History + the shared experience of the Jewish people.

Yesterday morning four people were murdered in Har Nof davening Shacharis. Scenes reminiscent of the holocaust. It put things into perspective. Ideological concerns and boundaries suddenly disappeared as the naked face of death left its mark. Permanent. Tragic. Absolute.

 There are times in life when the things that really matter appear before us with such clarity that all else fades into insignificance. I've learned to understand that these are simply moments, flashes of lightning in the night sky which leave as quickly as they come. It was these moments in the summer when we perhaps related to the fear of being forced into bomb shelters several times a day. The moments when we prayed for the return of the kidnapped boys. The moments when we really felt like Jews in the total sense of the word. Felt the guilt of living in the diaspora, of not being with our brothers and sisters in their time of need. But it made me focus on a topic that I wanted to do this week on R. Yehudah ha Levi's emphasis on the importance of Jewish history. 

So what is the religious significance of Jewish history and why is it important? In a sentence, because otherwise I couldn't truly feel solidarity with other Jews in their times of suffering. Or experience, in Dylan's words, this emptiness inside to which I just could not relate, brought on by a simple twist of fate. 
To some, history is merely a documentation of things that have happened in the past. It involves finding and analysing documents and critically scrutinising them to piece together worlds that no longer exist. Libraries are full of gathered facts in endless tomes pertaining to the lives and actions of particular individuals. The study of the past can also be reduced to finding pieces of evidence and trying to de-construct all the previous narratives surrounding and explaining them. But by placing too much faith in the 'historicist' approach it is easy to forget that whilst surgically piecing together evidence can create skeletons of the past, it can never really recreate an experience, the humanity or the essence of the lives that were once led. It is intrinsically limited. 

But through the lenses of R. Yehudah ha Levi, Jewish history is very different. It takes on a fundamental significance. This is because to the Jewish mind history is several things: It is purposeful and is part of the divine narrative. Whilst the final destination or coming of the messiah may not be known, history sill provides a context to suffering and hope to those undergoing pain. It is also the sum total of collective experiences and memories. The rabbi relates to the king of the Khazars the story of the Exodus , life in the land of Israel, the pain of exile, the collective highs and lows of the Jewish people, and importantly how this remained an essential part of the Jewish consciousness hundreds of years later. The Hebrew language is given a particular sanctity, the Jew is placed as a heart to the body and finds himself in a position of eternal significance in the ultimate scheme of things, regardless of his predicament. 

Similarly, the historical context provides a sense of being something more than an isolated individual trying to make ends meet in an indifferent universe. It places you inside something bigger than yourself as you face up to the realisation that you cannot truly achieve without the help of others. Rav Soloveitchik's use of the phrase: "lo tov heyot adam levado" (It was not good for man to be alone) as a description of the existential need for companionship, comes to mind.  By thinking about the bigger picture and the wider context of life you suddenly see other people and the idea that somehow you are all linked.

And it is this that gives the Kuzari an enduring significance in emphasising the importance of shared history and collective Jewish experience. Because when the dam breaks open many years too soon, it is to our families, friends and loved ones that we turn to regardless of where we have got to in our intellectual and personal developments. The recognition of the importance of the human need for others and that the concept of bein adam le chaveiro is more than a description of a particular type of mitzvah but perhaps the deepest form of human need transforms the religious experience from being a personal one to an all-encompassing one. 
For me this is the importance of the broad exploration of Jewish history, because through it we can access something beyond our immediate selves, can live the experiences of the Jewish people and perhaps, even for a few brief moments, feel a real sense of solidarity and Achdus that is often so elusive.