Rabbi's Corner... Rabbi's Message When our relationships tell us one thing, and the words out of our neighbor’s collective mouthpiece another, where do we stand? Last month the Presbyterian Church released its “Revised” statement on “Vigilance against Anti-Jewish Ideas and Bias.” The revisions transform what was a step in healing strains between the national Presbyterian leaders and the Jewish community into a document that promotes rather than denounces anti-Jewish ideas and bias. This statement is antithetical to the continuing strong ties that our congregation has had with local Presbyterians. Last spring Senior Pastor Joe Ward of West Raleigh Presbyterian Church accompanied our congregational trip to Eastern Europe to serve as a witness to the healing process of returning our Torah to Hermanuv Mestic. Our relationship with Dr. Art Ross and White Memorial Presbyterian Church extend back over a decade and include ongoing, joint efforts to bridge interfaith understanding and to serve the needy in our community. How do we reconcile the local facts on the ground with the damaging proclamations from the Presbyterian national body? Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, joined presidents of national Jewish organizations in issuing a letter decrying the Church’s Statement. The letter offers insight into the divisiveness that the Presbyterian statement has initiated. These excerpts offer some understanding of the depth of the issues: “Candor compels us to respond … clearly to the “expanded” and “revised” publication of “Vigilance against Anti-Jewish Ideas and Bias,” and to tell you as plainly as we know how that the new statement marks a new low-point in Presbyterian-Jewish relations. “The revised statement, which is currently prominently displayed on your website, does more to excuse anti-Semitism and foster anti-Jewish motifs then it does to dispel them…. “The initial statement contained many important elements that are now absent, including: an acknowledgement of complicity in existing
anti-Jewish attitudes, a deep and thorough analysis of Palestinian
liberation theology and the adverse characterization it often projects on the Jewish community, and most importantly a tone that is conciliatory and reflecting the spirit of true dialogue and respect. Now we have a statement that is completely unbalanced in its appraisal of the
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, which contains veiled threats of “divestment”, and which completely undoes much of the positive
language … presented in the initial draft. Indeed, this document reads as a blueprint for how to engage in anti-Israel activity without being accused of anti-Semitism. “The most troubling revision … is the deletion of one sentence: “We Presbyterians aspire to build positive and respectful relations with our neighbors in the Jewish community, based on an honest exploration of the close ties between our two faith traditions and our shared concerns for peace and justice.” These grave developments in national Presbyterian-Jewish relations must not define nor mar our local efforts to strengthen ties and to work with our neighbors for peace and justice. Indeed the strain nationally challenges us to redouble our own efforts locally to assure that the facts of our relationship on the ground ring out in united resound, and to prove that acts of reconciliation will always trump words of polity.
:: top of page :: |
|
