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How the Middle East Conflict Is Warping Judaism
Jeremy Kalmanofsky
October 27, 2015
Sunday will be the 12th of Cheshvan, a grim anniversary: 20 years since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. He was shot on a Saturday night after the world’s synagogues read the Torah portion Lech Lecha, the first night of the week looking toward the next reading, VaYera, the “binding of Isaac.”
But in real life, unlike in the biblical story of human sacrifice, no angel narrowly averted the disaster.
Twenty years after this horrible crime, amid a new wave of Palestinian terrorism and Israeli reprisals that seems like the beginning of the beginning of the third intifada, it’s time for reflection. We’ve all seen too many analyses of the long road from Oslo to Wye River to Camp David, from disengagement to hilltop caravans, from Jenin to Lebanon to Gaza to Gaza to Gaza. We too rarely ask what is happening to our religion. How is this endless, pitiless conflict shaping Judaism?
I feel ashamed, appalled and heartsick, watching religious Judaism slouch toward Bethlehem. Yigal Amir was not the first fanatic in whom Torah teachings nurtured a murderous hatred. But he represents an early bellwether of Judaism transforming before our eyes, from an ennobling path of wisdom, devotion and ethics to an angry, bloody weapon.
I fear we are becoming a religion of hatred.http://forward.com/opinion/323125/how-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict-is-warping-religious-judaism/?attribution=home-hero-item-text-1
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