Religion and the Middle East

By Rev. L. Humphrey Walz

New Outlook was founded in 1957 when the Franco-British-Israeli invasion of Egypt was worrying conscientious, conciliatory Arabs and Israelis over the possibilities of their peoples' ever coexisting harmoniously. Simha Flapan, the magazine's first and long-time editor, backed by a mixed Arab-Jewish board and staff, promptly opened its pages to differing—sometimes conflicting but always candid and constructive—views on facts, standards, changes, and actions requisite for stable, mutually beneficial progress. Since Arabic and Hebrew, though related, do differ, New Outlook's ten issues per year have emerged from Tel Aviv in English, the common second language of both parties.

The magazine's articles on religious doctrines, ideas, institutions, and actions are relatively few, but always fresh and trenchant. I want to report on a few such articles here.

Religion and the State: One Rabbi's Outlook

Menachem Hacohen, rabbi of Israel's Moshav movement and a dovish Labor Party Knesset Member, sets an example to be followed by any religious patriot in any land. His condemnations of morally unacceptable attitudes and conduct by either government officials or the general public are frequent, to the point, and always accompanied by appropriate Biblical quotations remedially applied.

"Extremism is not a new phenomenon in Israel, whether among secular or religious Jews," he declares in a recent New Outlook article entitled "Torah and the Modern State". "Unfortunately," he continues, "it has become the dominant factor in the religious community in recent years."

"The Bible makes it clear," he writes, "that Jews have no right or need to live in the Land of Israel if they do not live a praiseworthy, principled life .... Individual human life, not territory, is at the center of Jewish tradition .... Judaism also offers values that should dictate our behavior toward Arab citizens of the country. Based on a deeply-rooted humanistic approach, the Jewish attitude toward minorities is strongly at odds with (Knesset Member Rabbi) Meir Kahane's racist ideas. It also runs contrary to the rabbis in Jerusalem who recently expressed opposition to the rental of apartments to Arabs."

Rabbi Hacohen concludes with an appeal to support "those institutions trying to strengthen the religious, humanistic outlook" such as the Sapir Institute in Jerusalem, "where seminars attract thousands of youths each year, and the two religious peace movements, Netivot Shalom (Paths to Peace) and Oz V'Shalom (Strength and Peace). Rabbi Hacohen sees these groups as in accord with the Passover tradition that "in order to appreciate freedom the Jewish people had to feel the subjective meaning of enslavement. This is reinforced in the Bible where, 36 times, we can read, 'And you loved the stranger because you were strangers in the Land of Egypt.' To counteract the risk that a people once enslaved will be tempted to enslave others, Jewish tradition places a special emphasis on the need to respect strangers. This is a message worth repeating many times over."

Leibowitz Speaks Out

New Outlook hails Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz as "the recognized 'conscience' of the state,: and in a recent issue he sheds some light on the religio-political situation in Israel. Jews, Leibowitz says, "have never had it so good all over the world as they do today." In his judgement, "there is only one spot on Earth where Jews exist in a state of permanent danger, and that, ironically, is in Israel!"

Part of this anomaly, as he sees it, stems from those who still cling to the dictum of founding father David Ben-Gurion: "I will never accept separation of state and religion. I wish the state to hold religion in its hand."

To this Leibowitz replied, and continues to reply, "No state in the world has the right to interfere with morality, with faith .... Religion has to function as a moral balance or a counterpart of the state. Separation of the two is absolutely essential. However, the official Jewish religion today is the kept woman of secular power."

With the tradition of "the messianic visions and prophetic ideals culled from the highest and deepest realm of Judaism" in mind, he warns: "If we continue on the road to maintaining violent domination over another people, depriving some 2,000,000 human persons of civil and political rights, (Israel) will necessarily turn into a fascist state."

The Political Uses of (Distorted) Scripture

In New Outlook's July issue, another important religio-political issue was discussed at some length: Eti Ronel outlined how some Israeli leaders take portions of Scripture out of context, and use the distorted passages to reinforce prejudices and justify discriminatory behavior. In advancing his point, Ronel, a correspondent for the Hebrew-language newspaper al-Hamishmar cites "religious progressives" like Rabbi Michael Nahorei of Bar-Ilan University.

Nahorei, Ronel reports, confronts the Gush Emunim claim that the instruction to the ancient Hebrews to "wipe out the memory of Amelek" warrants the present-day elimination of Israel's Arab neighbors. This interpretation, he tells his students, ignores the historical context of the passage and: "To tear a verse out of context ... is like erasing 'thou shalt not' when it appears in the Ten Commandments. It is like telling people, 'Steal, commit adultery, kill."'

To illustrate the importance of such stands, Ronel points to the 1965 Israel Defense Forces Central Command's briefing pamphlet for religious soldiers, which states "You should kill the best of Gentiles." Ronel credits Yeshayahu Liebman with promoting the Knesset debate that ultimately led to the shelving of that pamphlet.

Bnei Akiva, the Israeli national religious movement, Ronel continues, has recently published a booklet illustrating how Jewish sources contain many different approaches to relations with Gentiles. Sephardic Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu appears as holding that Halacha (post-Biblical Jewish law) forbids selling or renting property to Arabs in any area of Israel inhabited, or soon to be inhabited, by Jews. However, the booklet also includes an article by the late Chief Rabbi, Yitzhak Halevy Hertzog, which "refutes the contention that Halacha forbids the presence of Arabs in a Jewish state." And leading religious dove Aviezer Revitsky, Ronel states, has taken a firm public stance against Rabbi Moshe Levinger's "Biblical" putsch to revoke or restrict the voting rights of Arabs in Israel.

Christian-Muslim Dialogue in Milwaukee

The Milwaukee Catholic Herald recently carried the banner headline: "ISLAM -most similar yet least understood." over an article refuting the "false impressions" (that) damage Christian-Muslim relations. In keeping with the Second Vatican Covenent directive, the long-established Catholic weekly (vol. 116, No. 20) noted that "As events in the Middle East focus ... attention on that part of the Muslim world, it is imperative that Christians and Americans in general learn about Islam."

The Herald also interviewed key members of the Milwaukee Archdiocese's Islamic-Christian Dialogue: "'Catholic' means universal," declared Sister Lucille Walsh. "If we are going to exclude 800 million people from our ambit, then we cannot call ourselves Catholic." Her colleague at Cardinal Stritch College, Sister Jessine Reiss, added that "The job is mammoth, but I think we're making ripples."

The Rev L. Humphrey Walz, retired associate executive director of the Presbyterian Synod of the Northeast and founding editor of The Link, is active in Christian-Jewish interfaith dialogue.