We Get to Tell Our Loyalty Story

I want to talk this morning about loyalty and the Jewish people. Starting in the past, commenting on the present, and looking toward the future.  

You may recall that Moses had a very instructive conversation with the two and a half of the tribes of Israel. They tell Moses they do not want to cross over the Jordan to the west with everyone else כי באה נחלתנו אלינו מעבר לירדן מזרחה kee ba’ah nahalateinu eleinu me’ever layarden va’hal’ah - because our portion is on the eastern part of the Jordan.

And Moses says to them:  האחיכם יבואו למלחמה ואתם תשבו פה Ha’ahikhem yavo’u lamilhamah v’atem teshvu po?  Will your brothers go off to fight while you stay here?  Moreover, you will discourage the rest of the Israelites from passing over the Jordan.

How dare you act in such a way that denies your responsibilities to the rest of the people and actively discourages them?

Moses is angry.  You could say that he is accusing these leaders of not being sufficiently loyal to the rest of the people. However, it doesn’t end there.  The leaders say to him, we will settle our wives, children and livestock east of the Jordan.  Then we will cross over and fight alongside the rest of the tribes as they conquer the land.  Only after that effort has been successful will we return and fully settle down.

Moses is pleased with the response.  Following his ardent critique, the two and a half tribes come up with a compromise solution which Moses accepts.

Here are three reasons why the Biblical exchange differs from recent events, reasons that I hope will be instructive for us as we navigate the current climate:

Being Who We Are Called To Be

I was recently sitting on a train heading into the city, wearing the kippah I always wear.  A woman who seemed to be in her 20’s was sitting in front of me, turned around, and said, "Excuse me. Are you Jewish?" And I asked, "Why do you want to know?" She said, "I see you’re wearing one of those coverings.  I wondered if you could tell me about them and why Jewish people wear them."  

TIGN 2019 Teen Trip Meeting with Muslim Students at Givat Haviva

So I told her about my kippah, about humility, recognizing a higher power.  She told me that her godparents in Ireland are Jewish (she is originally from England and moved to Ireland), how much she loves celebrating Passover with them.  We spoke about kippot and hijabs, about various religious and how they bring good and bad into the world.


I realized during that train ride that like it or not, I was serving as an ambassador for Jews in general, although she already knew Jews, and observant Jews specifically.  Many of us find ourselves “representing Jewish people” at one time or another. And when that happens, we probably want to make a good impression.

It is normal and understandable - in encounters small and large - for us as people in general and as Jews specifically to want to make a good impression.

This Land is Also Your Land

Deanna and I recently spent a week up in Vermont with our son and his girlfriend.  Our son, who works in a vineyard, spent the week supervising a group of workers who came to the US from Bhutan.  

In speaking with some of them and doing some of his own research, he discovered that this group left Bhutan due to persecution.  They were persecuted because they came to Bhutan from Nepal a few generations ago and were never fully accepted as Bhutanese.  

So they left Bhutan and came to the US, settling primarily in Vermont and Ohio.

"You’re not one of us, you don’t belong, get out of here, go back to where you came from."  

These are familiar thoughts, familiar comments.  This makes them no no less pernicious, but they are familiar.

They surely are familiar to Jews. You come from somewhere else.  You have dual loyalty.  You are not one of us.  

Using our experience, I want to urge us to consider what it means when one person decides to tell another person, or a group, this is not your home.  You don’t belong.  Go back to where you came from.  And how we as Jews should respond and position ourselves when such things are said.