by Rabbi Alan J Yuter
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are that of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the Union for Traditional Judaism, unless otherwise indicated.
On May 28, 2018, my oldest grandson, the 20-year-old Mr. Eliyahu Rosenfeld, was honored by the State of Israel for his outstanding service to the Nation in Sherut Lei’umi, Israel’s National Service program. After completing Yeshiva High School and a year of Torah study at Yeshiva Har Etzion, Eliyahu was denied the privilege of performing military service on medical grounds. Not wanting to avoid serving the Jewish people and national service, Eliyahu was determined to serve his country in a morally significant way. So, he applied to several service programs and was accepted as an aid in a home for challenged adults. Eliyahu was not placed in the home to do a job; he was there to make a difference. Eliyahu got young adults who were unable to communicate with anyone else to relate to him; he is strong, ethical, caring, loving, he takes the moral initiative, and always does “what is right and good.” As a consequence of his passionate devotion, professional excellence, and well-earned respect and love of the people he served, Eliyahu was awarded a citation for exceptional service to the State of Israel by Israel’s President, Mr. Reuven Rivlin.
After congratulating my grandson on his wonderful achievement and recognition, I asked him “what beracha do we say when we see the King of Israel, and does it apply today to PM Benjamin Netanyahu and President Rivlin?” The Oral Torah prescribes a birchat hoda’ah when seeing the King of Israel. But we don’t really have kings today, most kings today are mere figureheads, many politicians are corrupt, and some rabbis conjecture that the king has to be empowered to execute its subjects at will. And since we should not recite berachot when in doubt, perhaps no beracha should be said altogether when seeing heads of state in modern times.
At the honoring ceremony, the Master of Ceremony, Dr. Avshalom Koor began the program by explaining why, of all things, he was about to recite the blessing for the Jewish king, Mr. Reuven Rivlin, the very same topic my grandson and I were considering. Dr. Koor is religiously observant, professionally trained in Hebrew linguistics, very learned in Biblical literature, and a warm, engaging educator and media personality. However, when presiding over the International Bible Contest, when PM Benjamin Netanyahu, also a Bible buff, presided, Dr. Koor did not recite the beracha. How can this be? The Prime Minister has political power and the President of Israel’s honorific role parallels the role of the monarch of England. Mr. Netanyahu is a secular Jew with some traditional habits. In contrast, Mr. Rivlin defines himself as “dati lite,” religiously observant but not obsessively so. It also happens PM Netanyahu is currently under criminal investigation for financial misdeeds, receiving gifts from affluent friends, and using government money for personal benefit. His personal life’s challenges may also be surveyed at http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/netanyahus-women/. Unlike the Judaism that gave rise to the Mishnah and the literary transmission of the Oral Law, contemporary Israel enjoys political sovereignty, or independence and a smart, educated, hardworking, politically engaged citizenry. This sovereignty does not reside in the person of the Prime Minister, but in the plenum of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Israel’s President performs the role assumed by most contemporary monarchies. Mr. Rivlin’s mission is to express the national mood, to sanctify civic culture, and to articulate the National collective conscience; his task is to bridge and to reflect the entire spectrum of political and social opinion.
The blessing recited upon seeing the Jewish king is asher halaq me-kevodo li-re’av, we praise the Almighty for “giving honor to those who revere Him.” An educator par excellence. Dr. Koor saw in this assembly a teachable moment that called for action. He explained to the audience that he is about to recite the blessing for seeing the Jewish King. By saying the blessing upon seeing Mr. Rivlin, an act he did not do when Mr. Netanyahu entered the hall to preside over the Hidon ha-Tannach, Israel’s National Bible contest, Dr. Koor was hinting to the honorees and their families that [a] there is a difference between what Israel is and what it can be, and [b] the assembled honorees are precisely those with the skills, the devotion, and the desire to make that difference. There is no criticism of Mr. Netanyahu being made here; there is, however, a recognition that yir’at shamayim, personal piety, is not a significant part of the Prime Minister’s personal profile. But there is a recognition on Dr. Koor’s part that Jewish propriety and sanctity is better represented by Mr. Rivlin’s personal example..Dr. Koor criticized no one; he respects the office of the Prime Minister. But his religious sensibility sees in Mr. Rivlin’s Torah informed Jewish nationalism a model that can inspire the Jewish nation.
This being said, Mr. Netanyahu remains Israel’s Rosh Memshalah, the head and Chief Executive Officer of the sovereign Jewish state, where my wife, myself, my children, and grandchildren reside, in safety, security, and in sanctity. The Jewish state provides a spiritual environment where [a] grandchildren and grandparents can have ethical conversations as these, formulating the ethical benchmarks that we expect of our leaders, and [b] that other Jews, like Dr. Koor, are both having the same conversation, and reach similar conclusions regarding our ethical expectations we have of our leaders. Whatever one thinks of his politics, policies, and preferences, Mr. Netanyahu is the head of the Israeli government, and his office commands respect; in my family, dissent is not expressed in snarky insults, it is expressed on Election Day in the polling booth. This being said, although Mr. Rivlin’s politics are a tad to the Right of Mr. Netanyahu’s, Mr. Rivlin’s demeanor and moral example more closely reflect Jewish ethics and ethos, allowing him to address Israelis on the political Left as well. Thank God, Mr. Rivlin is the President of a Jewish state that can nurture a grandchild like Eliyahu, a Jewish young adult who is committed to Torah and Avoda, a gentleman and a scholar who loves doing hesed, or kindly acts, and who like his Priestly heritage [on his learned father’s side], lives to give with urge to serve.
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Educated and first ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Rabbi Alan J. Yuter earned additional ordinations from Yeshiva University, supervised by Rav Moshe D. Tendler, and the Israeli Chief Rav Mordecai Eliahu. He further received Yadin Yadin from Rav David Weiss Halivni and earned a PhD in modern Hebrew Literature from New York University.
A founding member of the UTJ, Rabbi Yuter served as a faculty member at the UTJ’s rabbinical school and has held multiple pulpits, including extended stints in Springfield, NJ, and Baltimore, MD.
Rabbi Yuter is a prolific writer on ritual and philosophical issues, underpinnings of halakha, Biblical criticism, and much more. His essays can be found on UTJ’s Viewpoints . He is also a frequent contributor for The Institute of Jewish Ideas and Ideals.
In addition to his activities with the UTJ, Rabbi Yuter teaches at Torat Reva in Jerusalem and is associated with the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding, affiliated with Ohr Torah Stone in Efrat.
Rabbi Yuter and his wife Linda reside in Israel.