May 1999 Let's Hear It For The Lovers! By Rabbi Alvin Kass Maureen Dowd, the New York Times columnist, writes that recent events in this country, most especially the failure of the U.S. Senate to convict President Clinton, show that the nation has opted for "the lovers over the haters." We prefer those who foster warmth, tolerance, compassion and forgiveness over the forces of self-righteousness, discord, vengeance and zealotry. Would that we could say the same about Israel as she begins the second half-centry of her existence. However, internal hostility in the Jewish homeland is presently at such a feverish pitch that some commentators are thankful that the Arab-Israeli conflict has not yet been solved. For, the argument goes, if Jews didn't have to worry about the Arabs, they would concentrate exclusively on annihilating each other, most especially those who advocate different religious and ideological viewpoints. Thus, members of the Israeli Supreme Court who recently promulgated rulings allowing Conservative and Reform Jews to sit on local religious councils, were condemned by Ovadia Yosef, the former chief rabbi of Israel, as living "without faith and without law. They are boalei nidot (engage in sex with unclean women). All of them violate the Sabbath. O God! Slaves rule over us." Rabbi Iytzhak Neuman, the spiritual leader of an Orthodox congregation in England for forty years, was denounced as "worse than Nazis in Auschwitz" when he removed a sign in the West Bank settlement where his daugher lived which read: Laharog Et Haaravim, "Kill the Arabs." Ultra-Orthodox groups in Israel recently ran an ad campaign which affirmed: "One Nation, One Conversion," implying that Reform and Conservative conversions should not be legally sanctioned. In response, Israeli secularists placed ads on buses that read: "One Nation, One Draft," signifying that the ultra-Orthodox should no longer enjoy draft exemption. Fortunately, there are some reasonable and moderate voices that are trying to put an end to the Kulturkampf which threatens to consume the land. Foremost among them is Rabbi David Hartman who leads teh Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem which has made the development of a tolerant, pluralistic interpretation of Judaism its number one priority. It maintains that our faith has to be explicated in a way that can reunite the Jewish people and preserve Jewish continuity. Obviously, that cannot happen as long as the Orthodox establishment insists that religious ownership of Israel is its exclusive concession. The Jewish State must be made the spiritual possession of all Jews. For the bulk of Diaspora Jewry, which is non-Orthodox, the success of Rabbi Hartman and his ilk is absolutely essential if we are to continue to view Israel as the nucleus of our Jewish identity and commitment. We certainly cherish the existence of the State of Israel as a political refuge for all Jews who feel themsleves threatened. But we intend to live here in the United Statesm, and anticipate that our children and children's children will do the same for many generations to come in a country we feel confident will remain a safe and secure haven for Jews and all other minorities for as long as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence remain the fundemental law of the land. Still, we love Israel as the most important repository of Jewish memory, history and culture. It would be tragic if the State of Israel thought about us simply in terms of financial and political support rather than of itself as the source of our spiritual identity. But how can Israel remain vital for us if our Judaic way of life is not welcome there? I profoundly respect the intensity and passionate concern for Jewish law and education manifested by Orthodox Judaism. All the rest of us would do well to strive to emulate a similar degree of commitment towards our own Jewish beliefs and practices. However, if Orthodox Judaism isolates itself from the rest of world Jewry by delegitimating the other Jewish movements, it will only subvert its capacity to serve as a role model and inspiration to the rest of us. The State of Israel has done great things in the realm of land reclamation, technology, science, military power and financial growth. But it still has a long way to go in the realm of morality and faith. As we prepare to celebrate Israel's fifty-first birthday, we pray that the day will not be far off when we will no longer value the Arab-Israeli conflict as a preventative to Jews blowing each other apart. Let's hear it for the lovers over the haters! Viewpoint Copyright © 1999 Rabbi Alvin Kass