It is inconceivable and absurd that God should bring on redemption through those who deny and hate Him. Hence, Zionists and the State of Israel are, in effect, obstacles to the true redemption. This view, formulated by Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum in his magnum opus, Vayoel Moshe, is a fundamental tenet of the worldview of the Neturei Karta.
However, Rabbi Teitelbaum’s rejection of the possibility of non-religious actors playing a role in redemption stands in direct contradiction with this week’s Haftarah (the portion from the Prophets read on Shabbat following the reading of the Torah portion).
Fittingly, with Shabbat marking the fifth of Iyar, the official date of Independence Day, this week’s Haftarah suggests that anyone can be the agent of divine providence. After reading in the Torah about the rules governing tzara’at, or skin diseases like leprosy, we recount the story of four lepers who were exiled from the community after Gehazi, assistant to the prophet Elisha, abused his relationship with him.
When Elisha declined payment for healing Na’aman, the Aramean general, of his leprosy, Gehazi pursued him, deceitfully requesting funds in Elisha’s name.
Due to his family’s greed and having embarrassed the prophet, Gehazi’s family was banished from the community of Israel, and Gehazi, who betrayed the prophet for greed, was punished with the same ailment Na’aman was cured of: leprosy – for himself and his three sons.
At the time, the Aramean army had laid siege to the cities of Israel, causing great famine among the people. With Gehazi and his family living outside the protective walls of the city and certain death looming, they decided to venture down to the encampment of the Aramean army, hoping to surrender and find something to eat.
To their surprise, the camp had been abandoned. Instead of simply taking food and their fill of gold, they decided to inform the Israelite king, Jehoram. Despite fearing that it might be a trap, Jehoram proceeded to the Aramean encampment, and thanks to this act, the Jews of Samaria were saved.
From the Torah’s narrative, emphasized by the Talmud (Sotah 47a), Gehazi and his family were both physical and spiritual lepers. They perpetrated the great sin of publicly disgracing God and His prophet.
And yet, it is these very lepers who inform the king of the Aramean camp, thereby facilitating the salvation of the Jewish people.
This shows that God does not wait for the most worthy candidates, but instead, even someone as deeply flawed as Gehazi – one of the few figures in Tanach denied a portion in the world to come for his misdeeds (Mishna Sanhedrin 10:2) – can be chosen to be the agent of redemption.
Gehazi and his leprous sons are not meant to be equated with the early secular Zionists, whose fundamental aim was to ensure the safety of the Jewish people. Yet the story highlights the theological position articulated by Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook and Rabbi Norman Lamm: God is not limited in who He uses to bring about redemption.
Rav Kook wrote at great length about the role God assigned to the secular Zionists in the Jewish people’s redemption process. People of all backgrounds and levels of religious observance played a role in the birth of the State of Israel and continue to do so today, contributing to the country’s defense, growth, and success.
That God chose primarily non-religious Jews to establish the state may strike religious Jews as puzzling, but it should not lead us to doubt the blessing that Israel represents.
In fact, in the eighteenth century, Rabbi Chaim ben Attar (better known by the name of his book, the Or HaChaim) commented that righteousness is not a prerequisite for the Jewish people’s redemption. Thank God we have never reached the point that we were bereft of righteous people, and indeed, the State of Israel is the greatest supporter of Torah study in the world.
Redemption in our days
Since October 7, we have witnessed an outpouring of heroism from soldiers, civilians, and volunteers of all stripes, many of whom may not define themselves as religious but whose actions have unmistakably advanced the cause of Jewish sanctity and survival.
These include our reservists and their families, medical professionals healing wounds of both body and soul, and the thousands of volunteers still supporting the war effort, even after a year and a half of exhaustion and grief. Their level of formal religious observance – or if they are even Jewish – does not define their capacity to redeem or protect the Jewish people or to serve as agents of God.
On the heels of Remembrance Day and Independence Day, we are reminded that redemption is forged not only in the batei midrash (places of Torah study) but also in the trenches of war, in hospitals, and in homes. Every act of courage, every life sacrificed in service, sanctifies God’s name and brings us closer to the fulfillment of God’s promise.
The writer, a rabbi, is the president and rosh ha’yeshiva of Ohr Torah Stone.