I was invited to speak with some of my friends at the annual "Feast of Jewish Learning/A Night of Jewish Unity", in Congregation Etz Chayim, California.
http://www.bjesf.org/adults_feast.htm
For a moment, we thought that this was a good opportunity to share our thoughts about the Middle-Eastern situation, to a big audience of Jews who rarely hear these kinds of views.
Then, we received this from the Feast moderator:
Dear Sarah Anne, Avner, Joel, Neil, and Beverly,
I am very sorry at this late date to say that as the chair of The Feast of Jewish Learning/A Night of Jewish Unity, I have canceled your class.
I have done so because it has become obvious that the passions on this issue are such that there are plans to attend by hotheads on all sides of the issue,
and that is the antithesis of what it is that we have worked so hard to create these past ten years, which is, A Night of Jewish Unity.
Also, we have a theme: Lost and Found, that the other classes have, in some respect, adhered to, while your session is less in that mold.
Again, I am very sorry to cancel something you have worked on. I apologize for the late notice, and for the disappointment you must feel.
If you wish to call me, you may do so, but I am between being with a dying member of my congregation and getting ready for Shabbat, which comes around five thirty tonight.
Please use this number: 650-813-9011 (home study phone and fax)
I am emailing you all because I don’t know which one of you to call, and I hope I will reach at least one of you more quickly this way.
Ari Cartun
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Rabbi Ari Cartun
Congregation Etz Chayim
Dear rabbi Cartun,
ReplyDeleteThis is very unfortunate.
I think that the Right wingers got what they wanted - silence the voices which call for what we see as the solution.
I'm not saying that people in the Right don't want peace. I'm saying that some of them don't want people to hear other opinions.
Learning has always been a process of expressing different opinions and interpretations, with voices. "70 faces to the Torah", and that sometimes meant very bitter arguments among the Sages. But Machloket Leshem Shamim was always good, as long as the zealous people did not act violently. We are not so zealous so as not to want to hear the other side.
The last thing that we need now is Unity. Unity, in the sense that minority voices are silenced, is a Fascistic value. In fascist societies, everybody is asked to unite behind the leader, because unity is the supreme value.
on the other hand, in open and free societies, there is room for different opinions. If there is a chance of violence, then this is a security issue that needs to be addressed by the authorities. Very rarely are there violent incident from the Left. We never asked to impose our views in any way, and we can assure you, that any act of violence will not come from the Liberal side.
In the past few decades, every time violence was used, it came from the Right. When you cancel this class, you award them for their intolerance.
Shabat Shalom,
Avner Efendowicz
"Courage to Refuse"