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The morality of might
Visiting rabbi defends Israel's need to use violence.
ILAN SARAGOSTl SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
if any area in the world other than Israel and the Middle East were in question, the cruel irony might have been striking. But the fact that renowned American author Rabbi Maurice Lamm was delivering a speech titled Muscular Morality: Jewish Law and War at the same time that, halfway across the world, in downtown Jerusalem, Palestinian suicide bombers were massacring young Jews, barely raised an eyebrow. If anything, it probably left Lamm's 100-strong audience in the Schara Tzedeck Wosk Auditorium agreeing more thoroughly with his thesis: that Jewish law instructs Jews to seek peace first, but to be ready and morally permitted to destroy their enemies through war if the Jewish people are threatened.
To illustrate his point, the rabbi pointed to the two lions perched atop the aaron kodcsh (holy ark) figuratively guarding the Schara Tzedeck Torah. He stated that, throughout history, when the Jews have acted like lions, pouncing on their enemies as they did at the time of the First Temple, they have fared far better than when they have played the dog, waiting obediently for their enemies to offer clemency, as happened in the time of the Second Temple.
Lamm is president of the National Institute for Jewish Hospice and a professor at Yeshivali University's Rabbinical Seminary in New York, where he holds the chair in professional rabbinics. He is most popularly known for his book The Jewish Way in Death andMournitig. He was in Vancouver Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 for a series of lectures on Jewish topics.
The mcyority of his talk Saturday dealt with the events of Sept. 11, why the Americans arc just in waging war in Afghanistan and his own feelings of patriotism for the United States. Since the United States was attacked, Lamm argued, they arc not the aggressors in Afghanistan. Furthermore, as the Middle East is a region where might equals right, the United States, if it wants any respect in the Muslim world, has no choice but to defend itself. If the nods of approval at Lamm's words were any indication, a number of audience members agreed with the rabbi's assessment.
Lamm went on to harshly criticize those with a more left-leaning slant than his, such as
author Susan Sontag and Muslim clerics who, in the same breath, according to Lamm, denounced the terrorist attacks then blamed American foreign policy for bringing terrorist actions upon itself Sontag and her cohorts, Lamm said, have no understanding of the Middle East and terrorism; the terrorists do not want the end of capitalism or unfair Middle East policies, but the destruction of America and Israel.
The rabbi expressed his hope that, after defeating the Taliban, the United States will turn its attention to other Muslim regimes who support or harbor terrorists, particu arly Saudi Arabia. Again, muttcrings of support could be clearly heard.
Lamm's most insightful observations of the afternoon were in comparing the biblical approach of "muscular morality" to the reality of Jewish history, and then comparing how other religions have dealt with the issue of war. He found it ironic that the Jews could live 2,000 years as pacifists, rarely resisting the multitude of atrocities they were dealt, while Christians, whose philosophy is far more pacifistic, went on numerous murderous crusades in the name of Jesus. The discussion then came full circle, as Lamm stated that Israel has acted morally in all of its wars, including the ones in which it struck first, as well as its current military actions, because they have consistently been on the defensive.
Once again, bitter criticism was directed towards the left, this time in Israel. Lamm attacked Israeli intellectuals who recently sent the town of Ann Arbor, Mich., a letter asking them to impose the same economic sanctions on Israel that they did on South Africa in the mid-1980s.
After his talk, the rabbi took questions from the audience. "Those who spoke seemed to share his views wholeheartedly. A few voices of dissent could be heard at the back of tlie room, wondering whether Israel has at times surpassed muscular morality, particularly in its actions in launching the Lebanese war of 1982. All then headed home in the drizzly December air, turned on their televisions, and were grimly reminded of just why Israel has had to resort to military aggression so often in its short history. □
Ilan Saragosti is a filmmaker and writer living in Vancouver.
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