Last night Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun spoke at a Conservative synagogue, the Sons of Israel, in Nyack, NY. There were 100 people on hand to hear Lerner say that the Israel/Palestine issue reflects a global struggle between those who believe in a selfish materialist model of human society and those who believe in kindness, caring, and generosity. There must be a transformation of social consciousness before the I/P issue can be resolved. And for anyone who thinks he’s dreaming, Lerner said, consciousness has been transformed before: the patriarchy was broken down by brave feminists who were told they were crazy. If a community wills something, it can change itself. Occupy Wall Street is on the right track.
No talk of two states or one state, the peace process or any of that. Lerner is a visionary in the mold of his mentor Rabbi Abraham Heschel, and he likes to operate in the spiritual sphere. He has started a network of spiritual progressives, to push a “Global Marshall Plan” to reduce inequities worldwide. Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota has introduced legislation backing that idea.
Julie Wiener of Jewish Voice for Peace asked Lerner if he was for the TIAA Cref divestment campaign that targets companies that produce “tools of the violence of the occupation.”
Lerner said he does. “We don’t support BDS with respect to the state of Israel, but we do support it with respect to the Occupied Territories.”
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb rose to say, “I want to open up a space for a conversation about Israel/Palestine.”
She spoke for several minutes, and Lerner sat down on the dais. He and Gottlieb are old friends. It was a nice gesture of respect. Gottlieb went on:
“Here’s the thing. Palestinians are in no mood for dialogue with us right now. Because here’s the word, occupation. Here’s the second word, human rights… These words might make us feel very uncomfortable. They will make us feel very uncomfortable.
“But the reality of the dailyness of occupation is so intense it’s very hard to open up a dialogue … Love and generosity without a framework of human rights is really hard to pull off. Because people are facing militarism in their daily lives. And that is why there is a huge Palestinian movement, not for love, not for peace right now, but for nonviolence.
“And I feel that the Jewish community, if we’re going to talk about religion, we have lost this value of non violence. We support militarism in our relationship with Israel.”
Gottlieb spoke of American drones– a lot of the technology came from Israel. And Elbit the wall maker is working on our border walls.
She said we must end the “support of militarism as a way of relating to the Palestinian people.”
I bet the crowd was 2/3 Jewish. But Gottlieb was speaking most directly to the Jewish community.
Lerner responded that he’s all for ending the occupation, right now, but this is like feminists calling for equal pay for equal work and an end to sexual harassment 40 years ago. Deeper things had to change; American consciousness about the patriarchy had to change.
He said, “Nothing would make me happier than to see the occupation end… Do it– great! But I don’t believe it can happen without some deeper kinds of change.”
P.S. Rabbi Jeffrey Abraham got a lot of applause for hosting the event.
In the 1980s, when things were a bit better than today, Israel Shahak lectured about the daily small oppressions of occupation — not about the large ones: killing, torture, disappearance, indefinite detention, kids being arrested in middle of the night, coerced confessions, coerced denunciations.
Maybe he was right, because audiences do have a threshold for (learning about) pain. But, in any case, the audiences must be both Jewish and general, and the stories must be told and told and told, and the audiences must understand that their job is to make the stories viral, so that all Americans will soon know what’s going on. And, of course, see USA complicity.
Which, sadly is part of the 1%-99% thing, because the BIG-ZION lobby is merely part of the board-room full of Feudal Barons which the 1% constitute and to which the Congress relates as to feudal overlords.
Hard for me to see what making nice (Lerner style) has to do with all this except as a delaying tactic. Would “making nice” have cut any ice with Pinochet, the Shaw, the Ayatollah, Stalin, Hitler? Kinda doubt it.
Phil, you say “Deeper things had to change; American consciousness about the patriarchy had to change. ”
But I wonder about this change. I suspect very much of the animus against Obama and yes, women, is a barely suppressed rage that everything has gone wrong since the good old days. Rick Santorum is tapping this bile that has not gone away.
I read that the Southern Poverty Law Center and the FBI say the number of hate groups is shooting up. I used to think America had changed but I’m becoming convinced that there is a large store of intransigent hatred of all things progressive that is barely contained.
RE: “…we have lost this value of non violence. We support militarism in our relationship with Israel.” ~ Gottlieb
MY COMMENT: This is pretty much what I mean when I refer to “the ‘dumbing down’ of America”. Of course, I’m not strictly referring to intellect, it’s more of a moral regression.
I recall reading somewhere that back in the mid-’90s Netanyahu was busy trying to figure out how make Americans less concerned with human rights.
So, is Michael Lerner an idealist or a realist?
Both, I think.
The Idealist: Hearts can only be opened from the inside.
The Realist: That’s exactly what it’s going to take.