Community Views
> <3
>--
Examining Our Beliefs And
Questioning Their Importance
An Optimistic Look
At Knit And Yahoo
RABBI WILLIAM GERSHON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR
As a rabbi, I often
need to know peo-
ple's full Hebrew
names. Several
years ago, I was
meeting with a
family in prepara-
tion for a funeral.
The deceased was
survived by three
generations of American-born
children.
I didn't know the family. I
asked them for the Hebrew and
Yiddish names of the deceased.
The family was surprised and in-
dicated that they
did not know.
Noticing that I was
perturbed, they
hastened to add,
"Rabbi, his Jewish
name really
doesn't matter. He
never used it any-
way. But if you
want to, Rabbi,
you give him a He-
brew name."
The Hebrew
name was not part
of the man's vo-
cabulary, and I
suspect that Ju-
daism was not
part of his family's
vocabulary of liv-
ing either. Our He-
brew names reflect
our_ essence as
Jews. Their usage
and familiarity re-
flect our comfort
with the tradition
and at the same
time make a state-
ment about our ul-
timate values and
priorities. The
knowledge and us-
age of Hebrew
names are a com-
mentary on how
far we have assim-
ilated into the
backdrop of Amer-
ican secular soci-
ety.
So many of us
Jews have become
so secularized that
we are almost in-
distinguishable
from our non-Jew-
ish neighbors.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
taught: "Jews are messengers
that have forgotten our message."
What is the Jewish message? It
is the unique system and world
view of Torah.
Our message is the soothing
and comforting rituals of mourn-
ing and the rich, joyous celebra-
tion of life-cycle events. Our
message is sense of family and
William Gershon is associate
rabbi at Congregation Shaarey
Zeclek.
our obligation to community. Our
message is generosity, compas-
sion and sensitivity toward
others.
Our message teaches that
every human being is created in
the image of God; every life is pre-
cious, unique and equal in the
eyes of God. Our message is that
life and hope will triumph over
fear, death and oppression. Our
message cannot be found in the
writings of other peoples. Our
message is distinctively our own
and we need to celebrate it and to
live it.
the message that Judaism is not
really all that important.
Rabbi Gerson D. Cohen used
to teach: "Don't do anything Jew-
ish for your children; do every-
thing Jewish with your children"
The only way Judaism will be
important to our children is for
them to see Judaism's importance
in our lives.
Someone once wrote: "Your
children have seen you dance;
have they seen you pray? They
have seen you play golf; have the
seen you make Shabbat? Your
children have seen you lift a cock-
We are all Jews by choice. If
Judaism means anything to us,
then Jewish values and practices
cannot be sometimes central to
our lives and at other times pe-
ripheral. Each day we need to
make a constant decision to re-
main Jewish and to do so with a
passion and commitment.
But when we opt for baseball
over Shabbat, when we extol the
virtues of a European vacation
without Israel on our itinerary,
when we keep our children out of
Hebrew school for a shopping trip
to the mall, we give our children
tail glass; have they seen you lift
a Kiddush cup? Your children
have seen you read the latest nov-
el; have they seen you read the
Torah? Your children have seen
you ride by the synagogue; have
they seen you going into the syn-
agogue?
"They have see us shop; have
they seen us give tzedakah? They
have heard us gossip; have they
seen us learn? They know our pol-
itics; do they know our beliefs?
They will remember what they
saw. Will they remember that
they are Jews?" D
It has been
amusing — not
"fimny ha ha" as
I used to say in
high school, but
slightly enter-
taining — to
watch what has
happened in the
past several
weeks with the Israeli election.
"What ifhe wins?" people said
of Binyamin Netanyahu, as
though he were Hafez al-Assad.
That was the typical Labor Par-
ty supporter response, in any
case.
Typical, but I never quite get
used to this terrible woe, this
high drama of angst that seems
to afflict certain Israelis and Is-
rael watchers when the (invari-
ably conservative) opponent
wins. "It's all over!" 'The country
is in ruin!" "Peace is doomed!"
I'm glad people feel strongly
about politics, but that despair
stuff is too much for my taste.
Can you. imagine Dole or Clinton
supporters sobbing, "America is
going to be destroyed now!" into
the TV camera if their candidate
loses?
Much of the American media,
including Jewish reporters, ex-
pressed a similar, albeit more
subtly cushioned, perspective as
they considered a Netanyahu vic-
tory. They talked a lot about how
Netanyahu— or as they call him
"knit and yahoo" — "threatened"
to do this or that. And I thought
journalists were supposed to be
fair.
And lest we forget, look at all
those Hollywood luminaries that
came out in support of Peres.
Barbra Streisand: singer, actress,
political scientist. Babs, did you
ever actually stay for more that
a week or two in Israel, or con-
sider making aliyah, or study Is-
rael's political history? Or do you
just like to tell citizens of anoth-
er country what to do because
you have an extraordinary
amount of money and prestige
because you can sing?
Can you imagine Andrew
Lloyd Webber screaming at us
from Britain, "It's important for
me to step forward and endorse
Candidate XYZ in the U.S. elec-
tions"? It's important for you?
Wake up and smell the fish and
chips, pal, I would say. You live
there, not here.
I'm not a great fan of Ne-
tanyahu, but I wasn't surprised
that he won. And he won big. Be-
cause what many fail to consid-
er is that while the results were
indeed close, the vast majority of
Israel's Jewish voters backed Ne-
tanyahu. The election results
stood as they did because Israeli
Arabs — and I would say almost
unequivocally this means every
single one of them who went to
the polls — voted for Peres.
?
I wasn't surprised that Peres
lost because I used to live in Is-
rael, and nobody living there
didn't dislike Shimon Peres. He
was always lingering on the side-
lines, but everyone seemed to
wish he would just go away. Like
Zsa Zsa Gabor or the stars of
"Hogan's Heroes," he was for-
gotten, but not gone.
I believe Peres gained any
stature he held thanks to
Yitzhak Rabin. Hate him or love
him, Rabin had a military back-
ground that garnered him, and
rightly so, tremendous respect.
Peres, on the other hand, does
not have such experience and is
among that most distasteful of
creatures, a career politician.
I refuse to predict what Ne-
tanyahu's victory will mean for
Israel, and I put no stock in those
who do. But Pm optimistic.
Pm delighted that he stepped
forward and said Jerusalem will
remain united. And it has noth-
ing to do with sentimentality
(Netanyahu is most frequently
described as a "practical" man)
or religion (he's definitely not Mr.
Orthodox) or politics (no doubt
most of the world, especially
American leaders, would love
nothing more than to see the city
divided) and everything to do
with what is right.
I believe Netanyahu will hold
fairly to the legitimate policies of
his predecessor, too, for as one of
his associates said on "Nightline"
last week, 'Those policies were
negotiated by the government of
Israel. We, too, are the govern-
ment of Israel."
Peace is not my first goal; Is-
rael's security is.
More than 20 years ago Likud
leader Menachem Begin negoti-
ated peace with Egypt. It has
been one of the most remarkable
peace treaties ever signed. It was
reasonable. It has survived al-
most unbelievable odds (like Sa-
dat's assassination). And two
former terrible enemies contin-
ue to abide by it.
Rabin's and Peres' peace, on
the other hand, was ripped by
terrorist attacks, by unending de-
mands, by uncertainty. Their
goal — peace — was lofty. But
the way in which they executed
that goal was flawed.
There's going to be a lot of
whining and complaining in the
weeks to come, and I'm certain
some people will criticize every
move Netanyahu makes I imag-
ine we'll hear, "You see! He said,
`I will not sit down with Hamas!'
That proves he's unreasonable!"
and 'What does he mean he
won't give XXX (fill in with your
city/region of choice) to the Pales-
tinians. What's wrong with him?'
and "We would have had peace
if not for him."
Yawn. Don't you people have
anything better to do? ❑