THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 7, 1995 TAG: 9511070263
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
For Jews worldwide, the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin set off a one-two punch of disbelief: First, how could someone have killed the Israeli leader?
Second, and maybe even more gut-wrenching: How could it be a fellow Jew?
``We have become almost like a different people,'' said Rabbi Yosef Friedman, the new leader of B'Nai Israel Congregation, an Orthodox synagogue in Norfolk. ``This is something out of character. And no one can quite figure it out.''
Yet Rabin's assassination marks the culmination of an increasingly bitter battle within Judaism.
Jews, once a people who banded together to survive persecution and create a country against daunting obstacles, are now increasingly at odds with one another - hurling verbal tirades or threats of violence at co-religionists who disagree.
In Israel, the divisions between Jews involve the peace process; in America, the battles seep into theological issues, such as who can be considered Jewish.
In the relatively small Jewish community of Hampton Roads, rabbis see little of that friction.
``I really don't see that we're suffering any of the problems that other communities are,'' said Rabbi Arthur Steinberg of Temple Sinai, a Reform synagogue in Portsmouth. ``In our community, the cooperation among the rabbis and religious leaders is exemplary.''
Still, Bonnie Gordon Rabinowitz, a licensed clinical social worker in Norfolk who belongs to a Conservative congregation, longs for more harmony: ``I still think there's a pretty clear split among the denominations, rather than a sense of embracing differences. . . . It just doesn't feel unified.''
Jews always have been known for, and even have encouraged, passionate arguments. In the first century, two rabbis, Hillel and Shammai, became legendary for their disagreements on Talmudic matters. But their debate was conducted with respect. Now, Jewish leaders acknowledge, the dialogue all too often disintegrates into vitriol and name-calling. In the past year:
Opponents of Rabin called him a ``traitor,'' a ``Nazi,'' a ``murderer.'' Rabin, in turn, called some West Bank settlers ``racists'' and a ``blot on the Jewish people.''
In New York, a liberal Israeli Cabinet minister was punched in the stomach by an opponent during a rally, and a rabbi declared it acceptable to kill Israel's leaders to stop the peace agreement.
In Israel, some Jews have taken to extremes because they believe the West Bank was given to Jews by God, said R.K. Ramazani, a professor of government at the University of Virginia. ``They have really felt all along that they have God on their side, and the political leaders of Israel are deviating from the truth, and the revealed truth.''
Compounding the problem, said Friedman, the Orthodox rabbi in Norfolk, is the lack of rabbinic leadership in many West Bank settlements. ``These people are asking questions about cookies (being kosher), but they're not asking questions about killing people,'' he said.
Friedman said that absence of religious guidance also led to Baruch Goldstein's massacre of more than 50 Arabs in a Hebron mosque last year. ``He decided he had a halachic (Jewish legal) obligation to do what he did. But he did not clear that to see if it was an accurate reading of the law.''
Observers say there's probably little Rabin could have done to quell the extremism. But he didn't go out of his way to build bridges with opponents. ``There was lots of friction between him and the religious community,'' Friedman said. ``He clearly did not reach out to the opposition, but that wasn't his nature.''
In the United States, the debate on the peace process is sometimes no less fractious. At Orthodox synagogues in the New York area, ``very seldom can an Israeli ambassador speak without being heckled viciously: Eggs, `traitor,' `whore,' '' said Andrew Silow-Carroll, senior editor of Moment magazine, a bimonthly Jewish journal based in Washington.
And on religious matters, American Jews frequently go their separate ways. Like Christian conservatives, ``the Orthodox are moving further to the right and wanting less and less to do with the non-Orthodox,'' Silow-Carroll said. ``I can name just one Orthodox rabbi who will meet with Reform rabbis.''
But Friedman said, ``The fact of the matter is, traditional Judaism is based on very fundamental precepts that there is a God in the world, that God expects a certain ethical and moral lifestyle. Once you have a simple equation and believe it is divine, there is no point of compromise on that equation.''
Orthodox rabbis, for instance, have attacked the Reform branch's decision to consider Jewish a child who has a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother.
That, the Orthodox say, violates Jewish law, which says a child's status is determined by the mother's religion.
Friedman said he can understand why some Orthodox rabbis won't meet with their more liberal colleagues, but he plans to attend the monthly meetings of local rabbis from all branches of Judaism.
Another example of the uncharacteristic togetherness in the local Jewish community is the Portsmouth United Religious School, said Steinberg, the Reform rabbi. The school, led by Steinberg's wife, Kitty Wolf, is a cooperative venture of his synagogue and Gomley Chesed, a Conservative temple.
To nourish that spirit, Rabinowitz, the social worker, suggests that Jewish parents and Sunday schools encourage kids to respect differences within Judaism. And maybe, like public schools, the Jewish schools should include programs on conflict mediation, she said.
David Novak, a professor of Judaic studies at U.Va., said, ``Some (Jewish) groups are trying to bring people together. But the people who are coming to these groups are people who have always been talking to each other.''
Yet he offered hope that maybe the tragedy in Israel can be the catalyst for consensus: ``What happened may cause people to look inside their own souls and ask themselves if they're contributing to a climate of hatred and suspicion. If they're truly sorry for it, maybe they'll change.'' by CNB