Allow worship to be in peace
For 11 months, Ann Arbor's Jewish community has been subjected to a weekly picket at one of our synagogues - the first known picket of a synagogue since Nazi Germany. As worshippers enter the sanctuary to celebrate life's blessings, mourn losses, or pray for the health of sick relatives, picketers have accused them of "praying for genocide." Holocaust survivors are forced to walk a disgraceful gauntlet of signs condemning Jews and stating that "Zionism enabled Nazism." Why? Because, a group of extremists tells us, we "support Israel."
Who are these extremists anyway? This is the same group whose members publicly called the Ann Arbor City Council the "Ku Klux Klan Council," the president of the Jewish community a "filthy swine," and other Jewish leaders "purveyors of slime (with) money and power." Though they claim that they act out of concern for the Jewish community, they advertise their repugnant actions on Web sites like aljazeera.info and electronicintifada.net. Their leader, Henry Herskovitz, mourned the imprisonment of Sami al-Arian, a supporter of Islamic Jihad who called Jews "monkeys and pigs." Even their name is misleading - many of the Jewish Witnesses for Peace are, in fact, not Jewish.
Now, if the group's accusation is that Ann Arbor's Jews support Israel, we are guilty as charged. The overwhelming majority of Jews around the world - as well as most non-Jewish Americans - "support Israel." Founded as a haven for refugees and central to Jewish identity for centuries, Israel is the sole democracy in a region of despots (a good country living in a bad neighborhood, it has been said). Does that mean we agree with every decision its government makes? No. Are its leaders infallible? Of course not. But we recognize that her aim, like America's, is to live in peace with her neighbors - a peace that Israel has repeatedly offered and a peace that the Palestinian leadership has repeatedly rejected.
This Jewish community is by no means monolithic. If you want to hear strong, thoughtful criticism of Israel, come to any Jewish meeting or pick up an Israeli newspaper (see haaretz.com). Talk to the members of Beth Israel themselves. Or come to community-wide events like the Jewish Federation's "Community Conversation about Israel." You'll hear as wide a range of opinion as exists in Israel itself.
No, the real issue raised by this anti-American picket is neither the Israeli/Palestinian conflict nor the Jewish response to it. The salient question is: When did it become acceptable in our community to hold political protest at a house of worship, on the day of worship, at the hour of worship?
As we have for 2000 years, Jews pray in synagogue for peace in the land of Israel. We also pray for the leadership of the United States. Does this make the synagogue a reasonable venue for an anti-American demonstration? Should anti-affirmative action rallies be held Sunday mornings at the Second Baptist Church? Pro-choice vigils during mass at St. Francis? How about a pro-war get-together at the Friends Meeting House?
"Of course not," you say. "That would be ridiculous and shameful. It would fly in the face of America's tradition of tolerance and freedom to practice religion in peace." And you are right. So why is it acceptable to picket a synagogue during Sabbath services?
After 2000 years of discrimination, one can understand our skepticism at the motivations of those who condemn us. Scapegoats through the centuries, the Jewish people has been branded as controlling the worlds' banks and plotting the Bolshevik revolution. We were accused of poisoning Europe's wells and barred from America's universities and country clubs because we were clannish. There has always been some "legitimate" reason to attack or discriminate against Jews.
Today, anti-Semitism focuses not on Jews, per se, but on Israel. The Holocaust discredited traditional Jew-bashing so our enemies turned to anti-Zionism instead. "We don't hate Jews," they claim. "We hate Zionists." Condemning Israel in the most vitriolic of terms allows them to criticize Jews - without really criticizing Jews. However, as Martin Luther King Jr. observed, "When people criticize Zionists," he said, "they mean Jews, you are talking anti-Semitism."
In the wake of the third anniversary of Sept. 11, we are proud to support Israel, America's strongest ally in the fight against terror. We are proud to live in America, founded on the promise of freedom to worship in peace. This shameful picket is not about reforming Israel, enlightening Jewish opinion, or changing American policy. It's time for all of Ann Arbor to call it what it is - anti-Semitic propaganda.
Neal Elyakin is president and Jeff Levin is executive director of the Jewish Federation of Washtenaw County. Each lives in Ann Arbor. News readers can contribute essays of general interest to Other Voices. Please call the editorial page editor at (734) 994-6764.