To the Editor:
I am writing in response to some of the feedback to the coverage of this year’s Jewish Cultural Festival sponsored by Chabad. After one too many times entering a Jewish space and being branded a monster and baby killer, I neared the festival grounds in defensive mode. The protesters were there, a small, quiet group holding signs that said “Jewish Culture, Yes; Zionism, No.” There was nothing physically threatening about them. But I kept mulling over what Judaism becomes without our relationship to Israel. How do we celebrate our holidays or recite our prayers? “Hear O, Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is One.” Would this seminal prayer that launched the foundation of monotheism become moot? This so-called peaceful protest was in reality a call for the destruction of a nation.
It was also a call to silence the speaker, Lior Raz, because he served (as is mandatory) in the Israel Defense Forces. And it was a protest against “Fauda,” the TV show Raz co-created and stars in, informed by his experiences in an antiterrorism unit. It is hard to watch, rife with moral ambiguity. Stories are meant to complicate our thinking, not confirm what we think we know. Raz has a right to share his story; we are cowards if we can’t abide him telling it.
To the writers who attend my workshops —those of color, the devout Christians, the keffiyeh wearers, the immigrants, the Jews, the various gender identities — I say read widely, even that which makes you squirm. It’s how we learn to receive each other’s diverse experiences. It’s a practice we all must bring into our lives.
I flinched when Raz suggested we give the protesters the finger. Still, I can understand his ire. He was invited into our community, and was met by people who found his very presence and his homeland offensive. I flinched again when he said he had no hope for a two-state solution because “these people are vicious.” Can we agree that Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, the IRGC are vicious?
But Raz is not the real problem, according to one response; it’s Chabad itself, which the writer called a messianic cult (based on a Wikipedia entry). He thinks Chabad owes an apology to the community seemingly for its very existence. This is a direct attack on a religious institution which seeks to foster greater involvement in Jewish life and practice. This sounds pretty much like any other religious movement, although unlike Christianity and Islam, Jews don’t proselytize, so Chabad isn’t going to swallow the world. The Jewish High Holy Days are coming within weeks. I don’t want to enter synagogue in defensive mode, but I can’t imagine how I won’t. I hope I will leave unfurled.
Judith Hannan
Chilmark and Brooklyn, N.Y.
