[Avodah] The Mission of the Jews

[Prof. Levine]

The Mission of the Jews
Mar 5, 2010
David Klinghoffer

You will often hear Jews say, with pride, that 
Judaism rejects a missionary or evangelizing 
stance. This is true in the narrow sense that 
Jews do not pursue converts to Judaism, but it is 
deeply misleading in another. The German Orthodox 
rabbi, polemicist, and scriptural expositor Rabbi 
Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–1888), a towering 
figure in modern Jewish thought, taught 
insistently that God brought the “Abrahamitic 
nation” onto the stage of history for “the 
salvation of the world through Judaism.” As he 
wrote in his Torah commentary, this was to be 
accomplished “by example and admonition,” with 
the Jews as “God’s messengers on earth” (on 
Genesis 12:1, 11:8, 18:17–19). In Orthodox 
Judaism today, Hirsch remains a household name. 
But the most important aspect of his legacy, 
which deserves urgent practical consideration by 
the Jewish community, is insufficiently appreciated.


Please see 
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2010/03/the-mission-of-the-jews 
for the rest of this article. YL
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