SPECIAL
COMMENTARY

HISTORY

from page 43

Even if we concede that Sharon's
act might have been ill-advised and
politically motivated, both supporters
and skeptics of the Middle East peace
process are still left with a daunting
question: If the reaction of Israel's
peace partners to any assertion of the
incontrovertible Jewish historical ties
to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount
are so extreme, what hope is there,
then, for an end to the conflict?
Nor should it be forgotten that
**A.
many of the assaults on Israeli civilians
4*4
4.4,4:
* **
and police were deliberate and cold-
4.4444** •
444440.k.
4.4*
blooded acts of terrorism and not acts
4,44*
4444,*
44,44.
of "spontaneous" rage. These acts of
*44:
terror should not be rationalized by
44t4 t4tail' s
those eager to view the Palestinians as
7****
victims.
***
t.***444,
Peace-process advocate Yoel Mar-
cus,
who writes for the left-wing
*-4 44 ***4.:11 ,
414
14° 44:47-:
Israeli daily Ha'aretz, says that the
4,4,444
14H4**.*4 *444
question is "not whether or not we
•'4 +4444 44:44.
4444+a 4 *4.
will make peace but rather what the
14 4+ *44
:
'44 4444
;444,4 .4
tits.'
price will be."
Perhaps, but after all of the Israeli
** *
concessions made since the 1993
# -**
Oslo pact and the acceptance by vir-
4ss *4
,44 *-4. 44 *
tually the entire Israeli political spec-
:r:1,14,4,*
w vs
t
trum of the idea that they must
. •
•
4. *44
share the land of Israel with a Pales-
4 *4 *
44-*
s •
tinian state, continued "progress"
t't 444.444.4,-
4 11: tt;
1, 1
* ..1.1.
still seems to hinge more upon ques-
tions of history and national identity
than anything else.
'4 14 #.14,ttiti .* ,. 4.i.
No matter how much Israel is pre-
pared to give, it seems its adversaries
*lir=
Itf '1:tr*,•• • are still interested in the intangible
,114tt a.- satisfaction of denying the Jewish
* *44**
- 11*
state's legitimacy.
4.44
Ironically, though Jews are no
longer interested in offering up sacri-
fices on the Temple Mount, Arafat
showed no squeamishness about send-
ing his people there — and elsewhere
— with the express purpose of pro-
voking a battle in which they would
be killed. Nor did he hesitate about
having his "police" force fire on Israeli
soldiers with the weapons the Israelis
had given them.
Conflicts about borders are suscep-
tible to resolution. Disputes about his-
tory and legitimacy are not so easy. If
the Arab-Israeli conflict is still about
the latter, as recent events seem to
indicate, then all of the Jewish repen-
tance and willingness to make further
concessions on Israel's rights and dig-
nity will ultimately not bring peace.
And that is a problem to which no
one in Jerusalem — or Washington,
D.C. — appears to have a ready solu-
tion.

4 .44.4t

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1 / 6

2000

44

248258.0212

SPECIAL COMMENTARY

Jew On A Tightrope

New York

Wrong Message

Recently, though, the senator gravely
rthodox Jews have been
disappointed all who are rooting for
rooting heartily for Sen.
his Jewish example. By disparaging a
Joseph Lieberman. No, not
Jewish
blessing he does not personally
necessarily in his quest for
accept
or understand, as he did on a
the vice presidency. As far as that is
recent
radio
program, and proclaiming
concerned, some in my famously
"a
certain
amount
of latitude" in
issues-oriented community will sup-
rejecting
part
of
the
traditional Jewish
port him; others decidedly will not.
liturgy, Lieberman in effect taught an
What we have all been rooting for,
audience of millions that the Jewish
though, is that the senator will prove a
religious heritage is a "pick and
worthy example of classical Jewish
choose" proposition. And by denying,
belief and practice, and thus serve as
a moment later, that Jewish
an impetus for Jews alienated
religious law bans marriages
from (or unaware of) their
between Jews and non-Jews
religious heritage to reconsid-
—
suggesting instead that
er (or to finally consider) its
marriage
within the faith is
pertinence to them.
merely a social or ethnic
On his shoulders, in other
"natural tendency" — he
words, lies a burden much
astoundingly misrepresented
weightier, in our perspective,
a Jewish religious law in an
than the mere possibility of
area of fundamental impor-
his becoming vice president.
tance to the future of the
Because Lieberman is a self-
RABBI AVI
Jewish
community.
described observant Jew, his
SHAFRAN
Some
interpret the morn-
prominence carries the
Special to
ing blessing "Blessed are
potential to influence count-
the Jewish News
You, God, for not having
less Jews to take the Torah
made me a woman" (women
seriously. Potential, though,
recite
"for
having made me according
is pareve (or neutral, in kashrut-lan-
to
Your
will")
as an acknowledgment
guage: neither meat nor milk); just as
of
the
fact
that
men are bound by
he can influence Jews in a positive
more
Torah
commandments
than are
manner, he can, intentionally or not,
women.
Others
see
it
as
reflecting
the
do just the opposite.
fact that women endure more discom-
There can be no doubting that
fort and disadvantage, both physical
the senator's commitment to basic
and sociological, than do men, a fact
Jewish religious laws, like guarding
that remains true even in our liberated
the Sabbath or keeping kosher, has
times. One thing, however, is certain:
drawn interest and respect from
Not comprehending a blessing that
both Jews and non-Jews alike. A
has been part of the Jewish liturgy for
good deal of what Orthodox schools,
thousands of years is not — at least
adult-education programs and "out-
for an observant Jew — license to
reach" groups labor daily and might-
reject it.
ily to achieve materialized from thin
And, regarding Lieberman's com-
airwaves within hours after Vice
ments
on intermarriage: There is a clear,
President Gore chose his running
immutable
and grave prohibition in
mate, as the media provided details
Jewish
religious
law, or Halachah,
about Sen. Lieberman's religious
against
a
Jew
marrying
anyone but
commitments.
another Jew. To intimate otherwise is
And aside from his unabashed obser-
simply to mislead. And the prohibition
vance, the senator has sent a powerful, if
against intermarriage is a particularly
unspoken, message to the Jewish com-
severe and ominous one in our times,
munity. For, instead of opting to call
when the Jewish demographic picture in
himself a "(your adjective of choice here)
the United States is considerably dark-
Jew," Lieberman opts to call himself -
ened by a high and rising intermarriage
simply "observant." By pointedly choos-
rate that threatens to undermine the
ing not to redefine observance, as so
American Jewish future.
many American Jews so nonchalantly
do, he demonstrates a respect for the
Misleading Statements
integrity of the Jewish religion.
Sen. Lieberman's recent comments
echo disturbing ones he made when
Rabbi Avi Shafran is director of public
he was interviewed by Larry King in
affairs for Agudath Israel of America
August.
In the context of a discussion
and the American director of Am Echad.
of
abortion,
Lieberman pointed out
He can be reached via e-mail at
that
there
are
different opinions with-
sh afran@amechad. co m

0

