M-T
The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, November 3, 1988-Page 9
Opinion
Philosopher reflects on intifada and other issues
Jews
Renowned philosopher arid theologian Prof Emil Fackenheimfled Germany after imprisonment in a concentration camp. He taught philosophy at the University of Toronto before rnaking dliya in the mid-1980s and now lives in Jerusalem where he writes and teaches at the Hebrew University. Fackenheim, who will be one: of the speakers in Toronto Jewish Congress' Holocaust Education Week, Nov. 3-13, discusses some of the problems facing Israel and the Diaspora with The aN's ED FEUER.
When one attempts to point out certain harsh realities to supporters of the Gush Emu-nim settlers in the territories, they ultunately invoke the idea of some form of future Divine intervention. Would you comment on Gush Emunim's ideas.
The fauh of the Gush is that it has not learned — as it should have from the Holocaust — that one cannot count on miracles. Messianic polities can lead to catastrophe as it did in Bar Koch-ba's time.
-Whether the Likud is riiorally wrong rather than, possibly, politically iniprudeni in seeming to oppose territorial comprornises is. quite another question best answered when Yitzhak Rabin of Labor stated that he, too,; would oppose territorial. compromises — if Israel had several more million Jews!
: To (translate)'this for Canadians, Israel could then aim at being a democracy like Canada, a country that took its own good time before getting a flag and national anthern acceptable to all. But alas, six million Jews.were murdered and Western Jews are not coming. The gut reaction of Western Jews to the (Palestinian) uprising should have been for 100,000 to make aliya^at-'Orice.. /
Instead, it seems, they won't even visit anymore, and a great many have become vocal in criticizing this or that policy of the hard-pressed Israeli government (without stating that) the uprising is a new, more dangerous stage in an Arab war aimed at Israel's destruction.
In a rare moment of honesty, a PLO spokesman said at last they had found the way (to des-, troy Israel): The uprising would divide Israel and Diaspora; divide Israelis into hawks and dOves, and, best of all, discredit Israel in the eyes of ignorant, TV-watching one-time friends.
Is there hope for peace? There is. Every day one meets Arabs who want to liv^ as respected citizens in Israel or as peaceful neighbors next door. But they do not yet stand up and be count-'* ed politically for fear of being assassinated. So . long as this is the case bur slogan should be, not "security through peace" but rather"peace through security."
The most admirable fact abput Israel is to have---held out so long as under an ongoing siege more decently than would have any of the states that are now busy bashing her.
You have said of anti-semitism that first there is the word and then there is the deed. The high court in Ajberta declared the law uut der vv hich Jim Keegstra was convicted as a violation of the constitution (the decision has sincie been appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada). Are Jews justified in seeking laws against the propagation of hatred including Holocaust denial?
Nazis created
evil world
Emil Fackenheim
happenuig, they were only ol^eying orders, etcetera. It is as if their lack of "consistency" and cowardice does not match the enormity of their deeds. What can you say about this?
Lack of consistency and cowardice don't sufficetoexplain why every Nazi eriminal, from the Nuremberg ones down, has pleaded innocent; The Holocaust was a unique world of evil in which everyone did his share just as in a normal world. Sounique was what 1 call the ami-world
par excellence thai to this day even good people ehangeihe subject whenever (the Holocaust) comes up (talking about) Vietnam, Cambodia, Arab refugees, American indiffer6nce.'. .you name it.
While the war was on, they said, "Don't t)pther us, there's a war on,". When it was over, they said, "Don't bother us, the war is over:" By all means, let us discuss Vjetham, Hiroshima, Cambodia and all the other ills of our world. But if and when Auschwitz is discussed, let there be ho
change of the subject. Until this is done, the shadow of Hitler will haunt the world, with nice people defending Keegstra's right to say the Holocaust never happened.:
Jews have been persecuted by the trium-phaiist church and now Israel faces similar difTiculties with Islam. Is Arab-Israeli peace really possible before the development and survival of a liberal Moslem theology in the Arab world?
A paraller does exist between a triumphalist Church and a triumphalist mosque, although diere is also a difference. The church has denied Jewish Christ-killers the right to exist/allowing them existence only by divine (and ecclesiastical) charity. Islam (which did not have the Jewish Christ-
. killer myth until it imported it just when Christians were beginning to be ashamed of it) has taught that Jews may exist — as tolerees in Moslem states, Hence, Arab leaders claim to be only "anti-Zionist" but not "anti-semitic." Both claims are mendacious for part of Judaism is hope for a restored state in the ancient land, and ''anti-semitism" never was anything except a code word for Jew-hatred.
That theological liberalization is not enough is proved by the ''liberal''- PLO National Covenant \yhich contains not a theological word, yet (its
■ intent) that Jews can only be: tolerees in a Moslem — now"democratic Arab" — state is entirely unchanged. What is needed is not liberalization but rather a fundamental repentance by the Moslem daughter of Judaism of its original sin — teaching contempt of the Jewish mother.
That for the other daughter, Christianity, liberalization is not enough either is shown by the Catholic theologian Rosemar>' Ruether. Her Faith and Fratricide asks whether Christians can say ■"Jesus is Christ" without adding "and the Jews be damned." Her sub.scquent Israel-bashing proves that in her "liberalizing" answer. Jesus is Christ only relatively and that Jews are damned relatively. Needed is a fundamental repentance, which could cut across orthodox-liberal divisions in both Christianity and Islam.
You have now lived in Israel for a number of years. Do you become frustrated with the flaws in the country's public life?
Following on the heels, of the Holocaust, Israel is the most heroic Jewish accomplishment since the days of Bar KOchba. Compared to this, its failings pale.
Someone once asked an Englishman, how his countrymen had such beautiful lawns. "Easy," replied the Englishman. ''Just cut and water the grass, and do it for 600 years."
Israel won't havethat many years. But give her 50, and let 100,000 Jews come from the West to help cut and water the grass — and do it. as no Englishman ever had to, while enduring a siege of enemies whose stubbornness, we must hope, is less enduring than ours.
\o ifs, ands or buts
By
ELAINE KAHN
When people deny the Holocaust they (are proclaiming): What a Jewish conspiracy is that "myth of the six million!" (The-deniers) riot only shout fire (in a crowded theatre), they are stok-__j.ng the fire for the next Holocaust, this time presumably in Israel. The only excuse for the-Alberla court is-that - it doesn't really believe that the Holocaust happened—or in any case has no idea of what it was.
When brought to trial, perpetrators of the Holocaust, including John Demjanjuk, do not cite their hideous ideology, Instead, they claim they weren't there, they didn't know what was
I was getting all weepy during a recent sermon on the importance of appreciating. one's blessings, when something - went wrong.
The sermon contained a touching poem by a woman who kept putting off properly appreciating her boy friend — then he went off to war and died.
"There were so many things I wanted to make up to you after you returned from the war — but you didn't," wrote the poet.
Every verse ended "but you didn't." Including "I forgot to tell you that the dance was formal, and you showed up in jeans — r thought you'd smack me . . ." / This, I'm afraid, is where the rabbi lost me — at least until after we put the kids to bed and could discuss it.
Sure, maybe social sensitivity can go too far. I mean, if we worry in every single sentence wetitter about not being sexist, racist, ageist or classist, ban smoking, drinking, drugs and sex from our speech and make sure we don't insult the disabled, natives, labor or management, we could end up simply grunting at each other — until someone decides to ban that as impolite.
But talking about being smacked, within days of the Kirby Inwood wife and child abuse trial, this does kind of jump out at a person.
What I worry about with the Inwood case is that I'm boring you; that it has be-eoraetanother 1-day wonder. '
At a UJA meeting several years ago, Chaviva Hosek, then head of NAC. said at least one out of every 10 women is abused, and that she was including the Jewish audience before her, some 500 strong. A nervous giggle swept the room.
In the last few days I have sat down to think of the women, men and children I personally know whom I know have abused, or been abused by, parents or spouses. Withoufeven trying, I could think of about-a dozen, mainly Jewish.
IncTtasin^^^^ learn from my'daiighters, who, bless them, choose to watch the news on TV every night. For them, the Inwood case was cut and dried: it is a horrible thing for a man to beat his.wife and child and they literally cheered the likelihood of a Crown appeal of Inwood's 30-day sentence.
Not for them the ifs, ands or biits of adult sexual politics and legal niceties.
For them, it was simply evil. They are lucky enough to belong to a family, nuclear and extended, in which they can know that so unreservedly.
What I Cannot explain to them is why some adults should see it differently. Why : there are adult gradations of something that should be a fact. I can't eveq explain to them, for that matter, why the occasional spankings they got as toddlers were not child abuse. They get me feeling guilty enough to wonder about it.
From my limited direct experience with abuse cases, I know that everything I have read aboiit the failures of The System to help victims, quickly and cleanly, is true. If I were counting my own blessings today, one near the top would-be that I have no need for that system. —
But others do. Not all our elderiy are in their own homes or under caring profes-sional ,care — some are in the care of their children and some of those children beat them. We have mothers and fathers who beat up their children._We beat up the disabled. Men beat wives and wives, fewer but no less vicious, beat husbands.
Just because it hasn't happened to you yet doesn't give you the right to be ;,. yawning.
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