Leaders in every part of the Jewish community have agreed on one thing since the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin – that words count.
The hateful language used to vilify Rabin – terming him a traitor and a Nazi – by some who disagreed with his policies created the context for the Yigal Amir to murder him at point-blank range, say many.
Yet even though desire for more civil discourse is widespread, the elusive nature of that goal was made clear this week at a rare joint public appearance by the leaders of the seminaries of the three major Jewish denominations – Orthodox, Conservative and Reform.
They, together with Colette Avital, Israeli consul general, spoke at a symposium titled “Are We One People?”
It was organized by the American Jewish Committee and took place on Dec, 11 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel here.
The tone of the three rabbis’ remarks was collegial by and large, but at times the rhetoric became inflamed – and inflammatory, prompting heated remarks from some of the approximately 125 people in attendance.
Rabbi Norman Lamm, president of Yeshiva University, began by embracing some element of Orthodox responsibility for the assassination.
There were “groups and individuals” in the Orthodox world “who went to extremes in ways which are both undemocratic and un-Jewish.”
“My group got used to hearing this stridency and it became like static to us in the background, sometimes annoying but not something you really notice, and so you just shrug your shoulders and go on with your daily business,” he said.
Amir, Rabin’s confessed assassin, who received a religious Zionist education, “was a weed in our garden – in our garden – so it is incumbent upon us to do a `cheshboh hanefesh,'” or internal stock-taking, said Lamm, reiterating a theme he had used before.
Confession such as the kind done on Yom Kippur is valuable anytime, he said, adding, “It’s spiritually a very refreshing thing to acknowledge that I have erred.”
But he also made pointed comments against “exploitation of this tragedy for political purposes.”
He said people should beat their own breasts in confession, not someone else’s, referring to the feeling among many Orthodox Jews that liberal Jews are blaming their entire community for Amir’s act.
Lamm’s rebuke of the Israeli government, which has questioned many Orthodox rabbis in he wake of the murder, was sharp.
“To haul in rabbis and ask what they are teaching, to review their sermons, this is an inquisition more appropriate for a modern Torquemada than a democratic state,” said Lamm.
But Lamm was not the only one to speak pointedly.
Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, chancellor of the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary, blamed “Orthodox Messianic temper, which bred a right- wing nationalism perverting Judaism and Zionism,” as the root of Rabin’s murder and said that “hollow appeals for unity cannot paper over the divide which separates us.”
He also spoke vehemently against the Orthodox monopoly on marriage, divorce and conversion in Israel.
“It so grievously impedes mutual respect and social harmony between Jews,” he said.
The comments of the seminary leaders led some at the symposium to reflect on the tension between the seemingly contradictory values of civil discourse and not letting dangerous rhetoric go unchecked.
According to Rabbi Joy Levitt, spiritual leader of the Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore, on Long Island, N.Y., there is a Jewish religious “obligation in our community to rebuke” those whose rhetoric goes beyond the limits of acceptability.
Yet each of the seminary leaders spoke at some point about moderating the rhetoric.
Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk, president of the Reform movement’s seminary, the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, put the whole debate in an historical context.
“Were we ever one people? No. We were always many segments comprising the Jewish nation,” he said.
But “let’s watch what we say and how we say it,” he added. “Let’s learn again how to conduct civil discourse without disrespect.”
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