OTHER VIEWS

Speaking To Generation X

to seek solutions rather than con-
New York City
frontations.
hen an Israeli official
Not that there's anything wrong
recently urged a group of
with that, as any character on
Hillel student leaders he
"Seinfeld" might hastily point out.
was addressing to become
There is much to be said for rearing
"our soldiers — our commandos — in
young people to look for two sides to
the public campaign" Jerusalem is
every story and to seek peaceful reso-
waging in the U.S., the young people
lutions to conflicts. But
were appalled.
those of us who lived
That kind of gung-ho
through times of totalitarian
rhetoric may resonate with
regimes, be they the Nazis or
their parents or grandpar-
the Communists, understand
ents, but not with today's
that there are some absolute
young people, who are not
truths in the real world, and
only more emotionally dis-
they are worth fighting for.
tanced from Israel than their
For Jews who recall Israel's
elders, but a lot more
struggle
for statehood out of
squeamish about identifying
the ashes of the Holocaust,
with any kind of military
G ARY
or its wars of survival over
imagery.
ROSEN BLATT the last five decades against
One reason why Jewish
Spe cial
hostile Arab nations, there is
students on college campuses
Comm
entary
an absolute truth in the
have been outmatched by
Jewish state's right to exist
Arab students in debates on
and -flourish within secure and recog-
the Mideast conflict — or too intimi-
nized boundaries. And for all the other
dated to participate — is a lack of
complicating factors surrounding the
knowledge, confidence and passion
current Mideast violence, what is clear
when it comes to defending Israel's
is that many Arabs, including the
rights as a Jewish state. But there'S
Palestinian leadership, remain unwill-
another factor at play here, the fact
ing to accept that reality and continue
that this generation of Americans has
to seek Israel's destruction. At least
been raised as relativists, quick to see
that's how the equation appears to me,
the gray in black-and-white situations,
and many in my generation of baby
and wary of belief in absolute values.
boomers.
So when it comes to Israel and its
But for those in their 20s, or
conflict with the Palestinians, our
younger, who know Israel only as a
young people are uncomfortable iden-
military power in the Mideast, and
tifying fully with Jerusalem's position.
who are troubled by images of Israeli
Not only have they been conditioned
soldiers squaring off against rock-
to empathize With the apparent under-
throwing Palestinian youngsters, or
dogs or victims, in this case the
who hear Palestinian spokesmen con-
Palestinians, but they have been raised
stantly insisting that Israel is an evil
occupier refusing to grant statehood to
Gary Rosenblatt is editor and publisher
of the New York Jewish Week. His e-mail a helpless people, the situation may
seem quite different.
address is: Gary@jewishweekorg

RABBI KOLTON

from page 29

impact. Real strength and power begin
in our own homes.
We stay in charge of fear by practic-
ing the art of "now." I ask myself, "Am
I OK right this moment? Am I reason-
ably sure that all will be well when I
go home this evening?"
That is enough for now. When you
are in crisis, you draw yourself back to
the present moment. Leave tomorrow
alone. Today is enough. The falcon
must be able to hear the falconer.
Return to the present. Return to your-
self and tend to your life in the here
and now.
Finally, we stay in charge of fear by

10/19

2001

30

affirming the human connection.
Underneath the rubble, a group of
bodies were found holding hands.
People, in the face of their own deaths,
held hands. Human connection was
the last thing that they chose to expe-
rience. It was the way they left the
world, together, holding hands. Let us
learn from them.
Let us learn from the telephone calls
to wives to say goodbye. One man
calls his wife from the 90th floor and
says, "I know I am going to die; please
know that I love you."
The last words. The only words that
matter. In the face of fear, in the
moment of terror, the victims of the
World Trade Center embraced love.

Getting The Facts

Mitchell Bard, author of the valuable
Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-
Israeli Conflict, says he is amazed at
how little history Jewish students
who come to his Web site know.
Bard's Web address is:

wwvv.JewishVirtualLibrary.org

"For many of them, their first memo-
ry of the Mideast is the Oslo agree-
ments," he said.
What is needed most in our com-
munity today is knowledge of the
facts. We need to educate our young
people about Zionist history to make
believers of them. Indeed, the more
the story of the Mideast is known,
the more compelling the case for
Israel, which repeatedly has sought
negotiated solutions to the territorial
conflict and has been rebuffed by the
Arabs.
Certainly those in the Arab world
are not afraid of asserting their
absolutes, which often blend politics
and religion with disturbing results.
In our politically correct times, we
are fearful of suggesting-that Islam
preaches a negative message aboiit
Jews. Islam may be a religion of
peace, but it is clear that many of its
adherents are practicing a fundar*n-
talist form of the faith that -is irifOler-
ant of, if not openly hOstile -tO, Jews
and other non-believers.
With Muslim clerics in the Mideast
regularly urging death to the Jews —
their calls for death to Americans
have been restrained since Sept. 11
— it is not unfair to suggest that,
until these sheiks decry all forms of
violence through strong public state-
ments, the impression will remain
that Islam, at least as it is practiced, is
not as peace-loving as it claims.
Similarly, while the Taliban today

.

There was so much love to live out in
the world. There were so many rela-
tionships that mattered.

Staying In Control

We pay tribute to all those who lost
their lives by continuing to live our
own. That does not mean that we do
not have the right to feel afraid and, at
times, proceed cautiously. It means
that we remain the captains of our
own souls. It means that we refuse to
surrender our joy. It means that we
control our fear and do not let it con-
trol us.
Lately, I have been revisiting memo-
ries of my Jerusalem apartment and

are widely criticized for widespread
violations of human rights, including
the degradation of women, it should
be known that such practices are
common in the Arab world, where
there is no democracy, petty criminals
are beheaded without a trial, and
women remain second-class citizens.

Making A Connection

What is called for in the American
Jewish community is a new vocabu-
lary to speak to the younger genera-
tion, and a fresh approach in doing
so.
Richard Joel, the president and
international director of Hillel: The
Foundation for Jewish Campus Life,
has been thinking a great deal about
these issues, talking to hundreds of
students on scores of campuses. He
sees that the kinds of appeals made
by Israeli and other Jewish speakers
that would be met with applause by
middle-aged or older Jewish audi-
ences are not well-received by stu-
dents today. Joel believes it is impor-
tant "to introduce the idea that you
can respect someone's right to be
wrong, you can take a position —
even an absolute position — and that
doesn't make you confrontational, it
makes you principled."
Israel is a country of principles
whose claim to the land is based on
the Bible, historical ties, internation-
ally approved political sovereignty
and victories in defensive wars. It's
time we acknowledge we are losing
the propaganda war on campuses and
launch an aggressive campaign to win
over at least our own children and
grandchildren by providing them
with the most effective tool of all, the
truth.

❑

the nights I experienced during the
Gulf War. My mind is making a con-
nection between then and now. Not
just because of the common denomi-
nator of destruction and the Middle
East, but because this too is a time of
terror. And, therefore, this too is an
opportunity to learn to stay in charge
of our emotions.
In the end, fear must not define our
lives. It makes us neither great nor
happy. It deserves to be recognized
and then, like all beasts of prey,
tamed.

❑

Rabbi Tamara Kolton is a spiritual

leader at the Birmingham Temple in
Farmington Hills.