Whether you’re sitting in Lincoln, drinking coffee on a
Sunday morning with your bike-riding friends, or sitting in Jerusalem, drinking
coffee in a café on Ben Yehudah Street with friends and family members, the
conversation often turns to pursuing peace.
The topic of pursuing peace is very much part of our Jewish
psyche. Judaism’s wisdom on the subject,
however, does not provide us with a set of rational problem-solving skills that
we need to acquire in order to settle conflicts. Rather, it provides us with role models whom
we should emulate as we attempt to settle conflicts. Although today’s Torah
portion is called Pinchas after the religious zealot who killed an Israelite
male and Moabite female who were cohabiting, Pinchas is not considered a role
model for us. We recognize that Pinchas
was rewarded with a brit shalom, a covenant of peace, by G-d, but the word
Shalom in that passage is written with a broken vav, because it is felt that
peace obtained through violence is not complete. The Rabbis who commented on this portion also
felt that Pinchas was not a hero because
he took the law into his own hands. By
acting with violence he could have started a chain reaction of revenge by the
loved ones of the two victims. Thus, he
was given a covenant of peace to stop the continuation of such violence.
So if Pinchas, the religious zealot is not a role model for
us then who is? The answer is
simple. Aharon, the brother of Moshe, is
to be our role model as a pursuer of peace. In the Mishna we read that “Hillel
says: Be of the students of Aaron, A
lover of peace, A pursuer of peace (rodef shalom), A lover of people, Who
brings them closer to Torah.” In the commentary about Mishna Avot by Rabbi
Shmuel de Uceda (a 16th century Rabbi and mystic from Sfat) we read
that “It is possible that he (Hillel) said “be of the students of Aaron, and
did not (just) say be a lover of peace” since every person in their own eyes is
a lover of peace, and even if he is a person of strife and conflict, he does not
see any fault with himself.”
We are told that when Aaron died, the entire Jewish
community wandering in the wilderness mourned his death for 30 days. They felt his passing because he was known
for placing peace between quarreling individuals or between husband and wife. Everyone loved him because he was
inclusive. He avoided doing what he knew
was hateful to himself to others. When
Aaron died, the Israelites “had lost a role model who
exemplified how one can be passionate about one's beliefs, strong willed about
one's convictions, and yet remain kind and loving to everyone with whom one
interacts.” (Rabbi Tzvi Sobolofsky)
A popular folktale about Aaron says
that when two individuals were fighting, Aaron would go to the first one and
say to him, "You know, I was talking with your friend, and he was saying
he's feeling really badly about the fight you have been having, and he wants to
make peace." Then Aaron would go to the other individual and say, "I
ran into your friend, and he was telling me that he's feeling really badly
about the fight you have been having, and he wants to make peace with
you." When the two individuals encountered each other, they would each
assume the other wanted to make peace. They would embrace and set their
argument aside.”
The action of pursuing peace that we
see via Aaron is not that of arbitrating between two conflicting sides. It is the action of teaching each side to
accept the idea of pluralism, multiple points of view. Rav Kook, who served as the Chief Rabbi of
Israel, once wrote, “There are those who mistakenly think that world peace can
only come when there is a unity of opinions and character traits. Therefore, when scholars and students of
Torah disagree and develop multiple approaches and methods, they think that
they are causing strife and opposing shalom.
In truth, it is not so, because true shalom is impossible without
appreciating the value of pluralism intrinsic in shalom.” (Kook, Olat Reiah, Volume 1).
Two weeks ago, I was in a room at the
Intercontinental David Hotel in Tel Aviv attending the Jewish Agency Assembly
and listening to a varied program of speakers.
I heard Natan Sharansky, Ron Huldai (the Mayor of Tel Aviv), Ehud Ya’ari
(a news commentator), Yuli Edelstein (speaker of the Knesset), Daniel Gordis
(of Shalem College), and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Each gave their own view of the State of
Israel and the challenges facing the Jewish people worldwide. What I came away with from these speakers is
the following: Israel is a pluralistic society
that values human life and always maintains hope for peace even when
negotiations seem to be at a stand-still.
Whether it is opening her doors to Jews from the Ukraine and France who
made up a large portion of the 26,000 who made Aliyah last year; or whether
it’s sharing information with Egypt to help defeat ISIS in the Sinai Peninsula;
or whether it’s providing humanitarian aid to individuals who are being wounded
in the on-going battles in Syria; or whether it’s protecting religious freedom
within her borders so all can worship in their own way and have access to their
holy places; or whether it’s granting full equal rights to women unlike many
other countries in the Middle East ; or whether it’s prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of
sexual orientation, Israel really does strive to build a society based on a
respect for human rights. Does peace
abide in the neighborhood surrounding Israel? Certainly not!
Is all perfect within Israeli society?
Certainly not! But I believe
fully that she strives to make its diversity one of its strengths while
maintaining the hope that a shelter of peace will one day embrace the entire
Land. Peace will not be achieved by
letting Israel’s enemies destroy her. As
the Prime Minister said, such a concept is non-negotiable! Peace will happen
when the world decides that barbarism cannot be given free reign and when there
is an understanding that there is a place in the world for a Jewish state where
Jews have the right to live proudly and be fully recognized among the nations
of the world. May Israel which has
defeated the laws of history by rising out of destruction to create a vibrant
society, be blessed one day with a true and abiding peace.
Shabbat Shalom.
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