Israel: A Journey Making Meaning – Julian Resnick
Chag Pesach Sameach. How wonderful it is to be a part of a people self-aware of the incredible gift that Freedom is. Like many of you, I too grew up in a society where Freedoms were very hard to come by. In Apartheid South Africa we suffered from a serious lack of basic Freedoms. One of these Freedoms was always close to my heart. The Freedom to express whatever I wanted to express. To write without the fear of being censored or silenced.
And now, since I arrived home, in Israel, I have the Freedom to write whatever I choose to write. So, forgive me, especially on Pesach, our Freedom festival, if I ask you all to consider abiding by certain rules I have imposed on myself.
These are my rules, self-imposed, for writing about what is happening in Israel. And offered, as suggestions, to others writing about Israel. And which you should feel free to ignore if it applies to you, and you prefer foaming at the mouth.
Rule number one: This rule is aimed at Jews writing about Israel, and, possibly, about a foreign leader with a flamboyant head of hair, or at Gentiles who wish to learn about another Jewish value today. The value I recommend, which should be both at the back of your mind throughout, and at your fingertips as the words flow on to the page, is “Derech Eretz”. The best translation I know to this wonderful value, is simply “Common Decency”. Do not use your proverbial pen to attack, insult, destroy people with viciousness.
Rule number two: Be sure that you can argue your opponents’ position as well, if not better, than they can. This rule was suggested to me by a beloved cousin who is also, like I am, an ex-South African. He makes his home in Los Angeles, and I make my home in Israel. We are equally committed to the Jewish People, Judaism, Israel and Human Decency, even though we see many things differently.
Rule number three: If you don’t live in a particular country, say the United States, feel free, really, I mean it, feel free to comment, but – and this is a serious ‘but’ – add a disclaimer: that you do not live in that place and therefore you accept the need for humility when talking about that place. Some examples? OK… I am careful when I write about South Africa and the present regime, and what it means to South Africans living in South Africa, as I live in Israel and do not have to face the consequences of what is happening with, let’s say, corruption. Similarly, if you do not live in Israel, be careful when you express opinions on, for example, what the IDF should be doing, as it is not your children that you are sending into battle. In American English there is a saying which I recommend to you: “having skin in the game”. Think about this.
Rule number four: Do not attack members of a political leader’s family as a way to attack them. We all, and I mean all, have complicated family situations. We cannot be held responsible for a wayward son who might have gone off the rails, who is not playing his part, who is living it up, while others are sacrificing everything. And, as annoying as it might be, if we have a leader’s wife using the public purse to pay for her makeup to be done by a professional makeup person (I know so little about makeup that I have no idea what the proper term is here for someone who does makeup professionally). Do not use this to attack the leader.
Rule number five: Avoid schadenfreude at all costs. It is mean and never appropriate (and feel free to go to a dictionary now and find the meaning of this wonderful word). And, just by the way, avoid what I just did, trying to show intellectual one-upmanship. It is rude. (I was just rude.)
Rule number six: Try and use what you write as a way to help heal this very pained society we are living in. Try hard, every time you write something, to use it to reach someone who has a different core identity. Use your words to celebrate the fact that we can disagree with one another and still share this place we love so deeply. We can have very different world views and still be brothers and sisters (and can still sit down at the Seder together).
We all, without exception, need healing, need comfort, need love.
Chag Sameach, Julian
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