MASHAV* and the expectation for Israel L'or Goyim: Israel's Political and Religious Responsibility to be a Light Unto the Nations

"As Jews we bring to this great demonstration, in which thousands of us proudly participate, a two-fold experience -- one of the spirit and one of our history.

In the realm of the spirit, our fathers taught us thousands of years ago that when God created man, he created him as everybody's neighbor. Neighbor is not a geographic term. It is a moral concept. It means our collective responsibility for the preservation of man's dignity and integrity."

-Rabbi Joachim Prinz, from his speech at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

“Jewish tradition, from the Bible onward, considers tzedakah to be a legal duty, a social responsibility, a repayment of a debt to God. Giving tzedakah is the fulfillment of a commandment rather than an act of optional benevolence."

-Byron Sherwin from his book, In Partnership With God

Let me at once anticipate the cynics. Did we go into Africa becasue we wanted votes at the United Nations? Yes, of course that was one of our motives - and a perfectly honorable one - which I never, at any time, concealed either from myself or from the Africans. But it was far from being the most important motive, although it certainly wasn't trivial. The main reason for our African "adventure" was that we had something we wanted to pass on to nations that were even younger and less experienced than ourselves.

-Golda Meir, from My Life

"And we, here, the Jews in our homeland, must also ask ourselves if Israel can help with the advancement and development of the countries of Asia and Africa? This is both a moral and political question for Israel. And from both standpoints, there is no doubt that Israel is obligated to view assistance to those countries as a great historic mission that is requred for Israel no less than the benefit that it gives to the countries it assists."

-David Ben Gurion

“There is still one other question arising out of the disaster of the nations which remains unsolved to this day, and whose profound tragedy only a Jew can comprehend. This is the African question. Just call to mind all those terrible episodes of the slave trade, of human beings who, merely because they were black, were stolen like cattle, taken prisoner, captured and sold. Their children grew up in strange lands, the objects of contempt and hostility because their complexions were different. I am not ashamed to say, though I may expose myself to ridicule in saying so, that once I have witnessed the redemption of the Jews, my people, I wish also to assist in the redemption of the Africans.”

-Theodore Herzl in his book, Altneuland ("Old New Land")

From Megillat Atzma'ut, Israel's Declaration of Independence:

Paragraph 3: “Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to reestablish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, mapilim**, and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country’s inhabitants, and aspiring toward independent nationhood.”

Paragraph 13: “[The State of Israel] will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants: it will be based on freedom, justice, and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education, and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”

Paragraph 17: “We extend our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.”

*MASHAV is the acronym for the Israel Agency for International Cooperation Development, a department of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs

**Mapilim refers, according to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to immigrants who came to the Land of Israel in defiance of restrictive legislation.