A Taste of Torah in honor of Shabbat
from Rabbi Avi Weiss

Parshat Behukotai 5760
May 26,27 2000/22 Iyar 5760

THE IRAN 13:
QUIET DIPLOMACY WORKS WITH PUBLIC OUTCRY

At the end of the tokhahah (reproof) found in this weeks portion, God assures us that despite the calamities "I [God] will not reject them [the children of Israel]."  (Leviticus 26:44).  Ramban argues that this phrase refers specifically to the time of  Vespasian, the Roman Emperor in whose days the second Temple was destroyed.

In the words of the late Rabbi Charles Chavel, the brilliant translator of Ramban, "the destruction of the Temple is thus in no sense a rejection of Israel.  The survival of Israel long after the downfall of the Romans who destroyed the temple.[is] sufficient proof that God did not reject us in the days of Vespasian.

But what was the specific method used during that period that helped us survive.  During that time, a conflict emerged between Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakai and Rabbi Akiva.  The former believed in negotiating with the Romans.  The latter took the road of fighting and rebelling against Rome.  (Gittin 56b)

In the end, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakai seems to have been vindicated as the rebellion ended in failure. 

Indeed, the failure of Rabbi Akiva's rebellion began a nearly two thousand year long period during which many Jews concluded that the best way to deal with a powerful adversary was through diplomacy rather than confrontation.

This policy had mixed results.  Jews in the exile were often the victims of anti-Semitic edicts and brutral pogroms.  Nevertheless, Jewish literature, including the Talmud and its commentaries, Jewish poetry and Jewish community life thrived at various times during the long night of the Diaspora.

Then came our darkest hour of all-the Shoah.  Perhaps it can be argued that Jews by and large did not resist the Nazi murderers because as a community, we had been engrained for so many years with the philosophy of shtadlanut, or appeasement.  It had worked for years--why shouldn't it work now.

But it wasn't to be.  The horror of the Shoah taught us that we could never again depend solely on the diplomatic approach of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakai.  

Sometimes the more direct militant approach of Rabbi Akiva was necessary. 

Applied exclusively, neither technique was likely to insure the safety of Jews in peril.  Used in concert, however, the two techniques offered the hope of a more positive result.

During the Soviet Jewry movement, we witnessed the effectiveness of this two track approach.  And, today as thirteen Jews are on trial in Iran, we must be reminded of this lesson.  We have learnt that public outcry protects our beleaguered brothers and sisters and strengthens the hand of those engaged in quiet diplomacy.  Neither effort alone works.  Together with the help of God, the Iranian Jews much like Soviet Jews, will endure and be freed.  

Ve-khain yehi ratzon.

Shabbat Shalom!