Congregation Beth El

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution established that those born in the United States are American citizens. The simple fact of birth within the national borders confers an identity, rights and obligations that an infant cannot understand nor agree to, as well as an entire history and culture which becomes theirs even though they were not yet alive to take part in them. Thus the American-born children of each wave of immigrants that comes to America - from Europe, Asia or anywhere - see themselves as part of the American experience. Those born as Americans inherit the American story.

At the beginning of parshat Nitzavim this week, we see something similar as Moses prepares the people to enter the Promised Land. Reminding them of their brit (covenant) with God he says: "I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here this day." Who are those 'not with us here this day'? They are generations yet to come, upon whom that brit is as binding as it was for those who were physically present. In other words, they are us.

That verse is our own version of the 14th Amendment. Through it, we are obligated to our relationship with God just as our ancestors were. It was not only they who came out of Egypt, as we say every Pesakh; it is also us. And it was not only the miraculous escape from slavery that we re-experience first-hand; it is the larger relationship with the God who freed/frees us, brought them/us to the land and commanded them/us to live righteously. Those born as Jews inherit the religion of Israel.

I don't mean to leave out those who have made a choice to be Jewish, it's just that they fall under different laws, those of naturalized citizens. We'll get to that another time.