For the Lord’s portion (chelek) is this people;
Jacob, God’s own allotment (nachalato).And the Lord said to Aaron: You shall, however, have no territorial share among them or own any portion in their midst; I am your portion (chelk’cha) and your share (nachalat’cha) among the Israelites. (Numbers 18:20)
Who is wealthy? One who rejoices in his portion (chelko), as it is said: “You shall enjoy the fruit of your labors, you shall be happy and you shall prosper” (Psalms 128:2) “You shall be happy” in this world, “and you shall prosper” in the world to come.
Moses refers to the Israelites as God’s portion. The word “portion”—chelek—shares a root meaning with the verb l’chalek, to divide or separate. A portion is that which is separated out from a larger mass as mine. A portion signifies salience, not objectivity. In property law, I am responsible for the hazards on my parcel of land; I am not responsible for the hazards on my neighbor’s. “Portion” implies responsibility.
Throughout Tanakh, and starting in Bereishit, chelek and nachala often appear together. A nachala is an inheritance, a portion that is transmitted to me. In Genesis, the status of both the nachala and the chelek are contested. The Torah poetically underscores the leitmotif of Jacob’s dubious portion by referring to him as an ish chalak (Gen. 27:11), smooth-skinned man. Rebecca helps Jacob disguise as Esau: “and she covered his hands and the hairless part (chelkat) of his neck with the skins of the kids. (27:16) To get his chelek, Jacob must cover his chelek. This is his shame, and the shame of all who suffer imposter syndrome.
By the time we get to the end of the Chumash, Jacob is no longer a hustler who must grift his way to blessing and birthright. Instead, Jacob is referred to as God’s inheritance. God inherits Jacob. Israel—the second name of Jacob—is God’s chelek. The Torah resolves the leitmotif: instead of seeking to secure an earthly birthright, we are assured of a far more profound point: we are God’s birthright.
Just as God is the priest’s portion, the whole of Israel is God’s portion. We are God’s portion, because we are the children of Jacob. God inherits us from Jacob. Israel is God’s blessing. Just as Jacob struggles with God and receives a new name, God struggles with Israel and receives a new name: the Lord (Y-H-W-H). God remains Elohim, the universal God, the God of Judgment, but God’s primary identity becomes Hashem, the God of mercy, love, and favor. The divine judge might destroy Israel on the merits, but the Lord cannot because Israel is God’s portion.
Pirkei Avot instructs us in how to be happy and prosperous: focus not on what you lack, but on what you have. Focus not on what others have, but on what is yours. Envy is a recipe for unhappiness and imitation is a recipe for becoming commoditized and interchangeable with the next person. To succeed internally, one must embrace distinction. To succeed externally, one must lean in to what makes one unique. If Israel is God’s portion, God must be happy with Israel even when members of the Jacobite clan disappoint. If Israel is God’s portion, it’s not God’s job to measure Israel’s performance against the performance of other nations. Israel is simply God’s portion. But in another sense, Israel is the key to God’s success. The pagan gods are all interchangeable. Being a god in a pantheon is spiritually low margin. Israel, by contrast, represents God’s distinctive personality, and God’s monopoly. Israel belongs exclusively to God. All gods claim supernatural power—and then fight amongst themselves; only one God claims to love another people and to commit to their protection and development. God’s ability to defeat Egyptian magic is beta. God’s ability to empower and inspire a people to become God’s representatives on earth is alpha.
On Rosh Hashana, we’ll sing ki anu amecha, “we are your people,” v’ata eloheinu, “and you are our God.” We rejoice in our portion and call on God to rejoice in God’s. Israel is a small nation. But it is God’s nation. The land of Israel is a small plot of land, but it is the inheritance of the children of Jacob. Could it be that the Lord, like Israel, may be also be manifest in the smallest ways: a still small voice, a deep murmur, a brush of wind, a line of verse. And yet that God is ours.
Shana Tova,
Zohar Atkins
Great essay