Jewish identity
In the Torah...
The two faces of Jewish identity
In Parashat Acahrei Mot, (Vayikra 18:1-5) Moshe is told to instruct the Jewish people not to follow the laws and practices of the Egyptians or the Canaanites, but instead to go according to our own set of laws.
In presenting this, the Torah repeats the same point in two consecutive verses:
18:4 "Do My procedures and safeguard My laws, to go through them; I am Hashem, your G-d."
18:5 "And safeguard My laws and procedures, so that a person will do them and live through them; I am Hashem."
Why the repetition?
The first instance ends with "I am Hashem, your G-d." The second ends with "I am Hashem."
This subtle variation in signature brings to bear two different understandings of identity.
When the word "your G-d" --"Elokechem"-- is added, it implies yours, and not someone else’s. Meaning, it’s a way of understanding our identity by drawing a distinction between ourselves and others - we know what we are based on what we’re not. This type of identification clearly makes sense given the thrust of the passage, where we’re told not to do what they do in Egypt or Canaan.
However, the Torah’s telling us this isn’t the entire picture.
To get down to genuine identity, you really don't have to look any further than the individual. This is why the Torah makes the point a second time, closing with "Ani Hashem" - without "Elokechem". Merely looking around and seeing what the rest of the world is doing doesn't give you the full picture of identity. At the end of the day, a person is self-defined; the Jewish people is self-defined. At a certain point, you're accountable only to yourself and Hashem, the source of life, and the Mitzvot are there to do their thing - to channel this life. "Chai Bahem," the verse says, a person should "live" through the Mitzvot. Note that the grammar switches to the singular mid-sentence, placing emphasis on the individual.
Another example of this structure comes at the end of Parashat Kedoshim:
20:24 "...I am Hashem, your G-d, who distinguished you from the nations."
20:26 "And be to Me Kedoshim, because Kadosh am I Hashem, and I will distinguish you from the nations to be to Me."
Here, the issue of the Names and identity helps us understand an apparent contradiction: The first verse says that we’ve already been made distinct from the nations. The second says "I will" make you distinct. Which is it?
Both, actually. The first case refers to the fact that we’ve received our own set of laws and therefore are distinct from the Canaanites, whose land we’re about to inherit. That’s the first leg of the journey - separation from the other cultures. "Ani Hashem Elokechem."
The second case involves the next leg of our journey, where we’re actually going towards. It’s about confronting our identity itself, in this case where it relates to our Kedusha, our vitality. The future tense "I will distinguish you" means it's not a done deal - maintaining our identity is a live, ongoing task. When we effectively nurture this Kedusha, keeping the Laws as instructed, we’ll be separated to Hashem, the source of our vitality. "To Me" in fact appears twice in this verse, emphasizing the move towards, and not away from.
In between these two verses is a verse regarding Kashrut. Interestingly, it’s tied to the following verse about Kedusha and our identity, not to the previous verse. This seems to indicate that as opposed to looking at Kashrut as a means of making us different from others (as the common conception would have it), the Torah specifically presents Kashrut as relating directly to our identity, to the properties of Am Yisrael.
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