Sometimes we just have to let our great thinkers do the talking. Sometimes we just need to read, hear and listen to their words. So this week I present Rabbi Uziel – Israel’s first Sephardic Chief Rabbi, an outstanding leader, halakhic scholar and philosopher, and my personal rabbinic role model – in his own words. Written in 1951, two years before he passed away, Rabbi Uziel’s essay You Shall Love Truth and Peace reflects Rabbi Uziel’s unifying vision for Israel. Here are highlights from his essay:
“The pillars of truth and peace are sorely needed in the State of Israel, for only truth and peace can create an atmosphere of pleasantness and tranquility throughout our land. Each one of us must internalize the values of truth and peace. Doing so will foster a true love for the State of Israel, and a genuine desire for its ever important internal peace. This internal peace within our country can ultimately lead to an external peace, guiding us towards peace initiatives with other nations.
Let us clothe ourselves with an elevated devotion and love for one another, as commanded by the Torah, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’(Leviticus 19:18).
Let us accept and welcome all immigrants to our land, irrespective of their ethnic community or country of origin. Let us accept them from a place of genuine love, as we are commanded: ‘The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens, you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt’ (Leviticus 19:34).
Let us conduct ourselves in the paths of true peace, respecting each other’s opinions and feelings, as well as respecting the differences of opinion amongst the different factions in our country. Let us remove all language of hatred, animosity and provocation from our midst, so that we may fulfill amongst ourselves that which our enlightened scholar Maimonides commanded us: “Accept the truth from whatever source it comes”. Let us remember the enlightened deeds of our rabbis – Shammai and Hillel – who behaved with love and respect towards one another. Despite their tremendous differences, they respected each other’s opinions, fulfilling the verse ‘You shall love truth and peace.’ (Zechariah 8:19).
May God, the King of Peace, bless us with peace, and may we merit to see the fulfillment of the great prophetic vision for world peace: ‘And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not take up sword against nation, they shall never again know war’ (Isaiah 2:4).”
In these troubling times of war, terrorism, and global anti-Semitism, along with deep internal strife in Israel, Rabbi Uziel’s unifying vision for Israel and the Jewish people is the need of the hour.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Daniel Bouskila is the international director of the Sephardic Educational Center.
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