Reply To: Herzog’s column

“odt propogated idea”

Propogated by gedolim as diverse as rav elchonon, who devoted an entire sefer to the concept, rav hirsch, who eschewed nationalism, the chazon ish, brisker rov – as herzog quoted, it hearkens back to rav saadya gaon and open pesukim jn chumash “today you are to me a nation” was said in the midbar, not eretz yisroel.

Rav elchonon stresses that gerus shows that we’re not a nationality, but a spiritual construct. That’s why it’s passed down by the mother and not the father – yichus, nationhood, lineage, is always paternal – in every culture. The fact that the Torah chooses matrilineal descent is but one more example of its status as a religious community, with spiritual differences between us and goyim, and not just a nationality like any other.

One who does not keep the torah is treated as a non-jew. The din lf a yisroel is the “mahus”, not just a part, but the entire being of the person. The kuzari says that after the 4 levels of creation, a 5th is yisroel – it’s a new category of existence. The tanya is maarich on the spiritual differences between jews and goyim. We have different souls, entirely.

None of that has to do with land/culture/language/ancestry, because you can be a jew in spain speaking Spanish, wearing spanish jewish garb, eating Mediterranean cuisine, and be born non-jewish but converted, and you’re 100% as jewish as a ben acher ben of dovid hamelech.