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.  

The Torah describes what you are supposed to do if you are told that someone is worshiping other gods: (Deut. 17:4)

והוגד לך ושמעת V’hugad l’cha v’shamata – if it’s told to you and you hear it.

ודרשת היטב V’darashta heitev– you shall inquire carefully.  

Elsewhere the Torah urges ודרשת וחקרת היטב v’darashta v’chakarta heitev – you should inquire and examine carefully.

Rabbinic law, based on passages such as these, requires careful analysis before reaching a legal conclusion.  Witnesses, examination – a careful process.  As distinct from conducting a campaign without research or basic engagement with the person whom you are accusing.

Fortunately Rabbi Blumofe's congregation has been fully supportive of his rabbinic leadership as the synagogue reexamines the upcoming trip for summer of 2017.

Moving beyond Rabbi Blumofe’s situation, I want to take a moment to address how vulnerable we all are, especially in light of the reality that social media acts as a megaphone that didn’t used to exist.

The following statement is attributed to Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, a renown leader of the Musar movement which aimed to instill proper ethical behavior:

Very little of what I think do I say.

Very little of what I say do I write.

Very little of what I write do I publish.

The statement demonstrates a desire to be extra careful about what verbiage one releases into the world, stemming from a recognition of how powerful words are.

You can imagine a series of funnels.  I say a small amount of what I think.  I write a small amount of what I say.  I publish a small amount of what I write.

Rather than serving as a funnel, social media serves as a megaphone – the exact opposite. 

Rabbi Salanter didn’t live in the age of internet or social media.  It would probably have amazed him to see how social media allows a person to leap quickly from thinking to publishing.

Of course once you hit send, you can’t take it back.   The setting in which you write and send is generally private; the implications are public.  And you can’t take it back.

Can’t take back the comment.  Can’t take back the link.  Can’t take back the rant. 

So I am asking that we apply the Biblical and Rabbinic standard of drisha v’hakira, inquiring and examining, before we accuse.

And I’m asking that we recognize the power of the megaphone we have each been handed.  That we pause to reflect deeply before we jump from thinking to publishing, particularly when other people’s lives and reputations are involved.

There are helpful ways to discuss even the most controversial issues.  There are helpful ways to question people’s judgment and even to criticize.

I hope that we will commit and recommit to these.  I hope that we will inquire, examine and pause before we send.  Certainly before we condemn.  Leaders as thoughtful, well-intentioned and successful as Rabbi Blumofe deserve that, and so do we all.  Our successful growth - as a community, as a people, as a species – depends on it. 

Originally shared with the Temple Israel of Great Neck community on September 10, 2016