How Israel’s Founding Story Defines Unity Above Division

The process of the people of Israel’s formation depicts the battle between our hatred for each other and the need to connect for our survival.

By and large, nations develop based on families and clans that have expanded or by a common habitat or place of origin. The nation of Israel is like no other. It is a nation that was formed in the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as they went from the Fertile Crescent to the land of Canaan, then to Egypt, and back to Canaan until they became the people of Israel when they agreed to unite “as one man with one heart” at the foot of Mt. Sinai.

The three patriarchs of the Jewish nation spread the ideas of bonding and unity, brotherhood, and love. They discovered that the way to build a cohesive society is to rise above the ego, which pursues self-benefit at the expense of others, rather than suppress it. To them, egoism was not an enemy that must be silenced. Instead, the more their egos grew, as reflected in their frequent disputes, the more they rose above them and reached higher levels of unity.

At that time, people who joined the nation of Israel did so because they believed in the shared idea, not because they had some biological or territorial affinity to the Israelites. As a result, from its onset, the Israeli nation consisted of an unparalleled diversity of ethnicities and backgrounds united by the notion of unity above differences.

But reaching that state was not an easy process. The book Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer describes how Abraham observed the builders of the Tower of Babylon as a symbol of their growing egoism, and saw them constantly quarreling. From unity and mutual care, when they were “Of one language and of one speech” (Genesis 11:1), they fell into vanity and alienation, saying, “Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven; and let us make us a name” (Genesis 11:4).[1]

They were immersed in self-regard and completely forgot about the people who were once related to them. Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer details their estrangement:

“Nimrod said to his people, ‘Let us build us a great city and dwell in it, lest we are scattered across the earth like the first ones, and let us build a great tower within it, rising toward the heaven … and let us make us a great name in the land…’ ‘They built it high … those who would bring up the bricks climbed up from its eastern side, and those who climbed down, descended from its western side. If a person fell and died, they would not mind him. But if a brick fell, they would sit and cry and say, ‘When will another come up in its stead.’”[2]

Abraham noticed that they were growing increasingly hostile toward each other and tried to persuade them to stop fighting and cooperate, but they ignored him. Eventually, they fought each other to death, and the tower was never completed. “They wished to speak each other’s language… but they did not know each other’s language. What did they do? They each took his sword and fought one another to death. Indeed, half the world died there by the sword,” as the book describes.[3]

Once they dispersed, their separation and social discord, which caused their downfall, represented by the fall of the tower, became inconspicuous and unobtrusive. The people settled in new places, bringing with them Babylonian culture and attitudes, unaware that they carried with them their habits of disharmony — the seeds of future struggles.

As Abraham reflected on their hatred, writes Maimonides in Yad HaChazakah (The Mighty Hand, 1:3), he realized that in all of nature, there is the perfect balance between light and darkness, expansion and contraction, and construction and destruction. Everything in nature has a balancing counterpart. At the same time, he noticed that, unlike the rest of nature, human nature is completely out of balance — among people, self-interest, egoism, and wickedness reign. The hatred that Abraham discovered in his countryfolk for one another made him realize the truth about human nature, that “the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen 8:21).

Abraham realized that if people did not introduce nature’s balance into human society of their own accord, they would destroy themselves and their society. He began to circulate among the Babylonians the idea that when hatred erupts, they need not fight it, but instead, they must increase their efforts to unite. Abraham’s idea began to garner followers, but as we know from Maimonides, Midrash Rabbah, and other sources, Nimrod, King of Babylon, was not happy with Abraham’s success and chased him out of Babylon.

Abraham began to wander toward Canaan, which was later declared as “the Land of Israel,” and speak of his idea to people he encountered along the way. His notion was simple: When hatred erupts, cover it with love. Centuries later, King Solomon summarized it in the verse: “Hate stirs strife, and love covers all crimes” (Proverbs 10:12).

The Jewish people continued to develop their connection method and adapt it to the changing needs of each generation, but the principle of covering hate with love remained the same. When a man came to Old Hillel and asked him to teach him the Torah, he simply said, “That which you hate, do not do unto your neighbor; this is the whole of the Torah” (Masechet Shabbat, 31a).

As mentioned earlier, when the ancient Hebrews became a nation, they were required to meet one singular requirement: unite “as one man with one heart.”[3] Therefore, breaking away from Judaism meant, first and foremost, a departure from this law of union above all.

This is why when Rabbi Akiva tried to save Jerusalem from a second ruin, he asserted, “Love your neighbor as yourself; this is the great rule of the Torah” (Jerusalem Talmud, Nedarim, 30b.). Although Rabbi Akiva could not achieve his goal of avoiding a new catastrophe in Jerusalem — due to unfounded hatred among Jews, his disciples gave us the Mishnah and The Book of Zohar.

It is no coincidence that when talking about rules, Rabbi Nathan Sternhartz, the prime disciple and scribe of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, writes

“‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ is the great rule of the Torah, to include in unity and peace, which are the heart of the vitality, persistence, and correction of all of creation, when people of differing views are included together in love, unity, and peace.”[4]

After a few generations, a unique assembly of people was created. They were not yet a nation, but they were united in a way that no other society had been before them. They were bonded by the idea that the only way to overcome human egoism was to deepen unity and mutual love. These ancient Hebrews had no biological kinship, but their solidarity grew day by day thanks to their efforts to join together despite their initial unfamiliarity.

During this process, the disciples of Abraham, the people of Israel, experienced many internal struggles. Yet for 2,000 years, their unity prevailed and was the key element that held them together. Their conflicts only served to intensify the love between them.