Why is American Jewry Silent?

Where is American Jewry?

At a time when thousands of Jews in Gush Katif and northern Samaria face the prospect of expulsion from their homes in just two weeks' time, most US Jewish groups seem to have lost their voices, preferring to ignore the plight of their brethren rather than speak out on their behalf.

Nowhere has the political cowardice been more blatant than among the leadership of American Orthodoxy. Despite the close ties that many religious Jews in the United States have to the Jewish communities of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, organizations such as the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America have refused to come out openly against the expulsion.

In the article below that I wrote, which ran in the Jerusalem Post, I tried to draw attention to this failure of leadership. If you feel as I do, e-mail the two organizations (keep it short and polite) and let them know what you think of their wishy-washy stances on the issue of expelling Jews from their homes in the Land of Israel.

Write the Orthodox Union at: ipa@ou.org and breinerf@ou.org

Write the Rabbinical Council of America at: info@rabbis.org

The clock is ticking, and there is no time to waste. We must raise our voices now on behalf of the Jews in Gush Katif and northern Samaria, and pray for Divine mercy at this critical hour. The future of our people, and of our Land, is at stake.

The Jerusalem Post, August 3, 2005

The Silence of American Jewry

By Michael Freund

The bulldozers are revving up, thousands of protesters are taking to the streets, and Israel's security forces are practicing mock evacuations – but that hasn't stopped the bulk of American Jewry from striking a shamefully casual pose of inexplicable silence.

With just two weeks remaining before the start of the proposed withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria, an event that could prove to be one of the most wrenching and painful in all of Israel's modern history, one would have expected US Jews to be in an uproar.

Sure, you'll find an occasional article on the subject, and perhaps even a protest or two, but there is little passion informing the debate and, quite frankly, not much of a debate taking place on the subject at all.

With the exception of a handful of groups such as the Zionist Organization of America and Americans for a Safe Israel, it is as if much of the organized American Jewish community has chosen to disengage itself precisely when Israel faces one of its most divisive moments ever.

Take, for example, the intimidation and harassment faced by opponents of the withdrawal in Israel, numerous cases of which have been documented in recent months.

In the past, American Jews have consistently shown themselves to be among the most vocal of critics when it comes to issues of human rights and civil liberties, both domestically and abroad.

Nonetheless, despite a series of disturbing developments, ranging from the singling out of religious Jews by Israel's police to the illegal detention of minors, the American Jewish community has largely fallen silent, failing to raise its voice against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's heavy-handed tactics.

Even the underlying moral issue at stake here – whether a Jewish government should be forcing Jews out of their homes in the Jewish state – has hardly received the airing it deserves.

Regardless of whether they support or oppose the pullout, how is it possible for so many American Jews to utter barely a peep when such a momentous issue is confronting the Jewish state? Have they become so disconnected from life in Israel that they fail to appreciate the importance of the current situation?

This state of dormancy is not limited to a particular sector of US Jewry. But nowhere has it been more palpable, or more startling, than among the Orthodox leadership, whose constituency has perhaps the strongest ties of any group to the Jews of Gush Katif.

Indeed, for all their outspoken stances on a range of other issues, many of America's Orthodox leaders have been unusually reticent when it comes to the Gaza expulsion plan, preferring to avoid taking a clear stance on the issue, or sidestepping it altogether.

And so, in recent months, the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) chose to release just one statement regarding the withdrawal, the same number of statements that were released on issues such as downloading material from the Internet and utilizing gambling as a fundraising tool in the Jewish community.

BUT WHEREAS the RCA at least had the moral courage to take a stand against gambling, it failed to muster a similar level of clarity when it came to Sharon's gamble with Jewish lives known as the Gaza withdrawal plan.

Incredibly, its statement on the proposed withdrawal takes no position on the issue, simply stating that "If an evacuation occurs, it should be done with the greatest sensitivity and honor." In other words, as far as the RCA is concerned, if you are going to throw thousands of innocent human beings out of their homes, at least make sure to do it with a smile.

Then there is the Orthodox Union (OU), the venerable organization that aims to serve as the central voice of Orthodox Jews in the United States and Canada. A month ago the group issued a statement that, despite being long-winded, also failed to delineate a clear stance regarding the Gaza retreat.

To its credit, the OU has taken Sharon to task for his government's "indifference to civil liberties," but it has still refused to condemn the expulsion itself, instead invoking slogans about a diversity of views among their membership.

Apparently, some Orthodox leaders seem to think that political convenience trumps Jewish law. They would do well to recall the words of Maimonides, who noted in his Mishneh Torah that it is a biblical commandment for Jews to cry out to God when we are beset by a national crisis or trauma, such as when land is about to be taken away from the Jewish people.

In the Laws of Fast Days, Maimonides warns that if the Jewish people "do not call out and do not blow the shofar, but rather say that this is happening to us because it is the way of the world," they will inevitably bring still further trouble upon themselves and their brethren.

In other words, remaining silent is simply not an option. Inaction also has consequences, and American Jews deserve to know where their leaders stand, and whether they are for or against the proposed retreat.

The sad state of affairs of the Orthodox leadership in America was best summed up by a recent editorial in the Brooklyn-based Orthodox weekly, The Jewish Press, which said, "Rabbis, where are you? Rabbis of Agudath Israel, rabbis of the Orthodox Union, rabbis of the RCA: Why are you not crying out until your prayers reach Heaven? Why are you not leading us?"

At a time of such great turmoil and upheaval for the Jewish people, it is a question that deserves an answer.

Sharon's Charm Offensive

Perhaps sensing the mounting opposition that his proposed withdrawal from Gaza is engendering, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has launched a concerted effort to improve his image among the Right.

In recent weeks, Sharon has reportedly been holding secret meetings with leaders of Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, and he has begun to take certain measures designed to show that he is still a “right-winger” at heart.

Today, for example, Sharon told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel should move ahead with construction of some 3,500 housing units designed to link Jerusalem with the community of Maale Adumim to its east, much to the chagrin of the Palestinians.

In the same meeting, he also described Hebron as being a “strategic Jewish asset”, clearly intending to imply that it would remain under Israeli control.

To be sure, such statements are a welcome breath of fresh air, if only because they indicate that the Prime Minister has no intention of returning to Israel’s 1967 borders.

But it would be a mistake to put too much faith in these remarks, since it is clear that they are designed primarily to pacify public dismay over the unilateral retreat from Gaza.

Moreover, talk is cheap, and it costs Sharon nothing to say that he will build, or hopes to build, or would like to build. What counts is what he chooses to do, not what he deems to say. And thus far, he has yet to build much of anything.

Likewise, it was not too long ago that he was describing the Gaza Jewish community of Netzarim in much the same terms that he is now using with regard to Hebron – and we all know what happened there.

So don’t let the premier’s “charm offensive” fool you – because that is precisely what it is designed to do. It is little more than a verbal distraction from the impending expulsion of thousands of Jews from their homes – and there is nothing even remotely charming about that.

Rest in Peace?

There’s a story that was posted yesterday on Maariv’s website that is nothing short of chilling.

It seems that as part of the preparations for a possible withdrawal from Gaza, the military rabbinate is busy drawing up plans to dig up the Jewish cemetery in Gush Katif and remove the 43 graves contained there (which include those of people killed by Palestinian terrorists as well as 4 Israeli soldiers).

Unnamed sources in the military rabbinate told Maariv that “this is an extremely sensitive subject, since Jewish law speaks against removing the dead from his burial place.”

The article also notes that the military rabbinate will not compel family members to agree to move the graves of their loved ones, but they will “recommend” such a step.

The fear, of course, hardly needs to be spelled out – if a Jewish cemetery were to be left in place in Gaza after a withdrawal, one can only imagine how it would be treated by the euphoric Palestinians. Anyone remember what they did to Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem (Nablus) in the autumn of 2000?

It probably hasn’t occurred to our courageous leaders – but what does it all this say about our ostensible Palestinian partners? They won’t let us live in peace, and they won’t even let our dead rest in peace.

And if that is the case, giving them still more territory from which to attack the Jewish state hardly seems like a wise move to make.

Don't Tread on Us!!

Few affronts to our national pride are as upsetting and as shameful as the situation on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

The holiest site to the Jewish people is effectively run by the Muslim Wakf, which does as it pleases, never missing an opportunity to thumb its nose at Israel’s sovereignty over the area.

Headed by a Palestinian-appointed Mufti, the Wakf has systematically destroyed priceless antiquities dating back to the Temple era with the aim of erasing any evidence of the Jewish presence that once flourished there. They impose severe restrictions on Jews wishing to visit the Mount, and also refuse to allow Jews to exercise their right to freedom of worship there.

Now, adding insult to injury, Yediot Aharonot reports that Muslim construction workers have carved a half-meter tall inscription of the word “Allah” in Arabic on the Temple Mount’s Eastern Wall (see the photo to the left).

As archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, a spokesman for the Committee to Prevent the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount, told the paper: “This breaks the Antiquities Law; these people are supposed to renovate and fix the wall, not commemorate names (on it), and certainly not names that are irrelevant.”

But don’t expect Israel’s Government or police to do much, if anything, about this. Driven by fear, Israeli officials have essentially stood by and watched as the Wakf has repeatedly trampled on our national dignity and desecrated the place where Solomon’s Temple once stood.

In light of such apathy towards our holiest of places –it should come as no surprise that our Government now wishes to turn over territory to our foes and throw innocent people out of their homes.

After all, those who do not care about our sacred roots in this soil will hardly see anything wrong with uprooting that which has been planted.

So, as long as this country allows its honor to be sullied in the heart of Jerusalem, with nary a peep of protest, our national humiliation is almost certain to continue to worsen.

Hello! Is Anyone Listening?

If only they would listen.

If only Israel’s leaders would pay attention, and start taking a little more seriously just what the Palestinians themselves are saying. If they did, they might actually learn a thing or two about just how ill-advised the planned withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria really is.

Take, for example, the remarks of Hamas leader Ahmad al-Bahar, who told the Jerusalem Post the other day:

The painful and qualitative blows which the Palestinian resistance dealt to the Jews and their soldiers over the past four-and-a-half years led to the decision to withdraw from the Gaza Strip… Hamas's heroic attacks exposed the weakness and volatility of the impotent Zionist security establishment. The withdrawal marks the end of the Zionist dream and is a sign of the moral and psychological decline of the Jewish state. We believe that the resistance is the only way to pressure the Jews.

In other words, as far as Hamas is concerned, the “lesson” they have learned from Israel’s plan to withdraw is that violence is the most effective way for them to achieve their objectives. For obvious reasons, that is a very dangerous message – one that is definitely not in Israel’s interests to be sending.

Moreover, take a look at what Abu-Musab, a senior Palestinian terrorist who serves as commander of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in northern Gaza, had to say about the current “calm” prevailing in the region: "What’s happening now isn’t considered a calm. It’s merely a warrior’s rest. When the confrontation renews, we’ll be back with methods and tools never before seen."

Thus, even the current “lull” in attacks, as the terrorists themselves make clear, is merely a tactical ploy designed to give them a chance to rest and fight another day. It does not represent a strategic move by the terrorists away from violence. Nonetheless, the government continues to adopt a softer approach, refraining from carrying out targeted killings of terrorists or large-scale counter-terror operations.

I guess that our Government is simply so smart that they feel they need only to listen to themselves – but if past experience is any guide, they would do well to pay attention to what our foes are saying.

Because unlike our own leaders, the Palestinians usually mean what they say.