"Jewish Values & Human Rights: Sustaining the Moral Vision of Israel" Rabbi Arik Ascherman and Itai Tennenbaum Tuesday May 11th, 2004

   The first question Rabbi Arik Ascherman asks his Israeli audiences is: Are our eyes still directed toward Sinai, the mountain where God gave Moses the tablets containing the ten commandments?

   The question he asks U.S. audiences to finish is “All people are created. . . .?” ‘Equal’ is the answer that comes back in this country. For Ascherman the real answer is “in God’s image,”  an idea that appears in the first chapter of Genesis. This answer is pivotal to most of what Ascherman stands for.   

   Rabbi Jeffrey Wildstein opened the discussion on Tuesday evening at Temple Israel first by introducing Rabbi Arik Ascherman, then Itai Tennenbaum, both Zionist Jews who believe in a Jewish homeland in the Holy Land. They differ however on evaluating how their country is going about establishing security for its citizens.

    Later, in the question period, someone from the audience wondered why Rabbi Wildstein presented two differing opinions, rather than letting Rabbi Ascherman’s remarks stand on their own. Rabbi Wildstein replied that he and the sponsors Brit Tzedek Shalom, a Jewish American peace group, and JCRC (the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota) all wanted a dialogue so that people would have the opportunity to hear both sides of the issue. He then urged the audience to ask challenging questions  which they accommodated him with at the end.

Rabbi Arik Ascherman

   Rabbi Arik Ascherman, ex-director of Rabbis for Human Rights, spoke to a full house about his deeply held understanding of traditional Jewish values and beliefs and how in his mind they are currently being violated in Israel.   RHR is a rabbinic organization that includes representatives of Reform, Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Renewal rabbis and students. It considers itself ‘the rabbinic voice of conscience in Israel,’ and is affiliated with no particular political party. It was formed in 1988 ‘in response to serious abuses of human rights by the Israeli military authorities in the suppression of the Intifada,’ according to RHR informative literature.

   Educated at Harvard, Ascherman now lives in Jerusalem and works to bring his message of a new way to study the Torah to religious and secular citizens of Israel alike.

   Ascherman began his talk by stating that basic Judaism is ‘to be concerned with human rights and social justice.’ This, because ‘all human beings are created in the image of God,’ implying therefore that God is present and deeply involved in what happens to everyone and everything in this world.

   He went on to decry the gaps between Biblical teachings and actual political (and military) policy in many cases in Israel, especially toward Palestinians, even those who are Jewish citizens.

Rabbi Ascherman being detained in the Occupied Lands

   Ascherman is no mere theorist. He described several experiences where his beliefs lead him into conflict with Israeli authorities. One involved standing with Palestinians who were trying to get water for their olive groves, but prevented from doing so by the closing of the gates of the Separation Barrier because of terrorist threats. In an article from the Maariv Newspaper (Oct. 20, 2003), Ascherman stated “The current route (of the Barrier) runs from meters to 6 kilometers inside Palestinian land. Even when we are talking about a few meters, the Barrier cuts the economic lifeline of the many families whose lands fall within those few meters.”

   In the same article, he went on to state that ‘the ROUTE of the Barrier, running through confiscated land with restricted access makes it a human rights issue.’ He made it clear that it is the PLACEMENT of the barrier, not its being, that he objects to.

   He ends the article with these words: “To the extent that we believe in the intrinsic worth of every single human being, each created in God¹s image, there is no justification for creating an unnecessary conflict between the Israeli right to self defense and the Palestinian right to work their land and support themselves with dignity.”

   Ascherman described another incident which led to his arrest. This time he stayed with a Palestinian family in their home as Israeli bulldozers came to demolish it. Finally driven from the home, he and the family watched as it was destroyed. The Rabbi was accused of running in front of bulldozers, interfering with their work and endangering his own life. These charges are still outstanding against him. He writes that perhaps it (this act) ‘symbolizes the fact that there were Jews who stood against this injustice in the name of the Torah.’

   He ended his talk with these words: “The true Zionist is not one who is only physically strong, but who is also morally strong.”

   Itai Tennenbaum was born in Tel Aviv where he lived until he was 10 years old when he moved to Maryland and graduated from high school there. When he was 18, he returned to Israel and joined the Army where he served as as tank commander during the 1982 Lebanon War.

   After the Army, Tennenbaum completed his bachelors degree at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 1998, in honor of Israel’s 50 year anniversary, he wrote and published a book titled Living The Dream.  Since October, 2000, he has been touring the U.S. giving  a series of lectures about Israel. Currently he has taken the position of community Shaliach in Minneapolis.

   Tennenbaum began his remarks by countering Rabbi Ascherman’s picture of Israel as being uniformly heavy handed toward its enemies. He told of a group of retired Israeli officers, all over 30, who volunteered to stand guard at check points along the border. Their thinking was that anyone younger than that did not have the maturity, or experience, to decide how best to spot the enemy and distinguish swiftly and fairly between friend and foe.

   He told about Israeli ambulances, after a suicide bombing, having to stop short of the perimeter of hospitals and be thoroughly searched before they are allowed to carry in their patients, even those seriously wounded, because of the fear of concealed weapons. These ambulances carry Jewish patients as well as Palestinians and having to stop causes everyone to suffer because of terrorism.

Jo Welch-Youngren worked with Harvey Egan in the early days of St. Joan of Arc. At that time she, Cy and Joan Speltz, Nancy Anderson, Darlene Arbuckle, Ferry Deslauriers, and John McGowan made up the staff. We all pitched in and did everything that needed doing and had a ball every day. Jo’s first husband, Jack Welch, was buried from St. Joan’s in 1980. Later she married Dave Youngren, moved to New Mexico, then returned to her roots. Now she and Dave sit on the left side center at the 9:00 o’clock Mass on Sundays and love every minute of it. Jo can be reached at JYoundave@aol.com.

   Tennenbaum defended Israel’s court system, saying that people were given speedy answers to their complaints before competent judges.

   He admitted there were serious violations of human rights on the part of Israeli military, but said that was true on the Palestinian side also. He said there needed to be conversations from all sides on how to deal with their problems.

   At the end, Tennenbaum cited the very real danger Israelis face each day from suicide bombers, then put that alongside the need to maintain human rights. How to achieve that balance he wondered aloud. He explained that he didn’t have the answer, but asked the audience to ask themselves that question and consider how they might answer it.