Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Beware the Online Megaphone: in Defense of Research and Conversation Before Hitting Send

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.  

Thursday, September 8, 2016

No More Sarcasm - Just Like That

In the scene from “The Frisco Kid” that has been frequently circulated on social media since the death of Gene Wilder a few weeks ago, the Polish rabbi, played by Wilder, is asked by a Native American chief if his god can make it rain. 


Gene Wilder and Val Bisoglio, "The Frisco Kid"

“He can do ANYTHING!”  Exclaims the rabbi.

“Then why can’t he make rain?” Asks the chief.

“Because He doesn’t make rain.  He gives us strength when we’re suffering.  He gives us compassion when all that we feel is hatred.

“He gives us courage when we’re searching around blindly like little mice in the darkness.   BUT HE DOESN’T MAKE RAIN.”

All of a sudden a clap of thunder is heard and it starts to pour. 

“Of course,” says the rabbi, “sometimes - just like that - He’ll change his mind.”

Today is Rosh Hodesh Elul.  During this month we are supposed to make a very special effort at heshbon hanefesh – looking at ourselves, wondering what we’re doing right, what we’re doing wrong, what changes we might like to make.

It’s interesting that we’re not asked during this month to try to understand God better.   But I do think that there’s a marvelous teaching that helps us to understand what God’s role might be in helping us to look within and do what’s right.

It’s expressed in the very first verse of Parashat Re'eh – ראה אנכי נותן לפניכם היום ברכה וקללה re’ei anokhi noten lif’nekhhem hayom brakha uk’lala – today I set before you a blessing and a curse. 

The verse establishes a framework for honoring and challenging our capacity to choose how we live our lives.  So here we are, beginning the month that leads right into Rosh Hashanah, and I want us to get off on the right foot.  I'm going to get philosophical and practical.  

I want us to think about what needs to go on inside of us in order for us to make positive changes.  In a moment I will use an issue I personally have started to work on as an example.