I’ve always thought it ridiculous that Zionist Jews should rest their ultimate claim to Palestine/Israel on the commands of a mythical being in the sky, as recounted in an old magic book. But I never doubted that those were the words attributed to Him. That is, until the other day; when I read this piece by (the Jewish) Naomi Wolf. It’s getting wide circulation now, so you will likely have come across it already; but in case not, here it is.

Okay, so I was challenged below: “Read the Bible! God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people.” So….I may get crucified for this but I have started to say it — most recently (terrified, trembling) to warm welcome in a synagogue in LA: Actually if you read Genesis Exodus and Deuteronomy in Hebrew — as I do — you see that God did not “give” Israel to the Jews/Israelites. We as Jews are raised with the creed that “God gave us the land of Israel” in Genesis — and that ethnically ‘we are the chosen people.” But actually — and I could not believe my eyes when I saw this, I checked my reading with major scholars and they confirmed it — actually God’s “covenant” in Genesis, Exodus and Deuteronomy with the Jewish people is NOT ABOUT AN ETHNICITY AND NOT ABOUT A CONTRACT. IT IS ABOUT A WAY OF BEHAVING.

Again and again in the “covenant” language He never says: “I will give you, ethnic Israelites, the land of Israel.” Rather He says something far more radical – far more subversive — far more Godlike in my view. He says: IF you visit those imprisoned…act mercifully to the widow and the orphan…welcome the stranger in your midst…tend the sick…do justice and love mercy ….and perform various other tasks…THEN YOU WILL BE MY PEOPLE AND THIS LAND WILL BE YOUR LAND. So “my people” is not ethnic — it is transactional. We are God’s people not by birth but by a way of behaving, that is ethical, kind and just. And we STOP being “God’s people” when we are not ethical, kind and just. And ANYONE who is ethical, kind and just is, according to God in Genesis, “God’s people.” And the “contract” to “give” us Israel is conditional — we can live in God’s land IF we are “God’s people” in this way — just, merciful, compassionate. AND — it never ever says, it is ONLY your land. Even when passages spell out geographical “boundaries” as if God does such a thing, it never says this is exclusively your land. It never says I will give this land JUST to you. Remember these were homeless nomads who had left slavery in Egypt and were wandering around in the desert; at most these passages say, settle here, but they do not say, settle here exclusively. Indeed again and again it talks about welcoming “zarim” — translated as “strangers” but can also be translated as “people/tribes who are not you” — in your midst. Blew my mind, hope it blows yours.

Now, I’m no Biblical scholar, although I have read the Bible (nearly all of it; we had to at school); and I’m approaching Wolf’s reading from the perspective of the ‘Four Gospels’ Christianity I was brought up with in my youth. But from a moral point of view, and also a historico-textual one, hers seems to me to be far more convincing, and even – may I say? – ‘Jewish’, than the version we are told legitimizes present-day Israel, and its un-Christian, and possibly un-Abrahamic, policies in the West Bank and Gaza.

There are, I’m sure, many other Jews who would go along with this, including some Rabbis. You don’t need to be ‘anti-semitic’ to share Wolf’s reading of what we call the Old Testament. Indeed, that reading would likely make you more pro-Jewish, or more comfortable as a Jew, if you were one already. And this is especially true for critical scholars like me, who endeavour to base our conclusions on careful analyses of available written and other evidence, viewed in context; which is what Naomi Wolf appears to have done here. Or is she wrong on this?