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April 13, 2001/Nisan 20, 5761, Vol. 53, No.28
Being Jewishly correct
JOSEPH AARON
The Chicago Jewish News
Et tu, Elie?
There is a difference between unity and uniformity. And there is a very big difference between Jewish unity and Jewish uniformity.
Jewish unity is a good thing, something we should always have.
Jewish uniformity is bad, indeed. It is something we should always resist.
Though more Jews are freer than ever before, there are fewer independent Jewish voices than ever before, a far greater price to pay for anyone who deviates from the official Jewish line of the moment.
The Amish shun those Amish who don't stay in line. The Jews destroy those Jews who don't stay in line.
Tragically when those who say things that are unpopular, dare to question our leaders and our organizations, or dare to be critical of Israel pay a price - all of Judaism pays a huge price.
At its very essence, Judaism is about questioning, disagreeing, probing. That is what has made Jewish minds and spirits so sharp for so long wherever we've been. We've always had a variety of perspectives and always benefited when each has been expressed and been listened to.
For us, it's always been "two Jews, three opinions."
We've never been a people to walk in lockstep. But we are more now than ever becoming that way. How much so is becoming clearer every day, with uniformity becoming more and more the order of the day.
Uniformity is different from unity. Unity is Jews embracing, respecting, loving all Jews all the time. It is not putting aside our differences but rather it is celebrating them, accepting and being grateful that there are Jews who don't believe or act as we do and loving them nonetheless, loving them not despite that, but because of that, feeling a connection to each and every Jew no matter what. That is unity and there is less of that today than there ever was.
Uniformity is about eliminating differences, expecting all Jews to think the same, act the same and having nothing to do with those who are different. There is more of that today than there ever was.
Uniformity means no one has the right to criticize or question Israel at this moment. But it is especially at moments like this that we need all Jews to be involved and to feel free to see things as they see them, say things as they see them. We need to be at our best and that means being our most authentic selves. And that means having all kinds of viewpoints. It does not mean falling into line.
I understand the reflex inclination to do so. Most of our history we've been under attack, and because we have been so few and so weak and those attacking us have been so much stronger and bigger, we couldn't afford the luxury of discord within.
But that was true about - right - for another time. Not this time.
This time, we are strong. We should feel that and act accordingly.
Israel is an incredibly powerful country in every way: militarily, culturally, economically and diplomatically.
Admit it, you flinched when reading that last sentence. That's because your heart hasn't caught up with your head. We still see ourselves as the underdog, under fire, and so not able to tolerate, let alone welcome, a smorgasbord of Jewish views.
You're mad that I just said that Israel is a strong country, especially at a time like this. No wonder so many are angry when others and I dare to question anything about Israeli policy, or criticize how Israel is acting.
We can't afford that, you say, reverting to style about the way things used to be. I say we can't afford to act as if things were as they were, when they are not. We need to welcome a variety of Jewish perspectives, but so strong is the pull to uniformity today that it is becoming almost traitorous for a Jew to say anything not in keeping with the Jewishly correct line. JC, I call it, the Jewish version of PC, politically correct, and about as Jewish as that first JC.
Indeed, this atmosphere has gotten so bad that even such a great Jew as Elie Wiesel has joined it. When I read what he said recently, I was stunned. I could not believe Wiesel, who has been such a leader of our people, such a strong voice for what is right and what is good, a man who has never been afraid to speak out, been so able to express the essence of Judaism and humanity, would say what he said.
What he said was that those who criticize Israel at this time are anti-Semites - even if they are Jews.
Saying that many disguise anti-Semitism as anti-Zionism, he noted that "anti-Semitism seems to be alive and well ... and not only among gentiles, but also certain Jewish intellectual, semi-intellectual, leftist circles."
He called Jews who criticize Israel "self-hating enemies of Israel," "ashamed Jews" and said "to use Jewishness as a right to oppose Israel is something that I am opposed to."
How is it possible to think that if a Jew doesn't like something about how Israel acts that that makes him self-hating, ashamed, an enemy of Israel? And what better reason to question how Israel acts than one's Jewishness? To me, there is no other reason.
Would I be a better friend of Israel if I didn't say anything about the fact that its policies have polluted its air? Would I be a better friend of Israel if I didn't say anything about its lack of a constitution, which sometimes results in an astonishing lack of protections for its citizens? Would I be a better friend if I didn't point out the widespread corruption among its major politicians? And would I be a better friend of Israel if I said we should not give one inch of land to the Palestinians?
Is it being a better friend of Israel to just say everything Israel is doing is right and to say otherwise is to be a self-hating, ashamed enemy of Israel?
For in that very same speech that Wiesel was so critical of any Jew who would criticize Israel, he laid out the responsibilities for Jews.
"It is not given to everyone to make history. But it is incumbent upon every one of us to take part in it. ... Yet every one of us, ... if he or she so desires, does participate in shaping and sharing our history, each on his or her level, and in his or her way, with all of them, all of us, emerging enriched by that experience."
Precisely. If every Jew does that then all Jews are enriched.
Even though I am a self-hating, ashamed Jew, I couldn't have said it better myself.
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