Comments on: Gilad Shalit and the Sorrows of Tribalism

By: ValeriusS

ValeriusS — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:37:47 +0000

Universal love and sympathy are important for civilised human society. But who can blame Israelis for concentrating on their own people first? But there is a very disturbing sign: some Israelis believe that not only Hamas but their own government as well is not sincere in its efforts to free Gilad through negotiations. Here’s the link to an article with this view:
http://samsonblinded.org/news/shalit-talks-drowned-in-hypocrisy-15345

By: Eric Selinger

Eric Selinger — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:37:02 +0000

I’m not as fond as Brant of scripture-based arguments, but here’s one where the Torah offers a bit of guidance.

David asks, “do we really mean to love the stranger as we’d love our family”? The imperative comes from Deut. 10: 19, but the reasoning–and the “as,” the equivalent, the point of comparison–is somewhat different: “Love the stranger, for you were once strangers in the land of Egypt.”

It’s not that we should love the stranger as we’d love our family, then. (Which can be a vexed, love / hate kind of relationship, Lord knows.) Rather, we should love the stranger as we wish we had, ourselves, been loved when we were in his or her shoes.

Which is not, perhaps, “normal,” but it might be helpful.

By: david

david — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:20:48 +0000

Good Post. One aspect that I think needs clarification after reading some of the replies is the tendency for us to place a greater importance on “our own” than on the “other”. Is it not normal to love our family and friends more than the stranger? Doesn’t this fact allow for the family unit and our communal identity as Jews? If everyone loved each other equally there would be a breakdown in society as we know it (perhaps this is how peace on earth would look like). But is this actually what we are contemplating here? Do we really mean to love the stranger(ie Palistinean) as we’d love our family?

I would argue that the family unit and the concentric social circles that extend outward from it including friends and then other Jews, is the mechanism that allows for us to learn HOW to love and because of it gives us the ability to extend that to the stranger, not in spite of it. We should not denigrate this fact but hope that our connections with these circles allows us to develop the required empathy those strangers deserve.

By: rabbibrian

rabbibrian — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:57:56 +0000

What a brilliant and important post! I think you have penetrated the heart of the human tendency to focus on our own rather than on the fate of everyone. You challenge us so powerfully to transcend our tribalism. This article should be widely disseminated, I hope many Jews get the opportunity to read it.

Thank you, my dear friend and colleague, for your wisdom and courage.

By: Trayf

Trayf — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:22:51 +0000

Well put. The negotiations over Shalit has given plenty of support to the idea that Israel understands only force and values the lives of its own citizens many times that of the Palestinians it holds without trial (same as the US unfortunately) . If it is willing to negotiate Shalit’s release as I believe it should, then it should be willing to negotiate a just end to the conflict. .