Are There Limits to Freedom of Speech?

Not all Parashas, that is, the weekly Torah portions, are equally welcomed by Rabbis – or by congregants!  One could say these are to Parashas that we love to hate.  Bar mitzvah boys and bat mitzvah girls cringe in horror when they find out they need to write a D’var Toah on this week’s Torah portion, whose subject matter is skin diseases and emissions of fluids, both natural and pathological, from various orifices of the body.  I suspect that their parents wish they had been savvy enough to check ahead of time to find out the subject matter of this week’s Torah reading before scheduling their child’s big day. For this is the week when this most obtuse of subjects is read from our holy Torah in synagogues across the world. Believe me, even we Rabbis struggle to find meaning, to find significance, to come up with interpretations to teach our congregants.  Most of us fall back on the ancient Midrash that connects the word “Metzora” – the title of this week’s portion --with the similarly sounding words “Motzi Shem Rah”. The word “Metzora” could be translated as leper.  The three words, “Motzi Shem Rah” mean slander. The ancient Rabbis thus reason that Metzora is the punishment for slander or gossip. In this there is much grist for a sermon.

Fortunately, both for rabbis, (and congregants) around the world, there is something else we can give a sermon on this week.   As you know, this past Wednesday marked Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day. This was followed on Thursday by Yom Ha-Atzmaut, Israel Independence Day. On Wednesday Israel remembered the 23,320 soldiers, including over 1500 victims of terror who have died since its founding in 1948.  Our JUF representative in Jerusalem, Mr. Ofer Bavli, describes the solemn occasion with these words:

“[On Wednesday] morning we will go to work and in most workplaces and in all official offices there will be memorial ceremonies. Many will wear white shirts, as is the custom. Thousands will go to the military cemeteries to stand next to their loved ones, next to their friends at 11 as a two-minute siren will sound all over Israel. We will stand next to the grave that bears a name, a birth date, an age at the time of death. ages will usually be between 18 and 21. Those are the ages of the fallen soldiers. On Mount Herzl, at the military section of the cemetery, there are thousands of graves, in row after row after row. They are all the same. All as uniform as the clothes worn by our fallen soldiers. All identical, but bearing different names. We will be there, and we will see the family of the fallen soldier in the grave to the right and the family of the fallen soldier in the grave to the left. The families that we see every year, as a matter of ritual. The families that get older each year while the tomb of their loved ones remains as fresh as it was so many years ago……….”

Military Cemetery at Mount Herzl, Jerusalem

The following day, the national mood changes from somber to joyous, as Israel celebrates the 67^th anniversary of its founding as a modern state. For me, the founding of the Jewish State and its continued well being should be at the core of one’s Jewish identity.  I wish every Jewish person in our country would have as one of their goals in life to visit Israel at least one time.  Yet, in a survey conducted last year by the Pew Research Center, when Jews were asked what is essential to being Jewish, 73% of them responded, “Remembering the Holocaust”. Only 43% of them responded, “Caring about Israel”. This was only 1% higher than those who responded that “Having a good sense of humor” was an essential part of their Jewish identity.

Red Buttons, born Aaron Chwatt, is one of many Jewish comedians that contributed to American Humor in the 20th century. 

Peninnah Schram, author of
the story collection One 
Generation Tells Another --
one of my favorite books.

Yet, “Caring about Israel” ought to be an essential element of our Jewish identity, particularly in the times we live. The American-Jewish teacher and author Peninnah Schram tells of the time when she had completed graduate school in 1960 and wanted to travel to Europe for the summer. She wanted to visit Buckingham Palace, the Louvre, the Roman Coliseum and all of the churches and historic cities of England and France and Italy. Her father suggested she visit Israel instead. “Peninah,” he said, “Israel is like your mother. There are mothers who are more fashionably dressed than your mother. There are mothers who are better educated than your mother. There are mothers who speak without an accent, like your mother does. But your mama is your mama. So, too, there are countries that have more beautiful museums than Israel. There are countries that have older universities than Israel. There are countries that have much more magnificent architecture and art than Israel. But Israel is like your mother.”

Did Benjamin Netanyahu run as a bigot as
Joe Klein claims? 

“Israel is like your mother”. I think that is a beautiful sentiment, and one that all Jews should consider when talking publicly about Israel. That is why I was particularly pained when a Chicago rabbi that I know and like, in commenting on the recent elections in Israel, casually opined, on a television news program, that Benjamin Netanyahu made “racist statements” in trying to get out the vote for his party. But that was mild compared to the words of Harold Meyerson, an American Jewish journalist, who, in a column in the Washington Post, compared Neyanyahu to George Wallace and suggested he and his party might want to open an “Institute for the Prevention of Dark Skinned People from Voting”.  Joe Klein, the American Jewish columnist for Time Magazine, wrote that Netanyahu won the elections because he ran as a bigot and that “A great many Jews have come to regard Arabs as the rest of the world traditionally regarded Jews.”

 So, it seems, after all, I was unable to get away from the Torah portion of the week, Metzorah.  I remind you that the rabbis said that this particular skin affliction was punishment for “Motzi Shem Rah” – literally, “Bringing forth, or drawing out, a bad name”.  In other words – slander.  It is instructive, in this context, to recall the words of Peninah Schram’s father when she wanted to visit Europe as a young woman – “Israel is like your mother”. Jewish Law does not attempt to legislate feelings toward ones mother.  It does not instruct us to love her or to admire her. Rather, it instructs us to treat her with respect. Similarly we cannot tell Jews that they have to love or admire Israel. Some, perhaps many, clearly do not. But we could say that a fellow Jew ought to speak or write about Israel with some modicum of respect and understanding. Respect and understanding for the sacrifices that have been made to create and to defend her; respect and understanding for the particular difficulties that she needs to negotiate, sunrise to sunset, Shabbat to Shabbat, year in and year out.

Shabbat Shalom

Do Not Stand Idly By

As most of you know, I have been active in the Chicago Board of Rabbis since I arrived in the area seven years ago. I have served on the Executive Board for four years, the last two of which have been as Executive Board secretary. Recently I was nominated to serve as VP of the Board for the next two years.

You might wonder, how did I reach such lofty heights among the constellation of Chicago Rabbis?  The simplest answer is that I simply showed up! I have not missed a single Executive Board meeting and I have attended most of the programming that our organization puts on for rabbis. I have no doubt that my fellow rabbis are  particularly impressed that I drive all the way from Naperville to Wilmette for these meetings. Most of my colleagues, who live on the North Shore,  are convinced ,as you might have guessed, that somehow our beloved Naperville is on the border with Iowa …No wonder  they are in awe of my capacity to travel long distances to our discussions. I also don’t say much and therefore, I like to think, they may believe I am wise as well.

To tell you the truth, once in a while I am not that interested in the subject matter of the programs I attend.  However, how can I impress upon our own Board of Directors at CBS to show up for services and programs if I, as a Board member of the Chicago Board of Rabbis, do not set a good example?  So, I go, sometimes reluctantly, in part because I then feel I have the right to lecture our Board members on attending synagogue functions.

Such were the nature of my feelings upon receiving the announcement of the program that I attended this past Wednesday in Wilmette. Rabbi Joel Mossbacher was scheduled to speak about his efforts to curb gun violence in this country. I did not have a burning desire to attend.  But I went, and, as usual, I was glad I did.  I learned quite a bit.  This evening I want to tell you a little about it this event.

Rabbi Mossbacher grew up in Glenwood, Illinois. He has been the Rabbi at a congregation in New Jersey since 2001. His father was killed by a handgun in 1999 in the course of a robbery at the Chicago store he owned. Rabbi Mossbacher became an activist after telling his eleven year old son how his grandfather died. He spoke the Board of Rabbis in his role as spokesperson for a national campaign called “Do Not Stand Idly By” which takes its name from the verse in Leviticus, “Do not stand idly by the blood of your fellow.”  The campaign seeks to reduce gun violence --not by passing gun control legislation -- but through harnessing the forces of the market economy.

Before launching into his presentation, Rabbi Mossbacher went around the room and asked us to introduce ourselves and tell how we personally have been affected by gun violence. Each rabbi had a story. One rabbi lived next door to a family where there was gun violence. Another rabbi said that his brother had been held up with a gun and held hostage for a period of time. He and his brother had very different reactions to this event. The rabbi himself had been inspired to work for gun control in his community. His brother said he thought that was foolish, and bought a gun to protect himself. A rabbi of my generation recalled with fondness playing with toy guns when he was a child. He reflected on how things have changed in our society.   When my turn came I said that my first thought to his question – how had I personally been affected by gun violence -- was of the assassination of President Kennedy. Then came the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and not too long after that the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. These events touched us all in profound ways and had forever changed the history of our country, and through that, all of us. I wondered out loud how many potentially good leaders have been lost because people were afraid to put their lives on the line by going into politics.

Rabbi Mossbacher then told us about “Do Not Stand Idly By”. This campaign does not challenge the rights of Americans to own and use firearms. Rather, it seeks to convince gun manufacturers to make guns safer through the use of “smart gun” technology. When a person owns a “smart gun”, only the actual licensed owner of the gun is able to fire it. Since many guns used in crimes are stolen, the thinking goes that this would reduce their use by unauthorized users.  It would also prevent children from accidentally firing a gun they found in the house. However, gun manufacturers have little interest in developing this type of gun. The “Do Not Stands Idly By Idly” campaign seeks to get manufacturers to act through the market power of the public sector. 40% of firearms are bought by the military and the police in this country. The hope is that public pressure can be brought upon the military and the police to demand these smart products. If that large market demands a product, then firearms manufacturers will be incentivized to provide it. Once it is readily available, the thinking goes, at a reasonable price, ordinary citizens will choose to buy these safer guns as well.

Will this make us safer? It is hard to say. A comparison could perhaps be drawn between the desire for safer firearms and a desire for a safer cigarette. E-cigarette sales have soared in this country, and usage has tripled among teen-agers in the past year alone.  E-cigarettes do not have the tar and the chemicals of regular cigarettes, but do deliver nicotine, one of the most addictive substances we know.  Are e-cigarettes safer, or do they actually increase overall, long term danger because more people are using them at younger ages because they are marketed as safe? Are they leading people to “smoke” who otherwise would never have picked up a cigarette?  In the same way, will “smart guns” make us safer, or will they simply encourage people who ordinarily would not buy a gun to do so – thereby increasing the total number of firearms in our country?

I really admire Rabbi Mossbacher for working toward a solution of a problem in our society that he has been personally, deeply, affected by. Like most of the vexing challenges in our world, like most of the problems we face in our personal lives, there really is no one answer that will solve it for us once and for all. The most we could do is meet our challenges – whether in our society or in our personal lives -- with courage, conviction and faith. Most important of all, we must not simply stand idly by. We must not stick our heads in the sand, turn our faces away, or otherwise ignore a problem just because it appears to be intractable. Our sages teach that we may not be able to solve a problem in our own lifetimes, but this does not give us an excuse to ignore it completely. And who knows – perhaps we may, in even a small way, succeed.

Shabbat Shalom