Benzion Meir Hai Uziel (1880-1953) was born in Jerusalem into the city’s Sephardic community. By the age of twenty, he was already a teacher in a yeshiva. In 1911, Uziel was appointed Chacham Bashi, chief rabbi of Jaffa. From there, he collaborated with Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, spiritual leader of the Ashkenazi community. The two rabbis shared a common spirit and shared ideas, which helped to achieve more harmonious relations between the two communities. After a series of appointments, in 1939 he was appointed Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, a position he held until his death. He always emphasized the need for all its inhabitants to work together in harmony. In a speech in Arabic, he said, “The land stretches out before us, and with joined hands we will work it, discover its treasures, and live off it as brothers living together.”

Rabbi Uziel said that Judaism requires its followers to live moral and upright lives. Religious Jews should be concerned about any injustice in society and should strive to defend and protect the oppressed, as this is a religious mandate. During the War of Independence in 1948, he refused to support a group of yeshiva students who asked him to exempt them from military service. Rabbi Uziel sharply rebuked the students. He told them that religious Jews, including yeshiva students, were obligated to share in the defense of the nation. If they were going to influence society to live according to the Torah, they themselves had to set an example. He also said that yeshiva students should live off the fruits of their labor, not on handouts.

Uziel criticized what he considered false ideologies that distract the Jewish people from their authentic national calling. He rejected assimilationist Jews, saying their strategy would ultimately undermine the true message of Judaism. He also disagreed with isolationists, those Jews who want to restrict Judaism to the narrow confines of their homes, synagogues, and study halls, for they would bury Judaism in a small, inner world, cutting off its impact on society as a whole. Rabbi Uziel was concerned about the division among Jews in Israel. He said that one group emphasized Torah study but excluded building the country and organizing the people, while the other group emphasized action but denied Torah study. He said both were wrong: «Action without study is like a tree with branches but no roots. And study without action is a tree with roots but no branches.» He said that the influence of rabbis was achieved through their own rectitude, devotion, and scholarship, as coercion and threats were not the appropriate ways to win followers. Rather, religious people should win the hearts of other Jews with love and kindness. He opposed religious coercion, especially if it came from state institutions. He was a defender of secular, and especially scientific, knowledge.

Uziel always opposed extremes. He sought the happy medium between action and study, between the secular and the religious. He knew that assimilating or isolating oneself was not the solution.

By Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: Rabbi Marc D. Angel: “The Grand Religious Worldview of Rabbi Benzion Uziel” and other sources