7. Power: A Necessary Condition

Sol Roth turns this idea around to remind us that justice, too, along with other facets of Jewish culture, must itself be laced with the bonds of power. Power, notes Roth, is a necessary prerequisite for the maintenance and exercise of social ideals that include: justice, freedom and peace – and even war, where appropriate:

• In relation to justice, for example, he indicates that power is necessary in order that authority be able to penalize misdemeanors.
• Addressing freedom, Roth makes a critical distinction between the classical Jewish view and contemporary attitudes to the concept in western society:
  “The free Jewish personality,” he asserts, “is not the one who has the right to do as he wishes but the one who has the power to do as he should.”

To Roth, the Jewish State is both an affirmation and a source of power. It is also a means or instrument for the achievement of ends, including the creation of a framework for the values of Jewish life. He considers the determination of an exiled people to restore its state to be:
- a repudiation of the Jewish People's prior condition of powerlessness; and
- an attempt to regain power over its national life, which would enable it to achieve large and historic objectives: in short, the transformation of Jewish Life.

To pursue this line of thought:
The dilemma of power is that while vital to the achievement of human objectives, when abused or allowed to be unrestrained, it will explode beyond moral boundaries and human limits. We cannot exist without it, but we must be wary of it and provide constraints.