Torah Scholars, Imagined and Real
Rabbi Avi Shafran
Rabbi Avi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America
A phrase on the front page of The New York Times Sunday edition's "Week in Review" section on June 8 rightfully raised some eyebrows and left some mouths agape. The essay in which it appeared, by John Kifner, began by contrasting a Hamas terrorist with Yigal Amir, the man convicted of assassinating Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin in 1995. That, though, wasn't outlandish. While many of us might place political assassinations in a different category from killing random men, women and children, both the Palestinian terrorist and Mr. Amir did in fact embrace violence, and both were wrong to do so. The essay, though, went on to portray the pair as emblematic of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, as the young men had been "driven not just by nationalism but by religion." The Palestinian, it explains, was a devout Muslim; and Amir, "a Torah scholar." How offensive. Yigal Amir, whatever Jewish observance he may or may not have embraced, committed the cardinal sin of murder. Among his motivations may have been some twisted religious zeal (though even that is far from clear; while he invoked G-d and Jewish law during his defense, he also stated bluntly that his motivations were nationalistic, not religious). One thing he most surely was not, however, was a "Torah scholar." That term implies deep knowledge, good judgment and religious authority, and is rightfully reserved for one who has spent many years honing his character and immersed in the study of the texts and traditions of the Jewish religious heritage. Amir may have studied for a time in a yeshiva, but by the time he was 25, when he committed the act that earned him infamy, he had most recently completed three years' army service and was enrolled in a (secular) law program at Bar Ilan University. Though he may well have fancied himself a holy warrior, he was in fact a vigilante with neither Torah credentials nor (as became clear during an investigative dragnet aimed at finding rabbis who may have egged him on) rabbinical guidance. He was, in other words, a college kid caught up in a frenzy of Jewish nationalism. The essay's larger sin, though, was its implication of the baseless notion that intense dedication to the Jewish faith somehow leads to violence. The religious-nationalist movement in Israel, including what the media like to call "settlers" (more accurately, residents of areas captured by Israel in the Six Day War) is comprised of Jews committed to the laws of the Torah. But the overwhelmingly majority of those Jews are non-violent. Yigal Amir does not represent them. And that is an even more understated understatement with regard to Israel's haredim - those whom some of the media subtly slur as the "Ultra-Orthodox." Not only do they eschew violence but most don't even share the basic philosophy of the religious-nationalist camp. While deeply pained at the prospect of relinquishing any of the Land of Israel to non-Jewish control, Israeli haredi leaders have maintained that the first priority in the current conflict must be the protection of life, and most would be willing to accept Israel's territorial compromise if it were to truly help ensure peace. Unfortunately, that "if," at least at present, is a grossly oversized one. Haredi leaders, like most lucid witnesses of current events, are unconvinced that either Palestinian leaders or their followers really want peace. They consider Yasser Arafat an unreformed murderer and will have to be convinced by Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas that he himself is anything else. There are modest grounds for optimism - Mr. Abbas's public acknowledgment of Jewish suffering, his renouncing of terrorism, and his declared determination to bring radical Palestinian terror groups to do the same (though it would seem a task on the order of convincing a leopard to shed his spots). But there is also ample reason to be pessimistic - like Palestinian terrorist groups' condemnation of Mr. Abbas' peaceful words and their renewed murderous attacks - not to mention the new Palestinian Prime Minister's appearance at a press conference alongside the convicted killer of 13 Israelis, or the recent Pew Global Attitudes Project poll that found 80% of Palestinians contending that their needs "cannot be taken care of as long as the State of Israel exists." Those are tragic, depressing realities. But while they may impel the Yigal Amirs of the world to violence, that is not their effect on Torah scholars. The latter, both the Talmud and experience inform us, "increase peace in the world." Posted June 13, 2003
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