An Israeli Novelist's Cry for Peace. A Rabbi's Reply.....
Rabbi Yuval Sherlow
Novelist David Grossman spoke Saturday night at a peace rally at Tel Avivs Rabin Square, sponsored by the Peace Now movement and the Meretz and Hadash parties, among others. It was attended by an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 people, which the left considered an impressive show of force and the right mocked as a failure. Grossmans speech, an eloquent cri de coeur of Israels increasingly isolated antiwar left, was reprinted in Hebrew on Sunday on Ynet.co.il, the Hebrew-language website of Yediot Ahronot. (Thanks to Gary Brenner for urging me to translate it.)
Also appearing Sunday on Ynet was a reply to Grossman by Rabbi Yuval Sherlow, dean of the Hesder yeshiva of Petah Tikvah. Sherlow is one of the most liberal voices in Israeli Orthodoxy. Hes spoken out bravely within his community in favor of tolerance of gays, greater recognition of non-Orthodox Judaism including Reform conversion and open, sympathetic dialogue between right and left. In this Letter to David Grossman he warmly chides the novelist for preaching to the converted (no, not that kind) and failing to find a language that can bridge the gap dividing left and right. Remarkably, he concedes many of Grossmans sharpest critiques, but insists that Grossman fails to acknowledge the other sides of the coin the still-vital humanity within the Israeli public, the implacability often facing Israel from its enemies and so alienates a large audience that Sherlow wishes the novelist could reach.
Theyre both well worth reading for their insight into the current mood in Israel. The translations are mine, and as usual are as literal as I can make them.
Read more:
http://blogs.forward.com/jj-goldberg/204268/an-israeli-novelists-cry-for-peace-a-rabbis-reply/?#ixzz3Av048DYv