A government that claims to be Jewish but is acting like Pharaoh:

How do we honor Dr. King? 

Rabbi Arthur Waskow
The Shalom Center 

01/15/03: Several weeks ago, I was invited to take part in an annual commemoration of the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, to be held the evening of 1/14 (last night), at the Israeli Embassy in Washington -- co-sponsored by the Embassy of Israel and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. 

And yesterday, it turned out, was when began the trial of Rabbi Arik Ascherman, exec of Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel, for acting precisely like Dr. King -- standing in the path of bulldozers that came to (and did) demolish the homes of Palestinians. 

(No one claims these families had any connection to terrorism. They had added children's rooms to their homes without a permit. Permits are almost never granted Palestinian families to do this, while Jewish families either get permits easily or find the lack of permits is totally ignored.) 

More than 400 North American & European rabbis have now signed a letter condemning both Rabbi Ascherman's arrest and the home-demolition policy. It was physically delivered on Monday to the Embassy in Washington and the Israeli consulate in NYC. So many people have called the Embassy in Washington that when one caller reached the ambassador's office, the secretary said, "Oh, are you calling about Rabbi Ascherman?")

Back to the Embassy's honoring of Dr. King: 

The contradiction stuck in my craw too much for me to ignore. So I accepted the invitation and went Amtraking off to Washington.

There were about 120 people at the Embassy-- two Members of Congress, two Ambassadors from Africa, various civil-rights and liberal and Jewish-community leaders. After politely and with real interest listenng to Rabbi David Saperstein and Ambassador Ayalon welcome the gathering, I spoke up in the momentary pause just as the next part, honoring two civil-rights/ liberal activists who have worked in (a very limited and conventionalized version of) the King tradition, was about to begin.

I described the arrest of Rabbi Ascherman and said that the arrest and the home demolition policy stand in contrast to the work of Martin Luther King -- and why. I spoke for about three minutes. The person who had been about to chair the next part of the meeting tried mildly to shush me, but it was clear people were listening intently. 

When I ended, the ambassador then asked "May I respond?" and of course then did. He said two things: "Israel is a state of laws; Rabbi Ascherman violated the law, and so is on trial.... We should turn back from these political questions to focus on honoring those who are doing the work of Dr. King."

I thought to myself that it would be easy to answer -- "Dr King violated unjust laws; this home demolition policy is unjust; and as for politics, what was Dr. King doing but "politics" in a spiritually deep way?" 

But I also knew that for me to keep intervening would rile people who otherwise agreed with me, or were open to hearing such views. So I kept quiet. The rest of the event went as programmed -- except that Rabbi Saperstein, in his closing remarks, said how moving had been the eloquent words of the Ambassador and of the honorees and even the dissent that had been voiced, "just as [he said] in democratic Israel dissent is part of the society." 

Half a dozen people, including a couple leaders of the mainstream Jewish community and several leaders of non-Jewish religious and liberal organizations, came up to me afterwards to thank me. (I don't know whether they'd want me to name them, so I won't.) 

So I am glad that the Ambassador knows that the policy at least of home demolition and possibly more broadly the Occupation is upsetting enough people that not only are 400 rabbis from the sometimes silent US Jewish community ready to sign a letter of protest, not only are dozens ready to phone his office, but some are even ready to challenge him face-to-face. 

And I am glad that 120 influential people heard that there is a Jewish opposition to Sharon and the occupation, in the US as well as Israel, and heard about the home-demolition policy and Reb Arik.

So I have a suggestion. On Monday, the official observance of Dr. King's birthday, the Embassy will be closed. So please take a moment NOW to call the Ambassador's office -- its number is 202/ 364-5590 -- and ask to speak with him. 

You might want to say you are pleased they thought to honor Dr. King, and hope they will take further steps to do so -- for real. And then, whatever they say and whomever you speak to, PLEASE BE SURE TO MENTION YOU ARE CALLING NOT ONLY ABOUT RABBI ASCHERMAN BUT ALSO ABOUT HOME DEMOLITIONS, AND URGE THEY HALT THESE ACTIONS.

I am awed by the timing of these events. This week not only includes Dr. King's actual birthday, it includes the yohrzeit (death-anniversary) of his close co-worker Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. (Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel was actually founded in memory and honor of Heschel.) 

And even more moving, it is the week in which Jews read from the Torah the beginning of the Book of Exodus, which bears the first recorded stories of nonviolent resistance to a violent government: the story of the midwives and then of Miriam and Pharaoh's own daughter, who refused to carry out Pharaoh's murderous orders. (Exod. 1: 15-22 and Exod. 2: 1-10.)

This tradition continues, in our own generation directed against a government that claims to be Jewish but is acting like Pharaoh. (The Torah warns against Israelite kings who might try to reduce the people to an Egypt-like slavery. Deut. 17: 14-17.) 

Just weeks ago, five young Israeli men, just out of high school, were sentenced to one year in prison -- on top of fourteen months of previous imprisonment while awaiting trial. They had refused to serve in the army of occupation, while offering to do civilian public service or to serve in detachments of the Army that defend Israel proper.

The refusers said they had studied the occupation closely for years, and had concluded soldiers were often sent to perform acts that were war crimes. The court ruled that their objections were indeed rooted in onscience, but that since they had called public attention to their views they were trying to affect public opinion rather than individually obeying conscience.

And just weeks ago, Israeli troops fired live ammunition at nonviolent demonstrators -in the Palestinian town of Budrus -- Israelis, Palestinians, and others -- who were protesting against the Separation Wall on the grounds that it is shattering and besieging towns like Budrus, not protecting Israel. 

One Israeli protester was seriously wounded by the Army's gunfire. He was a veteran of the Army who had finished his service in the occupation only weeks before, and knew its evils intimately. -- Because it was an Israeli who was wounded, there was a furor in the Israeli press. But no let-up in the building of the Wall.

Note that Palestinian villagers were the backbone of this nonviolent protest. Claims that there are no Palestinian nonviolent resisters are false.

Just as Dr. King drew on the long tradition of nonviolence that reaches back to the midwives Shifra and Puah, so every one of these forms of protest against violence stands in the tradition of Dr. King. He struggled not only for racial justice but also for the end of the Vietnam War. In a major speech exactly one year before he was killed, he called "racism, militarism, and materialism" the major dangers to American society.

Why was he harrassed by the US government, why was he finally murdered? Why is the Israeli government cracking down on its own citizens who oppose its occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza and who are trying to prevent the human rights violations that go with the occupation? 

Because no government can for long oppress other peoples abroad without finding it needs to repress its own people at home. For as its own citizens realize what indecencies are being committed by their leaders, their own sense of decency rebels. 

We teach that God is One, that all life is interwoven. It is not just a teaching, not just wishful thinking. It is true Reality -- though sometimes it takes a while for the Reality to sink in. 

Not only must we love our neighbors as ourselves, but we DO love our neighbors as we love ourselves. For if we pour hatred out upon our neighbors, our love for each other and ourselves curdles into bile. And poisons us.

Shalom, Arthur

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Director
The Shalom Center 
Check our our website. http://www.shalomctr.org