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20
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1990
THIS SPACE CONTRIBUTED BY THE PUBLISHER
Can Israel Meet
Her Greatest Test?
GARY ROSENBLATT
Editor
lb Rabbi David
Hartman, the
meaning of the
Jewish return to
Israel is "to cor-
rect the mistake
of killing people
in the name of
God." That is why he believes
that the test facing Israel and
the Jewish people today is
"our ability to solve the
Palestinian issue — how we
treat the stranger in our land.
That is the moral test of the
Jewish people."
Rabbi Hartman, an
American in his 50s now liv-
ing in Jerusalem, heads the
Shalom Hartman Institute,
a kind of cross-
denominational religious
think-tank whose aim is to
deal with very real problems
of the day from a Jewish ap-
proach. He has gained a
reputation among younger
Israeli political leaders as
well as American journalists
for having fresh insights
into the problems of the
Mideast based on an
historical overview. So I
went to see him during a
visit to Israel last month.
Rabbi Hartman did not
disappoint. He spoke pas-
sionately and pointedly
about a full range of topics,
asserting that most people
do not know how to write
about Israel because they
fail to see that its framework
is based on the age-old re-
ligious conflict among Chris-
tianity, Islam and Judaism.
"The Middle East is the
triumph of memory over
reality," he asserted, with
each side pursuing its vision
while totally blind to the
other.
Christianity had its turn
to rule Jerusalem. So did
Islam. In each case, their
brand of monotheism led to
holy wars. Now it is the
Jews' turn, and according to
Rabbi Hartman they are
"just as bad."
If Rabbi Hartman sounds
like a maverick thinker, you
are right. An Orthodox
rabbi, he welcomes the
presence of Reform and Con-
servative Judaism in Israel,
asserting that "Orthodoxy
will get better if the com-
petition is greater." He ad-
vocates the separation of re-
ligion and politics in Israel;
he thinks that United Jew-
ish Appeal fund-raising has
become "the new Torah" of
American Jewry; and he be-
lieves that the goal of Jewish
unity is futile since Jews
have never been united and
never will be.
His institute was created
to foster innovative ap-
proaches, based on talmudic
interpretation and Jewish
ethics, and he is proud that
as an adviser to Israel's Min-
istry of Education, he has
had an impact on issues of
the day.
But he acknowledged that
the struggle is an uphill one,
and he is angered that the
recent human rights legisla-
tion failed passage in the
Knesset.
"Is human rights incom-
patible with the state of
Israel?" he asked. "Why is
there no discussion of what
it means for us to be a moral
people, to be judged by how
Rabbi Hartman:
"Greatest platform."
we treat others? Isn't that
what it means to be a Jew?"
Rabbi Hartman maintains
that the Palestinians are in-
deed a people, that they feel
purified by their in-
volvement in the intifada,
and that Jews must deal
with their reality and their
claim to the same land.
"My concern is not who to
talk to, but what do I talk
about. The Arabs have said
to us that we don't belong
here and that they will
destroy us. So we've said,
`we don't see you.' And now
each people lives in splendid
isolation."
The choice, Rabbi Hart-
man asserted, is not between
morality and survival. The
either/or mold must be
broken. "We must have both
morality and survival or we
are not Jews," he said.
Emphasizing that he does
not see the world through
rose-colored glasses but is a
realist, he noted that he does
not trust the Arabs. The
solution is to separate issues