[Avodah] FW: [Areivim] Ohr LeGoyim

[Zev Sero]

On 27/04/2012 10:58 AM, Micha Berger wrote:
> Backing up a bit, the underlying argument doesn't rest on the meaning of
> leOr Goyim, and its contrast with the popular misquote Or laGoyim, because
> Yeshaiah makes the point being attributed to the words elsewhere.
>
> "Ki miTzion teitzei Torah."

If I understand RLL's point correctly, it rests precisely on that
distinction.  "Or lagoyim" implies that the purpose is for the nations,
and our job is to bring them light.  Thus RYL's claim that this means
we have to go to them.  Whereas "Le'or goyim" focuses the sentence on
us; rather than us being a light *for* them, it is they who (if they are
wise) use us as a light.  If you walk at night and pass by a house with
a bright light in front, you may stop and benefit from the light, but it
wasn't put there for that purpose; it was put there for the benefit of
the residents and their visitors, and your benefit is an externality, as
the economists call it.

Since the pasuk is talking about Yesha'yahu anyway, the distinction
isn't that relevant; Yesha'yahu certainly didn't go to chu"l and
deliver his words to other nations.  But the other pesukim cited,
"vehalchu goyim le'orech" and "ki mitziyon teitzei torah" are both
in line with "le'or goyim" rather than "or lagyoim" as RLL seems to
understand the terms.

The source I would cite against RLL is not from Tanach at all but from
the gemara: "Israel was only exiled among the nations in order that
geirim be added to them".  (Indeed, this is one explanation given for
why geirim are "as difficult for Israel as a sapachat": it's their
fault that we're in galut, just as a lost hiker is responsible for the
efforts that the rescue team undergoes.)

-- 
Zev Sero        "Natural resources are not finite in any meaningful
zev at sero.name    economic sense, mind-boggling though this assertion
                  may be. The stocks of them are not fixed but rather
		 are expanding through human ingenuity."
		                            - Julian Simon