By
mid-July of this year a colleague and friend of mine found
himself in the midst of considerable controversy. His
name is Rabbi Neil Blumofe and you may have read about him in the Jewish Week and elsewhere on-line.
He
is the rabbi of a thriving Conservative synagogue in Austin. He was planning an Israel trip to include a local interfaith group
he’s involved with as well as interested members of his congregantion.
To
plan the trip he turned to an organization called Mejdi, which was founded by
an Israeli and a Palestinian with the objective of providing a dual narrative approach to
travel. Mejdi has planned trips
for organizations that include the Hartman Institute and AIPAC.
The
organization forwarded a tentative itinerary to Rabbi Blumofe for his consideration
and Rabbi Blumofe held a meeting with congregants who expressed interest in the
trip.
The
proposed itinerary included an overnight stay at a settlement and a meeting
with the rosh yeshiva there, a discussion with a women's rights advocacy group in Haifa and numerous other items. The
proposed itinerary item that became quite controversial was a stop at the grave of Yasser
Arafat. The idea of it, as
explained to Rabbi Blumofe, was to use that stop as a context for presenting
various Palestinian narratives about Arafat and the PLO.
Rabbi
Blumofe found that the guide that the Palestinian guide from MEJDI that he
spoke with, and was hoping would help lead the trip, actually was very critical
of Arafat and the PLO. Rabbi
Blumofe did not respond to any of the proposed items, wanting the entire itinerary
to be discussed by those who were interested in the trip.
Rabbi
Blumofe told a reporter for the Times of Israel that when he met with
interested congregants on June 30 no one mentioned anything about the visit to
Arafat’s grave.
A
congregant of Rabbi Blumofe’s wrote a letter to him questioning his judgment
and calling for his resignation.“To me, it’s no different than were you to travel to Germany to
pay your respects at Adolf Hitler’s tomb, if one existed,” he wrote in his
letter to Blumofe, adding that it was “time for you to resign. Depart and let
us be done with you. In name of G-d, go!”
Rabbi Blumofe
offered to meet with this congregant and the congregant refused. The congregant wrote letters to major
Austin philanthropists, including one who donated the property on which the
synagogue and other Jewish institutions are located. Statements were circulated on the internet including an open
letter to Rabbi Blumofe calling for his termination, accusing him of helping to
promote modern blood libels against Israel and world Jewry, and calling for
termination of his rights to visit Israel.
Over the past 4
years I’ve gotten to know Rabbi Blumofe well. He is a creative, compassionate, intelligent rabbi and an
ardent supporter of Israel. Within and beyond his congregation, he has succeeded masterfully in deepening and elevating the way people approach Judaism and Israel.
I personally think
that a trip to Arafat’s grave is so loaded, so problematic, that whatever intentions
you might have can easily be undercut by your symbolic presence there. And Rabbi Blumofe himself has identified the problems involved with such a visit.
However. What troubles me is that people assume
intention before they ascertain intention. What troubles me is that people mount campaigns before they
do research. What troubles me is
that given the amplifying capacity of social media – people in the
public eye but anyone, frankly – any one of us – can be tried and convicted
without being given the opportunity to say a word.
That’s not the way
it’s supposed to be, certainly not according to Jewish tradition going back to its Biblical roots.
