The priestly blessings conclude on the theme of “and may He grant you peace.” The Rabbis cherished this blessing above all others, and referred to it as the vessel which contains all blessings. All the previous blessings require peace as the context in which they can be effective and meaningful.
Exactly what does this “peace” refer to? The Sifre gives us two alternative definitions. R. Hanina Segan ha-Kohanim says peace in your home. R. Nathan teaches, it refers to the peace of the Kingdom of the House of David. The difference is that, R. Hanina defines peace as domestic tranquility, whereas R. Nathan gives it a political-national definition, the peace of the realm. What is surprising is that of these two possible interpretations, it is R. Hanina who teaches domestic peace. After all, it is the same R. Hanina Segan ha-Kohanim who tells us, in a celebrated passage in Avot, “Pray for the peace of the realm, for if not for the fear of authority people would swallow each other alive.” Why, then, in the blessings of the priests, does he suddenly turn inward and interpret the concluding blessing as domestic peace, leaving it to someone else – R. Nathan – to emphasize the political aspects of peace?
Perhaps the answer is something we shall all have to learn, painful though it is. Most of us have been reared on a noble vision: peace for all the world and in our own times. Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and every American president since then, have preached and strived for this vision. It is one of the most beautiful and inspiring themes to capture the imagination of mankind. Of course, it is not new. It stems from, and is a secularized version of, the great visions of the prophets of Israel – of Isaiah and Amos and Micah. It is they who taught that, “and the wolf shall lie down with the lamb...,” and “they shall beat their swords into plough shares...,” and “nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
The only difference is this: the prophets recognized that these are Messianic dreams, that they will be realized only with the advent of the Messiah. Isaiah, in Chapter Two, introduces his vision with the words, “And it shall be at the end of days.” We must not expect the fulfillment of these uplifting visions until the days of the Messiah.
The secularized version, however, is not Messianic but Utopian. It is a modern phenomenon, the painting of an ideal world which is within the grasp of man. It teaches that we can, with the means available to us, create the perfect society, one of universal peace and justice for all men. The Messianic vision is one which sets an unrealizeable goal, and inspires us to approximate it as best we can. But it knows that we cannot do so fully right now. The Utopian dream is one which inspires us with impatience and drives us to expect realization here and now.
Most of us, who are passionately devoted to the cause of peace, have assumed without further reflection that it is indeed possible to achieve peace universally “in our times.” We are, hence, more Utopian than Messianic. Since the advent of the Atomic Age, this has become a working hypothesis of international relations, something which is accepted beyond doubt. Indeed, consider the alternative – all of civilization reduced to a fine atomic ash! Hence, universal peace is not only a distant goal but an immediate necessity. And yet – how frustrating! – how many wars have been fought, and how much blood has been shed, since Hiroshima and Nagasaki!
What R. Hanina Segan ha-Kohanim is telling us is this: dream the dreams of Isaiah, of nation not lifting up sword against nation; pray for the peace of the realm; but don’t be unrealistic. Strive for these always – but without illusions as to their viability and applicability and realizability in the present or the immediate future.
Insofar as now is concerned, here we must turn to the blessings of the priests. It is they who refer to that aspect of the good life which can be attained and is within our grasp. The blessing of peace in the priestly blessings speaks of a peace which is much more realistic and attainable, peace in your homes. First you must strive for peace in your own home between husband and wife, between parents and children, between brother and sister. Then you can strive for the larger aspects of peace – political, social, international – which will find their full realization at the end of days, the days of Messiah.
Not only Jewish tradition, but Jewish historical experience as well, teaches us never to over-anticipate the “end of days,” the eschatological age, the days of Messiah. Judaism teaches us to beware of the fallacy of thinking that the visions of the future are all at hand, just around the bend. This is the great Utopian fallacy. There is a process of auto-suggestion and self-hypnosis at work: the facile illusion that turns Utopian dreams into supposed realities, only to disappoint and frustrate us and sow the seeds of disaster.
Jews who have come to Utopianism via a secularized Messianism seem particularly vulnerable to this fallacy, to this illusion. Moreover, many of our fellow Jews combine this Utopian fallacy with yet another element: a highly idealistic readiness to offer great sacrifices on behalf of the visions which are all but realized – and especially are they willing to sacrifice for universal peace such elements as Jews, Judaism, and the State of Israel!
This is especially true of those deracinated Jews, both of the Right and of the Left, who have almost no Jewish affiliation or Jewish identity, and yet when it comes to Israel, express their dovishness by using that patronizing first-person-plural: “we” ought to be “magnanimous” by returning to the Arabs all they wish without any compensation. “We” ought to give up land and security, and perhaps our very existence, for the sake of “peace.” As if Israel’s suicide, Heaven forbid, will bring shalom to the world. Proof of the falsehood of
