Light unto the nations

[1] The term originated from verses in the Book of Isaiah: In the first of these instances, Rashi interpreted "nations" as referring to the tribes of Israel and not to the gentiles.

[3][4][5] In the Gospel of Luke, Simeon is a devout old Jewish man to whom God had revealed that he would not die before seeing the Messiah.

One example that may give an insight into the term's meaning, is the one of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook ("HaRaAYaH"), one of the chief leaders of the Religious Zionist Movement, saw in the aspiration of the people of Israel to be a "light unto the nations" a noble part of its designation.

[10] Upon his return from Thailand on a volunteer service trip with American Jewish World Service, Rabbi David Wolpe said to his congregation at Sinai Temple, "We don't sufficiently think about the fact that because the idea is that you're supposed to be an or lagoim, that is a light to the nations, that you can't do it if you never do anything among the nations.

"[14]Benjamin Netanyahu in his 2017 UN speech quoted the Book of Isaiah again that the state of Israel is "a light unto the nations, bringing salvation to the ends of the earth".