Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann Keynotes at the Symposium of Peace and Religion

By Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann on May 15, 2006 - י"ז אייר תשס"ו

Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann presented the following Keynote address at the Symposium of Peace and Religion on the occasion of the 23rd Niwano Peace Prize award ceremony of the Niwano Peace Foundation of Japan, that awarded the annual prize to Rabbis for Human Rights

The place and meaning of Peace in Judaism:

Peace in Torah, Talmud and Jewish tradition and religion in general is undoubtedly a central concept. The word “shalom” appears in so many of the most important and basic prayers and traditional classic texts. It is, in fact, the way Jews traditionally greet and farewell each other. It is implied in the name of the holiest of Jewish cities “Jerusalem” – city of peace. It is described in ancient holy texts as one of the names of G-d.

In ancient times the Jews were a small people living at the crossroads of three continents, whose homeland (today called Israel by Jews, Palestine by Arabs) was often the battleground of major world empires (the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans). They later became a much- persecuted minority religion all over the world for 2000 years. This religion, Judaism, had spawned two major, often aggressively missionary, religions, Christianity and Islam who tolerated them in their midst, as “the people of the book”, but everywhere imposed restrictions and humiliations upon them because of their stubborn rejection of their “new”, prophetic teachings. They kept faith in their Torah and the promise of future Divine redemption.

In modern times, they returned to the same land against all odds, moved by secular nationalism (which they called Zionism) and in reaction to the increasing anti-Semitism in Europe. After an attempted genocide in Europe, the Nazi Holocaust, the old-new nation, Israel, established in 1948, faced a series of wars from the surrounding Arab states as well as continuing terrorism from those Arabs (the Palestinians) they had displaced.

No wonder, then, that the dream of a future time of peace was so widespread in their religion, literature, music and political agenda.

The ancient prophetic vision of a future time without war or injustice, a time of harmony, justice and peace for all peoples is well known to Christians and Moslems from the Jewish roots of their religions. The theological basis for this is, of course, the Jewish belief in the oneness of the Almighty, the Divine creator of this world who created all human beings in the Divine image. The word itself – Shalom – is etymologically linked to another concept: “Shalem”, which translates as “whole”, again leading us back to the monotheistic basis of Jewish belief, the oneness of G-d.

The question is what is the contemporary content of this concept – what is meant by the term today in Jewish life? It is so common in Jewish public parlance that it has almost lost all meaning to many Jews, has become a “truism”, an unexamined “holy cow”. All movements and parties speak of peace as a significant goal, an important “value”, but few actually define it clearly.

There is a famous quote from one of the ancient prophets, Jeremiah, which refers to this problem: (Jeremiah, Chapter 8, 10-12)

“From the smallest to the greatest,
They are all greedy for gain;
Priest and prophet alike
They all act falsely,
They offer healing offhand
For the wounds of my poor people
Saying: “Peace, peace!”
When there is no peace”

The implication is clear. This term was used cynically, and hypocritically, by Jeremiah’s high-placed contemporaries. Unfortunately, nothing has changed in this respect since those ancient times. All piously express their belief in peace, few act on it in real life. Those in power still like to speak in soothing clichés and phrases of “peace”, when, in fact, they are not concerned with its meaning, but rather with selfish self-interest, and the political advantage of presenting themselves as peace-loving.

In the Religious tradition:

“Peace” (Shalom) as a religious value and teaching in the Jewish tradition and practice is a commonplace, and is ubiquitious in Jewish texts and prayers, as we have mentioned earlier.

It is the climax of the priestly blessing, which Aaron, the first high priest, and his descendants were to pronounce regularly for the people in the temple service:

May the Lord bless you and protect you
May the Lord countenance you and be gracious to you
May the Lord show you kindness and grant you peace

This prayer is said today by parents to their children in the home on the Sabbath, is part of the daily prayer service in Jerusalem and on festivals in all synagogues the world over, and is used by rabbis duringduringthe wedding ceremony.

Moses, the greatest prophet and teacher in our tradition whom we refer to as “Rabbenu” (our teacher), teaches the people that before doing battle, they are to offer the enemy the possibility of a peaceful resolution of conflict (Deuteronomy 20, 10). Latter prophetsin the Bible, such as Isaiah, Hosea, Micha and Habbakuk abhor war and promise a time to come when there will be peace on earth amongst the nations. The area of Israel has suffered much from warfare in ancient, medieval and modern times and the hope for peace has always been a central element in the Jewish messianic vision. Isaiah’s vision that of a time when the lion will lie down with the lamb and swords will be bent into plowshares is a well-known and popular expression of national and religious hopes.

In the Talmudic literature the value of peace in daily life and the importance of being pragmatic in life amongst the nations becomes paramount. “For the sake of Peace” is often given as a reason for moderacy and compromise by the Talmudic sages in resolving issues in Jewish law. It is used to modify some of the more strident anti-pagan legislation of the Torah (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Avoda Zarah), and to expand the social laws to include non-Jews.

At this point it is perhaps important to explain the nature of the relationship between Biblical and Talmudic sources in Judaism. Jewish religious life is centred on the holy text of the Torah – the five books of Moses, but that text, which is considered the core of what is called “the written Law”, i.e. the Scriptures, is studied according to the normative methods of interpretation of the accompanying “oral Torah”.

This “oral tradition” which, during and immediately after the massive Roman onslaught against Judaism, after the destruction of the Second Temple, was collected and recorded in a code named “Mishna”. This text became itself sanctified to some extent and became a focus of study. The teachings of the sages of old were preserved in the discussions of subsequent generations of scholars in the academies of the Land of Israel and Babylon, and were published hundreds of years later in a collection of books known as as the Talmud, which are the recorded discussions and interpretations of the Mishna.

The Talmud has always been of prime importance in issues of Jewish law, though modern Reform Judaism and secular Jewish nationalism, have tended to return to the Bible as the base text of their religious and cultural activity. Reform Jews liked the later prophets with their universalist religious and moral message. Secular, and even some religious, Zionists returned to the Bible – particularly Joshua and the stories of King David – because of its focus on the Land of Israel and its conquest. Those amongst the Zionists who wanted to link their return to the Land with a universalist vision of some future socialist or religious utopia also tended to orientate toward the latter prophets in their writings and speeches. Apart from the ultrorthodox enclave, and some religious intellectuals,the pragmatic approach of Talmudic Judaism as it had developed in the diaspora, tended to be pushed aside on matters of importance in Israeli public life. A return to a little more talmudic subtlety would be a blessing for today’s Israel.

As Rabbi David S. Shapiro argues in his article, “The Jewish Attitude towards Peace and War” (Vol. I of Studies in Jewish Thought, ed. N. Lamm, 1975, New York):

“The latter teachers of Israel not only continued to promulgate the prophetic readings on the significance of peace. They enlarged upon them. For the Rabbis no ideal is so glorious as peace…the Torah in its totality, they say, was given for the promotion of peace (Babylonian Talmud, Gittin, 59b)…Peace, unlike other religious precepts, must be sought after and pursued” i.e. actively initiated.(reprinted by Oz V’shalom in Violence and the Value of Life in Jewish Tradition, page 77).

Shapiro gives an erudite overview of the place of ‘peace’ as both a guiding principle and a religious goal of Jewish life. He also discusses the approach of Jewish law to violence and war. The Halacha (Jewish law) was prolific in its anti-violence legislation from Torah and oral tradition sources. The details regarding the building of the Holy temple in Jerusalem, for instance, reveal a “repugnance for the instruments of war”. The Torah forbids the use of iron in the building of the temple and its implements. (Exodus, 20:22, also Deuteronomy 27; 5) Regarding this law, the rabbis explained that iron, used for making the sword, is used to shorten human life, whereas the purpose of the temple was peace. As Shapiro writes.” The priests, who were to worship in the temple of peace of the G-d of peace, were not to share in the booty of war, just as they were not allowed to participate in war. The temple thus became the symbol of repugnance for war and its instruments. (Shapiro, p.65)

Shabbat, the holy seventh day of the week, which commemorates the creation of the world according to our Torah, is known as a day of peace. It is a day on which Jews attend synagogue to pray and read the Torah, and on which they spend time with their family. In ancient times pious Jews would refuse to fight or defend themselves on the Sabbath, even if it cost them their lives until the sages legislated that the duty of self-defence had preference over the holiness of the day. Nevertheless, wearing a weapon on this day was considered a profanation of its holiness to be avoided. A popular Sabbath hymn refers to the Shabbat as “a taste of the world to come” – a world without war.

The heroes of Jewish religious tradition have been men and women of piety and learning, not warriors. King David, who was praised for his religious poetry and piety, for instance, was forbidden the honour of building the Temple in Jerusalem, the centre of Jewish worship in his Kingdom because, as a warrior, his hands had shed blood.

The winter festival of Hannukkah (“Dedication”), is also known as the ‘festival of the lights’ because it is celebrated by the lighting and displaying of candles nightly for eight days when the days are shortest, was originally the celebration of a major military victory in ancient times. The name of the general who led that victory is barely mentioned in the classical Jewish sources, nor are the battles described. The source of that information for scholars and Jewish nationalists has been the Christian church which preserved records of those battles in their literature, while the Talmudic sages did not.

This is the result of the re-interpretation of Jewish history by these rabbis. After the Roman period of brutal repression of the great Jewish revolt of 70 A.D. — 135 A.D., they were concerned not to glorify war, and were keenly aware of the evil potential of such glorification.

Judaism is not a pacifist tradition. Self-defense is considered a religiously sanctified duty. Some wars are considered “just” wars – those divinely commanded in order to conquer the land and those necessary to defend it – but wars of conquest are considered evil excesses of greedy self-aggrandizing rulers and are condemned. And even the conquest of the land of Israel in ancient times, which was commanded by
G-d in the Torah was predicated on the absolute moral depravity of the seven pagan nations from whom it was conquered.

The Talmudic sages understood that this command was historically limited to that generation and that henceforth the Jewish people would inherit the land only by peaceful means and with G-d’s aid. (Maimonides Introduction to Sefer Ha-Mitzvot, end; Sefer Hachinuch, Commandment 532; Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Ketubot 111a). This last point has been a bone of contention within the religious community of Israel, particularly since the June 1967 war, which though it was a war of self-defense led to the conquest of Arab territories. The ultra orthodox segment of the population refuses to serve in the army based on the belief that one should not rebel against the nations, and rather study Torah than engage in worldly pursuits, such as army service. The religious Zionists have had to either understand the wars of modern Israel as defensive wars – which was indeed the case for many of them – or re-interpret Jewish law to allow for a more activist, aggressive position.

There have been numerous important Jewish philosophers and teachers in Medieval and Modern times who have stressed the importance of love of peace and justice as basic religious values in Judiasm, but our time here is limited, so I will bring you just two quotes, in conclusion.

The medieval Jewish philospher and rabbi Abraham barHiyya (in his book “Hegyon ha-Nefesh”, 4) wrote regarding the Torah’s commandment “love thy neighbour as thyself” in the future time of the Messiah:

“This commandment will be observed and upheld by all the world’s inhabitatnts in that great time. And if each and every one of them shall love his fellow as he loves himself, then zealotry, hatred and covetousness must vanish from the world; and it is these that are the causes of war and slaughter in this world. That is why Scripture says of the messianic era (Isa. 2:4) “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation”

The much-loved modern American Jewish philospher and rabbi, Abraham Joshua Heschel, author of the book “The Prophets” once said in an interview:

…What is the greatest concern in the Bible? Injustice to one’s fellow men, bloodshed. What is the greatest dreamof the prophets and of the Bible? Peace.
The only men in antiquity – no philosopher anywhere in the world, in India or in China, was capable of dreaming even that there would be a time when war would be abolished and there would be peace. This is the message of the prophets.

Conclusion.

A religious Jew cannot ignore the primacy of peace as a value of the prophetic and rabbinic tradition, but many have postponed its realization to some distant utopian future, rather than seeing it as a real possibility in the present situation. The price of such a peace – if indeed it is still possible at all - is a willingness to compromise and share the land. This is a difficult expectation, considering the centrality of the promise of Land of Israel in the Torah and the messianic belief in the return of all Jews to the land and the rebuilding of the ancient temple in Jerusalem, where there now is a major Moslem shrine. That there are Jews and Palestinians willing to compromise is a source of some hope. The legitimacy rendered such voices by religious teachings such as those I have expounded here, and by peace-loving Moslem teachers, as well, is a crucial element in making that hope a reality.

Rabbis For Human Rights, since it was formed in 1988 has been actively disseminating this interpretation of Judaism, and acting according to it in its human rights work in Israel and Palestine. We call on Moslem, and particularly Palestinian religious leaders to join us in teaching and striving for peace, as the greatest gift we can bestow our children from our rich religious teachings.

Rabbis for Human Rights recommends that you read these articles in Niwano Peace Foundation

Insecurity: When the bearers of democracy lose it for the sake of security - June 8th, 2006
RHR Dedicates New Office and Celebrates Niwano Peace Prize - May 19th, 2006
Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann Keynotes at the Symposium of Peace and Religion - May 15th, 2006
Rabbi Maayan Turner accepts the 2006 Niwano Peace Prize on behalf of RHR - May 15th, 2006
Rabbis for Human Rights Receives Niwano Peace Prize - May 11th, 2006

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