And it is at hand, apparently in the form of an orchestrated intimidation campaign launched by supporters of Israel. For now we have the even more significant case of the well-known rabbi Michael Lerner (Tikkum). Here I give you, from Debora Kohn Lerner, in a local N. Cal email (apologies for the length): ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hi!
Rabbi Michael Lerner is under attack and I'd like to ask you to stand up and support him. It probably won't be the last time, either. But most immediately it concerns the situation in the Middle East.
A few weeks ago Rabbi Lerner sent you an article he had written critiquing Ariel Sharon and making clear that part of the impact of the Israeli occupation is that it makes many younger Jews feel conflicted about their Jewish identity--at least to the extent that Jewishness is defined by "the Jewish state" and the images of Occupation. That article was also printed in the Jewish Bulletin of Northern California, a Jewish newspaper that is read by many Bay Area Jews and which is funded, in part, by the donations people make to the Jewish Community Federation. Like most Jewish newspapers, the Jewish Bulletin reports everything that Palesitnians do that is wrong (and there is plenty), but rarely reports anything that Israel does--so most people reading it, for example, are really unaware of the history of Israeli torture of Palestinians, or aware of the thousands of people who have been wounded by Israeli troops since the start of the Intifada II last September.
In response to Rabbi Lerner's article there were a set of attacks on his ideas that appeared ten days ago. But this week the attacks were more personal (like the numerous death threats Lerner receives constantly, and the hate mail we receive but which isn't published in the newspaper). In fact, AIPAC, the American Israel Political Action Committee which has always taken the "Israel-right or wrong, we support its policies unconditionally" stance, has seminars for members to learn how to write aggressive letters, and we've been told that they have begun an aggressive campaign to discredit Rabbi Lerner wherever they can do so around the U.S. Why, you might ask, do they focus on Lerner? Because he is one of the most significant Jewish leaders in the U.S.--and the only one with a national platform who consistently speaks publicly his criticisms of Israeli policies toward Palestinians (though many others share his criticisms, but are afraid to speak out, precisely because of the kinds of attacks he faces).
What's important to note is that people rarely respond with any substantive counter-arguments to his positions. Instead, they try to attack him personally, trying to discredit him as a human being. Or they use shrill attacks on the substance of what he is saying--so shrill that people feel somehow dirtied by reading it. But that's the point--the whole strategy is to make people have a feeling of negativity when they approach his name, so that they are forced to say, "Well, I'm not as extreme as Michael Lerner" or simply to say "I don't want to hear that voice."
And this is what happens to all the critics. One after another, they are personally demeaned to the point that they become ineffective because others have decided, in response to the personal attacks, that they aren't really deserving of attention or respect. It happened to many rabbis in the past who criticized Israeli policies. And it has happened to people like Noam Chomsky (the linguistics professor at MIT who criticized Israeli policy) and to Marc Ellis (a theological thinker who criticized Israeli policy). Now, the focus is Michael Lerner--and I'm sure that it will go on and on in the coming years till the Jewish establishment feels that they've isolated him enough that no one listens to him anymore. So, don't be surprised if your parents, colleagues or others start saying negative things about our rabbi--they will have heard through the grapevine that Lerner is "extreme" or "radical" or, as the letters suggest, "extreme-left." These people, of course, don't really know Lerner, have never read Jewish Renewal, don't read TIKKUN magazine--they base what they say on quotes taken out of context and on a campaign of vilification.
The only way that this can stop is if every time the attacks happen they are met with statements from people who know Rabbi Lerner that say, in effect, "Rabbi Lerner respresents me, and many other people I know--so stop making personal attacks on him, because you are simultaneously attacking many other people who share his moral outrage at the Occupation but who don't even bother to communicate their feelings because they are so turned off by the way you treat people who disagree with you--as evidenced by the disrespectful tones that people take in responding to Rabbi Lerner's perspective. We want you to know that Rabbi Lerner is not an isoalted figure, but a respected part of our Jewish community, a teacher and leader whom we will continue to listen to, and we demand that you stop speaking about him or printing attacks on him that are personal and undignified, and confine your attacks to the substance of what he says, not to the person who is uttering the position. The strategy of killing the messenger won't work--because we won't let it work. there are too many of us with the same message."
I'd like to ask you to write to the Bulletin one of two kinds of letters: If you are not sure you agree with Rabbi Lerner's positions on Israel, you can nevertheless object to personal attacks on him. Or, if you do agree with him, you can make clear to them that Rabbi Lerner is not alone, that you support his position.
The reason why it is so important to speak out is not only to protect our rabbi, but also because NO ONE ELSE IS GOING TO STAND UP AND FEEL SAFE IN CRITICIZING ANY ASPECT OF THE OFFICIAL JEWISH COMMUNITY IF THEY THINK THAT THEY MAY HAVE TO FACE THE SAME DEMEANING THAT RABBI LERNER FACES. THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO CHANGE THAT--FOR PEOPLE TO SEE THAT EACH AND EVERY TIME THESE KINDS OF ATTACKS HAPPEN, THEY ARE MET BY A COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE WHO STAND STRONG AND IN SOLIDARITY. WHEN OTHERS SEE THAT, THEY WILL FEEL MORE SAFE TO SHARE THEIR OWN MORAL CRITIQUES WITHOUT FEELING THAT DOING SO GUARANTEES THEIR ISOLATION OR GUARANTEES THAT THEY HAVE TO PAY A HIGH PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL PRICE.
Thank you so much for anything you write. I am sorry to say that I'll probably have to ask again--this is going to be a long and ongoing struggle. But this is an important thing for you to do. Please send me a copy of whatever you send--because even if they don't print it, the fact that you sent it can be publicized in other ways and demonstrate the lack of openness to dissent.Letters must be not longer than 200 words, and must be dated and signed with the current address and daytime telphone number. Send to the Jewish Bulletin 222 Bush street, Suite 1480, SF Ca 94104-4281. If you don't want to write to the Jewish Bulletin, but do want to do something, please contact your own local media and ask them to start quoting Rabbi Lerner and other writers in Tikkun whenever they deal with representing what Jews are thinking on Israel or any other topic.
Here are the 2 most recent letters from the Jewish Bulletin:
:"Love of Butchers'
Shame, shame shame on Michael Lerner. His love of Palesitnian butchers is a disgrace.
Lerner in the past has been identified with the extreme left, and he remains so in saying "Jewish people are suffering from the impact of the occupation."
We suffer from those who love any extreme-left position, which includes the destruction of Israel.
Harry Lieberman
Berkeley
'Judge and jury'
It is with deep shame, regret and embarrassment that I write this letter as I agaiin read Michael Lerner's Feb. 16 diatribe concerning Israel and Sharon. Why not a war crimes trial against Yasser Arafata, who has spent a lifetime dedicated to killing Jews and the destruction of Israel?
While Ariel Sharon's implication can be debated, Arafat's cannot.
As I glance at the photos of the civilian atrocities promulgated by Arafat, I cringe.. Who is Lerner to be judge and jury of Israel? When was he appointed arbiter of Jewish values and morals?
I am thoroughly ashamed that the Bulletin has given this much space to such a blasphemous article. With friends like Lerner, who needs enemies?
Samuel Barcover
Walnute Creek A note: you see in these letters no reference to Lerner's years of service to the Jewish people, no recognition that his magazine has been bringing people back to Judaism, no recognition of his role at Beyt Tikkun, no recognition of the fact that his son served in the Israeli army with Lerner's permission, no sense of respect. Every word has been chosen to be dismissive, from "extreme left" (though anyone reading Spirit Matters knows that Lerner has critiqued the Left for its failure to connect to Spirit and God), the implication that he supports the destruction of Israel (which he does not), the sense that anyone who criticizes Israel is thereby setting themselves up as "judge and jury" (but is the respondent doing that about Lerner?), and finally the point that Lerner's views should be banned (the Bulletin is criticized for even allowing his views to be publshed, which they very rarely do anyway).
So, please do let me know what you send to the Bulletin.
Thanks for listening. Blessings
Debora Kohn Lerner
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>This is one reason why union protection is so important in private
>workplaces. Union contracts establish the principle that firing and other
>disciplinary actions must be for cause, and that the cause must be sustained
>through due process. Without such protections, you can be fired at will.
>Union contracts are also important in the public sector, notwithstanding the
>limited protections provided by constitutional limits on government action
>which Michael notes. Witness all the attacks on 'tenure,' which simply
>establishes, as a matter of law, that firing must be for cause, and that must
>be sustained by a due process procedure.
> > Unfortunately, in a private workplace, the Constitution does not apply
> and a
> > worker can be fired for any reason at all that does not otherwise
> violate a
> > statute. This is called the doctrine of at-will employment. If the
> > employer is a public entity, such as a public school, the workers do have
> > some limited constitutional protection.
> >
> > Michael Yates
> >
> > Michael Pollak wrote:
> > >
> > > On Mon, 5 Mar 2001, hep wrote:
> > >
> > > > Michael Lopez-Calderon, until last week, taught at a Jewish school in
> > > > Miami. But after the school received, anonymously, reports that he
> > > > had made "pro-Palestine" comments on an email list to which he was
> > > > subscribed, he was fired.
> > >
> > > This has to be illegal, doesn't it? If explicitly firing someone for
> > > something they said outside their job -- way outside, such that it
> has to
> > > be ferretted out -- isn't a violation of the first amendment, what is?
> > > Especially when the speech is political.
> > >
> > > Michael