Opinion
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Wettprie4
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if*P0*4.14
he sentence was tucked away in
a story on page A9 and, frankly,
it told us more about the politics
than the journalism of the New York Times.
Reporting on how Hezbollah is planning
attacks in the Sinai and smuggling arms
to Gaza while trying to undermine the
government of Egypt, the Times explained
to readers April 14 that Hezbollah "is a
military, political and social organization
in Lebanon ..."
Now, that seems benign enough. What's
all the fuss about? Sounds like language
out of a Hezbollah brochure and makes
one almost want to join or make a contri-
bution. Not any different than many other
"military, political or social organizations"
which are operating or have operated
throughout the centuries in the world.
The Times finds no reason to men-
tion that perhaps — just perhaps
— Hezbollah is somewhat different in
that. Among other things, it trains suicide
bombers to kill innocent women and chil-
dren whenever and wherever it can.
Throughout its history, Hezbollah has
used terror — there is that word which
the Times finds so ominous, a word that
it refuses to use to describe
tions might object because,
Hezbollah — to achieve its
strategically, being considered
objectives.
terrorist organizations has psy-
Incidentally, the Times shows
chological and strategic ben-
the same aversion to using the
efits — increasing fear among
word "terror" in describing
their enemies.
Hamas. In the same story, this
One can hear the Times'
organization is described as a
defense — it has become a
"militant group that controls
cliche — that: One person's
Gaza." Indeed, the word "terror"
terrorist is another person's
Berl Falbaum
never appears in any kind of
freedom fighter?
Corn munity
context in the 30-inch story.
True, but certainly the Times
V iew
This begs many questions:
would agree that there must
• What would it take for the
be some violations of human
Times to agree with much of the
decency and the rules of war
rest of the world that these are terrorist
that qualify organizations or individuals to
organizations to whom lives mean little,
be called terrorists. If the killings of civil-
if anything, when political ends and stra-
ians by Hezbollah and Hamas throughout
tegic objectives are at stake? What is the
the years do not qualify, what does?
Times' definition of terrorism?
We can also expect the Times to point
• How many drafts were written until
to the "terrorism" of the late Menachem
the Times decided on "a military, political
Begin when he was the leader of the Irgun.
and social organization" for Hezbollah and This comparison has been used endlessly.
"a militant group that controls Gaza" for
It's become a cliche as well. But let's make
Hamas?
some important distinctions:
• Did it run its definitions by Hezbollah
The Irgun did not target civilians inten-
and/or Hamas to see if they considered
tionally or strategically.When it launched
them accurate? Indeed, the two organiza-
attacks and injured civilians, it actually
St. Louis Park, Minn./JTA
new design.
Denominational ideology
One key strategy for survival
matters to the professional
and long-term vitality is ramping
and lay elite of each denomi-
up collaboration at the local level.
nation and plays an important
Synagogues and other Jewish
role in expanding spiritual
institutions in close proximity
approaches and engaging
need to inventory their services
a multiplicity of individual
and programs, eliminate duplica-
religious temperaments. But
tion and add resources through
pragmatic factors at the local
collaboration to fill in the gaps.
level -- including convenience,
I am well aware of the two cen-
Rabbi Hayim
cost, educational quality, style
tral objections to collaboration
Herring
of services and the perceived
because I've heard them often
Special
warmth of the synagogue
when raising the issue: We're too
Commentary
— is what drives synagogue
competitive to collaborate; we'll
involvement.
risk losing our members to another syna-
What worries me is we are not address-
gogue; We're too ideologically different to
ing the leadership challenges that are test-
work together.
ing synagogues and that we do not have
My response to the first objection is,
the structures or will to address them.
"Get over it already!" Ifyour local percent-
And here is why there is a dire need for
age of synagogue affiliation is 17 percent
visionary spiritual leadership:
to 40 percent, which it is in just about
• The small number of Jews who already
every significant Jewish population center
describe themselves as religiously obser-
in the United States, which is your real
vant continues to drop and is now at 1.2
competition: the synagogue nearest yours
percent, or 2.7 million people, according to
or the consumerist culture that surrounds
the recently released American Religious
you?
Identification Survey. (The drop is consis-
With regard to ideology, here's a
tent with another survey reporting that
new acronym for our religious lexicon:
traditional organized religions are playing
TIRP-Troubled Ideology Relief Program.
less of a role in the lives of Americans.)
L
ike most Jews involved in a syna-
gogue or minyan, I believe that
the ultimate quality and sustain-
ability of the Jewish community will be
determined by having a critical mass of
people who care about God, Torah and
Israel, however defined.
Synagogues and their auxiliaries (e.g.,
youth, sisterhood, older adult groups), in
addition to often being the local address
for religiosity and spirituality, represent
one of the most significant sources of
social, educational and financial capital in
the Jewish community. And synagogues
are one of the last places where the poten-
tial for meaningful, multigenerational
interaction is possible.
Synagogues often are under-resourced
in good times. Now, even with belt tight-
ening, they are at risk. On rabbinical
Listsery mailing lists, stories about broken
contracts, salary freezes or cuts, layoffs
and reduction by attrition for the next sev-
eral years are legion.
Without sounding alarmist, the syna-
gogue community is likely experiencing
the same kind of fundamental transition.
Some will close; others will emerge with a
C2
May 21 = 2009
stopped to assist them.
What about the bombing of the King
David Hotel? At the time, the King David
Hotel served as a military headquarters
for the British. What's more, the Irgun
issued two warnings, which were ignored
by the British. Begin's Irgun displayed a
value for human life — even the lives of
its enemies.
But the Times latest definitions should
not surprise us. After all, the paper's edito-
rial page supported the late Yasser Arafat
in almost every disagreement with Israel
for many years. It was not until the latter
stages of Arafat's life/career that the paper
finally recognized the fact that Arafat was
a duplicitous murderer — and a terrorist,
although the paper never went so far as to
acknowledge that fact with such words as
"terrorist" or "murderer."
All of this makes one wonder: How
would the Times describe Charles
Manson?
Berl Falbaum is a former political reporter and
current author and Farmington Hills public
relations executive who teaches journalism
part-time at Wayne State University in Detroit.
• Because of the high cost of being
Jewish, formative Jewish experiences such
as synagogue involvement are increasingly
open only to the financially privileged.
• Funding for Jewish causes across the
board may shrink by as much as a third in
proportion to financial losses in the Jewish
community. How do financially demoral-
ized synagogues remain spiritually viable?
With most leaders looking after their
own organizational self-interest, who is
thinking and working on these broader
issues?
Volunteers and professionals at the
local level need to take the destiny of their
Jewish communities into their own hands.
They are best poised to think imaginative-
ly about ways to collaborate to strengthen
their own institution while reaching out
broadly beyond their own walls.
Solutions cannot be imposed from the
top down. However, denominational lead-
ers can support this process by sending
a clear message about the imperative of
collaboration at the regional and local
levels.
Rabbi Hayim Herring is executive director
of STAR (Synagogues: Transformation and
Renewal).