Reform Reflections: Study night near Gaza

One of the many blessings of living in Israel is that text can interact with context in remarkable ways. For one thing, of course, you can actually walk the Bible and the literature of the Rabbis, stumbling upon sites and sights recorded in the Jewish classics. There is a special resonance to following the exploits of kings and prophets, or to counting the steps leading up to the Temple entrance and comparing the number of verses in a Psalm designed to be read while ascending. Sometimes, if you sit up on the roof of our spectacular campus in the heart of Jerusalem and read of David and Bathsheba, you can almost catch a glimpse of them (which should encourage our neighbors to keep their curtains drawn).

On occasion the meeting between text and context has more to do with the contemporary relevance of the study taking place. I vividly remember reading Eugene Borowitz's classic discussion of a Liberal theology of commandedness and commitment, entitled Renewing the Covenant. I was in the Army at the time, stationed at Megiddo Jail. Within sight of the Biblical Armageddon, I would steal away to one of the prison's synagogues and read Borowitz's pungent and provocative analysis of being a commanded Liberal Jew. In uniform, at the height of the intifada, grappling with the moral compromises and security imperatives of that time, the act of reading the book was rendered utterly different. (Lest my readers get the wrong impression, I want to make it clear that my reading during Army reserve duty was usually less high-brow. Indeed, it is because I am now considered too old to serve in my unit that I never managed to complete the full Harry Potter cycle. Dumbledore and various members of the Weasley family were my constant companions during my years in uniform. Somehow, when the call-up papers stopped arriving, the mysteries of Hogwarts became less enticing.)

This week I was privileged to experience an extraordinary encounter of text and context. The movement to which I belong has developed a relationship with some residents of the district immediately bordering the Gaza Strip. In the last days lives have been lost in these settlements, as part of a constant war of attrition which has been waged for over seven years. I was invited to teach this week in a beautiful kibbutz close to Sderot and even closer to Gaza.

I decided that the situation in which these remarkable people find themselves justified the teaching of non-trivial texts, and I brought two Rabbinic sources. One of them, which can be found in the Tractate Shabbat of the Babylonian Talmud, lists five different kinds of terror which the weak can inflict upon the strong. We read the highly suggestive and profound text together, and a discussion on fear and courage then ensued. I have learnt and taught this text on many occasions, but it has never had the resonance it did that night.

The matter-of-fact heroism of these remarkable men and women, residents of one of the most conflict-ridden neighborhoods in the world today, is truly outstanding. One of the most extraordinary aspects of this group is their ability to see the complexity of the situation even though they are situated on the frontline. I brought a text from Tractate Hullin in which an Arab merchant is given the possibility of crossing a river and pursuing his livelihood, and we discussed the significance of acknowledging the needs and rights of all those who live in this troubles area. It is much easier to espouse liberal and tolerant views when you are miles away from the missiles. These people are less than a minute away.

On the way home I passed the shopping center in Ashkelon, unaware that within twenty four hours it would be hit by a missile. The creeping relevance of the text on terror could not be more apparent. In truth, as many of the delegates to the Presidents' Conference currently in session have attested, none of us anywhere in the world can be free of the sense of risk, and the fear which accompanies it.

There is much to be learnt from the great texts of Jewish tradition. There is also a great deal to be learnt from the example of men and women struggling to hang on to their vision and their values in extreme circumstances. When Text and Context come together, Torah is born.