KINDRED SPIRITS
AS A NEW YEAR APP ROACH ES, WE CAN
FIND COMFORT IN THE ENDURING
GOODNESS OF ISRAEL. AN D AME RICA
KENNETH LASSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
LEFT TO RIGHT
Israel's world leadership in rehabilitative medicine is symbolized by its participation in Paralympics. Quiet miracles such as the secret movement of
Ethiopian Jews to Israel continue. The national Jewish community responds to the fire bombing and arson attacks on black churches.
A
burnt-orange evening sun silhou-
ettes the golden domes and pastel
minarets above ancient Jerusalem
— just as it rises, a hazier disk a
half-world away, behind the dusty
morning cow pastures and silver-
tipped silos outside Billings, Mont.
There is one thing more under the sun that binds
the horizons of these two faraway places many cul-
tures apart. As another new year approaches, the
old and distant hills of Judea and Montana are filled
with a kindred spirit of human fellowship.
In a world of cynicism, terror and strife, where
can we find hope, kindness, and brotherhood?
Israelis demonstrate their soaring humanity dai-
ly, from the miraculous absorption of almost a mil-
lion refugees from Russia, to the secret rescue of
thousands of their brethren from Afghanistan and
Bosnia and Ethiopia and Syria, to the poignant
redemption of the remains of a handful of Jewish
soldiers in exchange for hundreds of jailed Arab ter-
rorists.
So too do acts of profound goodwill happen in
America. Winning freedom for Soviet Jews was
largely an achievement of persistent pressure by
the U.S. government, but smaller deeds by indi-
viduals also can have far-reaching effects. Witness
what happened in Billings.
Several years ago, its handful of Jewish residents
were terrorized by a small band of hate-mongering
skinheads, one of whom hurled a brick through the
window of a home displaying a Chanukah meno-
rah. The citizens of Billings spontaneously voiced
outrage — 10,000 of them declaring solidarity with
their few Jewish neighbors by placing pictures of
menorahs in their own windows.
Kenneth Lesson is a law professor at the University
of Baltimore.
"An attack against any one of us," they said in
the town newspaper and on billboards, "is an attack
against us all."
There is nothing new about this sentiment, of
course. America was founded on Jewish values —
If I am only for myself, asked Hillel, what am I?
— which is perhaps the primary reason we have
flourished here as we have nowhere else.
It is not grandiose to believe that the undying
spirit of the Chosen People has indeed been a light
unto this nation: What is right with America is much
the same as what is right with Israel.
And always has been.
"May the children of the stock of Abraham who
dwell in this land," wrote President George Wash-
ington to the Jews of Newport, R.I., in 1790, "enjoy
the goodwill of the other inhabitants, while every
one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig
tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid."
Over 100 years later, thousands of Eastern Eu-
ropean refugees were welcomed at Ellis Island with-
out fanfare or discrimination — unceremoniously
served kosher food by non-Jewish nurses.
Because of what the good people of Billings had
done, pointed out President Clinton in 1995, Jew-
ish communities around the nation could feel more
a part of the American soul.
In a world of apathy, conflict, and greed, where
can we find hope, honor and compassion?
Five major wars in Israel's brief history have left
the tiny Jewish homeland with many young dis-
abled veterans. The people's response: creation of
Sport Centers for the Disabled, which have pio-
neered research into rehabilitative therapy, helped
produce Paralympic athletes far out of proportion
to Israel's 5.3 million population, and now work
as well with children from the age of 3.
America's Jewish values are reflected in the Peace
Corps, ongoing shipments (both governmental and
private) of food and medical supplies to Third World
countries, charitable contributions that demonstrate
we are easily the most generous people in the world.
That spirit is what prevailed in the depressed old
mill town of Methuen, Mass., where a factory fire
last winter left 2,400 workers fearing a jobless fu-
ture. But their boss, a devout 70-year-old named
Aaron Feuerstein, immediately announced to his
tearful employees that instead of calling it quits he
would rebuild his company, and that not one of them
would lose a day's pay. "Making a profit," Mr. Feuer-
stein said in Yiddish, "does not excuse you from be-
ing a mentsh."
And this year on Tisha B'Av, which commemo-
rates destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the
American Jewish Congress established a fund to
help rebuild the fire-bombed black churches in the
South.
In a world of materialism, turmoil, and cant,
where can one find truth, justice, and charity?
Many may feel that we live in a vale of tears, but
it is just as reasonable and realistic to conclude that
Jewish values are enduring, that random acts of
kindness are the norm, and that in the end, evil nev-
er prevails. Wrote Anne Frank during the depths
of the Holocaust: "I still believe that at the heart
of everyone, people are really good."
Beauty is truth, truth beauty, said John Keats;
that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
At one time or another everyone experiences tran-
scendent moments of inspiration, splendor, and
grace. Those who can turn such moments into last-
ing seasons — who see beauty and truth in much
that surrounds them, who have the faith to recog-
nize divine wisdom in all they experience, and who
abide with hope in every new year — are truly
blessed. D