By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel
CHULA VISTA, California — Hatred and xenophobia are two of the oldest diseases afflicting the human condition. For many people living in unenlightened societies, hatred of the Other is almost as natural as mother’s milk. Jewish history bears witness to how our adversaries have vilified us, dehumanized us, persecuted us, and destroyed us over time. Anti-Semitism is one of the world’s most enduring social diseases. Even countries that are bereft of Jews sometimes blame the Jew for all their social and economic evils.
Whenever anti-Semitism occurs, Jews are very quick to point out its presence and scream foul. Many books such as David Wyman’s excellent Abandonment of the Jews, or Fr. Edward Flannery’s Anguish of the Jews explain in earthly terms why the Holocaust occurred. We don’t have to look for heavenly reasons–only earthly causes that are rooted in human apathy and bigotry.
But what about the anti-Semitism that we–as Jews–create in the world? As Jews, we ought to know better. Our collective memories since the time of the Exodus taught us to act compassionately toward the oppressed and hungry.
It would have been natural to hate our oppressors, yet, the Torah says “Do not abhor the Edomite: he is your brother. Do not abhor the Egyptian: you were a resident alien in his country” (Deut. 23:7). Then again, there is another relevant passage, “You shall not deprive the resident alien or the orphan of justice, nor take the clothing of a widow as pledge. For, remember, you were slaves in Egypt, and the LORD, your God, redeemed you from there; that is why I command you to do this . . .” Deut. 24:17-18).
The Torah beckons us to remember what it was like to be marginalized and oppressed. Historically, we have endured centuries of persecution. We did not survive almost 2000 years of exile to become victimizers.
The racism and xenophobia we have been reading about this past year in Israel is too disturbing to ignore. Over the last several weeks, we have witnessed terrible things that no civilized nation can tolerate.
* Jews attempting to lynch a Palestinian. Yesterday (August 19) in Jerusalem, the police have arrested seven Jewish teens, two of them girls, suspected of involvement in the beating of three Arabs.
* A few days before, somebody in the West Bank firebombed an innocent Palestinian’s vehicle.
My friend Yaakov wrote a response to a Failedmessiah blog, and offered some sharp words directed at bloggers who saw nothing wrong with a little bit of vigilante “justice” and collective punishment aimed at innocent Palestinians
. One such blogger named Garnet wrote, “Turnabout is fair play. How many attacks by Arabs on Jewish vehicles have occurred since the Oslo Discord was signed? When does Israel get compensated for that?” Such people view these random acts of violence as cosmic justice for how Palestinians have treated Israelis over the decades.
However, Yaakov’s rebuke has the ring of a modern day biblical prophet:
“This statement reveals the depth of the ethical gap among a large portion of the defenders of Israel. They dehumanize the Palestinians so they can ignore the genuine immorality being perpetrated, even murder. They forget, in their haste to justify the unjustifiable, that in dehumanizing their enemies, they must, perforce do the same to themselves. Making “the Arabs” an entity responsible for the actions of individuals who’s identity includes an arbitrary shared attribute, misplacing what might be a valid statistical inference about a group by applying it to an individual, and ignoring the humanity of the individual involved, all of this should be familiar. It is the pattern of anti-Semitism, directed elsewhere.”
Ditto.
I wonder, are we becoming what we despise so deeply in the Palestinian Other? This is not the only incident. Israeli youths have also attacked on other occasions African refugees seeking asylum in Israel. As if the lives of these poor refugees weren’t bad enough, Israeli public schools refuse to take their children because they are black? The attacks on the Jewish and Non-Jewish Other are a cancer that threatens to destroy Israel as a nation and as a spiritual civilization.
Have we forgotten how the “civilized world” treated us during WWII, when Western countries refused to take our people who were fleeing the death camps and crematoria of Auschwitz? Are we becoming a people who has lost its capacity to remember what suffering was like? The human face compels a moral response, a compassionate response. Treating the Other as if s/he is a faceless automaton violates the image of God that each human being possesses.
Granted, one could argue that Israel is no different from any other nation. Every Western country has problems integrating new immigrants; combating racism, and so on … Why should Israel be any different? Such vicious and cruel behavior undermines all the good work Israel is trying to do to alleviate and combat suffering in the world.
Ahhhh, but Israel is different–or at least it’s supposed to be . . .
Tradition teaches us that God chose us to be His people; but to be God’s Chosen People comes with a hefty moral price. God has higher standards for Israel–and demands moral excellence from us at all times. Sadly, our fear of the Other–whether it be in the Ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods of Jerusalem, or in flashy nightclubs of Tel Aviv, or whether it be in the public schools of Eliat–is causing us to act in a way that is most unbecoming of a people that claims to love God and live by Jewish ethics.
In this month of Elul, which is traditionally given to us as a time of spiritual reflection and introspection, what can we possibly say to God as we approach the New Year? Maimonides stresses the importance of confession in the life of our people. Indeed, “The truth will set you free” is the only medicine for what sickens us as a people. Admitting we have sinned is the first step, but some of our people in Israel have become so self-righteous, they are light-years away from repenting and bettering themselves.
The ancient Chinese general and philosopher Sun Tzu said it even better: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle”
It’s time for us to wake up to the sound of the shofar and take the necessary steps to better ourselves and our world.
We cannot hide our own ugliness; nor can we make believe it doesn’t exist–because we are also guilty of the hatred we have attributed to others. Before we can become a light unto the nations, we need to first become a light unto ourselves.
As the comic character Pogo famously said, “We have met the enemy . . . and he is us!”*
Rabbi Samuel is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista. He may be contacted at michael.samuel@sdjewishworld.com
1 thought on “Anti-Arabism as sinful as anti-Semitism”
Yes, Israel is not perfect. Its population is a motley assortment of immigrants and refugees from various countries. But who are you to judge its moral standing from the fleshpots of Chula Vista?
Rabbi Samuel,
Yes, Israel is not perfect. Its population is a motley assortment of immigrants and refugees from various countries. But who are you to judge its moral standing from the fleshpots of Chula Vista?