Jewish Sheep (30:43)

Jacob arrives in Charan, and the first sight to greet him is that of several flocks of sheep. Soon Jacob is a shepherd himself, caring for sheep, receiving his wages in sheep, breeding sheep, dreaming of sheep, amassing a fortune in sheep, and finally leading his flocks back to the Holy Land where he will present his brother Esau with a huge gift comprised largely of…you guessed it…sheep.

Between flocks, we also read of Jacob’s marriages and the birth of his sons, the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel. What are we to learn from the fact that the nation of Israel was founded in such sheepish surroundings?

In King Solomon’s Song of Songs, he states, “I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine, he who shepherds me among the roses.” The voice of this verse, explains the Midrash, is that of the community of Israel, speaking of her relationship with G-d, as in “He is my shepherd,” and, “I am His sheep.”

Interestingly enough, the same Midrashic passage also describes our relationship with G-d as that of a child to his father, a sister to her brother, a bride to her groom, a vineyard to its watchman, among others. Each of these metaphors expresses another facet of the relationship between G-d and Israel.

What is the uniqueness of the sheep/shepherd metaphor?  If it is that G-d provides for us or that we are subservient to Him ,these elements also exist in the father/child relationship. If it is that He protects us, this is already covered by the watchman metaphor. So what exactly is added by utilizing the sheep analogy?

The sheep’s dominant trait is its docility and compliance. The child too obeys his father, but does so out of an appreciation of his father; the sheep does not obey for any reason - it is simply submissive by nature. It is this element of our relationship with G-d that the sheep represents.  This unquestioning subservience of ours derives not from our understanding of His greatness and our feelings toward Him, in which case it would be defined by the limits of our understanding and feelings, but from the recognition that, “I am His sheep.”

The Jewish nation was founded amidst sheep because our self-negation and innate obedience to G-d is the foundation of our Jewishness. Of course, we are not only G-d’s sheep, we are also His children, His bride, His sister and His vineyard. By the same token, the Torah tells us that when Jacob left Charan after twenty years of shepherding, his wealth consisted not only of sheep, for “He had much sheep, maids and servants, camels and donkeys.”

Spiritually, this means that Jacob’s “wealth” did not consist solely of docility and self-negation, but also included feeling and understanding, fortitude and vigor. But the source and basis of it all were his sheep. Being a Jew means studying the Torah, developing a love and reverence for G-d and implementing His will in an oft-times hostile world - all of which require the optimal application of our abilities.

But the foundation of it all, the base from which all these derive and upon which they are all predicated, is our simple commitment to G-d, a commitment that transcends reason and emotion.

We are His sheep.