Cinderella (3)

The book of Job represents the conflict between Judaism and the other central religions. Both Islam and Christianity, throughout the generations, have continually employed a claim in the anti-Jewish argument that can be termed "the exile proof." The success of these religions is seemingly a proof that God is on their side. I propose to prove the opposite theory, that it is the anti-hero who is God's ally.

Our forefathers knew that the exile was a trial to be overcome. The Jew refuses to accept the claims of his friends; he insists upon the justice of his path. This insistence has a sublimity to it, which is expressed in the Jewish existence in exile. The members of the Great Assembly recognized this when they coined the phrase we use in our prayers, "the great mighty and awesome God." When the prophets saw the destruction, they omitted parts of the formula one by one, and questioned His might and greatness. These omissions are built upon the approach that says that truth is revealed on the battlefield, or through political or financial success. The members of the Great Assembly re-instituted the authentic phrase "the great, mighty and awesome God" and claimed that paradoxically, through Jewish existence in exile, God's greatness and might are expressed. On the one hand, the irrational existence of the Jews in exile is the miraculous existence of one lamb among seventy wolves. Yet on the other hand, the exile expresses the fact that the Jewish people accepted the yoke of Heaven, not from a state where God made sure they lacked for nothing, not from a state of military success or financial abundance, but from poverty and suffering, without even the hope of change in the foreseeable future.

            Cinderella's sisters found proof of their preferred status in their success. However, their success was, of course, helped by the sword. Christianity and Islam used the sword, and their covenant with the sword, to take over the world. Job, who worships God within his suffering, reaches the highest level of divine worship. Whenever Jews chose to suffer rather than utter the one traitorous word that could have altered their fate, it was a constant sanctification of God's name. Putting the Jewish people (and Job) through suffering was God's great gamble against Satan, and cosmically, their continued acceptance of God was a greater proof of the truth of Judaism than a triumph on the battlefield. This perhaps sounds surprising. However, if we would possess a consciousness of the truth, we would be able to understand the profound value of our exile and our suffering. It is for the lack of this consciousness of the truth that the king is justified in his criticism of the Jewish people; as the Chaver says, "You have found the place of my shame, King of Khazar" (1:115).

We are sometimes missing an awareness of the significance of the life that we live. We sometimes live with no awareness of our position and no understanding of what is really taking place in our lives. The Jew always knew that he could escape his fate by uttering one word, yet he refused to do it. We must be aware of this heroism, that we accepted our suffering out of love and longing for God. The Jew knows this, yet sometimes he does not know that he knows it.

            Rihal teaches us that the suffering of the Jews in exile was a sacrifice for the sake of the Torah. It was a life of martyrdom, the highest level exalted by the Christians and Moslems. Rihal reiterated the principle (2:34, 4:22) that many of the values extolled in Christian and Moslem theology are Jewish values that were fulfilled by the Jewish people. The most obvious example is the section in Yishayahu (52:13-53-12) that speaks of the suffering servant of God. God's suffering servant is actually the Jewish people. The Christians applied this section to their Messiah. Rihal restores the section to its authentic meaning.

            Rihal fought against a phenomenon that can be termed stolen identity. The phenomenon has many levels. Christianity claimed to be the true Israel. Islam claimed that the Koran is the authentic holy writ. Our return to the land of Israel was accompanied by a similar process. The Palestinian charter is a reworking of the principles of Zionism.

            Despite this re-evaluation of suffering, there is no doubt that it is impossible to discuss history without also speaking from the perspective of chapter 42 of Job. Judaism believes that redemption is assured. It is not possible that God will suffer evil forever. However, we are discussing reality from the perspective of an earlier chapter. We don't have the perspective of the ending. Our generation must view itself as fortunate because we can read the first few verses of the final chapter, the first glimmerings of redemption. We see the course of history changing. Rihal, in contrast, lived at a low point of Jewish history, when the Christians and the Moslems were at the height of their power. Each ruled over half the world and claimed that their success was an expression of divine blessing. Judaism is Job's great gamble against his friends. It is the gamble of the sufferer when redemption is beyond the scope of his horizon. The response of Job/the Jewish people is "Even if He kills me, I still hope to Him" (13:15), and at the same time, "I will wait for [Messiah's] arrival every day."

Translated by Gila Weinberg