Sharply denouncing the violence that has erupted between extreme religious and secular groups in Israel, leaders of the major religious bodies of American Jewry called on Israelis and Jews everywhere to condemn all fanaticism in the Jewish State, whether secular or religious, and to seek an immediate end to “these mindless resorts to violence and hatred.”
Speaking at a news conference last Friday at American Jewish Committee headquarters here, top officials of the Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist arms of American Judaism expressed their horror “that Jews could engage in acts historically associated with anti-Semites, ” and urged support for “major efforts to promote moderation, tolerance and mutual respect.”
“In such a heterogeneous and pluralistic society,” the officials said in a joint statement, “it is difficult to demand that everyone love his neighbor as himself. But as Hillel, so wisely formulated it, the minimal guideline for coexistence and survival is that ‘what is hateful to you, do not do unto your neighbor’.”
NO JUSTIFICATION FOR VIOLENCE
Making plain that their denunciations were aimed equally at all parties to the violence, the statement continued: “We deplore provocative actions that have violated religious sensibilities regarding ‘modesty in dress’ in places of worship and in traditionally Orthodox neighborhoods. But insensitivity on the part of secularists to religious observances cannot be a justification for religious zealots, or any other persons, taking the law into their own hands and carrying out acts of intimidation and of destruction of public or private property.
“Jewish ethics and democratic ideals do not sanction the resort to extralegal violence as instruments for enforcing public piety…. By the same token, it is nothing short of bigotry and hooliganism to carry out acts of reprisals against synagogues or institutions of Torah study…. Tearing up holy prayer books and sacred Bibles, desecrating tefillin and the Arks of the law, and defacing synagogue buildings with swastikas are unbearable to Jews of conscience and memory throughout the world.”
“We urge all Jews, ” the group concluded, “to join in supporting Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Deputy Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir in their appeals for a cessation of physical violence and the undertaking of major efforts to promote moderation, tolerance and mutual respect. The precious democracy that Israel has forged must not be allowed to become hostage to irrationality and uncontrolled passions….
“At this critical hour in Israel and in the diaspora it is urgent that the entire Jewish people return to the sacred principles of mutual love and respect, the keystone of Jewish survival.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
