A Jewish Philosophy of Man
A Lecture Series by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
Lecture 8: The Content of the Covenant of Egypt – The Jewish Existential Community
Delivered February 26, 1959
Summary by Mark Smilowitz: Jewish loneliness should be transformed into the kind of prophetic solitude that embraces the uniqueness of Jewish destiny. Jewish uniqueness is expressed by the covenant. Just as the prophets felt compelled to relay their message despite the burden involved, even to the degree that they would be harmed for doing so, we too must accept our covenant on that level of commitment, as something we are compelled to do and cannot cast off. What is the content of this covenant? God established two covenants. At the Exodus from Egypt, He calls the people an am, implying the togetherness and unity of peoplehood. At Sinai, with the giving of the Torah, He calls them a goy, referring to a political nation. These are the two covenants, but the focus of this lecture is the Egyptian covenant. Am refers to an existential community. Because it involves God, it commits the numinous side of man, compelling Man to draw himself out from his seclusion to join other people, even people he doesn’t like, in this community of I, thou, and He, i.e., God. In practical terms, the covenant of Egypt creates a community of shared history, but also of shared experiences on three levels: 1. shared interests, 2. shared feelings or emotions, and 3. shared responsibilities. 1. Shared interests mean that all Jews share the same fate and no one can escape it, and even assimilation does not help. 2. Shared emotional involvement means that we must feel compassion and co-suffering with others of the community, as well as joy with others of the community. 3. Shared responsibilities mean, first, that we are morally accountable to one another. We must answer for the conduct of our brother to a degree that no other nation must. We share collective liability in the eyes of non-Jewish society, and also in the eyes of the Torah. The mitzvah of sanctifying God’s name and the prohibition of profaning God’s name are based on this community of collective responsibility and liability. So is the prohibition of squealing. Secondly, besides moral accountability for one another, shared responsibilities refer to a unique sense of justice, according to which we are accountable by law to support one another. This is the mitzvah and halakhah of tzedakah, which, unlike charity, can be compelled by authority. Tzedakah is not a moral but a juridic requirement. Tzedakah is the halakhic expression of the existential community of am.
00:01:17 Prophecy and prophetic solitude as a burden
00:15:35 The two covenants, at the Exodus and at Sinai
00:25:15 The existential community
00:40:12 Community of shared interests
01:01:41 Community of shared emotional involvement
01:03:20 Community of shared responsibilities
01:30:37 Tzedakah as justice
For Further Study: The Rav’s elaboration of the different aspects of the covenant of Egypt here parallels in numerous ways his discussion about the two covenants in “Kol Dodi Dofek.”