeland lies at the center of a larger global battle of ideologies. We know it and, subliminally, the entire world knows it. This is the reason that Jewish presence in the land of God is so hotly contested, and for this reason the battle over the Land of Israel is integrated within a larger ideological and cultural struggle. 
• V. Arab violence against Jews has nothing to do with borders, refugees, or any other political factor. Regarded as heretics, Jews were discriminated against in Arab countries well before the State of Israel was conceived. We faced blood libels and pogroms unrelated to Jewish settlement in Israel. In the past two centuries, our constant willingness to negotiate peacefully was met with Arab inflexibility and intransigence. We were not the aggressors on Oct. 7 and have never been the aggressors in our attempt to settle a small parcel of our ancient homeland. Sadly, had the Arabs not been so consumed with hatred and violence, we would have long ago converted the Middle East into an oasis of prosperity.
• VI. The application of “international law” to Israel has become farcical. International bodies, established to supervise and enforce the good behavior of countries, have been hijacked by political interest groups and weaponized against our people in kangaroo courts manipulated by antisemites. 

Condemning Israel in the United Nations or prosecuting us in The Hague provides an appearance of legitimacy to vile and repugnant Jew-hatred. Antisemitism has always comprised raw violence by mobs, complemented by governmental legislation. This wave is no different. We face both military and legislative antisemitism. Israel is not violating international law in this war. 

• VII. The sky isn’t falling upon our people. We have suffered a horrible tragedy, and there is no quick or easy solution. However, taken as a whole, our people has never been in better condition in the past 2,000 years. Despite our ongoing struggles, Jewish history has made dramatic strides. It is specifically during dark and depressing periods that historical perspective is crucial. 
• VIII. We are responsible for leading a moral lifestyle and conducting warfare ethically. We avoid indiscriminate bombing, not to appease international opinion but because of our own moral code. As the people of God, we are expected to protect innocent civilians as best we can. The unfortunate loss of civilian life is completely the responsibility of maniacal terrorists who exploit them as human shields. Battling murderers who have embedded themselves within the civilian population, we have conducted the most moral war in military history. 
• IX. This hasn’t been humanity’s finest hour. Currently, the world is very confused. Educated people, from whom we would expect better, are acting foolishly and embarrassingly. However, in response to the loathing, we cannot become misanthropic or lose hope in human potential. We must continue to believe in the divine potential of every human being and hope that one day, our current enemies will become our audiences – as we deliver spiritual and cultural restoration. If we abandon this hope, we abdicate our Jewish mission. 
• X. As gloomy as our current situation may be, we know how history ends – even though that knowledge doesn’t preclude us from struggling with history and attempting to improve it. What we don’t know is how quickly it ends and whose shoulders carry history to the finish line. One manner of negotiating tragedy is by taking the long view of Jewish history. 

The writer is a rabbi at the hesder Yeshivat Har Etzion/Gush, with ordination from Yeshiva University and a master’s in English literature from CUNY. He is the author of Dark Clouds Above, Faith Below (Kodesh Press), which provides religious responses to Oct. 7.