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A Critical Investigation Into Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli's Views on The HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies ISSN: (Online) 2072-8050, (Print) 0259-9422 Page 1 of 7 Original Research A critical investigation into Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli’s views on the phenomenon of labour Author: Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli (1909–1995) was one of religious Zionism’s greatest rabbis and 1 Amir Mashiach adjudicators. He served for many years as the rabbi of Moshav Kfar Haroeh, sat as a judge Affiliation: in the supreme Rabbinical Court and was head of the Merkaz Harav yeshiva. The purpose 1The Israel Heritage of this study is to shed light on Yisraeli’s attitude towards work. Did he see work as a basic Department and the School human obligation spelled out by the physical need for survival? Did he associate an of Education, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel ideological value with work, as part of a worldview integrating religious values with extra- religious ones, similar to socialism? Or did he see work as a religious value, one that stemmed Corresponding author: from his theology? Amir Mashiach, [email protected] Keywords: Rabbi Yisraeli; Religious Zionism; Rabbi Kook; Work; Labour; Mizrachi; Ha-poel Dates: Ha-Mizrchi; Activism. Received: 17 Dec. 2018 Accepted: 31 May 2019 Published: 23 Oct. 2019 This article seeks to understand the concept of work in the teachings of Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli (1909–1995). Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli was one of religious Zionism’s greatest rabbis and adjudicators How to cite this article: (ed. Sharir 1999; Roness 2012). He was born in Belarus, and only at the age of 24, he made Aliyah Mashiach, A., 2019, ‘A critical 1 investigation into Rabbi Shaul to the land of Israel. In Israel, he learnt Torah at Merkaz Harav yeshiva. In time, he served for Yisraeli’s views on the many years as the rabbi of Moshav Kfar Haroeh,2 sat as a judge in the supreme Rabbinical Court phenomenon of labour’, and was head of the Merkaz Harav yeshiva. HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies As an important figure who had a significance impact on the religious Zionist sector with its guiding 75(3), a5365. https://doi.org/ principle of Torah va’avodah, meaning Torah and work, it is necessary to clarify his attitude to 10.4102/hts.v75i3.5365 work. Did he perceive work as a necessity, part of one’s duty to support the members of the Copyright: household, or perhaps also as an ideological value, part of a worldview that combines religious © 2019. The Authors. values with extra-religious values, or then again maybe he perceived work as a religious value. Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. Background In this short introduction,3 we find several references to work in Jewish literature (Menahem 1985; Neuwirth 2015).4 The biblical attitude to work is ambivalent. On the one hand, ‘[t]he Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it’ (Gn 2:15). Namely, Adam’s job was also to work, and work bears religious meaning of carrying out a Divine commandment and designation. Then again, once Adam sinned, he was punished. ‘Cursed is the ground because of you … by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food’ (Gn 3:17–19). Therefore, work is part of the curse and has no religious value; rather, it is an outcome of the sin. In rabbinical literature also, the attitude to work is ambivalent. According to some views, work has religious value, for instance: Great is labor, as just as Israel were commanded to keep the Sabbath, thus they were commanded to perform labor, as it is said: ‘Six days you shall do labor and do all your work’. (Avot de Rabbi Nathan, Version B, 21) Therefore, just as it is a religious precept to cease from work on the Sabbath, it is also a religious precept to work on weekdays.5 Then again, some claim that work is only an existential need and 1.Merkaz Harav yeshiva [Torah academy] ‘The Center of the Rabbi [i.e. Rabbi Kook] – the Central Universal Yeshiva’ is a religious Zionist yeshiva in Jerusalem, founded in 1924 by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. It has become the most prominent religious Zionist yeshiva in the world and is still considered to be a very influential establishment in the religious Zionist sector. 2.A religious moshav belonging to Hapoel Hamizrahi, named after Rabbi Kook. Read online: 3.I have written short, as this topic is lengthy and complex, and the current study is interested in Rabbi Yisraeli’s attitude to the issue. Scan this QR code with your 4.The terms ‘work’ (avoda), ‘labor’ (melakha) and ‘trade’ (umanut) are used in this study to describe tangible work. smart phone or mobile device 5.The meaning of ‘work’ as mentioned in the Mishna, ‘[t]he world stands on three things: Torah, the service of God (Work), and deeds of to read online. kindness’ (Avot 1:2) is disputed. Some interpret it as actual work, and then labour has religious value, and some interpret it as meaning prayer or work in the temple. http://www.hts.org.za Open Access Page 2 of 7 Original Research has no religious value, for example, the father’s obligation to than only a necessity for the purpose of subsistence. The slogan teach his son a profession, stating that ‘[a]nyone who does of the religious Zionist youth movement Bnei Akiva is ‘Torah not teach his son a trade is as though he trains him to be a ve’avoda’ (Torah and work) (Mashiach 2017:85–100, 2018a). gangster’, as ‘if he [the son] shall have no trade and he shall lack for bread, he will go to the crossroads and rob people’ Rabbi Yisraeli was the head of the Merkaz Harav yeshiva. (Bavli, Qiddushin 29b, and Rashi ad loc). Therefore, work is a Over the years, the yeshiva had been headed by three means of subsistence, but has no religious meaning. It was significant figures, Rabbi Kook the father (the Re’aya), Rabbi obvious to all that the Jewish scale of ethics is headed by the Kook the son (the Ratzia) and Rabbi Harlap, and all three study of Torah, ‘But the study of Torah is equal to them all’ perceived work as a theological value. Rabbi Kook had a (Mishna, Peah 1:1; Arzi 1964). clear dialectic outlook. He claimed that ‘really… spirituality does not contradict materiality, nor does materiality Over the years, the conception of work as a necessity has contradict spirituality, rather the two are connected’ (Kook attained dominance. R. Yosef Karo, the greatest of all halakhic 1984). He stated adamantly (Kook 1984): adjudicators, also pointed that it is necessary to work and to [T]hat the salvation of Israel can only grow successfully if it support oneself, as ‘the poverty will remove from him involves the fundamental composition of two forces, the sacred knowledge of his Creator’ (Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayim, and the mundane… they complement each other and only when siman 156, section a). Hence, work is a necessity rather than a joined do they fully fulfill their role. (p. 257) religious value. Rabbi Kook strived to revive the glory of the authentic- Modern-day ultra-Orthodox society sees Torah as a supreme original Torah, which does not separate and espouse duality, and exclusive value. From their perspective, work is merely a rather the unification of spirit and matter and of Torah and subsistence need. This conception is supported primarily by work. He defined the study of Torah as ‘spiritual Torah’ and the argument that work is a circumstantial necessity. After work as ‘practical Torah’ and declared: the Holocaust and the destruction of European Jewry, they My greatest ambition is to connect he spiritual Torah with the saw an obligation to devote their lives to the study of Torah practical Torah. In the early days, the days of the prophets, the and to perform its commandments in order to rescue the two Torahs were certainly strongly connected… and now the Torah of Israel from complete annihilation. This was the times demand that this appearance be resumed. (Ish-Shalom beginning of the ‘learners’ society’ (hevrat halomdim), as 1990; Kook 2004:Part I para. 837) defined by Friedman, a society that dedicates itself to the study of Torah, whatever the intellectual level of the Rabbi Kook the son, the Ratzia, also held dialectic views individual. As stated, work is merely a necessity (Brown (Mashiach 2020:1–22). In his opinion, ‘“[m]an is born to toil” – 2017; Friedman 1991). both “the toil of Torah” and the “toil of labor”’ (Ratzia 1998:386). Moreover, in general, ‘whenever concrete labors and works are With regard to tangible work, the innovation introduced by added in the Land of Israel … eternal life [the study of Torah] the Hassidic movement and the concept of ‘work (serving and temporary life [tangible work] become connected in a strong God) through the concrete’ (avoda begashmiyut) are binding’ (Ratzia 2002:259). The Ratzia claimed that not only is noteworthy. That is, the worship of God can also be performed there no distinction but rather there is a joining of the two by means of concrete occupations (Kauffman 2009). Buber categories in one, ‘in a strong binding’. Thus, in his view, ‘Israel (1945) explains that according to the Hassidic outlook, God is is resuming its health, the health of its body and the health of constantly present in the world. Therefore, ‘the separation its soul, in the army and in the yeshiva, in agriculture and in between the sacred … and the mundane … is a temporary diligent studies’ (Ratzia 1998:413).
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