I write this morning after watching another demonstration of several thousand settlers, gathered first in Sderot, then marching to Ofakim, again with the stated purpose of reaching Gush Katif in an effort to show their support for the residents there. As on prior occasions, the police and the army were determined to prevent the settlers from reaching their goal. Can you picture thousands of soldiers and police standing in solid lines, again without weapons, holding back the oncoming marchers. Several of the leaders of the settlers made some attempts to get through the lines, without success. Of course, media coverage was everywhere. The pictures they broadcast reminded me of the civil rights marches of the 1960's. A different time, a different place, under different circumstances. Was that perhaps, the original model for the settlers?
I am concerned about the role of rabbinic leadership in this situation. Many of the settlers are "religious zionists" and therefore look to their rabbis for direction. At this demonstration, as in others, the rabbis were in the forefront, making speeches against the forthcoming disengagement and the government, leading the marchers toward their prospective goal.
One of the few rabbis who has spoken out against this trend is Rabbi Michael Melchior, an orthodox rabbi, former Chief Rabbi of Denmark, now a member of the Knesset in the Labor faction. He wrote an op-ed column in the August 1st issue of Ha-aretz in which he decries the actions of the spiritual leadership of religious zionism, even from its moderate wings. Rabbi Melchior writes that what is taking place should be of major concern and worry to anyone who cherishes the Torah of Israel and its values.
In the light of the challenges being faced by those who will be asked to leave their homes, schools, greenhouses,and synagogues, everyone should be speaking a different language: a Jewish, humane, ethical, sensitive language. This apprently, has not been the case.
An interesting sidelight: The World Congress of Jewish Studies is meeting this week in Jerusalem. Among the questions not on the agenda have been--what do the roots of the rebellion against the disengagement have to do with the closing of the Talmud Department at Tel Aviv University? A great deal. What is the connection between rabbinical invective and the decline in the popularity of Judaic Studies in the universities? It is very direct. Here is the connection: the false identification of Judaism with political fanaticism. A moment in which settlers, waving the flag of faith, are preparing to bring down the gates of Gaza.
The front page of this morning's Ha-aretz carries a headline: "Much depends on the rabbis' ruling". The residents of the Gaza strip are waiting for next Sunday, when the Gush Katif rabbis are due to publish their fateful guidelines that will finally decide whether they should leave their homes--surrender. The events of the next few weeks depend to a large extenton the rabbis' decision.
More to come,
Frank