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A Rabbi Laments
War In The Gulf
MARTY PASTERNAK
Special to The Jewish News
I
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President
edo.
vra
10
am a rabbi, not a warrior.
I work with open hands,
not clenched fists. My on-
ly access to this war is
through my experience: peo-
ple, not guns. My heart tells
me to stop this war before
another soldier, no matter
which nationality, is killed,
before another nervous mo-
ment is spent, before another
tear of dread runs down an
already moist and lonely
cheek of a child, or spouse, or
parent.
A warrior might think dif-
ferently, but not me; I'm a
rabbi. Neither the hardware,
nor the vocabulary, nor the
bloodlust of war is an idiom
that I speak. I don't march,
salute, or wear a uniform; dig
a trench or operate a sophis-
ticated weapons system. In
my experience warriors live
in comic books and history,
myths and King Arthur's
court, and on TV.
Sometimes it doesn't even
seem real. The "War in the
Gulf' is really the "War on
TV." Videotape of Iraqi anti-
aircraft fire and Allied air-
missile strikes turn my living
room into an arcade. BDAs,
Triple A, intelligence assets,
and scenario-dependence are
more familiar to me from
popular fiction than from real
battlefields.
This whole thing makes me
afraid, but not of bullets,
bombs, or gas. A person can-
not be afraid of something
that he has never experienc-
ed. I've never worn a gas
mask, lived through an air-
raid, crawled on my belly
toward the enemy, or held a
dying comrade. I've never
shot a rifle. I'm not a warrior.
Fear comes from what you
know, events or feelings that
you have experienced and
dread having to face again. I
am not afraid of bullets or
bombs; I am afraid of grief,
emptiness, and sorrow. I am a
rabbi, not a warrior. I've
shared the grief of a widow,
dropped earth in the grave of
a parent, and been asked why.
I reply that there is no
answer.
Mr. President, what is your
reply? What will you say
when thousands of men die in
ground combat while Saddam
lives in his bunker? Can you
Former Detroiter Marty
Pasternak is rabbi of the
Conservative Synagogue,
Westport, Conn.
22
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1991
say something that us non-
warriors can understand?
non-warrior children? non-
warrior spouses?
I am a rabbi, not a warrior.
I work with open hands, not
clenched fists. God did not let
King David build the Temple
in Jerusalem. He was a war-
rior; he worked with his fists.
The Temple, the symbol of
peace and justice, the nexxus
point of heaven and earth,
could not be built with fists
but with open hands, the
hands of a non-warrior, the
hands of Solomon.
Similarly, the reputation of
a nation should be built with
open hands. Unfortunately
our national self-esteem is
Unfortunately, our
national self-
esteem is pumped
up by clenched
fists . . . I work
with open hands,
not clenched fists.
currently pumped up by clen-
ched fists, inflated by bomb-
ing sorties, missile defense
systems, and heavy human
casualties. Before Uncle Sam
becomes a bully and not a
builder, let's stop for a few
days and try to talk. Before
the ground war begins, let's
open the door one more time
and reach out an open hand
and pray that it is grabbed by
another.
The Temple, built by
Solomon, stood for over half a
millenium because it was
built upon a foundation of
peace, because it was built by
open hands. If we are to build
a new world that will endure
it too must rest upon a
similar foundation. A founda-
tion of peace built by many
open hands, hands that were
once fists, hands freed from
guns and grenades, hands of
non-warriors. 0
•••11H DETROIT
Adat Shalom
Family Shabbat
The Adat Shalom Syna-
gogue Nursery School and
Social Club will co-sponsor a
Family Shabbat Dinner 6
p.m. Feb. 8. The evening will
begin with the nursery school
youngsters singing their
favorite Shabbat songs and
displaying their art work.
There is no charge.