Let The Musicians Play
D'var
Torah: Shabbat Hagadol
April 3, 2009
Thursday morning I read a Passover book to a four year old class in our Early Child Education Center. The book was about the ten plagues, a plague a page. Each page had Moses and Pharoah repeating their famous lines. Moses says “Let my people go” and Pharoah responds with his increasingly predictable “No, No, No!” Over the past week I read a few stories in the New York Times that involve this "No" in a very sad way.
The first story, which appeared on March 25, was heartwarming. An Israeli Arab who was teaching music in the west bank city of Jenin brought a youth orchestra from Jenin to play in the Israeli city of Holon not far from Tel Aviv. These Palestinian youth were to play especially for a group of Holocaust survivors. What a wonderful scene. Young Palestinian musicians and elderly Israeli survivors gathering together with music as the common language. Jenin, the Palestinian town best known for sending the greatest number of suicide bombers into Israel was going to send a group of young musicians. Who knows what message they would bring back to their contemporaries. “We are here to play,” Wafaa Younis, 51, the Israeli Arab orchestra director, told the rapt audience. “I do not believe in politicians, only musicians and these children.”
Here's a picture that appeared on the on-line version of the Times.
Palestinians Serenade Survivors in Israel
Rina Catelnuovo for The New York Times
THE LANGUAGE OF MUSIC Afrah Saade, 17, a violinist with the Jenin youth orchestra, played for Holocaust survivors on Wednesday in Holon, Israel.
A few days later I learned what this trip brought.The next headline in the Times read “Concert for Holocaust Survivors Is Condemned’ It brought a strong condemnation from the Fatah leadership in Jenin. The Israeli Arab music teacher was vilified for wanting to bring these young people to play in Israel. Maybe they would see the relative paradise these Israelis have built while they live in relative misery and sin or all sins demand a greater quality of life from their leaders. The suicide bombers that infiltrated into Israel saw the same paradise but they never returned to report. Maybe these young musicians would see how it would make sense to live next to and learn from Israel rather than see their Jewish neighbors as their enemy. What harm could be done by playing to elderly Holocaust survivors? This is in fact where the real harm would come.
Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times
Young Palestinian musicians met with Holocaust survivors on the outskirts of Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
The Palestinian leadership didn’t want these young impressionable minds to be exposed to Holocaust survivors who suffered horribly before they came to Israel. The Palestinian leadership doesn’t want their youth to know about the Holocaust because they claim the Zionists use it as justification for the existence of the State of Israel. But if the Palestinians are prepared to live next to the Jewish state why not let their children be sensitized to the reason the Jewish people need a land and country of their own? Once again, our Palestinian cousins were echoing the refrain of the tyrannical Pharoah “No, No, No.” The Palestinian leader quoted in the Times said “the young musicians had been exploited by the orchestra director, Wafaa Younis, for the purpose of “normalizing” ties with Israel. “ They said that the children had been “deceived” and dragged unwittingly into a political situation that “served enemy interests” and aimed to “destroy the Palestinian national spirit in the camp.” What makes this more disturbing is that this is not the voice of Hamas but of the moderate Fatah leaderhip in whom we place our hope for peace.
And that brings us to the new Israeli government. We don’t know that Israel’s new Prime Minister is interested in a two state solution any more than rejectionist Palestinians. Because he would never state his support for the two state solution, former Foreign Minister and Kadima leader Tzipi Livni would not join a coalition with Mr. Netanyahu. To the new Prime Minister’s credit, upon taking on the mantle of Israeli leadership, he expressed his support for peace. The term peace is surely equivocal. It can mean different things to different peace. Whatever it means to Mr. Netanyahu, he is sufficiently smart and savvy to come out in strong support of it. Why would he state any opposition to making peace when the Palestinians are more than happy to carry that torch.? A youth orchestra is condemned for playing to Holocaust survivors in Holon because that could lead to empathy which could lead to understanding which could lead to real negotiation which could lead to peace and the Jenin leaders don’t want that to ever happen.
As we praise Mr. Nentanyahu for his smarts, we can not say the same for his new Foreign Minister Mr Lieberman. For some reason, Mr. Lieberman felt compelled to declare at a ceremonial gathering as he was sworn into office that he would not support the Annapolis understanding. He did say that he would support the Road Map but why come out of the gate by proclaiming what roads to peace he will reject?
If an encounter with Holocaust survivors might inspire some empathy in these young Palestinians, we might find it worthwhile to find a place of empathy for Palestinians within ourselves. You and I could compose a list of reasons why our empathy is out of place for our Palestinian cousins but that will never lead to the path of peace. The drops taken from our cups of wine at the Seder table are to inspire a sympathy within us for Egyptians who suffered and died through the ten plagues. The purpose of the ritual is to feel an empathy for those who have been our adversaries and enemies.
Do we approach the Passover holiday with little hope for any peace and normalization of relationships? Quite the contrary. There is reason to feel more hopeful this week than any time in the recent past. Our Secretary of State has begun to engage our adversaries in some constructive work. While we keep a close eye on Iran's dangerous nuclear ambitions, we can hope that engagement will bear fruit. Syria’s leader Assad has again stated his interest in a rapprochement with the West and potential peace with Israel. It took Nixon to visit China, Begin to make peace with Sadat. Maybe it will take Netanyahu to bring Syria into the orbit of responsible and constructive nations. The Presidents of Russia and the US are ready to resume talks on nuclear arms reduction. Maybe a silver lining in the cloud of our economic woes is the reality that we live in a shrinking world that is economically intertwined. We soar or sink together.
This Shabbat before Pesach is annually known as Shabbat Hagadol, the great Sabbath. The concluding words of the Haftarah taken from the Prophet Malachi tells us how the Prophet Elijah, upon his coming, will help to turn the hearts of parents to children and children to parents. Perhaps Elijah can help turn the hearts of Palestinians to Israelis and Israelis to Palestinians. The hearts of Iranians to Israelis and Israelis to Irianians. The hearts of Syrians to Israelis and Israelis to Syrians.
You might say these are purely fantasies. Perhaps, but eight days ago, March 26 was the thirtieth anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. Who would ever have entertained this fantasy before Sadat came to Jerusalem? Who would have thought the peace agreement would last these thirty years.
So let the musicians play without condemnation. Let Palestinian youth come and meet with elderly Israeli Holocaust survivors. Let Israeli youth meet with elderly Palestinians who once lived in Jaffa and near Haifa.
Let leaders speak about what paths to peace they support rather than what they reject and let them reject their too natural instinct to vilify the other side.
And let those words of the Prophet Malachi read on this Shabbat Hagadol resonate aloud today:
"Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. He shall reconcile parents with children and children wit parents." As we say when we sing about Elijah "may this happen speedily and in our day"
My best to you and your family for a sweet, joyful and Kosher Pesach!
Shabbat Shalom and Hag Sameach!
