Am I the only one who thinks of Tom Brady first when I see the word “patriot?” Maybe it’s a side effect of growing up in a sports culture where loyalty to a team becomes part of one’s identity. Die-hard fans say “we won” or “we lost,” as if they suited up themselves. Even in that context, patriotism means expanding your sense of self with something greater than you.
Applied to things that actually matter (sincere apologies to sports fans), that expansion of self is the most meaningful part of life. Truthfully, the only thing more meaningful than life itself.
Martin Luther King Jr. struck a deeply Jewish chord when he said: “If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” Judaism fiercely values life. And yet, it teaches there are times when truth, faith, and identity are valued even above life.
A Jewish patriot knows: you can kill a Jew, but you cannot kill Judaism. In that very act of sacrifice, Judaism is preserved. A people willing to die for their truth ensures the truth will outlive them. Think of Rabbi Akiva, whispering Shema Yisrael with his final breath. Or the IDF soldier who runs toward danger to protect Jewish lives – not out of hate, but out of love.
These are not stories of death – they’re stories of patriots who merged their personal identity with eternal ideas, values, peoplehood, and a promised land.
So who are you, really? Just you – or part of something far larger? When we live as part of Am Yisrael, Torat Yisrael, and Eretz Yisrael, we become, in the truest sense, larger than life.
