One of the major themes
of parshat Balak is the power of speech. Bilam's ass upsets the natural order
and answers his rider back. Bilam goes out on a mission to curse the Israelites
and finds himself involuntarily blessing them instead.
Language is one of
humankind's defining characteristics. Each human culture, from the most
primitive to the most advanced, is built on a rich network of signs and symbols
that allow people to communicate, reflect, plan and work together. Language
makes thoughts public, and thereby available to scrutiny. According to
Vygotsky, it is this function of language that makes possible the higher order
thinking that is so characteristic of humans and so notably absent from other
species.
The juxtaposition in
parshat Balak of a talking ass and a prophet who can't control his own speech
seem designed to emphasize the limits of human power over words. These stories
seem to say: You're not as different from animals as you might think; sometimes
words control you rather than the other way around.
The week of parshat
Balak this year was a traumatic one in Israel. It began with the discovery, in
shallow graves near Hebron, of the bodies of three Jewish-Israeli teenagers who
were kidnapped and murdered three weeks ago on their way home from a hike. This
tragedy was compounded with the discovery later the same week of an additional
body - this time, of an Arab teenager from East Jerusalem. The Israeli police
have yet to conclude their investigation into the motives and circumstances of
the latter murder. But current indications suggest that this was a revenge
killing by Jewish extremists.
With
depressing inevitability, these tragic events have set off another round of
escalating violence in our region, from riots in Jerusalem to missiles and
bombing raids in the south. Reading the newspapers on days like these is never
easy. On Thursday, I found it even harder. A small article, almost a sidebar to
the raging violence documented elsewhere, reported comments by Rabbi Noam Perel,
the head of World Bnei Akiva, on his personal Facebook page, calling for the
Israeli army to undertake reprisal attacks on Palestinians. “An
entire nation and thousands of years of history demand revenge,” wrote Perel. In an allusion to the bible’s
account of one of King David’s most violent raids, Perel went on to call for
the IDF not to stop “at 300 Philistine foreskins … this disgrace will be paid
for with the blood of the enemy, not with our tears.”
I rarely sign petitions. But after reading the article about Rabbi
Perel's comments, I signed a petition calling for him to be removed from his
position (see the petition at: http://www.atzuma.co.il/dismissravperl
and a news item on Bnei Akiva members’ outrage: http://tlv1.fm/news/so-much-to-say/2014/07/03/bnei-akiva-outraged-at-its-own-secretary-generals-call-for-revenge/ ).
I don't know Rabbi Perel
personally and I have read carefully his apologies for the offense caused by
his remarks. His regret is thorough and heartfelt. Sadly, however, incitement
to violence is not something that can be simply forgiven and forgotten. Once
spoken or written, words are no longer in our control. Like missiles after they
have been fired, the eventual impact of calls to violence is unknowable. Words
can be regretted, even retracted and deleted, but they can't be unspoken or
unwritten.
That is why I believe
Rabbi Perel must go. An educational leader has a special responsibility to
weigh each and every word with the utmost care. In these dark and troubled
times, we cannot count on divine intervention to turn our curses into
blessings.
May this shameful
episode remind us of the power of words and the responsibilities of leadership.
And let us resolve to use our own words to pursue peace, not to sow hatred.