The Unifying Power of Word

The Unifying Power of Words

By the fifteenth century, the Jews had survived and strengthened. After the destruction of Judea, they were forced to flee in various directions across the world, scattered throughout the Roman Empire. Farming was no longer possible for them after Christianity became the state religion, which they rejected. They were forced to engage in trade, as they could be expelled from their settled places at any moment. International trade became their protection, a way to remain invulnerable to state persecution. The solid international connections they built allowed them to always flee to another, safer country if necessary.

The Bible and its laws, to which they remained faithful, united them. It was their state, their guiding principle. The word and the etiquette based on high moral principles, rather than territory, were what sustained them. Thanks to international trade based on trust, they became financially prosperous. Moreover, their international ties broadened their horizons. Living constantly on guard made them attentive to the smallest details. Everywhere there were commercial and financial relations, and they witnessed how aristocrats, the privileged class, squandered vast fortunes and needed more and more money, unwilling to deny themselves anything. This led the Jews to engage in usury, lending money at interest. Christianity immediately responded by declaring this a sin.

By the sixteenth century, Jews had realized they had survived and risen above the world. Their faith in their God played a decisive role in this. This is confirmed by the fact that when the first Jewish pogrom took place in Spain and they were expelled from the country, in Florence, Italy, the statue of David by Michelangelo was created in 1504. David, one of the most powerful figures in the Bible, became a symbol of strength and resilience. When cornered, Jews recite the Psalms of David. There had been no more erotic figure created in the last five hundred years. Michelangelo thus affirmed the human being, love for humanity, the divine in man, and divine love for man. This was the most beautiful and powerful manifestation of human potential. In Italy, the heart of Catholicism, a monument to a Jewish king?! At a time when the Christian Inquisition was raging around? What audacity. How could they manage without sword and weapon, ruling and not sowing discord, but proclaiming love—not sacrificial, not maternal, but erotic love. After this, Giordano Bruno, still a boy, is said to have thrown portraits of saints, all martyrs supporting the Inquisition, out of his monastery window, because the Inquisition sought to destroy any living feeling.

Faith in humanity and love for humanity, proclaimed by Michelangelo in Florence, marked the beginning of the Renaissance. It marked the era of great discoveries in science, the opening of new lands, and the realization that the Earth is not the center of the universe, that the Sun is larger than any Greek island, and that the Earth revolves around the Sun, not the other way around.

Incidentally, the portrait of Magellan, created in the seventeenth century, was also made in Florence.

Thus, thanks to words and art, thanks to unity and resilience, culture finds its way through barriers. Great symbols, such as David, remain eternal. And when people lay down their swords and boldly march towards truth, they become stronger.

Not with the sword, not with fire, not with pain, but with love, we can conquer this world.