I share with you remarks given by Rabbi Seth Gordon of Traditional Congregation at the start of the 42nd annual Israel Bonds dinner, October 18, 2015.
Once again, as we proudly assemble for our 42nd annual Israel Bonds Dinner, I am sad to say that our hopes for genuine peace, hopes that have been a foundation of our Torah, Rabbinic teaching, and the aspirations of the Jewish people, and of all good and righteous people – not merely for years, or decades, or centuries, but for millennia – have not yet been realized.
In these days, right now in Israel, a different aspiration has again been unleashed. In sharp contrast, enemies call for “Days of Rage” – not days or weeks or months or years or generations for peace, true and lasting peace, a peace that can only be achieved with understanding and compromise – but “Days of Rage” — anger.
Let us not dismiss anger or rage. When people are kept in misery – suppressed, stripped of basic human rights, intimidated, impoverished, and murdered, when they are systematically indoctrinated with hate – what other result, sooner or later, would one reasonably expect? And this is true whether it is in our own backyard or in distant lands.
I take note that 4 St Louis churches, within a four-mile stretch of Goodfellow Boulevard, had fires set at their front doors; it is being investigated by the arson unit.
The crucial matter is that it is not Israel, with some exceptions, that is imposing this misery. Indeed, Jews hardly agree on anything among themselves; we can be an open-minded, passionate, stubborn people. The Torah itself calls us a “stiff-necked” people. Jews historically have and still do, clash – from politics to sports teams, and even over Israel’s policies, and of course, religion.
But we do not, with the rarest of rare exceptions, murder one another, or others over it. We agree or disagree verbally, even passionately. But throughout the region, the mass and brutal killing, not just of Jews, but of different groups of Arabs or Moslems, even in sacred Mosques, and including innocent Christians and others, in the most barbaric ways – is no longer shocking or even surprising. We are tragically accustomed to it. And yet, no “other” is more systematically targeted than Jews. And by contrast, no people more than Jews stick their necks out for peace and take risks, real risks, risks of life and death, for peace.
And, yet, the so-called “world opinion” – at least that which is reflected in the UN, in the world media, and elsewhere, still finds ways to blame the Jews; this “opinion” conveniently excuses, minimizes, or rationalizes those who marshal their hatred against us; this “opinion” still provides moral, intellectual, and material support murderers, and this “opinion” still focuses energies on sanctioning Israel – and this “opinion” it is nothing less than the latest manifestation of anti-Semitism.
The tragedy is not only that Jews, by virtue of being Jews, whether Israelis or not, religious or secular, continue to be the object of hate, even after so much unparalleled assault, but that the cost to humanity is great. As the “opinion” devotes its energies to false, myopic, distorted, and excessive attention on Israel’s fault, it fails to devote the energies to saving innocent Moslems, Arabs, Christians, and others who are oppressed by real bigotry. Hundreds of thousands of Arab/Moslem murders by Arab/Moslem leaders matter less than Palestinians killed by Jews, even in self-defense. To be clear, we should care about all lives; we take no joy in the death or misery of Palestinians or anyone else. But the real reason for the special efforts which excuse, justify, or rationalize Palestinian murder and indict Israel is that the circumstances do not matter – the main thing that matters what is whether a Jew pulls the trigger.
It reminds me of the old-South. In a courtroom of white jurors, the death of a white man by a black man – regardless of the facts – guaranteed a conviction of a black man. The death of a black man by a white man guaranteed acquittal of the white man – regardless of the circumstances. And so it is with Israel.
And, the consequences of this corruption are not only the diverting of good energy to real needs, but the pervasive and enduring corruption of the world’s thinking. Such thinking reinforces the notion that the only basis for agreement is utility – “what can I get.” And so alliances – Like Iran, Syria, and Putin’s Russia – thrive. And when we think in this corrupt way, when we begin to accept it, it seeps into our thinking and we too become part of the corruption and the self-deception and delusion. We think we can protect ourselves. But we can’t. That evil has corrosive, cancerous, consequences.
This week – we read from Genesis 12–15. And in next three weeks, Abraham with Sarah, and God, are the main “characters.” אברהם אבינו, Abraham, our father, our Patriarch, who we regard as the first Jew.
לך לך … ואברכך ואגדלה שמך והיה ברכה: ונברכו בך כל משפחות האדמה
The Lord said to Abraham: Go forth from your land, and from your birthplace, and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse him that curses you; and all of the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you.”
What incredible words! What a charge! First words to Avraham @ 75. Pregnant with so much meaning!
God’s promise is that land through Abraham’s offspring. Later formally as a ברית – covenant, sealed in a covenant ceremony and passed on through the symbol of circumcision. God words could have been very “Chauvinistic.” But it is not – concludes “all of the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you.” By concept and by language – ideal universalism will be attained through strong particularism. Descendants of Abraham and this Promised Land to them, leading to the blessing of all peoples. A universal Judaism that forgets its specific heritage in favor of that universal ideal, will fail its universal mission. A weak Jewish people is and will be of no help to the world. And, conversely, a Jewish particularism that neglects universal Jewish ideals, the welfare of humanity and the earth, for peace, is a corruption of Torah.
Not isolated idea. This is the special meaning, a few chapters later 18:19
God includes Abraham in his plans, and even allows Abraham to challenge him, because of universal concerns.
כי ידעתיו למען אשר יצוה את בניו ואת ביתו אחריו ושמרו דרך ה’ לעשות צדקה ומשפט
“I have singled him out, that he may instruct his children and his posterity, to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is just and right, in order that the Lord may bring about for Abraham what He has promised him.”
There is no fulfillment of the particular promise of peoplehood and the Promised Land without the commitment to justice and righteousness. And without adherence to Jewish particularism, Jews will not have the resources to improve this world.
Even as the Torah records God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants, and to the Israelite as part of the covenant at Sinai, that ארץ זבת חלב ודבש — “a land oozing milk and honey,” the same Torah just as emphatically records that God gave other lands to others. Israel was not to encroach.
The meaning is that Jewish particularism and Jewish universalism cherishes the “other,” even as it cherishes our own. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love the stranger. Remember you were strangers in Egypt. It is the continuous call to Jews, through their servitude experience, not to hate, not to retaliate, not to become the oppressor, but to develop empathy and live it.
One day, we will, see the fulfillment of the words of the Prophet Isaiah 54:17 which we read in this week’s Haftarah:
כל כלי יוצר עליך לא יצליח וכל לשון תקום אתך למשפט תרשיעי
No weapon formed against you shall succeed, every tongue that contends with you at law you shall defeat
One day, we will go further. Nation will not lift up sword again nation, not study war anymore. One day we will live “love your neighbor as yourself.” One day, we will, please God, have genuine peace. One day, we will say, “Why is this night different than all other nights?” because the night of the Israel Bonds Dinner will be different than all other nights of Israel Bonds Dinners.
But it will require people, without disrespecting themselves, without denying or running away from their own heritage, to cherish the other. It will require individuals to gain this by insight, acquire it by knowledge, earn it by experience, or find it in Torah. It will require those individuals to transform a culture. It will require people of misery and hatred to save themselves and commit to create a better society, to understand the other and create true, genuine, and sustainable peace. The hatred that animates the “days of rage,” makes it impossible to see that day today; but through faith in God and His holy Torah, and with the teachings our prophets and Rabbinic Sages, that day will come.
Investment in Israel Bonds, is an investment, not a gift. It is one important way that we show faith, show particular pride in Israel, stand for justice and righteousness, and retain our commitment to the universal ideals communicated to Abraham, as he set forth on a history-altering journey to the Promised Land. In short, it is the Jewish way.
Let’s walk with Abraham, for the 42nd year.