We Will Build - Together?

Ezra 4:3

Unity? Not at any cost.

Ethno-Purity and Socio-Pragmatism were and are at the heart of the human and the hebraic story. In today’s chapter a massive moment becomes a milestone in this history of solidarity vs. dispute.

It doesn’t take long for tensions to rise between the different people who called the holy land their home. Shortly after the exiles of Babylon were granted permission by King Cyrus to return to their land and rebuild the temple the first wave of rebuilders dedicated the altar at the old temple site, with a mix of grief and joy. But then, according to today’s chapter, their northern neighbors stake a claim to communal co-creation of the new religious reality.

The people who are identified here as ‘the enemies of Judah and Benjamin’ are most likely descendants of people whom the Assyrians had exiled to the Land of Israel—replacing the Ten Tribes— over two centuries earlier.

Now, possibly integrated with those who remained on the land from the tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, they want to join in the rebuilding and in the service of the old-new Temple. They explicitly stated that they too worship the God of Israel, and no longer the idols they had served before being relocated to the land and becoming its dwellers.

But unity was, and is, a complicated venture. The leaders bent on rebuilding their lost society come with extra measures of care, likely born of trauma, resist the urge to merge, and refuse:

וַיֹּ֩אמֶר֩ לָהֶ֨ם זְרֻבָּבֶ֜ל וְיֵשׁ֗וּעַ וּשְׁאָ֨ר רָאשֵׁ֤י הָֽאָבוֹת֙ לְיִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹֽא־לָכֶ֣ם וָלָ֔נוּ לִבְנ֥וֹת בַּ֖יִת לֵאלֹהֵ֑ינוּ כִּי֩ אֲנַ֨חְנוּ יַ֜חַד נִבְנֶ֗ה לַֽיהֹוָה֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר צִוָּ֔נוּ הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ כּ֥וֹרֶשׁ מֶֽלֶךְ־פָּרָֽס׃

Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the chiefs of the clans of Israel answered them, “It is not for you and us to build a House to our God, but we alone will build it to the God of Israel, in accord with the charge that the king, King Cyrus of Persia, laid upon us.”

Ezra 4:3

This rejection infuriated the “peoples of the land” as they are now known, and they turned into fierce opponents of the Return to Zion, doing all they could to sabotage it.

Most of the chapter is dedicated to the slanderous letter they sent to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, against the people of Judah—accusing them of their habitual tendency to rebel against the kings who rule over them. The king was persuaded and ordered the construction to cease for many years. It’s a major blow in the rebirth project.

Could it have been played out differently? Or perhaps there really were too many divides between the two groups to enable a shared enterprise?

Yair Sheleg, an Israel author and thought leader reflects on the implications of this rejection - still felt today:

“Purism or pragmatism?This dilemma has accompanied the Jewish people ever since.

When do walls come back and when do we dismantle them? How rigid is the cultural commitment to our ways of life vs. the immersion in our surrounding cultures?

Some will say that the purist approach has only brought disaster and ongoing destruction upon our people. Others will argue that it is precisely this approach that has preserved Jewish identity from disintegration—an identity that otherwise might have dissolved long ago, like many small peoples who did not survive the upheavals of history.

It seems there is no single answer that applies to our multiple historical dilemmas. Every era and its unique circumstances. There are times when purism is called for, lest the people’s distinct identity truly be lost. And there are times when pragmatism is necessary, lest a stubborn insistence on rigid principles leads to a worse collapse than the compromises might have brought.

How do we know when one approach is right and when the other is? It’s hard to tell. Superficially, it might appear that in political matters, pragmatism is more appropriate, while in spiritual matters, purism has the upper hand. But in truth, there are no absolute truths in either realm.

The most crucial need is for wise leadership—leaders who can assess the risks in every scenario, make sound decisions, and most of all, blend identity-preserving steps with collaborations that do not threaten the essence of that identity.”

Sheleg’s words resonate for the escalation of enmity described in this and the following chapters of Ezra. They are also echoes of the reality on the ground in Israel today. The painful turn towards an ethno-state where Jews have more rights and privileges than Muslims and Christians is a religious, civic, and humanitarian disgrace, turning the puritan outlook into racist dimensions. Within the Jewish frame, the question of “who is a Jew” is crucial for whatever sense of unity the Jewish people worldwide seek to hold on to and/or repair.

When Zerubabbel and Jesuah the High Priest say “we will build” they refer to an ethnic-religious collective that does not enable the inclusion of the people of the land who are rejected from the ‘we’. The question of power is also the question of authority. Who has the power and authority to stand at the gates and be the gatekeeper? What ideologies guide those decisions. Back in our chapter, the leaders refuse the Samaritans either because they are not the legitimate heirs of the Kingdom of Israel that was exiles - or because some of them are these heirs — and the old wars between north and soul south continue to fester, political and religious differences too great to accommodate a truce and shared project.

The notions of power and authority are at the core of almost every internal debate of the Jewish people till this day, including the tensions in modern day Israel as the state struggles with deep divides and growing mistrust between voters and leaders. This is also the conflict that defines the tensions between the State of Israel who uses purist terms to define who and what is Jewish, vs. a more more pragmatic world Jewry.

Shall we build the new reality together or stick to the old limited purist playbook of limited we pretending to include more of us?

The world is struggling with these questions today, from “Trump’s America First ‘ and India’’s struggles, to Netanyahu’s ‘Villa in the Jungle’, Putin’s war and England’s “Brexit.’

For the 77 year old Israel, its Israeli Jewish and Palestinian Muslim and Christians, as well as many who care for this place and its people and want healthy life affirming solutions these are crucial questions that define the future and are literally about life and death.

For the tiny community of Zion, struggling to define its boundaries in their newly rebuilt home - the saga is just about to begin.

Below the Bible Belt: 929 chapters, 42 months, daily reflections.

Become a free or paid subscriber and join Rabbi Amichai’s 3+ years interactive online quest to question, queer + re-read between the lines of the entire Hebrew Bible. Enjoy daily posts, weekly videos and monthly learning sessions. 2022-2025.

Become a Paid Subscriber? Thank you for your support!

#Ezra #BookofEzra #hebrewbible #כתובים #Ketuvim #Bible #Tanach #929 #עזרא #ספרעזרא #labshul #belowthebiblebelt929

#Ezra4 #TheSecondTemple #Zerubabel #rededication #Together? #IsraeliIndependenceday2025 #Dividedwestand #judahvsisrael#chorusofcontradictions #Both/And #mixedfeelings #rebuildingJerusalem #rebuildingthetemple #nostalgia #Samaritans #northvssouth

#peace #prayforpeace #nomorewar #stopthewarnow