Become a Member
Judaism

Does Jewish tradition back criticism of Israel?

Is speaking out a moral necessity - or is silence wisdom?

January 13, 2011 10:55
idf 0

By

Rabbi Gideon Sylvester,

Rabbi Gideon Sylvester

3 min read

I am a Zionist. Every day I marvel at Israel's achievements, I am awed by the soldiers who risk their lives so that I can be here, I am uplifted by a democracy where an Arab judge can sentence the Jewish ex-President to jail and I treasure the privilege of walking the streets of the Promised Land.

But living here comes with a price tag. Sometimes the harsh realities of Israel displace my Zionist dreams and the daily papers carry disturbing news of rampant government corruption and the harshness of the occupation. Edmund Burke is famous for saying that "All that it takes for evil to prosper is for good men to remain silent"; should this be our guiding principle, leading us to speak openly and critically about Israel's flaws?

Historically, Jewish communities lived in terror of their gentile rulers, so anyone who broadcast our failings to the non-Jewish authorities was deemed a moser - the worst form of traitor. According to Maimonides, such people have no share in the world to come. There is even a lengthy halachic discussion about summarily executing Jews whose tale-telling endangers the community. (Rambam, Laws of Injury and Damages 8: 11). The Talmud describes rabbis who suffered unbearable bullying at the hands of Jewish thugs (Gittin 7a). When they begged their teachers for permission to report their tormentors to the Roman authorities, they were told to suffer in silence rather than to risk inflicting damage to the community.

With the rise of democracy across Europe, a sea change took place in rabbinic thinking. It was led by Rabbi Yehiel Michel Epstein (1829-1908), who argued that while loyalty to our people remains a crucial Jewish value, the law of the moser only applies to those who would be unfairly treated by the courts. In countries governed by the rule of law, there is no reason to obstruct the course of justice. Other scholars point out that when the condition of the Jewish people is fragile, sheltering wrongdoers is apt to provoke even greater antisemitism. So Jewish communities are at liberty and possibly duty bound to expose their villains.