I must profoundly disagree with the idea that by stating that laws discriminating against non-Jews and concepts that declare non-Jews to be less than human should not be seen as representing authentic Judaism we are erasing an entire legitimate half of Jewish tradition.
First of all, the Teshuva (which your respondents have not read) clearly states that the concept of the chosen people – making a distinction between Jews and non-Jews – is not discriminatory if interpreted correctly. It does not make Jews superior to anyone but gives us a special mission. The teshuvah also clearly demonstrates that the positive attitude toward non-Jews is the basic one in the Torah and is also dominant in rabbinic thought. It shows how great figures in our rabbinic tradition, such as Gamliel and Akiva, changed and nullified rabbinic laws and concepts that were discriminatory, as did medieval authorities. Most importantly, it makes the point that such laws and concepts are dangerous and lead to violence and to acts that we cannot possibly countenance.
Here in Israel we have seen this all too well in attacks on non-Jews, desecration of Churches and mosques, the burning alive of an Arab youth, the burning of Arab homes – all the result of teachings that non-Jews are inferior to Jews. We see it in the rulings of state rabbis that one may not rent to Arabs or that non-Jews have no right to live in Israel. We must ask ourselves what our attitude would be if these same things were said about Jews by Christians or Muslims. For example – we have the saying “the best of gentiles should be slain.†What if they taught, “The best of Jews should be slain� What if they had a law that if one kills a non-Jew one will be tried for murder, but if killing a Jews cannot be tried? Or a law that says that under certain circumstances one can rescue a non-Jew but not a Jew?
If there is one thing we must learn from the Shoah it is that anything that teaches than one group in superior to another leads inevitably to mass slaughter. Therefore we have a moral duty to eliminate such teachings from our own tradition. Not everything that appears in our literature comes under the rhetoric of “both these and those are words of the Living God.†The task that we have as educators is to formulate ways of teaching our tradition that will not lead to hatred and discrimination but will create Jews who are proud of their Jewishness but still believe that all humans are created in the Divine image and must be treated as such.
Reuven Hammer
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2016 07:42AM by mlb.
