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Aug. 22, 2001

Letter from Prof. Blidstein about Haredim in Tzahal (2001)

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Dear Rabbi Lamm: During the past month I have been traveling in the U.S., visiting Mesa, a suburb of Phoenix, AZ, and Los Angeles. Along the way I had the opportunity to teach Torah, and early next week I will send you “Words that Heal, Words that Hurt,” a sermon that I delivered in three shuls. Today’s message is a unique one, in that it does not look at a text but contains some thoughts and feelings about current events, specifically about how Jews treat Jews. There are now close to thirty rabbis, educators, and academics who receive these divrei Torah once or twice a month. The list cuts across denominational lines and includes Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and Jewish Renewal – there are also some Christian readers. This serves as an important reminder that whatever our differences, we can find common ground studying Torah in an environment of mutual respect. Some of my non-Orthodox colleagues have indicated to me that they will speak on Rosh Hashanah about religious pluralism in Israel and the tension between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews. Many have personally experienced, or have congregants who have personally experienced, verbal or physical abuse from ultra-Orthodox Jews this past summer in Jerusalem. This is a very painful subject for me. The morning after Shavuot, when I saw the headlines describing the abuse of Jews at the Kotel, I was sick to my stomach. Shortly thereafter I spoke with a Jewish Renewal couple who came to Israel to live more fully as Jews – they were at the Kotel on Shavuot night, and listening to them describe what they were subjected to, and how poisoned they felt, was one of the saddest experiences I have had. Two months later, on Tisha b’Av night, TV cameras brought into my home the sight of Jewish police physically evicting Jews from the Kotel in the middle of davening Ma’ariv. This was followed by the burning of a Reform kindergarten in a Jerusalem suburb. It has been a very difficult summer. My own struggles …
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