It is written in Parshat R’eh, “You are sons to HaShem, your G-d…” (D’varim 14:1).
It is a great honor to be the son of the Kadosh Barukh Hu, as an entire nation, as is written, “My firstborn son is Israel!” (Sh’mot 4:22).
This expression of honor obligates us to make a special effort. But what happens when we do not act as a son should? Our sages do not agree about the answer to this question.
We see in Kidushin 36a that Rabbi Yehuda argues that when we act as sons we are called sons but if not we are not called sons, while Rabbi Meir says that in any case we are still called sons.
Rabbi Meir presents several proofs for his position. For example, “Destructive children” (Yeshayahu 1:4) – we are called children even when we are destructive. “Sons who are not faithful” (D’varim 32:20) – even though they areunfaithful. Or, “Instead of it being said to them, ‘You are not My nation,’ it will be said, ‘the sons of the living G-d‘” (Hoshaya 2:1).
Many verses can be brought to support Rabbi Meir’s position.
Therefore, even though the halakha generally resolves a dispute between Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda by following the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda, this issue stands as the exception. In this case, we rule according to Rabbi Meir. The Talmud continues to discuss the position of Rabbi Meir at length because his opinion is accepted as the law.
This is also what the Rashba writes in his responsa (194; 242). He was specifically asked if the dead body of an apostate Jew causes another person in the same “tent” to become ritually impure.
The basis for this question is the known principle that dead bodies from gentiles do not impart ritual impurity in the same way as the body of an Israelite. A Jew passes on impurity if his body is in the same “tent” with a living person, while a non-Jew is a source of impurity only if his body comes into physical contact with another person. Thus, the question that was asked was whether an apostate Jew ceases to be a Jew in halakhic terms. And the question was made even stronger by noting the fact that one is allowed to charge interest on a loan to an apostate, and that his wine is considered gentile wine used for a libation and is therefore unfit to drink.
The Rashba’s answer is that an apostate imparts ritual impurity in the same way as any Jew. An apostate can be charged interest because the prohibition of interest is derived from a verse which refers to “your brother” and that because this person does not act as your brother, he has thus abrogated his right to be treated as a brother.
But ritual impurity is not related to brotherhood but rather to the Creator’s objective special love for Israel, who are called “sons” – following the opinion of Rabbi Meir. No matter what, the children of Israel are called sons.
We mustn’t assume that Rabbi Yehuda’s position implies that the segula – Israel’s unique inner essence and treasured status in the Divine plan – can be transferred from one nation to another. He argues that the possibility exists for an individual Jew to lose his status as a son – but not on the national level.
The segula is actually the foundation of all the unique traits that have been part of Am Yisrael since we became a nation.
As HaRav Avraham Yitzḥak HaKohen Kook writes in his letter 555, the sanctity of Israel has two components: one is the segula – the inherent sanctity in our collective soul – and the other is the sanctity that is results from our choosing to live according to the Torah.
Holiness that is related to an inherent trait can never be dispelled, but it can only be revealed as a result of our free will. When we decide to conduct ourselves in a way that is holy and pure, we reveal the true eternal and inherent holiness of the segula in our collective soul.
