Last Tuesday night the Central Student Government at the University of Michigan voted in favor of a divestment resolution targeting Israel. The vote was 23 in favor, 17 opposed, 5 abstaining.
The vote has no bearing on the University’s policies. The University of Michigan in the past has roundly opposed divestment resolutions and in all likelihood will oppose this one. But it's quite disturbing nonetheless.
I want to affirm today what I’ve said all along. When it comes to how students relate to Israel, understand Israel, and advocate for fair treatment of Israel, the best thing we can do is educate them as deeply as possible about Israel, the Palestinians, the peace process and the larger Middle Eastern context.
That does not mean presenting Israel as completely virtuous and without flaw. To the contrary, efforts to educate high school students this way often backfire. The students get to college, realize it’s not so simple, and then feel that they have been misled by their teachers and rabbis.
What's called for is an approach that the educational institution Makor calls "high resolution." High resolution means knowing as much as possible in as deep a way as possible.
I want to take us to three places. The family drama of Esau and Jacob. The approach of an Israeli thought-leader who understands high resolution. And back to the college campus.
עשו שונא ליעקב Esav sonei l’ya’akov. “Esau hates Jacob.” That’s the phrase that was repeated in rabbinic literature throughout the generations. Esau became associated with Rome, the arch-enemy who seeks the destruction of the Jews.
The story in the Torah is more complicated. Esau is a hunter; Jacob prefers to hang out indoors. Jacob “buys” the birthright from Esau and later misleads his father to acquire the better blessing. The outcome is understood to be the fulfillment of God’s will.
Rabbinic commentators had a range of reactions, some maintaining that Jacob needed to act this way in order to counter Esau’s negative qualities and bad intentions, some criticizing Jacob for using dishonest means in order to achieve his goals.
A high resolution analysis of this story allows for a deeper sense of the aspirations and behavior of both figures and ultimately a subtler appreciation of their subsequent histories.
Yossi Klein Halevi, Senior Scholar at the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and well-known author, writes and speaks frequently about contemporary Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In his writings and speeches, he consistently takes an approach that is thoughtful, responsible and sober. In describing the -Six-Day war, he said, “I don’t regret the defeat of the Palestinians. I regret their humiliation.”
In a recent speech that I heard him give at an AIPAC dinner, he spoke about his two nightmare scenarios – one in which Israel allows the occupation to continue; the other in which Israel ends the occupation and makes herself vulnerable to a variety of possible dangerous outcome. He mentioned, as he often has, that most Israelis fall into a political center where they understand the problems – moral and strategic – of the occupation but they also understand and fear the genuine risks that would be involved in ending it.
I can almost guarantee that any high school or college student who had access to the kind of thoughtful, nuanced and deep analysis that Yossi Klein Halevi engages in would be more supportive of Israel, not less.
It is important to understand Israel with high resolution. To understand the history of Israel, the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the history of efforts toward peace, various Israeli and Palestinian perspectives. To the extent that high school and college students understand all of this, I believe that they will recognize how one-sided and damaging the BDS movement is.
The ADL puts considerable effort into opposing BDS on college campuses. One of the ways they do that is to train students to understand contemporary Israel with high resolution. On their website you can find information explaining how BDS delegitimizes Israel by presenting a simplistic approach to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
An effective response to BDS efforts would include recognizing the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; contrasting BDS with helpful measures toward reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians; and demonstrating the distorted view that BDS takes toward Israel.
The ADL is not advocating that people oppose BDS by claiming that Israel is entirely virtuous; it is advocating that people oppose BDS by contrasting the simplicity of BDS with the complexity of the situation.
The current generation of high school and college students is growing up in a world where anti-Semitism from the left and the right shows no sign of disappearing. I hope that they will see Judaism as a worthy, if imperfect, tradition with much good to contribute to the world and that they will see Israel as a worthy, if imperfect, nation with much good to contribute to the world.
It does no good when our enemies over-simplify and it does no good when we over-simplify.
So let us help a generation of emerging adults to plunge deeply into the riveting, complex stories of the Torah. Let us expose them to the passionate yet careful thinking of leaders who can deepen their perspective.
Let us do everything we can to invite them to embrace the full, complex riches of a people and a nation that will continue to bring to the world the essence of God’s blessing to Jacob. מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ mital hashamayim umish’manei ha’aretz. The best that heaven and earth have to offer.
Originally delivered at Temple Israel of Great Neck on November 18, 2017
The vote has no bearing on the University’s policies. The University of Michigan in the past has roundly opposed divestment resolutions and in all likelihood will oppose this one. But it's quite disturbing nonetheless.
I want to affirm today what I’ve said all along. When it comes to how students relate to Israel, understand Israel, and advocate for fair treatment of Israel, the best thing we can do is educate them as deeply as possible about Israel, the Palestinians, the peace process and the larger Middle Eastern context.
That does not mean presenting Israel as completely virtuous and without flaw. To the contrary, efforts to educate high school students this way often backfire. The students get to college, realize it’s not so simple, and then feel that they have been misled by their teachers and rabbis.
What's called for is an approach that the educational institution Makor calls "high resolution." High resolution means knowing as much as possible in as deep a way as possible.
I want to take us to three places. The family drama of Esau and Jacob. The approach of an Israeli thought-leader who understands high resolution. And back to the college campus.
עשו שונא ליעקב Esav sonei l’ya’akov. “Esau hates Jacob.” That’s the phrase that was repeated in rabbinic literature throughout the generations. Esau became associated with Rome, the arch-enemy who seeks the destruction of the Jews.
The story in the Torah is more complicated. Esau is a hunter; Jacob prefers to hang out indoors. Jacob “buys” the birthright from Esau and later misleads his father to acquire the better blessing. The outcome is understood to be the fulfillment of God’s will.
Rabbinic commentators had a range of reactions, some maintaining that Jacob needed to act this way in order to counter Esau’s negative qualities and bad intentions, some criticizing Jacob for using dishonest means in order to achieve his goals.
A high resolution analysis of this story allows for a deeper sense of the aspirations and behavior of both figures and ultimately a subtler appreciation of their subsequent histories.
Yossi Klein Halevi, Senior Scholar at the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and well-known author, writes and speaks frequently about contemporary Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In his writings and speeches, he consistently takes an approach that is thoughtful, responsible and sober. In describing the -Six-Day war, he said, “I don’t regret the defeat of the Palestinians. I regret their humiliation.”
In a recent speech that I heard him give at an AIPAC dinner, he spoke about his two nightmare scenarios – one in which Israel allows the occupation to continue; the other in which Israel ends the occupation and makes herself vulnerable to a variety of possible dangerous outcome. He mentioned, as he often has, that most Israelis fall into a political center where they understand the problems – moral and strategic – of the occupation but they also understand and fear the genuine risks that would be involved in ending it.
I can almost guarantee that any high school or college student who had access to the kind of thoughtful, nuanced and deep analysis that Yossi Klein Halevi engages in would be more supportive of Israel, not less.
It is important to understand Israel with high resolution. To understand the history of Israel, the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the history of efforts toward peace, various Israeli and Palestinian perspectives. To the extent that high school and college students understand all of this, I believe that they will recognize how one-sided and damaging the BDS movement is.
The ADL puts considerable effort into opposing BDS on college campuses. One of the ways they do that is to train students to understand contemporary Israel with high resolution. On their website you can find information explaining how BDS delegitimizes Israel by presenting a simplistic approach to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
An effective response to BDS efforts would include recognizing the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; contrasting BDS with helpful measures toward reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians; and demonstrating the distorted view that BDS takes toward Israel.
The ADL is not advocating that people oppose BDS by claiming that Israel is entirely virtuous; it is advocating that people oppose BDS by contrasting the simplicity of BDS with the complexity of the situation.
The current generation of high school and college students is growing up in a world where anti-Semitism from the left and the right shows no sign of disappearing. I hope that they will see Judaism as a worthy, if imperfect, tradition with much good to contribute to the world and that they will see Israel as a worthy, if imperfect, nation with much good to contribute to the world.
It does no good when our enemies over-simplify and it does no good when we over-simplify.
So let us help a generation of emerging adults to plunge deeply into the riveting, complex stories of the Torah. Let us expose them to the passionate yet careful thinking of leaders who can deepen their perspective.
Let us do everything we can to invite them to embrace the full, complex riches of a people and a nation that will continue to bring to the world the essence of God’s blessing to Jacob. מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ mital hashamayim umish’manei ha’aretz. The best that heaven and earth have to offer.
Originally delivered at Temple Israel of Great Neck on November 18, 2017
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