Muddling Through as Muggles
By Rabbi Avi Friedman
July 10, 2011
Balak 5771
[ Audio
(mp3, 6.8Mb) ]
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We were pleased to welcome our distinguished
guest preacher, Rabbi Avi Friedman of the Summit Jewish Community Center.
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ter seven Harry Potter books and seven Harry Potter movies over the course of the past dozen years or so, you'd think that the excitement would wear off. I've read them for myself. I've read them with my daughters. I've watched the movies in the theater. I've watched them at home. It should be enough already! And yet, with the release of the eighth – and presumably final – Harry Potter film, I once again find myself as excited to see it as I was for the first one. And as I have done at any number of times over the past dozen years or so, I've tried to figure out why Harry Potter has captured not only my attention, but the attention of millions of others – across national boundaries, across religions and across ages.
There's no question that they are fun and
imaginative. We'd all like to think that there's a little magic hidden in all
of us. We'd all like to experience some of the places and creatures that Harry
came across in his adventures. But I suspect that there is more to it than
that. It seems to me that the most appealing thing about the world which JK
Rowling has created in her books is the clear distinction between good and
evil, between right and wrong. Either you're with Harry, Dumbledore and the
good guys or you're with Voldemort, the Death Eaters and the bad guys. It's
that simple. Sure, sometimes the path forward was a little unclear. Some people
took a little longer to decide which team they were on. There were some
arguments over strategy. But, there was never any doubt about who was good and
who was evil.
Think how much easier life would be if we could just
know immediately what is right and what is wrong. Who is just and who is
unjust. It's just like the old western films – good guys had white hats and bad
guys had black hats. You never had to wonder who was who. Unfortunately, our
world – the world of muggles or non-magical creatures – does not work that way.
We live in the great gray area between absolute good and absolute evil. And it
is up to us to steer our course as close to the good
side and as far away from the bad side as possible.
Yet, the information upon which we make our
judgments and decisions is often difficult to interpret. We do not receive a
carefully crafted narrative written by an author like JK Rowling. We receive
news reports – some from reliable sources and some from dubious sources –
always filtered through the biases and prejudices of journalists, editors and
advertisers before it arrives on our doorsteps or favorite web sites.
Take, for example, the ongoing dispute between
Israelis and Palestinians. How easy it would be if one side had black hats and
one side had white hats, if one side had Harry Potter in charge and the other
side had Lord Voldemort. Then, we'd just know for whom we should be rooting.
And the truth is, we can find web sites, newspapers,
books and magazines that simplify this complicated conflict into good guys vs.
bad guys. But, anyone who thinks it's that simple isn't worth listening to when
it comes to this issue. Both sides have legitimate claims to the same tiny
piece of land and both sides have legitimate gripes with the way the other side
has behaved. (It would take too long to list them all here.)
Before we go any further, I think I should put a few
of my cards on the table so you know where I'm coming from. Both of my mother's
parents fled Eastern Europe as youngsters in the 1920's to go to British
Palestine as a result of anti-Jewish violence in their respective hometowns. They
eventually met in Tel Aviv and were married. My mother was born in Tel Aviv at
the tail end of the Depression. My grandfather was a carpenter/builder and
could not find enough work in Palestine to support his new family. So, in 1938,
they came to the US with either $13 or $26 dollars (family accounts vary) among
the three of them.
The plan was for my grandfather to work with his
brothers who had come to the US when he went to Palestine and earn enough money
in a year or two in order to return to Palestine. However, they encountered a
small roadblock called World War II. By the time they might have been able to
return, they had three kids and my grandfather had a successful construction
business. They stayed here.
Obviously, my family has a deep relationship with
the Land of Israel and the State of Israel. I have visited numerous times and
lived there for one year of study during my rabbinical training. Despite this
deep love for the State of Israel, I can stand here and tell you that Israel is
not perfect. Israel has made some mistakes in its dealings with her neighbors.
But can you name a single country in the world that is perfect? That has never
made some diplomatic or strategic errors? As great as our country is, we
certainly cannot say that about the US?
And yet, despite being the lone democracy in the
Middle East, the only country in the Middle East in which women have full equal
rights, the only country in the Middle East in which gay men and lesbians are
protected under the law, the only country in the Middle East with a free press,
the only country in the Middle East with an independent judiciary and I could
go on, Israel always gets the black hat.
While it is true that Israel's War of Independence
created roughly 500,000 Arab refugees – individuals who lived in Western
Palestine before the partition of 1948 – we cannot forget that the Arab
countries collectively expelled 820,000 Jews in response to Israel's
declaration of independence. Israel absorbed over 580,000 of these Jewish
refugees. This is the kind of population exchange that typically happens after
wars. Those Jews of Arab lands were never compensated for their lost property,
and they have been given no right to return.
It is a tragedy that the Palestinian refugees were
not absorbed into Lebanon, Syria, Jordan (which was created on the Eastern half
of Palestine) or Egypt. The governments of those countries kept them segregated
and they were not offered citizenship. In recent months as we have learned more
about the autocratic regimes of these countries and the way in which they treat
their own citizens, we should not be surprised that they were less than
welcoming to a group of refugees. And yet, Israel is always the bad guy.
For example, the United Nations established its
Human Rights Council in 2006 because the Human Rights Commission which preceded
it had become so corrupt and biased. Of all the resolutions issued by the UN
Human Rights Council during its five years of existence, 67 have condemned a
specific nation. 32 of those 67 have been directed at Israel. That's 47% of
their resolutions – as if to say that 47% of the world's human rights
violations in recent years have taken place in Israel. Really?!
The Council has yet to denounce the genocide in the
Sudan. The Council suspended Libya – who was elected to serve on the Human
Rights Council just last year when Moammar Qaddafi
was firmly in charge – but Libya was not permanently expelled from the Council
and was not formally condemned. The Council has yet to say a word about
President Assad turning his army against his own Syrian citizens. The Council
has had nothing to say about rights abuses in China, Russia or Cuba, but
perhaps, that is because those three countries all sit on the UN Human Rights
Council (no, that is not a joke or an error). I point this out not to suggest
that Israel should get a free pass for any abuses, but to say that Israel's
misdemeanors are front page news while other country's felonies get buried in
the classifieds.
Consider what happened this past week. As the
attempts to organize a second Gaza flotilla failed for a variety of reasons,
the organizers came up with the idea of a “fly-tilla.”
Hundreds of activists would fly to Israel and would protest at the airport or
try to gain entry into Gaza from Israel. The Israeli government figured out who
many of these people were – because they started a Facebook group! – and let the airlines know that they would not be allowed to
enter into Israel. This is similar to the US government's no fly list, which
made it difficult for Cat Stevens – now known as Yusuf Islam – to fly to the US
from England.
According to international law, if a government
notifies an airline that a passenger will not be allowed to enter its country
for whatever reason, and the airline brings the passenger anyway, the airline
is responsible for flying the passenger back to the country of origin. So, once
the airlines knew that these people would not be allowed to enter Israel, they
did not let them board their flights. And people were outraged, calling Israel
undemocratic. One activist said that Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris is now
under Israeli occupation.
This was a one-time situation in which Israel was responding
to a possible threat or disturbance. What was the New York Times headline? “Israel Blocks Air Travelers to Palestinian Conference.”
Israel got the black hat again.
However, if I – or any other Jew – stood in that
same Charles de Gaulle airport and tried to board a flight to Saudi Arabia,
Syria, Qatar, Bahrain or any of a number of Muslim countries in that part of
the world, I would not be allowed to board my flight because Jews are not
allowed to enter those countries EVER (Ask Delta Airlines about this.). Even if
you are not Jewish, but you have traveled to Israel and there is a stamp from
Israel in your passport, then you cannot enter those countries.
Did you know that when you arrive in Israel, you
have a choice of whether or not you want your passport stamped so that you will
not be denied entry into another country because of the stamp in your passport?
And yet, Israel denying entry to a group of angry activists from foreign countries
is the headline. Israel is the bad guy.
When you get criticized over and over – even when
you believe that your actions are justified – you stop caring what others think
because you feel so alone in the world. This is true of individuals and it is
true of nations. I believe that Israel is being forced into this kind of
thinking and it is a very dangerous place to be.
Approximately 2,000 years ago, the ancient rabbis
divided the five books of Moses into 54 portions. We read one portion each week
(doubling up occasionally to make sure we finish in a year). Yesterday, in
synagogues around the world, we read from Numbers – chapters 22-25. Most of
this passage tells the story of Balaam and his talking donkey – a story that JK
Rowling would have to admire!
For those who don't recall the background, the Moabites
and the Midianites were getting nervous about the Israelites. So, Balak the
King of Moab sent for Balaam who was some kind of free-agent prophet or wizard
for hire. Balak wanted to hire Balaam to curse the Israelites so that his coalition
could defeat them. Four separate times Balaam tried to curse the Israelites,
but in the end he could only bless them. Among these verses of praise is one
sentence that has been a part of Jewish liturgy since the very beginning of
Jewish prayer: “Mah tovu ohalecha Yaakov mishk'notecha Yisrael – How good are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling
places, O Israel (Num. 24:5).” Balaam was prepared to accept financial
compensation in order to curse the Israelites, but he just couldn't do it. The
text says that God put a word in his mouth – and he just spoke the words of blessing
that God put there. I'd like to think that he learned a little bit more about
the Israelites and had a change of heart. He saw that they weren't so bad.
Similarly, in today's world, I don't expect miracles.
I don't expect all of Israel's detractors to immediately become lovers and
supporters of Israel. I don't expect the Palestinians to lay down their arms
and give in to every Israeli wish and desire. However, I do hope that people
will take the time to examine Israel more closely in order to see some of the
admirable aspects of Israeli society.
In addition to some of the things that I mentioned
earlier, Israel is the only country in the Middle East where minority religions
have equal status under the law. Christians control Christian holy sites and
Christian clergy are authorized by the government to record births, deaths and marriages
within their community. The same is true for Muslims.
Currently, 14 of the 120 members of the Israeli
Knesset are Arab Muslims. I assure you that there are no Jewish representatives
in any Muslim country in the world. But on top of that, Israel contributes to
the world in a number of other ways: in the field of technology, Israelis were involved
in the development of cell phones and instant messaging; in the field of
medicine, Israel sent trained rescue teams and a field hospital to Haiti after
the devastating earthquake there and more recently Israel has developed
microscopic injectable diagnostic devices which are being used here in this
country; in the field of environmentalism, Israel had a net GAIN of trees in
the 20th century and is a world leader in desalination of water; and I could go
on.
Every poll of Israeli society shows that the
majority wants nothing more than peaceful borders with her neighbors and they
are willing to give up territory to achieve it. There is nothing in Israel's
Declaration of Independence – or any other key document – about destroying any
other nation. Quite the opposite, the Declaration states the following:
“[Israel] will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the
prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political
rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will
guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it
will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions.”
One of my favorite Biblical verses is Leviticus
19:18 because of the last three words: “v'ahavta –
Love (imperative)”, “l'ray-acha – to your neighbor”,
“camocha – like yourself.” This is typically
translated as “Love your neighbor as yourself.” However, I believe that Moses Mendelssohn
(the 18th Century German Jewish philosopher) came up with the best translation.
He argued that “like yourself” is an adjective
modifying “neighbor” rather than an adverb modifying “love.” This would render
the phrase as: “Love your neighbor who is like yourself.” When we forget the
innate humanity of other people – that they are some mother's child, they are
some child's parent, it leads down a path of violence and inhumane treatment of
our fellow human beings. Right now, when Israelis and Palestinians sit across
the table from one another, they don't see people like themselves. They each
see enemies and murderers. And you can't come to an agreement with enemies and
murderers. If Israelis and Palestinians could look across the table and see
parents, aunts, uncles, siblings – people who want to put food on the table and
enjoy a meaningful life – then I KNOW that they could come to some sort of
agreement, but it takes effort on BOTH sides.
I had to smile and find some hope in an article that
I saw just this morning about a new Facebook page which allows Palestinians and
Israelis to get to know each other and talk about life in their communities. I
use Facebook to catch up with friends from high school. Some people use Facebook
to communicate with their children or grandchildren. These people are using
Facebook to plant the seeds of peace.
Israel is not a character in a children's book and
Israel is not a figure in an old Western film – easily categorized as good or
evil. Israel is a country struggling to do the right thing for her citizens in
a confusing and dangerous world. Sometimes her leaders get it right and
sometimes they get it wrong. But, before we curse Israel for those missteps,
let's remember the example of Balaam – let's get to know Israel a little
better, let's praise Israel for the things she does right and hope that she'll
move further along the blessed path. Amen.
