While perusing my e-mails the other day I was very disturbed to read that the University of Tel Aviv decided not to sing the Hatikvah at their graduation, in deference to the Arab students attending the University. They chose, instead, to sing “You and I will change the world” by Erik Einstein.
This is so disturbing to me. In our wildest dreams would we ever, think to replace these magnificent words; “As long as the heart within a Jewish soul yearns, our hope is not yet lost to be a free nation in the land of Zion.”
How can such meaningful words of inspiration and hope, for our glorious country, be replaced to pacify a segment of the population that wishes to destroy the Jewish people?
How pathetic that academia bends, in submission, to such absurd and embarrassing requests. Let us see any Arab university forego their national anthem for some Jew in their university.
The questions I pose are “Who are our modern day Korachs?” and in life experiences, "When, if ever, is controversy allowed?
In this week’s Parsha, Korach, we are introduced to a Machloket, between Korach and Moshe. It is true that Chazal describes Korach as a פקח, a very intelligent and scholarly man and, yet to our dismay, his way of life is sinful and, more so, his actions of controversy are both unrealistic and destructive.
One can say that not all controversy is bad and Chazal may agree with this but insist that controversy is acceptable when done לשם שמים for Heavens’ sake and done with mutual respect.
My direction is not to admonish Korach, though, I agree, he acted in an egregious fashion and should be admonished for his actions. My aim, through this blog, is to search for an understanding of when and how disagreement can be acceptable.
This reminds me of a couple that came to the Rabbi with a marital situation, and were told to go home and argue. They said, “That is what we have been doing ever since we married, arguing.” To which the wise Rabbi replied, “You have not been arguing, you have been quarreling. You have been talking monologue, without either one listening to the other, just a running monologue. Now, I want you to dialogue with each other. I would like you to have an argument in which you not only express your opinion, but also listen to the view of your partner. Maybe you will learn from each other something important to maintain a true שלום בית.”
If this be true in our domestic lives, how more so is this attitude necessary in our Judaic way of life and especially in our relationship with each other.
Our Torah relates that after Korach leads the revolt against Moshe and Aaharon, Moshe sends a message to Korach.
וישלח משה לקרא לדתן ולאבירם, inviting them to meet and discuss the situation and to see if they can negotiate a solution to the problem. And Korach and his hordes reply,” לא נעלה, We will not meet, we do not want to talk, because we simply have nothing to say to each other.”
I must suggest that these two words are the most devastating words in our lexicon,” לא נעלה, It is our way or no way.” This to me is blasphemous.
What I sense in Yahadut, today, is the lack of communication. This, to me, is most destructive. This lack of communication is causing a schism in our Jewish Society.
It is true we may not agree with each other in many areas of Judaism. That is evident. But we must still, continue to dialogue with each other and to maintain an אחדות, in Judaism, and the expression of לא נעלה needs to be removed from our lexicon.
There is too much polarization going on in Jewish Life, and disagreement may be acceptable when done לשם שמים and סוף להתקים, for the betterment and the continued future of עם ישראל.
These are times that we must learn from the incident of Korach, “We need to live together in peace and with mutual respect.” It is time we learn to agree on how to disagree as befits the followers of Moshe and not of Korach.
On a tangential level, we may not always agree with President Trump, but let us agree that he took the initiative to sit down with a despot like Kim Jong Un of North Korea, and decided that they needed to listen to one another rather than just saying, לא נעלה, and, hopefully, some type of peace can ensue to avoid a military devastating battle.
Life on all levels needs open minds, listening ears, and receptive hearts to assure a world of peace and tranquility that is so needed in our tumultuous society.
With such a positive and open way of life and with our great dependence on the fulfillment of the will ofHashem, our lives will be לחיים ולברכה.
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