KETUBOT
According to Ketubot 110b, a Jew should preferably live in Israel, even in a city mostly populated by what?
What is idolators?
Ben Gurion describes Israel as these 2 things?
What is an "Ark" and "Covenant"?
Rav Kook argues Jewish nationalism can never truly be this.
What is fully secular?
Rabbi Zeira wanted to do this, despite Rav Yehuda’s opposition.
What is move to / make aliyah to Eretz Yisrael?
Hartman says the old relationship between Israel and the Diaspora was built around this mindset.
What is crisis/survival?
The Gemara says someone who lives outside Israel is “like someone who does not have” this.
What is God (Eloah)?
According to the text, an “Ark” represents this idea.
What is refuge/safety?
According to Rav Kook, these four things are “vessels of the spirit of the Lord.”
What are the land, language, history, and customs of Israel?
Rav Yehuda believed leaving Babylonia for Israel violated this type of mitzvah.
What is a positive commandment (aseh)?
According to Hartman, loyalty can include this action toward Israel.
What is criticism / disagreement?
The Gemara uses Vayikra 25:38
'לָתֵת לָכֶם אֶת אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן לִהְיוֹת לָכֶם לֵאלֹהִים" to support the spiritual significance of living in Israel.
Explain how the prooftext is used to justify their claim.
לִהְיוֹת לָכֶם לֵאלֹהִים
The phrase “Am Segula” means the Jewish people have this added responsibility.
What is a moral mission / extra burden / higher virtue?
Rav Kook says Jews focused too much on the soul and neglected this.
What is the body / physical life?
This biblical chapter is central to Rav Yehuda’s opposition to aliyah because it describes exile to Babylonia as divinely ordained.
What is Jeremiah Chapter 27?
Hartman argues Israelis and Diaspora Jews should relate to each other in this way.
What is as equals / partners?
These are the three oaths mentioned in Ketubot 111a.
1. Jews should not go up “as a wall”
2. Jews should not rebel against the nations
3. Nations should not oppress Israel excessively
According to Ben Gurion, Jews in prosperous countries risk a specific spiritual danger in the Diaspora.
What is assimilation / fragmentation of Jewish soul and identity?
"...that only in Israel can a Jew live a full life, both as a Jew and as a human being."
Rav Kook believed secular Zionists were unknowingly participating in this process.
What is the redemption and bringing about of messianic era?
Rabbi Zeira argued the verse in Jeremiah referred not to Jews, but to these objects.
What are Temple vessels (klei sharet)?
According to Hartman, survival-focused Judaism suppresses disagreement, while this newer framework assumes disagreement is permanent.
What is a values-based relationship / values narrative?
The Three Oaths are derived from Shir HaShirim. How do the rabbis use the prooftext to support their claims?
הִשְׁבַּ֨עְתִּי אֶתְכֶ֜ם בְּנ֤וֹת יְרוּשָׁלַ֙͏ִם֙ בִּצְבָא֔וֹת א֖וֹ בְּאַיְל֣וֹת הַשָּׂדֶ֑ה אִם־תָּעִ֧ירוּ ׀ וְֽאִם־תְּע֥וֹרְר֛וּ אֶת־הָאַהֲבָ֖ה עַ֥ד שֶׁתֶּחְפָּֽץ׃
Ben Gurion argues there are 3 primary reasons for making aliyah. Name 2.
1. National vision/redemption for thousands of years
2. Hardship/persecution/anti-Semitism
3. Attraction of the Jewish state as a hub
Both Rav Kook and Ben Gurion believed the Jewish state must be more than physical safety, but they described that larger purpose using these two different ideas.
What are holiness/redemption and covenant/moral mission?
How would Rav Kook respond to Rav Yehuda’s opposition to aliyah?
Disagree. We are bringing about the redemption and messianic future by living and working the land.
According to Hartman, who gets to define who is a "lover of Israel"?
"No single worldview or political position can be allowed to define the values and aspirations that shape the relationship, or define what it means to be a lover of Israel."