Ho-Ho-Ho
A long, colorful and—in a very un-Israeli fashion—orderly line snaked at the entrance to Santa Claus’s house in the Christian Quarter. In the freezing Jerusalem cold, I stood with my daughter, waiting for the local attraction. Next to us stood two young women from Nazareth. "You came all the way here? Isn't there enough Christmas in Nazareth?" I asked. "Of course there is," they replied, "but we don't have a Santa’s House; that, you can only find in Jerusalem."
Jerusalem’s Santa resides on the ground floor of an ancient house belonging to an Arab-Christian family. Issa Kassissieh, a son of the family, created a home that is colorful and wonderfully decorated with holiday ornaments (and packed with merchandise), where he welcomes visitors for a tour and a traditional photo. The magic of the Jerusalem Santa’s House goes beyond the usual holiday excitement. The house creates a meeting of languages and religions that is uncommon in our zealous city: Arabic, Russian, Hebrew, English and Filipino.
Women wearing Muslim hijabs and Jewish men wearing kippahs stood in line, and it is hard to describe the shared joy of the holiday—and mostly, of the rare opportunity to rejoice together. To rejoice without clarifying which religion owns the holiday or how it clashes with my ideology. To rejoice without religious and political calculations. We wished each other "happy holidays" in every language we knew; Santa handed out chocolates to all of us, we drank mulled wine and we didn't stop smiling. During one of the cheerful moments of waiting, I noticed an element missing from the event: police and soldiers were nowhere to be seen, and order was kept by a figure dressed as a gingerbread man. It worked. For several years now, the New Gate area has been developing into a rare Jerusalem experience; a place of simple, good food and human encounters devoid of political struggles. My heart is full of gratitude for those who labor over this little piece of heaven.
Oh Smotrich, so many errors in one paragraph
First of all, the comic irony must be noted—Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich spews his vitriol against Supreme Court Chief Justice Yitzhak Amit on Army Radio, the very station he tried to shut down, which continues to operate thanks to an interim order issued by the very man he is reviling. The God of History is laughing through tears.
Smotrich suggested running over Justice Amit (symbolically, of course, though for some reason I am reminded of the symbolism of the coffin in the protests against former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin before his assassination), and in his interview on Army Radio, he did not retract this demand: "[Justice Amit] is running over the nation, and the inevitable result of one side acting with violence is that the other side must also act with violence and twist his arm. There is no choice. We will not stand like Christians and turn the other cheek."
Oh Smotrich, so many errors in one short paragraph. The moral and strategic error lies in the belief that violence from one side must beget violence from the other. The gaslighting—which is certainly not a mistake—is in attributing violence to Chief Justice Amit, a claim as close to the truth as the claim that the Dutch boy who put his finger in the dike acted with violence against the flood. The political error lies in the disparaging reference to Christians. Try to imagine our reaction if a European minister were to say publicly: "We will not stand like Jews and turn the other cheek." One can imagine the complaints the Israeli government would send to that imagined European government. We, the Jews, are not willing to be spoken about in a generalizing and negative manner, and rightly so. And as for "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor"—we shall return to that shortly.
I wouldn't want to be Smotrich’s Talmud teacher
Not because he is stubborn, or because his opinions differ from mine, but because he is slow to understand and quick to speak. The claim that one should turn the other cheek to the smiter is a Jewish claim, not just a Christian one. What can we do? That doesn't mean I am in love with this claim, but I don't think it is foolish, and even if I thought it was foolish, I could not claim it isn't Jewish.
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Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Supreme Court Chief Justice Yitzhak Amit
(Photo: Shalev Shalom, Alex Kolomoisky)
I have no doubt that Smotrich, while preparing his "running over" speech, browsed the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament and found Jesus' explicit instruction (Matthew 5:38-39): "Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." However, Christianity, as is known, began as a Jewish faction, and its roots—even regarding the "other cheek"—are found in the scriptures holy to both religions.
Let us begin the journey of the other cheek with thoughts of guilt and rectification in the Book of Lamentations (3:25-30): "The Lord is good unto them that wait for him... It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth... He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach." "He giveth his cheek" is not a criticism, and certainly not a cause for destruction. On the contrary, "giving the cheek" is a recommendation for proper piety. The praise of offering the other cheek is used to justify Joseph's submissiveness while his brothers abused him (Aggadat Bereshit 61): "The suffering that is upon you now saves you from Hell, and places you in Paradise." Presenting the other cheek is, therefore, an entry ticket to redemption and Paradise.
A leader must absorb
The Prophet Isaiah also uses the doctrine of the other cheek to justify his selection as a prophet (Isaiah 50:5-6): "The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting."
Rashi explains why a prophet sent into the midst of our community must agree to take slaps and spit (on the first and second cheek): "He [God] says to me: Isaiah, My children are troublesome, My children are stubborn; [you go] on the condition that you do not get angry at them. I said to Him: On that condition." God explains to Isaiah that He is sending him to a group of stubborn and troublesome people, and he is forbidden from getting angry at us. Only after Isaiah accepts the nightmare called "Israeli Society" and says: "On that condition," is he found worthy of prophecy.
"On that condition," Smotrich—a Hebrew leader is forbidden from getting angry at his people. Find a way. You wanted power and you got it, so you have no right to shred, to trample, and certainly not to blame us. Lead as a Jewish leader is supposed to lead: through dialogue and by asking for mercy for your people.
Who is Hillel here?
If, God forbid, Smotrich’s doctrine of "response to violence" were included in the Oral Torah, we would have inherited a guideline along these lines: "What is hateful to you, do to your neighbor." But luckily, our role model is Hillel, and thanks to him, we inherited a magnificent morality (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a): A story of a gentile who came before Shammai and said to him: "Convert me on condition that you teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot." Shammai pushed him away with the builder’s cubit in his hand. He came before Hillel, who converted him. Hillel said to him: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah, and the rest is the commentary; go and learn."
Prof. Ruhama Weiss Photo: Avivit Bin NunOne man, not Jewish but particularly annoying, puts Shammai and Hillel to the test. There are religions and cultures one can join and learn the principles of quickly. Judaism, from the Sages onward, is not like that. The Oral Torah is a halakhic Torah loaded with details, and the gentile's request undermines the foundation of the Oral Torah: to convert unconditionally and learn the Torah quickly ("while I stand on one foot"). Shammai, far from Smotrich but also not welcoming, pushes the potential convert away with the construction tool in his hand (from which we learn that Torah scholars worked for a living). Hillel, the exemplary figure in the story, converts him without hesitation. More importantly, Hillel is willing to base Judaism on a single principle: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor." Hillel is much closer to the doctrine of the "other cheek" than he is to Smotrich's doctrine of "running over."
And advice for Smotrich from a Talmud teacher: Next year, instead of insulting the Christians, come to the happy queue on the way to Santa's House.
Drink hot cider calmly (fear not, it contains no forbidden wine), and you will discover that there is more than one way to be a Jew.
We will not forget to bring Ran Gvili back to his family and his land, and may we be worthy of a blessed civil new year.