"Torah Lights"
 
Video Insights on the Parsha
 
 by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel – Is there a concept of separate of Synagogue and State or at least Synagogue and Politics, in the Biblical tradition?  When the Israelites were in their infancy as a nation, a distinction existed between the figures of Moses and Aaron, Moses the chief judge and executive officer and Aaron the High Priest of the Sanctuary.

These two pillars remained at the heart of Jewish life throughout the ages: Indeed, the very institution of a priesthood separate from the ‘executive authority’ over Israel guaranteed an independent moral and ethical voice, a protection against a potential ruler with a gleam of megalomania in his eyes.

The very fact that the King was not privileged to participate in the very central Temple service helped to make him aware of the boundaries of his own power. The division between the offices served to protect the integrity of each, creating a system of checks and balances; in time, the prophet stood together with the High Priest as a charismatic spokesman of the Divine message, beholden neither to family lineage or bureaucratic office.

Hanukkah celebrates the victory of the Hasmoneans over the Greek Syrians, and so significant was this victory, so central to the survival of the Jewish religion, that even though the Hasmonean dynasty deteriorated over the generations - themselves turning into the very Hellenists that their ancestors had fought - this decline didn't prevent their inclusion in the permanent pantheon of Jewish greats.

The Hasmoneans started out as a priestly family, which makes it understandable why Mattathias, the founder of the dynasty, and his five sons, would be the revolutionary vanguard in toppling the Greek powers who had defiled the Holy Temple and destroyed it. But in the wake of their military victory, Judah Aristobulus, the grandchild of Judah Maccabee, made himself king as well as high priest, which could be described as the beginning of the end.

What strikes us about the introductory paragraph of Maimonides' Laws of Hanukkah (Ch.3, 1) is that after describing the history of the period during the Second Temple when the Greeks ruled over Israel, Maimonides effectively praises the Hasmoneans, "....for the Hasmonean family of high priests were victorious, in which they slew the Greek Syrians and rescued Israel from their hands, and they established a king from their priests, and the kingship was restored to Israel for a period of more than 200 years - until the destruction of the Second Temple."

Although the Hasmoneans virtually disappeared at the end of 200 years, nothing in Maimonides’ overview suggests a negative judgment on his part, despite their having taken the Kingship along the High Priesthood.

Maimonides' position seems to contradict a verse at the end of Genesis when Jacob blesses Judah, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet..."(Gen.49:10). From this verse it certainly seems that the blessing of Kingship is exclusive to the tribe of Judah - and separate from the Levite Priests. Maimonides explains that the verse doesn't forbid the choice of a king from a tribe other than Judah. After all, Saul was from Benjamin and G-d gave his imprimatur to Saul. The verse is merely telling us that once the kingship is given to the tribe of Judah it will be eternal - that then the scepter shall not leave. But on a temporary basis, kings can come from other tribes.

But Nahmanides has a different view of kingship. In his opinion the Hasmoneans were punished precisely because they merged the two institutions of monarchy and priesthood into one. True, they started out righteously; their heroic efforts literally saved Judaism from disappearing, keeping alive the Torah and its commandments. Nonetheless they were punished with the death of their progeny because of the sin of taking both the kingship and the high priesthood (Ramban on Genesis 49:10).

The Talmud itself addresses this issue when it records the following comment of Yehudah ben Gedidyah to Alexander Yannai, the Hasmonean king who ruled for 27 years: “King Yannai, let the royal crown suffice, and leave the priestly crown to the seed of Aaron," (B.T. Kedushin 66a). What the sage was saying to King Alexander Yanai strikes at the heart of the problem of the Hasmoneans' having arrogated to themselves the two pillars of Jewish leadership. How are we to understand the idea of kingship and priesthood in modern terms, given that the Jewish people have not had a king or a high priest for nearly 2000 years?

For our purposes, it would be beneficial to relate to the King as the Chief Executive of Jewish life - albeit with a profound appreciation for and hopefully even knowledge of Jewish law. The Exilarch of Babylon came from the Tribe of Judah - and so did Princes of the Sanhedrin, the Great Jewish Court (at least from their maternal lineage). Such executive and even Judicial leadership must bear in mind the new conditions of each generation, the scientific, military, psychological and political realities and on that basis arrive at relevant decisions.

Such judgment must be "generation oriented” - for they require the acquiescence of the majority of the nation if they are to be effective. The High Priest has an altogether different function. His task is to link Jewish present to Jewish past, to bring the weight of Jewish tradition and Jewish morality to bear on Jewish government, to make certain that the present remains a bridge between Jewish past and Jewish future. Our ethics are constant and unchanging; they stand above the political necessities and even machinations of the hour. And in this sense, the Chief Rabbis of Israel - High Priests of our modern age - must remain independent from the Prime Minister and Parliament. The Rabbinic-ethical voice must be perceived as the eternal word of G-d, free of any political blandishments and concerned only in influencing by means of moral persuasion.  It must be independent of political coalitions and Knesset popularity; it must be as close as possible to the voice of God. 

Is this the case in Israel today?  When we remember that the chief Rabbis are elected by the political Knesset, and that the political coalition parties have a major hand in choosing the judges of the chief Rabbinate High Court, politics plays a strong role in the determination of religio-legal policy.  Clearly it is time for a change!

Shabbat Shalom and a Happy Hanukkah!