JN Thoughts

A MONTHLY MIX OF IDEAS

George Cantor's Reality Check column will return next week

Ideas Worthy Of Embrace

F

orty years ago, the Six-Day War
ended. The generation of Jews
that were privileged to witness
Israel's victory saw great religious signifi-
cance in the reunification of Jerusalem.
On the verge of annihilation, Israel
stood alone and the few defeated the
many. Jews felt they had experienced the
hand of God at work; the messiah's arrival
seemed imminent.
However, the next generation did not
witness Israel's miraculous escape from
near destruction. Unlike their parents, they
did not witness God's entry into history.
To the children of baby boomers, Israel
is a valued democratic ally of the United
States. It is a safe haven for the Jewish
people. Israel is a font of intellectual,
literary, scientific, cultural and linguistic
creativity that has contributed enormously
to the western world. But they may not see
Israel's religious significance.
That is why educators today must chal-
lenge their students to think about how
Israel completes them as a Jew. Students
grapple with questions like: "What does
Israel contribute to their Jewish identity?"
"How does support of Israel not only

enrich Israel but the quality and character
of their religious lives? How do they view
the establishment of the state in the sweep
of Jewish history? Are the birth of the state
and liberation of Jerusalem part of a larg-
er redemptive process, or are they merely
political achievements — important as
they may be — of a particular people?
Some young people will see Israel as
the most tangible place where they feel
God's presence because the land is holy
or because Israel is central to the Jewish
story since Abraham.
The Torah is the diary of a journey to
Canaan; and Tanach, as a whole, is the
story of exile from and return to the land
God promised to Abraham.
They may prefer HaRav Kook's theol-
ogy that there is a special sense of sanc-
tity when the land of Israel, the people
of Israel and the Torah of Israel come
together. They may see the ingathering
of the exiles, the blossoming of arid hills,
victories of biblical proportions and the
expansion of territory in 1967 as the first
signs of a redemptive process.
They may resonate with Rabbi Abraham
Joshua Heschel's words, "We do not wor-

ship the soil, but it is endowed
with the power to inspir'
Some may view Israel as a
place of pilgrimage where they
can most comfortably live
their lives as Jews. It offers the
normalcy of home.
Others may be attracted
to Rabbi David Hartman's
idea that Israel is an experi-
ment of the Jewish people in
building a nation. It is a place
where Judaism is not confined to kashrut,
Shabbat and tefillah (prayer), but where
Jewish values are tested and applied, in
keeping with the messianic vision of the
biblical prophets, in politics, power, immi-
grant absorption, hospital care and social
welfare.
As Rabbi Hartman says, "Zionism
enables us to rediscover the vitality of
Torah as a way of life' Israel expands the
opportunities to hear God's call.
Some may prefer the outlook of Rabbi
Joseph Soloveitchik who sees Israel
embodying the drama of Jewish history
when the "few defeated the many." After
the Holocaust, when God's face was hid-

den and when chaos ruled, the
birth of Israel shows that there is
Divine order. Israel represents the
renewal of God's love relationship
with the people.
Or, they may gravitate to
the thinking of Rabbi Moshe
Lichtenstein, the grandson of
Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, who
understands Israel's religious sig-
nificance in that Zionism brought
back to life a renewed sense
of peoplehood. Israel reinvigorated the
notion that Jews are bound by a berit avot,
a covenant of responsibility that we have
to one another as members of a sacred
family.
We are blessed to live at a time when
great thinkers have articulated profound
ways to understand the religious signifi-
cance of Israel.
In the aftermath of the Six-Day War, we
have the responsibility to introduce these
ideas to our children. I

Rabbi Buckman is head of school at the Frankel

Jewish Academy of Metropolitan of Detroit in

West Bloomfield.

Don't Dismiss Boycotts

T

he concept of Jews
sponsoring boycotts is
anathema to the Jewish
body politic. But the reasons
behind boycotting boycotts are
based on flawed strategy.
What brings the issue to
mind? The fact that three major
unions in England — unions
representing journalists, aca-
demia and general labor —
have called for boycotts of Israeli goods.
The reaction of Jewish organizations?
Statements that they are terribly concerned.
As usual, they issue press releases describ-
ing the actions as unfair and one-sided.
It seems, at times, that communication
is the ultimate objective of these organiza-
tions that proudly distribute newspapers
articles quoting them to their members
and the community at-large.
PR — letters to the editor, letter-writing
campaigns, distributing talking points —
seems to be the end in itself. But we need
more than PR. Responding to political
attacks on Israel in the form of boycotts
requires more than shaking one's head
and stating "it is a shande [shame]."
Presumably, Jewish organizations base
their policies on the fact that under Nazi

Germany Jewish businesses
were boycotted, i.e., boycotts are
bad ideas.
But that analysis is simplistic.
Yes, boycotts based on religion,
ethnicity, race or sexual orienta-
tion are wrong and immoral and
should be avoided.
Boycotts based on politics
should not only be considered
but be embraced. Indeed, mem-
bers and officers of most Jewish organiza-
tions do not cross pickets lines. They are,
in effect, participating in boycotts.
The strategy of labor strikes was devel-
oped, partly, by Jewish union leaders at the
turn of the 20th century, particularly in
the garment industry.
Indeed, the entire civil rights movement,
in which Jews played such a prominent
role, was based on economic boycotts of
bus systems, restaurants and other busi-
nesses in the South, and it's time — nay,
long overdue — to adopt more sophisti-
cated thinking on this issue.
Need one point out that the South suc-
cumbed not because granting rights to
blacks was morally right but because of
political pressure and economic boycotts?
Businesses picketed by unions grant

wage hikes and increases in benefits not
because they suddenly have an awakening
like Scrooge during Christmas that they
should do the right thing, but because the
pickets may destroy their businesses.
Jewish organizations ought to use their
precious resources to respond to the anti-
Jewish onslaught in England. The Jewish
population of England is about 280,000,
about a half of one percent of the total pop-
ulation, and it ought to be mobilized with
help from Jews in the U.S. to affect the eco-
nomic interests and other major political
and monetary interests of the three unions.
For instance, in the case of the journal-
ists, perhaps advertisers can be convinced
to withhold their ads from appropriate
media outlets. Perhaps Jews can be per-
suaded to cancel newspaper subscriptions
and boycott TV and radio news.
Regarding academia, contributions to
universities ought to be withheld and chairs
endowed by Jews ought to be canceled.
As to labor, Jews can use non-union
labor and convince others to do the same.
The point is: Stating that we are "sad-
dened" or that we need to "build bridges
of understanding" does nothing to change
the posture of the anti-Jewish and anti-
Semitic organizations. We need to affect

their political and economic interests.
It is the height of naivete to believe that
such anti-Israel and anti-Semitic, organiza-
tions will change course on principle, that
they will cross "bridges of understanding"
to confess the error of their ways.
Consider: Blacks organize boycotts.
Women participate in them. Hispanics
support boycotts. Gays will throw up
picket lines. Every offended minority is
prepared to engage in boycotts and picket
lines — except Jews. Oh, yes, Jews will
participate in these political activities
sponsored by other minorities, but they
will not engage in them to achieve their
own political and economic interests.
Crazy? Indeed.
While Jews — considered liberals as a
body — participate in the political activ-
ism of other minorities, Jews who propose
we also act accordingly for our own causes
are labeled "ultra-conservatives" and are
shunned as pariahs. Someone explain this.
It might be useful to point out that the
word "boycott" is not composed of four
letters and it is not a dirty word. I I

A former political reporter, Berl Falbaum, an

author and PR executive, teaches journalism

part time at Wayne State University in Detroit.

June 28 • 2007

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