C0111111111FIT VIEWS

When Freedom And Hate Collide

to ban this book and boycott Ama-
he Protocols of the Learned
for selling it, under the aus-
zon.com
Elders of Zion is one of the
pices that, by selling it, the company
most intense pieces of hate
endorses its content. But on the Web
literature ever produced.
site where one can find the book, the
It was written, printed and circulat-
bookseller says, "Please note
ed by the Czarist Secret
that Amazon.com does not
Police force in turn-of-the-
endorse the views expressed
century Russia, and, for a
in this book."
great while, was out of print.
It seems that to fault
Recently, the Book Tree Press
Amazon.com for making
has issued a new edition,
the book available is to
which can be found online
attack the capitalist system.
through Amazon.com .
The online bookstore exer-
The book allegedly records
cises its right to sell a prod-
an elaborate outline created
uct, just as we can exercise
by the "learned elders" of the
our right not to purchase it
AD AM
Jewish nation to gain control
if we don't support that
KUS HNER
of the world government and
product. It is as absurd to
Spec ial to
economy by placing key fig-
boycott Amazon.com for
the
Jew
ish
News
ures in influential places. It
making available the book
was a favorite of such anti-
as it is to boycott this news-
semites as Adolf Hider and Henry
paper for printing this commentary.
Ford and is regarded by scholars as a
No one will question the potency
fraud and a forgery. Its content is a
or the danger it poses as
Protocols,
of
facet central to the neo-Nazi dogma
hate literature, but banning it will end
and the Anti-Defamation League calls
neither antisemitism nor hatred. The
Protocols "a major weapon in the arse-
Simon Wiesenthal Center reports that
nals of antisemites around the world."
in 1997, there were fewer than 12
There has been a tremendous push
Internet sites dedicated to hate. Today,
there are over 1,200 hate-related sites.
Adam Kushner is a New Orleans
If we begin banning books for their
native who is now a freshman music
content, we might as well be burning
composition major at Columbia Univer-
them in all-out Nazi style.
sity in New York City. His e-mail
Granted, the spoken and written
address is abk37@columbia.edu .

7

word had always held tremendous
power with people. What would the
Holocaust have been without Mein
Kampf? But what would the Ameri-
can Revolution have been without
Thomas Paine?
Despite its fantastic potential for
destruction and the great influence
this book has exercised on bigoted
world leaders, the fact remains that
we cannot hold literature, fraudulent
or otherwise, accountable for our
actions. Mein Kampfwas a recipe for
the near-decimation of an entire
nation, but it had no part in the
execution of its own plan. A cook-
book can be filled with many
recipes, but no cookbook has ever
served a meal.
In the late 1940s, after World
War II, we decided at the Nurem-
berg trials that even in the face of
executive order, we were to be held
accountable for our own actions.
Literature can inspire and authority
can command, but ultimately, only
we can act.
The very fact that we are allowed
to print books like Protocols is an
acknowledgment and an acceptance
that we are responsible and rational
enough to make educated decisions.
If we attribute our irrational or
morally questionable opinions and
actions to well-written, convincing

books and charismatic leaders, then
we don't deserve the "inalienable
rights" guaranteed to us by the First
Amendment.
Indeed, the freedom to print and
speak our minds is a weighty con-
cern that carries with it great
responsibility. In conferring upon us
these privileges, our Founding
Fathers knew that there would be a
great deal of food for thought
thrown into the public arena.
The decision of whether or not to
consume it, however, is a task that
weighs upon us morally, ethically and
individually. The authors of the Con-
stitution and the sales representatives
at Amazon.com believed that we could
and should arrive at our own conclu-
sions about literature and ideas.
The freedoms of press and speech
obligate the individual to draw upon
his ideology to adopt, disavow or dis-
regard the notions of those that write
or speak.
It is for that reason that persons
cannot allow society at large to dic-
tate their ideology or disable its
vehicles, even if the freedom in
question is the freedom to hate. And
it is for that reason, that we must
respect the decision and the right of
Amazon.com , or any other company,
to sell products that neither they nor
we endorse. ❑

LETTERS

All People
Must Remember

A survivor still lives with the Shoah,
even 55 years after the liberation
("Bearing Witness," April 28, page
14). Here are some of my thoughts on
how and why we should all remember
that horrible time.
As youngsters, we learned that we
were driven out of Israel for our sins
and lost the Bet HaMikdash, the holy
temple. According to some Jews, the
Shoah is also attributable to Jewish
impiety. I find this inconceivable.
In the camps, we davened; we
prayed constantly. We cried out to
God. Who else was there? Could I cry
out to my fellow prisoners? Could I
cry out to the SS guard? Some of us
had to talk to someone, some force —
to God. So we davened while we
stood, marched or worked. There were
not dry prayers, but purposeful to give

5/5
2000

38

Team Selfridge Air Force Base, in memoriam at
Sunday's kcal Shoah observance.

us sustenance. And if
they did not save our
lives, they helped us to
endure. We prayed and
discussed Talmud and
these things distracted
us from our miseries.
I believe that the
Shoah should be com-
memorated by every-
body — klal Yisroel —
because the murderers
made no distinctions
between Jews. Both
Yom HaShoah, Holo-
caust Remembrance
Day, and Yom HaAtz-
rnaut, Israel Indepen-
dence Day, should be
observed by everyone.
Had there been rea-
son to celebrate the sec-
ond of these days in
1933, there may not

have been need to remember the first.
There is a text in Rashi that reads,
"When hell breaks loose, it does not
distinguish between good and bad."
In that hell, Barracks 57 in Buchen-
wald, there was always a minyan. One
rabbi has said that "Everything needs
luck, even the sefer Torah." Survival in
Auschwitz or Buchenwald needed
luck. It did not bring us luck; but for
some of us, praying to God gave us
some means to go on.
Let us all pray that as the prophet
said, "The existence of the Jewish peo-
ple will never be erased."
Abraham Pasternak
Southfield

Rabbis Send
Mixed Message

After reading your article regarding
LETTERS on page 40

