Globalist or Nationalist?


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The 20th Century proved the dangers of the Particular. Ultra-Nationalism precipitated atrocities the kind of which our world had never known. In the 21st Century, however, we have seen the pendulum swing in the opposite direction; Nationalism is controversial, if not shunned entirely. The world wide web has opened new channels of interconnection and the ease of travel has forever diminished the size of our globe.

Extremes are never good. Neither extreme Universalism nor extreme Particularism.

Avraham and Sarah represent the Global and the National. Avraham is the father of many nations, the spiritual forebear of the worlds 3.8 billion Christians, Muslims and Jews. Sarah is the mother of just one people, the Jewish nation. Avraham, the universalist, did not distinguish his love between his children. Sarah, the particularist, devoted her motherly love exclusively towards Yitzchak.

Fascinatingly, Sarah’s influence grew after her passing. In the wake of her death, Avraham’s first act was to purchase a universal site – the place in which Adam and Eve, the parents of humanity, were buried – and make it particular, interring there the matriarch of the Jewish nation. His second act was the refusal to even entertain the notion of proposing a mate for Yitzchak from the wider community, instead seeking a member of his own particular family.

Avraham, it would appear, realised a profound truth: being a citizen of the world is laudable, but it is no substitute for being the citizen of a country. Being a mensch is an achievement, but it lacks substance when it is not grounded in identity.

As the spiritual and moral descendants of Avraham and Sarah, we are charged to preserve this balance – ensuring that we value the other, without devaluing ourselves.

Based on Lekkutei Sichot vol 15 pp145-154

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