Bronfman Urges World Jewry to Assert Jewish Values, Abandon Illusions

Edgar Bronfman, president of the World Jewish Congress, urged Jewish communities throughout the world to assert their Jewishness and Jewish values, to abandon illusions and to “prove through our commitment to human betterment that existence as a minority does not mandate a marginal role in human affairs.”

Bronfman, addressing the 32nd National Congress of the South African Board of Jewish Deputies here Saturday night, spoke at length of his “dreams” for world Jewry and for Israel. He recalled that at the WJC’s Governing Board meeting in Washington last February, “I said — among other things — that one must take care to distinguish dreams from illusions. I quoted Herzl, who said that the right dream can come true if it is willed hard enough.

“I cautioned against such illusions as these: that our enemies will suddenly disappear; that peace can be achieved without sacrifice, or that three million Jews can forever prevail in hostile confrontation with 120 million Arabs,” Bronfman said. “I would add that to expect a majority of the Jews of the diaspora to migrate to Israel is also an illusion. The majority of the world’s Jews probably will always live outside the State of Israel, as islands linked to their homeland, and to each other, by common values and traditions and religious faith. “

URGES JEWISH UNITY

Bronfman said, “When I say the Jewish people, I am talking about the Jews of Israel and the Jews of the diaspora as one. There can never ? a wedge driven between the Jews of Israel and the Jews of the diaspora. I dream of an Israel where the terms Ashkenazi and Sephardi and Oriental have lost their current meaning — where every Jew is a Jew and every Israeli is an Israeli. “

Bronfman said he dreamed of an Israel at peace with its neighbors. But, he cautioned, ‘To expect this peace to prevail in some sort of geographic isolation, without regard for the tensions of broad-scale East-West confrontation, is surely an illusion. But I believe that an enlightened approach to negotiation — with peace, not power as the objective, and with agreement on intelligent, practical arms control — can move the dream of peace toward reality. “

The WJC leader noted that he and his colleagues in the WJC “have pursued the quiet ways of diplomacy in seeking to sever the issue of Soviet Jewry from the complex diplomatic jostling of the superpowers. We are striving to convince the Soviet leaders that Jews should not be held hostage in this ‘second cold war.’ At the same time, we have welcomed the more vocal support of those who care about human rights,” he said.

“I dream of a world in which Jews will be allowed to emigrate from the Soviet Union and will want to live in Israel. I dream of a Soviet Union that will allow those Jewish citizens who choose to remain to practice and teach their religion in dignity, without hindrance. “

HOPES FOR ‘MORE JEWISH’ ISRAEL

With respect to Israel itself, Bronfman said his dream was that “Israelis will become more Jewish and more traditionally so. I dream of an Israel where Jews will keep dietary laws and adopt a consistent, modern form of Sabbath and Holy Day observance as a proud expression of their Jewishness, not as laws imposed by the Knesset. “

Finally, Bronfman said, “I dream of a world where anti-Semitism, not only in its blatant brutality but in all its ugly nuances will have disappeared … not just because bigotry is evil, but because the world at large will know and respect our tradition, our culture, our humanity and the full dimensions of our faith.”

“It is true, ” he said, “that the menacing cloud of anti-Semitism still hangs over the globe, and Jewish communities in distress — most recently in Syria and Ethiopia — continue to tax our hope for a peaceful existence. But is is not enough to fight anti-Semitism by damning bigotry. Nor is it enough to deny the stereotypes that evoke anti-Semitic laughter and derision .. While all good people should fight bigotry with all their strength, while Jews by deed should dispel the stereotype .. we must assert our Jewishness to ourselves and to the world, ” Bronfman said.

“Yet I suggest that if we are to expect the nations of the world to be guided by our light — our Jewish values — we must demonstrate to them by our words and actions that we are moved by their concerns.” In that connection, Bronfman cited the famous lines of John Donne: “No man is an Island entire to itself… Any man’s death diminishes me. “

Those words, he said, apply “to our Jewish values and what I will call the Jewish way. Any man’s poverty makes me poorer. Any man’s illness is an assault on my own health. Any nation that takes up arms against another takes up arms against me. Injustice against any man is a crime against me. If there is any place where men and women are regarded as less than their neighbors, I am lessened. The door that is closed to any man or woman is closed also to me.”