One of our favourite lines from popular culture is when Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof says, “may God bless and keep the Tsar… far away from us!” It makes light of the perennial plight of shtetl Jews living precariously according to whims of antisemitic rulers. It follows an “out of sight, out of mind” philosophy of Jewish survival. More importantly, it celebrates in its own quirky way the Jewish soul that prays to Gd for support no matter how impoverished the circumstances may be.
The fictional Jewish community of Anatevka – like so many actual Jewish communities of that era – did not survive… done in by exile, assimilation, and forced conscriptions in the Tsar’s army. However, many Jewish communities have carried on, sometimes even thrived since Jews were forced into the diaspora after the fall of the Second Temple. Ours is a near-incredible story of survival. There is a part of the story of Jewish survival that has faded over the last century or two, but it remains deeply ingrained in our culture. On the surface, it sounds rather uninspired because it can be summed up in two words: be useful.
The need to be useful emerged from the condition of the Jews in Europe from the Middle Ages until the dawn of Emancipation. Jews lived or died according to the whims and leniencies of the local lords or monarchs. European Jews had no inherent rights by virtue of birth or naturalization. Jews only gained legal residence if they were granted special rights, charters, or accommodations under the specific protection of some local ruler.
These rulers were rarely magnanimous, taking in Jews out of mercy or altruism. They took in the Jews to stimulate the economy. One of the earliest examples is Rüdiger Huzmann, who served as the Bishop of Speyer from 1073–1090, who invited Jews to settle in Speyer in 1084. He granted them one of the earliest charters of privileges in medieval Europe.
Another example is the Polish (now Ukrainian) town of Brody. There was a fire there in the Jewish quarter in 1696; several generations of the Sobieski family paid for the rebuilding of the Jewish quarter. This was very much to the Sobieski family’s benefit as Brody was one of the most important trading centers in Europe and Jews were an essential part of the overall trading system; in other words, they were economically useful. In other places, like Italy, where the Jews were also essential to providing credit to rulers, artisans, and merchants, their right of residence was predicated on the same kind of usefulness.
The reality was less like Tevye’s “out of sight out of mind” philosophy and more a case of ‘they won’t kill the goose that lays their golden egg’. Being useful to the Crown and government was necessary, but came with no guarantee that Jewish communities were safe to stay or free to go. The Portuguese did not expel their Jews in 1497 as the Spanish had in 1492. They forcibly converted them because the Jews were vital to the economy. Leaving was not an option.
In other places the Jews were extremely useful to their rulers because they were excellent at provisioning the army. When the Habsburg Empire drove the Ottoman Empire out of Budapest, General Eugene of Savoy relied on Shmuel Oppenheimer to provision his army. Christian competitors lobbied Emperor Leopold I to replace Oppenheimer. Twice Oppenheimer was thrown into prison. However, no one could match his skill in provisioning the army because he had a vast network of Jews upon whom he drew credit and inventory to supply the army. His Catholic competition could never match him. He was too useful to replace. His utility made him a court Jew. This enabled him to secure the rescue of the Jews of Budapest during the Austrian attack on that city. The Jews were tolerated to the extent that they were instrumental in assuring the destruction of the empire’s enemies. Oppenheimer knew how to leverage being the only goose that lays the golden egg.
The Hungarian Israeli Jewish historian Jacob Katz makes the point that Jews have never made poverty a virtue nor being rich a sin. Jews in every city understood the lesson of being useful. They understood that to continue to be tolerated they had to pay taxes and generate revenue for the rulers. As long as some members of the Jewish community were able to sustain this burden, the Jewish community was left intact. As such, being financially successful was a survival strategy, not a manifestation of greed. Whereas Catholics canonized St. Francis in recognition of his poverty, there was a heroism to be found in Jewish financial success as the guarantor of Jewish survival. Continuing access to our earning power was our insurance policy.
There is an irony on today’s world stage as Spain and other countries forbid purchase of arms from Israel. On 2 December 2025 Israel had a ceremony at the Holzdorf Airbase in Germany to hand over the Israeli-developed Arrow 3 missile defense system. Germany had to drop its arms embargo of Israel to facilitate this purchase; as the Godfather would say, “it’s business…” Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Baram said, “such an embargo should never have been imposed against Germany’s ally [Israel].” This moment in which an embargo is lifted for the utilitarian need to protect Germany against Russian aggression is a throwback to the days of the the Bishop of Speyer and Count Sobieski. Today’s Europe continues to tolerate the useful Jews, because “it’s business.”
In Parshat Vayishlach, Yaakov takes a three-fold strategy to gain his brother’s sufferance to pave the way for his return to the land of Israel. He sends gifts; they have value which makes him useful. The other two strategies are prayer, and self-defence. He divides his camp such that if one half engages in battle, then the other can escape. Yaakov is here in full survival mode.
In the midst of this Yaakov wrestles with the Ish – the unnamed man, perhaps an angel – with whom he struggles until the break of dawn. That moment before dawn brings an important turn of events.
| Jacob was left alone. And a figure wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he wrenched Jacob’s hip at its socket, so that the socket of his hip was strained as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “let me go, for dawn is breaking.” But he answered, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” Said the other, “what is your name?” He replied, “Jacob.” Said he, “your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.” Jacob asked, “pray tell me your name.” But he said, “you must not ask my name!” And he took leave of him there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, meaning, “I have seen a divine being face to face, yet my life has been preserved.” | וַיִּוָּתֵ֥ר יַעֲקֹ֖ב לְבַדּ֑וֹ וַיֵּאָבֵ֥ק אִישׁ֙ עִמּ֔וֹ עַ֖ד עֲל֥וֹת הַשָּֽׁחַר׃ וַיַּ֗רְא כִּ֣י לֹ֤א יָכֹל֙ ל֔וֹ וַיִּגַּ֖ע בְּכַף־יְרֵכ֑וֹ וַתֵּ֙קַע֙ כַּף־יֶ֣רֶךְ יַעֲקֹ֔ב בְּהֵאָֽבְק֖וֹ עִמּֽוֹ׃ וַיֹּ֣אמֶר שַׁלְּחֵ֔נִי כִּ֥י עָלָ֖ה הַשָּׁ֑חַר וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ לֹ֣א אֲשַֽׁלֵּחֲךָ֔ כִּ֖י אִם־בֵּרַכְתָּֽנִי׃ וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֵלָ֖יו מַה־שְּׁמֶ֑ךָ וַיֹּ֖אמֶר יַעֲקֹֽב׃ וַיֹּ֗אמֶר לֹ֤א יַעֲקֹב֙ יֵאָמֵ֥ר עוֹד֙ שִׁמְךָ֔ כִּ֖י אִם־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל כִּֽי־שָׂרִ֧יתָ עִם־אֱלֹהִ֛ים וְעִם־אֲנָשִׁ֖ים וַתּוּכָֽל׃וַיִּשְׁאַ֣ל יַעֲקֹ֗ב וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ הַגִּֽידָה־נָּ֣א שְׁמֶ֔ךָ וַיֹּ֕אמֶר לָ֥מָּה זֶּ֖ה תִּשְׁאַ֣ל לִשְׁמִ֑י וַיְבָ֥רֶךְ אֹת֖וֹ שָֽׁם׃ וַיִּקְרָ֧א יַעֲקֹ֛ב שֵׁ֥ם הַמָּק֖וֹם פְּנִיאֵ֑ל כִּֽי־רָאִ֤יתִי אֱלֹהִים֙ פָּנִ֣ים אֶל־פָּנִ֔ים וַתִּנָּצֵ֖ל נַפְשִֽׁי׃ |
Yaakov’s struggle, his survival strategy, is not just a physical success. It brings about a spiritual epiphany. He finds Gd in that struggle. He calls the name of the place Peniel, meaning the face of Gd.
Yaakov’s struggle is blessed because it is needed to defend the right to live according to the value system that Gd gave to Abraham and Isaac. The delicate balance that Jews have achieved – from the times of Jacob, to the Bishop of Speyer, to 17th Century Brody – to 20th Century Anatevka – is one in which we struggle bravely and creatively with the external world.
Today we do not pray to keep the Tsar far away from us. In fact, we do the opposite. In the prayer for the government we ask Gd to, “preserve them, grant them life, and deliver them from all manner of trouble and injury…[and] inspire the heart of them and of all their counselors and officers with good will towards us and all Israel our brethren.” When the government is our friend, we keep them close through our prayers. When the government is our enemy, we keep them close in our usefulness. Wherever we might wander in the world at large, whether we pray, we prepare for war, or we make ourselves economically useful, we always return to that internal spiritual space where we will remain answerable to Gd.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rosenblatt with Dr. Terry Neiman
