The place was packed and tense before the meeting even started. To make things worse, the air conditioning wasn’t working and it was rapidly getting as sticky and humid as a locker room. Usually getting a seat at a meeting of the Sonoma County Commission on Human Rights is not a problem, but not last Thursday; the local Jewish Community was out in force and the North Coast Coalition for Palestine had brought in a number of people from all around the Bay Area, as well. Why? The North Coast Coalition for Palestine was before the Human Rights Commission to recommend that the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors consider discontinuing its long-term contract with Viloa , which has successfully run the county’s bus service for a number of years, because it also does business in Israel .
The meeting was called to order and the preliminaries seemed promising as a number of statements were read suggesting that this was not the right forum to decide such an issue. My feelings exactly! How was this local commission with no real power or expertise going to fairly adjudicate such a complex issue? If they would have just stopped there, those there to speak against the recommended action would have happily gone home, but in fact, that was just the beginning of what proved to be a long and difficult evening.
NCCP presented first. They used a number of voices, a few Palestinian Christians I know from Santa Rosa and a few “ringers” brought in from the outside, including a very articulate Jewish, Israeli woman. While they say they are working for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, a closer look at who they are suggests that their true goal is nothing less than the destruction of Israel as we know it. In fact, NCCP is part of an international movement whose goal is to bring down Israel through a three-pronged approach of boycotts, divestment and sanctions. Omar Barghouti, the founder of the Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, could not be more clear about this then when he said:
“Good riddance! The two-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is finally dead. But someone has to issue an official death certificate before the rotting corpse is given a proper burial and we can all move on …”
They liken Israel to South Africa during Apartheid or the southern United States before the Civil Rights movement, and bring into question, through a variety of tactics, Israel’s legitimacy. They blend together fact and fiction with lots of righteous indignation, operating under the premise that if you say something over and over again with enough conviction, people will begin to believe you, whether you are telling the truth or not. It was a long night.
After the NCCP presented, Viola was given a chance to respond to the various allegations that the NCCP had made. Between and after the two presentations, anyone who wanted was allowed one minute at the microphone. I’m not sure how many people spoke, 100? Whatever the number, the meeting started at 5:30 pm and at 9:00 pm when I left, people were still speaking! It is an understatement to say that it was hard to hear what many of these people had to say about Israel. At the end of the night, the commission voted 5 to 4 to table the proposal. It was a victory of sorts, but not something to feel good about. While some folks were reasonable, others were not; at times it felt like the comments devolved into what our tradition calls, sinat hinam, baseless hatred; mean-spirited, and often false, hurtful remarks.
This all seems especially poignant happening right before Tisha B’av, the commemoration of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 567 BCE and 70 ACE. Why? Because according to the ancient Sages of the Talmud, it was sinat hinam, baseless hatred that caused the destruction of our axis mundi, our holy center some 2000 years ago.
We will probably never know what caused the destruction of the Temple, but we do know that sinat hinam is a real challenge in the Jewish Community today, especially around Israel. (On this subject see also this excellent and chilling article in Tablet by Daniel Gordis: Sinning Against Each Other)
This was evident in the commission meeting where it was particularly hard to hear Jews attack Israel with such venom.
Equally hard to hear was a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto and Buchenwald say that he was very familiar with Jewish collaborators who, over the centuries, have always been used as tools against their own people. He then ended his remarks by saying, “They were usually killed last.”
He had the right to say what he said – I don’t question any Survivor’s right to speak their mind – but it was painful to hear.
While it is tempting to demonize those Jews who were critical of or attacking Israel that evening, I refuse to do so. After all, I have stood where they stand. When there was a viable peace process, when it seemed like Israel had a true partner for peace, I pushed hard for that process to go forward and was openly critical of Israel when I thought it was not rising to the challenges and opportunities that peace posed.
And I was regularly attacked and criticized for my positions: a new narrative that recognized the suffering of the Palestinians; land for peace and a shared Jerusalem. It was not easy to take those stands…
When the Palestinians exchanged the peace process for violence, I changed my approach for I felt (and still do) that it was suicidal to push for Israeli concessions when there is no partner on the other side.
Still, I appreciate the courage of those Jews who criticize Israel. I also recognize the price they pay for their views, and believe they have a right to express them as long as they are what Jewish Tradition calls, y’soril shel ahavah/chastisements of love, not hate. As long as those who criticize do so out of true concern and yes, love for their people and country, I respect and even welcome their participation in the life of the community. If vitriol is all they have to offer, as far as I am concerned they have no place amongst us.
Sinat hinam is not just a Jewish problem. How about the political climate in this country?
You know Obama is really a Muslim terrorist and a Communist – right? How refreshing it would be if politicians actually focused on the many challenging problems we face and how best to solve them; Jerusalem was destroyed by sinat hinam and the great USA may go down that way, as well.
Sinat hinam is not just a problem of American politics either; it reflects a basic human weakness.
It’s when you don’t even remember what happened, what you said, but you feel awful and the person you blasted feels worse.
So what can we do about sinat hinam? The place to start, the place where we have the most control, is with ourselves.
The Great Rav Isaac Kook , the first Chief Rabbi of Israel, once said that:
“If we were destroyed, and the world with us, due to baseless hatred, then we shall rebuild ourselves, and the world with us, with baseless love — ahavat chinam. “(Orot HaKodesh vol. III, p. 324)
Sounds cliché to say that “love is the answer,” but as individuals, on a human level, I believe it is the answer. (See my Rosh Hashannah Sermon on “Loving Kindness” for more on this subject.
There is an argument in the Talmud over what is the single most important verse in all of Torah. Of course, there is more than one answer, but Rabbi Akiba, perhaps the greatest rabbi of the Talmud, argued it was “love your neighbor as yourself.”
This is certainly the way of the Tzaddik and it is possible for us as well.
It’s a love that must start with the self and emanate out from there. To hate is to walk around with a hot coal in your hand – it burns, it destroys the flesh, it leaves you raw.
Rav Kook was a messianic mystic beyond most of us to emulate, but he still had an immense amount of practical wisdom to share.
Hatred leads only to death and destruction; “we shall rebuild ourselves, and the world with us, with baseless love — ahavat hinam as opposed to sinat hinam.
Rabbi Kook probably means unconditional love when he says that the world destroyed by baseless hate can be rebuilt with baseless love. However to my ear baseless love doesn’t sound so good. To me it sounds like another serious problem among modern (American) humans.”Baseless love”, that is superficial love, love which is not earned, which is expressed with extravagant gifts and empty gestures. I can see how a world that has baseless hate can produce this other “baseless” kind of love; I think there is a relationship there.
I wonder why Rabbi Kook used the same word with hate and love when, with the word love, the baseless part changed character to mean unconditional?
Or did he mean that after baseless hate we have nothing but baseless love to rebuild with – (and that is terrible, so don’t go down the road of baseless hate)
Or is it the Hebrew word that has a broader meaning than the English???
Nice question! I think it is a problem of translation. Perhaps it would be better to translate “ahavat hinam” as “unconditional love” rather than “baseless love” though it is the same word in Hebrew – “hinam”.
Thank you, Rabbi George, for representing us so well in the community. The whole settlements issue feels painful, but the BDS movement is not the solution.
Thank you Rabbi, for being a calm and enlightening voice among the vitriol.
We appreciated your presence and your comments at the HRC meeting and were so pleased to see your remarks quoted in the Press Democrat (Friday, 7/27, Empire section). Thank you for “Sinat Chinam” as well; it speaks to the pain we also felt hearing so much Jewish anger directed against Israel, especially by the two Israelis who spoke at the HRC meeting.
Thanks so much, Rabbi George , for presenting the issues so clearly and concisely and for stating your point of view. We are very fortunate to have you represent us in the community in these times. Adele Pickar
Dear Rabbi George,
I enjoyed reading your message. It made me think of a trip I took to Israel many years ago.
In 1967, my father took a sabbatical in London and my brother and I attended an English school. They went back in January, 1968, but I stayed on. Instead of going home on spring break, I went on a three week trip, by myself, to Israel. This was less than a year after the six day war.
The first week, I spent traveling from Golan to Eilat on a school bus. The second, I spent working on a chicken farm. I spent the third week with some relatives, a cousin who had translated Shakespeare into Hebrew.
I was just a kid, but I came away with some vivid impressions of the people I met. The Israelis were energetic, curious, and enormously proud of their country. At that time, they considered every Israeli was a member of their own family. The Arabs, both Christians and Moslems, were filled with generosity and regarded hospitality as a duty. When they were being kind to me, I got the feeling from their eyes and smiles that it was coming from the heart. I know there are hospitable and generous Israelis, and energetic and proud Arabs, but for some reason, these were the impressions I came away with.
What a world it would be if they all could put aside their animosities and come together, mingling these complementary traits. What a country, what a people that would be.
It is a dream I have.
Richard
Well done, Rabbi George. I know one of the women very well on the Palestine Coalition. This Jewish woman and I had worked together in the local theater community for many years. She has a daughter who has lived in Palestine for a long time. which is why I believe she has always “sided” with the other team. I don’t get it, and find it difficult to speak to her when I see her. It reminds me of a certain County Supervisor who has some how forgot his Latino roots. I was with him when he cried real tears hearing a woman telling about how her son was deported and yet he has difficulty supporting a responsible immigration program. As a Jew, I cannot imagine turning my back on our brethren.
I just got back last night from the Travis City Film Festival. I saw “Five Broken Cameras”, a documentary filmed by a Palestinian man ever about 6 years, showing what happened in his West Bank village. If you look at it with one set of eyes, you will see peaceful demonstrators trying to protect their homes and fields while Israeli soldiers tear-gas them and use rubber bullets, and settlers illegally steal their land while while the government turns a blind eye. The bulldozers uproot their olive trees — it is agonizing to watch, and then settlers sneak in and burn down more olive trees (which is utterly against Jewish law). Many are hurt and a few are killed dead. Young boys between the ages of 12 and 15 are taken away in the middle of the night and jailed for up to 5 months, as a kind of harassment. If you look at it with another set of eyes, you will see that the village protesters are joined by Israelis who support them — some of them are among the injured. You will see Israeli lawyers helping the village fight the settlers in court and win, at least on paper. You will see an episode where the man was injured in a car accident and his life was saved in an Israeli hospital with first class care over many months. You will see that some of those broken cameras were supplied by Israelis, that the footage was made into a film with the help of a skillful Israeli filmmakers, and that this film won The Jerusalem prize — what other country in the Middle East would allow such a film to even be shown — Saudi Arabia?
So which eyes will you use to watch this film, those of unconditional hate or unconditional love? It is possible to translate hinam as “wasted”. Maybe hate and love are both wasted in this context — with a good documentary that’s what you do — document and just plain see.