I learned the suitcase metaphor for Rabbinic Judaism from Rudy Rochman who I’m sure learned it from someone else. I’d originally used a wrapper/container metaphor I’d gotten from Ken Spiro’s lectures on Jewish history. Essentially the suitcase metaphor conveys how the nation of Israel was preserved after its temple was destroyed in 70 ad and all Jewish rebellions put down in 135 ad. The Rabbis who fled and survived over centuries created Rabbinic Judaism as a container for the fallen Nation in exile in a kind of exterior wrapper of a religion. The purpose of the suitcase was to preserve the Nation until the Jews returned to The Land of Israel.
Fr. Elias in “Jewish Identity” awoke the sense in me that the time and purpose, or mission, of Rabbinic Judaism had passed. There is a homeland for the Jews. I also got the sense that the Israelite Election is not dependent on Judaism/religion. It resonated deeply as my Jewish ancestral half has been secular for a century and a half. I am existentially Jewish without any tethering to the religion of my ancestors.
“Jewish Emancipation” beginning in the 18th century takes on an additional meaning than Jews being granted full rights in Gentile society. This led directly to Jews leaving the authority of their rabbis. Jewish Secularism became the instrument to actually bring about a Land for the Jewish people. This was because the Jewish spirit within the suitcase was centered on the journey and Messianic waiting. Yet in the Emancipation and subsequent Jewish Enlightenment the suitcase was opened, the contents fell out, before arrival at the destination. Yet the traveler is ultimately not the suitcase. The emancipated Jews were left to find their way to the destination without any luggage. Yet this was the necessary impetus, the urgency, by which The Land became Jewish again.
Now that there is a homeland, the contents of the suitcase should be retrieved and applied in a different way than they were in exile. As Hebrew Catholics, many of us still in exile, the suitcase is invaluable to draw on sacramental, devotional material to connect us to our history and identity albeit in the Light of Christ. Hebrew Catholic Settlers could use the contents of the suitcase as liturgical material to rebuild The Church of the Circumcision on the Land. The ever present universal tabernacle of the eternal sacrifice finally recognized and celebrated publically and openly by Israelites in Israel.
