On Khan El Akhmar, The Abuse of Power and the “Us” In The Promise
PASSOVER THOUGHTS 5775
Rabbi Arik W. Ascherman
RHR President and Senior Rabbi
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Confiscation of solar panels from Khan el Akhmar
One of my excuses for sending out our annual Haggadah supplement and my thoughts so late (The other being my son’s Bar Mitzvah this past Shabbat) is the emergency call we received on Wednesday, as Civil Administration officials surrounded the Jahalin encampment in Khan El-Akhmar in order to confiscate newly delivered solar panels. Rabbis Yehiel Grenimann, Jeremy Milgrom and I were among those that rushed to stand with our friends.
Frantic efforts to contact anybody who might be able to halt this abuse of power on the eve of Passover were to no avail. Feeling a combination of powerlessness and bitter irony at how completely the State of Israel was betraying the Torah’s repeated command not to wrong the non-Jew living among us because we had been in that very position in the land of Egypt, I began to read out again and again the Torah commentary of Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch to Exodus 22;20 that I so often quote, and can be found in our Haggadah supplement. The bottom line being, “Any suppression of human rights opens the gate to the indiscriminate use of power and abuse of human beings that is the root of the entire abomination of Egypt.” This made me dangerous. I soon had to sit down and continue to shout out the words of Rabbi Hirsch, while refusing to be escorted further away.
Some of the police officers actually were willing to engage in discussion, but it was quite circular. They repeatedly returned to their bottom line, “The solar panels, and this entire encampment, are illegal.” I kept challenging Israel’s right to unilaterally determine what is illegal. I told them that I would leave aside international law not accepted by Israel stipulating that an occupying power cannot interfere in civilian affairs that are not a matter of military necessity (One officer actually defined our desire to control the land as military necessity). However, I asked, how would they feel if somebody would take over their community and tell them that they would have unilateral authority to determine where and what they could build. One officer countered, “If you visit Italy, you don’t have any say in determining the laws there!”
Some of you may recall that Rabbi Hirsch also said those with all the power in their hands cannot be allowed to make the rules. Even with the best of intentions, he says it “borders on criminality.” Wednesday reminded me just why we are returning to Israel’s High Court on April 12th for a second discussion of our demand to end to permit related home demolitions by restoring to Palestinian hands planning and zoning authority for Palestinian communities. (We are cautiously hopeful that the judge’s decision to schedule a second hearing is a good sign.)
I hope I am wrong, and we must maintain our faith that if God could harden Pharaoh’s heart, God can also open hearts. However, our recent election results indicate that we are likely to be facing more Egypt like abuse of power towards Palestinians. Although it has been in the offing way before the elections, I feel that it may be all too necessary that RHR is planning an internal reorganization under which I will reassume direct responsibility for RHR’s field work in the Occupied Territories. I am proud of the fact that the Israeli public housing coalition which I helped found has made public housing one of the most talked about issues in the Knesset and in the recent elections, and will continue to be active in the Ma’abarah, the Jerusalem public housing collective I also helped found. However, the time has come to turn this project over to the capable hands of the Director of our Socioeconomic Justice Department, Rabbi Idit Lev (Who will be in New York in late April and early May, and has time for additional talks and meetings.). Rabbi Kobi Weis, who has done incredible things working with public housing tenants in Beit Shean, will assume the day to day responsibilities for the project. Rabbinic student Yonatan Shefa, who has been assisting Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann in the Occupied Territories, will assume the directorship of our new Interreligious Department. Rabbi Grenimann will become the senior advisor to that department, among other new responsibilities. All that RHR does is incredibly important, and I have never wanted to be “pegged” as being concerned only about one group or another. However, I do have a feeling that where I am going to be most needed is defending the rights of non-Jews.
And finally, this brings me to the passage in the Haggadah that my son loves, and I have found more and more difficult in recent years, “V’Hee Sh’Amdah, “”This Promise (God’s Promise of redemption) has stood for our ancestors and for us. For not just one enemy has stood against us to destroy us. Rather, in every generation there are those who arise to destroy us. And the Holy One of Blessing saves us from them.” We write in the RHR Haggadah supplement “Our awareness that, ‘In every generation there are those who arise to destroy us’ often causes us to harden our hearts, perceive hatred where it does not exist and justify the oppression of others.” The awareness is based on reality, but the question is what do we do with that awareness. Does the memory of Egyptian slavery allow us to justify putting our welfare above the welfare of non-Jews, or sensitize us our obligations both to ourselves and to others?
Who is the “us” for whom the Promise stands?
Those who are excluded from the “us” can be many. In Israel they include fellow Israelis living in poverty, African asylum seekers, Israeli Arabs and Palestinians. However, as we witness the coalition negotiations in which several parties are pressing demands to improve the lot of Israelis living in poverty, we see no such concern for non-Jews. And yes, there are those in the world for whom Israelis are certainly not part of their “us.”
On this festival of freedom, may we liberate ourselves and God’s Promise from all of our self imposed constraints. When we sing “V’Hee Sh’Amdah” on seder night, let us do so with the awareness that the Promise of the God of all humanity is a promise for an “us” that includes all humanity. Let us strengthen our resolve to be agents of that promise, standing with the Jahalin of Khan El-Akhmar, the public housing tenants of Beit Shean and the African asylum seekers jailed in Holot.
Khag Kherut Sameakh (Wishing you a joyous and liberating festival of freedom),
Arik
P.S. Occupied Territories Field Department Director Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann will be in Leuven, Belgium April 20th-2nd, in Antwerp on April 24th, In Frankfurt, German from April 24th-27th, and in Koln on the 28th.
RHR Socioeconomic Justice Department Director will be in the New York Area, and possibly in additional locations, April 27th – May 10th. She has time available for additional presentations and meetings.
I will be in North America May 15th-June 7th, starting in Chicago and including the San Francisco Bay Area, Stamford, L.A., Seattle and the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area. I do have open dates.
For more information, and/or to schedule an RHR speaker, please contact Sara Zur at rhr.sara@gmail.com.
P.S.S. With the incorporation of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel as an RHR department, we are excited to invite you to contact us about arranging a custom 7-14 day Educational Seminar in Israel appropriate for synagogues, interfaith groups, etc. Please contact Ophir Yarden at education@icci.org.il.
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