Our Parasha opens with a paragraph full of the blessings promised to the people of Israel if they follow God's laws, concluding with the verse: "I am Adonay your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt from where you were slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and led you forth to sovereignty" (Leviticus 26:13). (This verse could also be translated as "led you forth standing upright")
God is leading a historical move from slavery to Sovereignty, and we are supposed to be worthy of this divine blessing. How can we, in these times, understand the meaning of "slavery" and of "Sovereignty" as opposed to slavery?
Israel's first prime minister, Ben-Gurion, preferred the biblical word "Komemiut" "sovereignty" over the new word "Atzmaut", the Hebrew translation of the term "independence". The people of Israel were "independent" since the exodus from Egypt, just as our forefather Abraham was a "Hebrew", (Evry) as explained by our Sages - the whole world is on one river bank ("Ever"), and he alone is on the other river bank.
Both Balaam "There is a people that dwells apart, Not reckoned among the nations" (Numbers, 23:9) and Haman “There is a certain people […] who do not obey the king’s laws" (Ester 3:8) point out the uniqueness, the diversity, and the Independence of the people of Israel. Ben-Gurion claimed, and rightly so, that the Zionist movement was rooted in this nation, which is essentially independent, and therefore it should not strive for "independence", but for "sovereignty".
"In the Land of Israel the Jewish people arose", begins the declaration of the establishment of the state (yes, a scroll of the establishment of a state, not of "independence"). And the resurrection, the change from a nation of slaves to a sovereign nation in its own country, is expressed initially in the Bible, a work that is both nationally particular, and universally human. Sovereignty means the raising of the national stature from the hardships of exile to the vibrant life of a historical subject - but sovereignty also means standing together with the nations who are seeking freedom and justice, running a country that grants equal rights to all, and reaching out for peace with our enemies even in the midst of a bloody attack on us.
It is my estimation, that we are currently in the midst of a campaign for the soul of the Jewish people and the soul of the Jewish state. The current spirit that is threatening to overcome us is the spirit of slavery, the spirit of exiled Jews facing persecution, who turn their backs on the demand to convert this sick identity into a healthy identity of Sovereignty. This spirit of slavery spreads the slave's desire for physical strength that will allow him to control his enemies instead of them controlling him, a natural desire - but it is not enough. In order to meet the demands of sovereignty, the slave people need to exercise governing with responsibility. governing by physical force alone, without full civil and political responsibility, is dangerous.
It seems to me that this is what Yeshayahu Leibowitz meant when he quoted the German proverb, according to which nationalism may move us from humanism to animalism. The war for physical existence belongs to our animalistic layer, shared by humans and other animals, and therefore we must not retreat into this limiting experience and get stuck there, in the slave's fantasies of revenge on those who tortured him. Humanistic nationalism, on the other hand, requires us to rise above these conditioned reflexes, towards Sovereignty.
The window of opportunity for the Zionist movement, and for the sovereign Jewish state derived from this movement, is the modern "family of nations", striving together for a world order of justice and equality for all. In the language of our Sages, these are the "best among the nations of the world", those who see the Jewish people as part of the general human brotherhood within the human family. Our organization, "Rabbis for Human Rights", speaks the voice of Judaism that embraces this revolutionary direction in human history. No longer a world of win-lose, of a brutal war of existence between rulers and ruled. In such a world, being freed of slavery is not enough for the realization of freedom. Having an army, an air force, and, according to foreign sources, an atomic bomb, when all of these are held by people who still live the nightmare of slavery, will lead to disaster. Being freed of slavery for Sovereignty means the superhuman ability to imagine a win-win world and to strive for its realization. This is the essence of democracy: A world in which each person gives up the inferior fantasy of realizing all his power, in favor of recognizing the dreams of others. A place for the realization of the dreams of all people side by side. A world in which every nation, both the Jewish people and the Jewish state, give up the fantasy of total control over another nation in order to survive, and convert it into a dream of responsible sovereignty, which strives for peace with the Palestinians.
I will end with another quote from the paragraph of Parashat Bechukotai, which was included in the prayer for the country of Israel: "I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down untroubled by anyone; I will give the land respite from vicious beasts, and no sword shall cross your land. (Leviticus 26:6)

Translation: Rabbi Tamara Shifrin
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rabbi Leah Shakdiel, educator and social and political activist, resident of the town of Yeruham.