The BEST: A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland

The Hebrides

Summary
Samuel Johnson’s A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland recounts his 1773 tour of Scotland, and most famously its Hebrides Islands, blending travel narrative with reflections on language, religion, poverty, and progress. Johnson describes Highland resilience while lamenting cultural erosion, offering sharp judgments on modernity, tradition, and the human costs of historical change.

Why this is The BEST
Dr. Johnson is, of course, well known as the subject of a monumental biography by his devoted admirer James Boswell, but would be remembered in all cases as a great writer, poet, playwright, essayist, and literary critic. He is perhaps most famous for his Dictionary, which brought definition and contours to the already then (mid-18th century) rapidly expanding English language. But ruminating on the concept of “The BEST” brings to mind one book in particular and one particular passage.

In 1773, Boswell and Johnson toured the Western islands of Scotland, known as the Hebrides (rhymes with “celebrities”.) The Highland Scots were a fiercely independent people, so much so that the British enforced laws during this time prohibiting them from wearing their traditional dress. (These laws, later repealed, were largely successful in their goal of integrating the Highlanders into normative British culture – keep that in mind next time you hear that the Israelites in Egypt “refused to change their dress.”) Johnson’s sharp observations about the people make for an absorbing and compelling read. But a highlight is their trip to the island of Iona.

Long before their tour, Iona had been a rare center of learning in Scotland. A monastery once flourished there, developing the still young Christian religion. But by the late 1700s, it was in ruins. In a famous passage Johnson writes:

We were now treading that illustrious Island, which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge, and the blessings of religion. To abstract the mind from all local emotion would be impossible, if it were endeavored, and would be foolish, if it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me and from my friends, be such frigid philosophy as may conduct us indifferent and unmoved over any ground which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. That man is little to be envied, whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona!

Samuel Johnson

In this short passage, Johnson—a devout and religious man throughout his life—demonstrates for us what should be the required mindset when visiting historic sites. To reflect quietly upon hallowed ground; to contemplate the messages such places hold, not only of the past, but for the future.

Eretz Yisrael is filled, from Dan to Beer Sheeba and everywhere in between, with our history. There are no four cubits anywhere in the land which have not been sanctified by blood, by courage, or by passion. How fortunate we are today to live in (or at least to visit), the place our ancestors could only dream about. Yet have we learned from the events that occurred on the land now sitting at our feet? If they were to see us today, would those who gave their lives for this soil—from the Biblical period, down to our own day—be proud to see how we, the beneficiaries of their heroism, have carried the flag forward?

When we stand anywhere upon its holy ground, let us remember Dr. Johnson’s stirring words, and allow our “patriotism to gain force” and our “piety to grow warmer.” It is only by reflecting seriously upon the land we stand upon, that we allow our best instincts to emerge. For the beasts of the field may think only of their next meal and immediate needs. But when human beings, created in the image of God, ponder upon where we fit within the grand sweep of time, we are enabled to soar above our rude workaday lives. “Whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings.” Who can fail to be moved by such words?

David Farkas is an attorney in Cleveland. His notes on the Talmud Bavli were recently published as HaDoresh Vi-HaMivakesh.