At the start of my Rosh
Hashanah sermon, I promised a Yom Kippur sermon filled with references to
Hamas, ISIS, the fluctuating crisis in Israel, Global Anti-Semitism, Tense
American-Israeli relations, skewed coverage of Israel in the press, anti-Israel
lobbies and pro-Palestinian academics on College campuses... I know these are
difficult subjects to cover in under eight minutes, but just stating this
laundry list of tzuris is important...Why? Because sticking our heads in the
sand won’t make them go away. Vigorous
debate won’t make them go away. Logic, and protests and letters to the editor
won’t make them go away. And certainly, reading opinions that mimic our own
beliefs won’t make them go away.
This is what it is
to be Jewish. This is, with all of our intellect, with all our contributions to
society, to science, music, to literature, to medicine, to building blocks of
the technological age...with all the gifts of law, and justice that the Jewish
people have given the world... this is what it is to be Jewish... to
experience, once again, the “surprise” that the world doesn’t get it. To find out, once again, as we did in Europe
before World War II that civilization doesn’t necessarily move forward. And
when faced with dogmatic ideology, logic doesn’t usually work.
My words today are not meant to stir
debate. I have no interest in debate,
and I’m not very good at it. My words today are not even a call to action. I just want you to think. To think very hard, what you will tell your
grandchildren and your great grandchildren about this time in our history. When they ask “what did you do” or “what did
you know”, or “how could it happen” or even “what were you thinking.”.. what
will you answer?” Philosopher, essayist and poet, George Santayana, wrote "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned
to repeat it.". How strange that
with all the volumes written on Jewish History, history still repeats itself,
again and again. But for some unaccountable reason we think it will be
different. This time we should know better. And maybe this time we shouldn’t be
our own worst enemy.
When future
generations look back at this pivotal time in history, perhaps they will read
the text of the prophetic speech that Benjamin Netanyahu delivered tin New York
at the United Nations this past week. Speaking to a nearly empty room, he gave
us a glimpse of the future should we not head the threat of militant Islam’s
mission to upend the world as we know it.
To say that American
Jews, are uncomfortable with current events is an understatement. But in many
corners, the silence is deafening. Friends of mine from Miami went up to New
York City to spend the holiday with their children. On the first day they accompanied one
daughter and spouse to their Reform congregation. On the second day, they accompanied their
other daughter and spouse to their Modern Orthodox congregation. I could tell from my friend Paul’s hesitant
tone on the phone that something was wrong.
“There wasn’t a mention of Israel at either
service. Not a prayer for Israel. Not a word.
The Reform congregation was so far left, I got the feeling that if the
rabbi had started to say a prayer for Israel, half the congregation would have
walked out.”
The Orthodox service left him just as cold. But as a Jew and as a Rabbi I can’t remain
mute on the subject of Israel, anti-Zionism and it’s wicked off-spring,
Anti-Semitism. I can’t for one simple reason. History. How will History
interpret this period of time? How will
future social historians explain our actions, our inaction, our beliefs and our
disbeliefs both as Americans and Jews?
And who will write that history? Maybe the same historians who say the
Holocaust never happened, or that the number of victims is grossly inflated.
There are three places where anti-Zionism
enters mainstream America and quickly metastasizes, often with the assistance
of the media: Politics, Art and the college campuses. In each of these venues,
there are Jews –however they define their identity who, in the name of free speech,
open debate and first amendment rights, disregard the danger to Israel, Jewish
Americans and themselves.
Our kids have just headed off to college
for the fall semester. This should be a time of exploration, learning, and fun... that is why we sent them.
Campus Watch, an organization that shines a light on Middle East policy on
American campuses does a good job on keeping us informed. The message coming
from their monitoring of campus climate pretty much across the board is this:
“Don’t become pro Israel, or we’ll become anti-Semitic.”
Young Jews on
campus come face to face with the hateful and skewed beliefs of BDS, a policy of
Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions against Israel. Hundreds of anti-Israel
academicians have called on their colleagues to “boycott Israeli academic
institutions and pledged, not to collaborate on projects and events involving
Israeli academic institutions, not to teach at or attend conference and other
events at such institutions, and not to publish in academic journals based in
Israel.
How can professors
who are so biased against the Jewish state accurately or fairly teach students
about Israel or the Middle East? And what will pass for truth in their
classrooms?
Even more
troubling, however, is how many of these academics are affiliated with National
Resource Centers (NRC) on their campuses. These Middle Eastern studies centers are
located at Duke, two at Georgetown and at NYU. They are Federally funded by
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The
State of Israel is also deeply worried
about what is happening on American campuses.
In anticipation of the likelihood of anti-Israel campus activism getting
worse in the new academic year, Israel’s Jewish Agency is sending some 70
Israel Fellows as emissaries to serve on 80 campuses in North America . They
will help to support the students and will provide advocacy programming and
materials.
I would like to go from the campus to the
arts. On September 21, hundreds protesters gathered outside the Metropolitan Opera
House for a demonstration calling for the company to cancel its production of
John Adams’s 1991 opera, “The Death of Klinghoffer,” which is to have its Met
premiere next month. The opera depicts a 1985 cruise ship hijacking by members
of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the killing of a wheel chair
bound Jewish American passenger, Leon Klinghoffer. I’ll let you Google this one.... but leave it to say, it
isn’t called the MURDER of Klinghoffer... but rather the DEATH of Klinghoffer. The Palestinian terrorists are given a voice
to sing their grievances and promote their cause. The terrorists and are given
a moral equivalency in the libretto, and from what I’ve read, the Palestinians
get the best tunes. The lyrics, in the Death of Klinghoffer are about as
controversial as you can get. I shall illustrate the point. One of the terrorists
sings: “Wherever poor men are gathered /they can find Jews getting fat. You
know how to cheat the simple, exploit the virgin, pollute where you have exploited
/ Defame those you cheated / and break your own law with idolatry.” It is
beyond my capacity to understand how anyone could actually write, let alone
SING such anti-Semitic lyrics. I can
barely wrap my head around the knowledge that these were were written by a
Midwestern American Jew, Alice Goodman, a poet, writer and librettist who felt
that she had written something great in Klinghoffer. She hasn’t been hired for a commission since.
Halfway through writing Klinghoffer, Alice became a Christian. She lives in near anonymity in England and is
now an Anglican Vicar. And her twisted, misinformed words will live on forever.
The
final words of the opera are sung by Klinghoffer’s wife. Here are Alice
Goodman’s eerily prophetic lyrics:
If a hundred People were murdered/ And
their blood Flowed in the wake Of this ship like Oil, only then Would the world intervene.
I
leave you today, with a story, a timeless fable found in almost every culture
and therefore a fable known to every member of the United Nations. Forty-seven years
ago, the Reader’s Digest published this version of the fable from Lebanon.
A scorpion on the banks of the Nile
asks a frog to ferry him to the other side. The frog, being totally aware of the danger, logically rejects the request.
"Oh no," You would sting me and I would drown.”
"That's ridiculous," the
scorpion replies,’ with great conviction ‘where’s the logic in that, if I did that
I too would drown!" Convinced by the sincerity of the response, and not wanting to appear
prejudiced, the frog took the scorpion on his back and began to swim across the
river. In midstream, the scorpion's lethal urge became too strong and he
plunged his stinger into the frog's neck. The sinking frog groaned, "Why,
why?" The scorpion gave his final shrug and replied, Because, this is the Middle
East."
Like
the frog in our fable, even though logic tells us we will be stung.... we forge
ahead thinking that this time it will be different. But no amount of compromise, discussion, or
logic can influence or change the outcome. And that is one of the morals of our
fable: When it comes to those who are wholly irredeemable, there can only be
one outcome. It is the nature of the beast.
But there is a second moral to the story which is, that blame for the
demise is not laid upon the perpetrator, but rather on the victim for choosing
not to accept what his logical mind recognized and understood to
be true but chose not to believe:
"You knew what I was when you found me."
