Paul Liptz's "In the Hamas Mind"

Paul Liptz is a friend and a great teacher. He teaches at both HUC and the World Union's Saltz Center. This Article was just sent to that center mailing list and beacuse they havent added it yet to their site resources. I thought it would be O.K to add the entire thing here. Don't forget to check their website for other great texts and events.



IN THE HAMAS MIND


Paul Liptz

Jan 4, 2009

As a child growing up in a liberal Jewish family in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), I was taught to be wary of expressing the view that any section of the population may indeed have specific group "traits". All human beings were just that- "human beings" and within each and every one of us is both good and bad. My university years reinforced the intellectual leftist approach which denied the concept of intractable conflicts and maintained that every harsh reality could be improved. However, with maturity and relentless reading by Middle Eastern writers and political documents by Hamas, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda, I have moved from my former idealistic position and accept that when Hamas states that it is committed to destroying us, we should take these claims seriously. I believe that one has to respect the enemy and to accept the honesty of their declared goals. The problem isn't about land or economic improvement or peace. Tragically it's just about the total rejection of the concept of a Jewish State.

I am convinced that Islamic fundamentalists (or to use a softer term) Islamists, really do look at the world differently from us. Thus, our survival, regardless of where we live on this planet, demands a close and honest look at their standpoint.

Let's try and enter the Hamas mind. Like Al Qaeda and Hezbollah, the starting off point is undoubtedly the Koran. This book, like the sources of other religions, can be read in numerous ways. In both the Old and New Testaments, one can easily evoke an awful thesis of superiority and lack of concern for the other. In the case of the Islamists, the other, be he/she an infidel, Christian or Jew, is a lowly person who is often despised and rejected. The world is sharply divided between dar-al-Islam (the abode of Islam) and dar al-harb (the abode of war) without anything in between. While the Koran has an abundance of impressive humanistic components, the Islamist admires the most derogatory.

For many Hamas members, Israelis and Jews are no different from infidels even though on paying a poll tax, they could claim the protected status of al-dhimma. However, this "protected" concept is only in relation to an individual and Islam rejects the concept of a sovereign dhimmi state. Thus the Christian, Jewish or modernizing Muslim state has to be destroyed by jihad as a duty by the community as a whole. This form of self-sacrifice enables a person killed in war to become a shahid, a martyr with the benefits of a Paradise with 72 black-eyes beautiful virgins who will become the martyr's brides together with an abundance of food and drink. In addition the martyr will ensure an easy entrance to heaven for 70 family members. [M.Milson, Memri, December, 2007]

The 6000 rockets on Israeli civilian targets during the last 8 years are integral to their religious perspectives. It is not just about attacking a sovereign state. Thus Hamas is no different from Al Qaeda which rejects any state on earth which does not abide to its particular interpretation of traditional Islam.

Hamas has three interpretations of how it should deal with Israel. There is the:-

- Hudna: a truce, which implies recognition of the other party's actual existence, without acknowledging its legitimacy.

- Tahidya: a period of calm or limited cease fire

- or the most favored, conflict. [J. Halevi, Jerusalem Issue Brief, June 2008]

This is the reason why vast sections of the Muslim Arab world so vehemently opposed Egypt's peace treaty with Israel and totally boycotted an Arab country. Anwar Sadat was assassinated because he had broken an essential tenet of Islam. The Moslem Brotherhood in Egypt still rejects the Israeli-Egyptian agreement.

Added to these religious interpretations, it is vital to appreciate that Hamas also has a modern interpretation of Israel, in much the same way as Al Qaeda sees the United States and the western world.

How could it possibly be that this minute Jewish group (0.2% of the world) could ever have its own state? The day to day functioning of the State of Israel has undoubtedly been a remarkably successful venture and this has only added to their sense of humiliation. Israel has given a good life to most of its citizens, works hard on the issue of democracy, has an open press and even permits demonstrators to wave Hamas flags during the war.

From the Hamas perspective, there is one additional point which adds to their infuriation. Several Arab countries actually understand why Israel doesn't intend to commit national self-suicide and, in their heart of hearts, want Israel to win this latest conflict. Their well being depends on radical Islamic states and organizations being defeated.

Tragically many Hamas members live with serious delusions. They actually believe that Israel doesn't have the stamina to carry out an intense military response nor its ability to withstand global criticism. They seem to think that Israel's vibrant, argumentative political life is a weakness, whereas in reality, it's a strength. Too many of the Gaza leaders forget that the hard earned building of this Jewish desert land and the accomplishment of a stable, middle class society have not weakened us, but rather the opposite.


There is clearly still a long way to go before Hamas-type people and their supporters recognize the need for a dramatic change in their attitudes. The Middle East overflows with unfulfilled dreams. This area of some 350 million people, with its natural resources and capable citizens, should have done much better.


Perhaps, some day in the distant future, Hamas will appreciate that the ongoing attempts to defeat Israel and blame the western world for its multiple failures, has seriously harmed them. However, until then, all defenders of freedom have to support Israel's right to exist.


All in all, my hopes are fairly simple. I want to spend time with my family, enjoy my work, live a healthy life and try to understand the world around me without becoming cynical. In addition, I'll continue to dream of the day when my Palestinian neighbors less than a mile away from our house will also be doing similar things.


Paul Liptz (Pbliptz@netvision.net.il) was on the faculty of Tel Aviv University for 35 years. He is now on the staff of the Anita Saltz International Education Center and the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem.

Sense of humor (even at difficult times)

I just got this picture via e-mail that just made me burst into laughing while working in my university lab.



For the non-Hebrew speakers, this is roughly what written here:


In case that this apartment receives a direct hit (from a rocket):
Police and Army people: calm down, were at my parents
Property Tax People: this apartment once contained plasma screen TV, a bottle of Bordeaux harvested at 1706 and a very rare, antique porcelain sculpture.
Cable Company People: The plasma screen TV was used as a flowerpot.
Rutie: If we got hit, we are not paying you the "house utilities" fee.

Thinking of the soldiers

I wish you all a quiet week.
May we hear only good news and never lose hope
ויקיים בנו הכתוב:
"לא ישא גוי אל גוי חרב ולא ידעו עוד מלחמה"

We shall know - no war.

Amen.

Introducing: The Mechina

This Year, I've started to teach at the Mechina.

The IMPJ Mechina Project is a post-high school, pre-military year dedicated to study and preparations toward compulsory service in the IDF.

In September 2003, the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) launched its “Project Mechina”. In Israel today there are over 30 different Mechina projects, each offering a different perspective and emphasis regarding issues and values studied. The IMPJ Mechina offers young Israelis the opportunity to intensively study their Jewish heritage and Israeli identity. The participants put Jewish values into practice by working in community service projects. We believe that leadership training, the social contribution and the intense experience of living in a close community with program members will endow these young people with the skills and commitment to become future leaders in the Progressive Jewish community in Israel. This year, Project Mechina received official recognition from the Ministry of Defense, allowing participants to defer their military service for a year, and opening up the program to a much greater number of students.

All participants will subsequently serve in the Israel Defense Forces following the Mechina year. The interpersonal and leadership skills developed during the year will enhance the participants’ ability to perform their military service in a manner that is purposeful, patriotic an The program’s location in the Lev-Yaffo neighborhood in Jaffa plays a significant part in shaping the character and quality of the Mechina experience. The Mechina is based in a diverse neighborhood, whose residents include Jews from an extremely wide range of religious and ethnic backgrounds, as well as Muslim and Christian Arabs and migrant laborers from around the world. Placing the Mechina in Jaffa serves one of the fundamental pillars of the IMPJ: working in a poor urban area and aiding people in need through a locally based IMPJ community
(this information was taken from the IMPJ website)

I came to Rabbi Aharon Fox, head of mechina and said to him "We teach those kid so much about Jewish values and Israel aspects, what about talking about the global era they live in? what about talking about what young people do and how they communicate?". I've suggested building a course called "Living in the digital age" which will deal with Globalism, consumarism and influence of computers and the internet on all aspects of our modern lives. I find it highly rewarding interacting with reform youth and talking to them about their everyday lives. The mechina, is a winning educational program and I'm just happy to be part of it.

I've attached a photo of this years class, my students. This class is so big, it's hard to teach them all in one small room!

Building Cellular Communities

About three weeks ago, I ran into an article called “The Cellular Church” by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell analyzes in his books and articles, strange and unpredictble aspects of social behavior and he is always fascinating.
In this article he is trying to understand how did Rick Warren built his Evangelistic community empire. He presents us with a new and interesting concept of the Cellular Community ( and while he talks mainly on churches, this can also be understood for every religious community).

He Writes:
“Churches, like any large voluntary organization, have at their core a contradiction. In order to attract newcomers, they must have low barriers to entry. They must be unintimidating, friendly, and compatible with the culture they are a part of. In order to retain their membership, however, they need to have an identity distinct from that culture. They need to give their followers a sense of community—and community, exclusivity, a distinct identity are all, inevitably, casualties of growth. As an economist would say, the bigger an organization becomes, the greater a free-rider problem it has. If I go to a church with five hundred members, in a magnificent cathedral, with spectacular services and music, why should I volunteer or donate any substantial share of my money? What kind of peer pressure is there in a congregation that large? If the barriers to entry become too low—and the ties among members become increasingly tenuous—then a church as it grows bigger becomes weaker.One solution to the problem is simply not to grow, and, historically, churches have sacrificed size for community. But there is another approach: to create a church out of a network of lots of little church cells—exclusive, tightly knit groups of six or seven who meet in one another's homes during the week to worship and pray. The small group as an instrument of community is initially how Communism spread, and in the postwar years Alcoholics Anonymous and its twelve-step progeny perfected the small-group technique. The small group did not have a designated leader who stood at the front of the room. Members sat in a circle. The focus was on discussion and interaction—not one person teaching and the others listening—and the remarkable thing about these groups was their power. An alcoholic could lose his job and his family, he could be hospitalized, he could be warned by half a dozen doctors—and go on drinking. But put him in a room of his peers once a week—make him share the burdens of others and have his burdens shared by others—and he could do something that once seemed impossible.
When churches—in particular, the megachurches that became the engine of the evangelical movement, in the nineteen-seventies and eighties—began to adopt the cellular model, they found out the same thing. The small group was an extraordinary vehicle of commitment. It was personal and flexible. It cost nothing. It was convenient, and every worshipper was able to find a small group that precisely matched his or her interests. Today, at least forty million Americans are in a religiously based small group, and the growing ranks of small-group membership have caused a profound shift in the nature of the American religious experience."

This reminds me of our efforts to create small praying circles of young adults in various cities and colleges throughout Israel. This Model has it’s own challenges, as he writes:
“Small groups cultivate spirituality, but it is a particular kind of spirituality," Robert Wuthnow writes. "They cannot be expected to nurture faith in the same way that years of theological study, meditation and reflection might." He says, "They provide ways of putting faith in practice. For the most part, their focus is on practical applications, not on abstract knowledge, or even on ideas for the sake of ideas themselves."
We are so accustomed to judging a social movement by its ideological coherence that the vagueness at the heart of evangelicalism sounds like a shortcoming. Peter Drucker calls Warren's network an army, like the Jesuits. But the Jesuits marched in lockstep and held to an all-encompassing and centrally controlled creed. The members of Warren's network don't all dress the same, and they march to the tune only of their own small group, and they agree, fundamentally, only on who the enemy is. It's not an army. It's an insurgency. “

The challenge then is to find the common ground, the common goal to connect all of this small groups into a very active social network.
I invite you to read the full article here and to tell me what did you make of it.

Have a good Week!

A song for Shabbat

In November, I gave a lecture in Tamar europe Seminar (The european branch of the young adult reform worldwide movement), That was an awesome experience I will elaborate on in upcoming posts.
One thing I remember from there is a lecture about Jewish music. In this session, we were presented with beautiful Jewish music from all around the world.

One of the songs we've heard there is called "Morenica". Israelis know it by the name of "שחרחורת" a song that was made famous by the famous Esther Offarim. But before Esther's version, this was actually a very famous Ladino song. I found this beautiful version on YouTube of a Jewish british band called Kerensya. I can't stop playing it, it's so beautiful....

Enjoy!

Where to begin...?

Hello,

All beginnings are difficult and when facing the white screen and the blinking curser, how to begin this blog is the question that comes to mind.
Maybe I should start by explaining the reason I'm starting all of this.
My name is Lior, a 25 years old, native Israeli (fourth generation here), not a native english speaker (This may account for most of the grammer mistakes). I've joined the Israeli movement for progressive Judaism about 7 years ago. My entire family is completely Secular and I actually never really knew what Reform Judaism really means. All of that changed when I was accepted in High school to take part in Amitei Bronfman, A leadership fellowship that deals a lot with pluralistic Jewish Identity. That was the first time I've encountered reform shuls in Israel. That was the first time I've met a female Rabbi. That was the first time I've noticed texts of Yehuda Amichai and Lea Goldberg in a prayer book. After the fellowship term was over, I've searched for that kind of Jewish experience in my home-town, Rishon Le-Zion. I found a small community that accepted me with open arms and a big smile and as they say, the rest is history....

I've created this blog in order to open a new line of communication between Israeli reform young adults in Israel and the people in the broader reform Jewish world.
It seems to me that the reform world doesn't have a chance to hear a lot of the voices the youth and young adult age groups, especially in Israel.

I hope that this blog will bring to public the issues and projects that involve young people in Israel and the Israeli movement itself, in this era of constant change.

And as all blogs go, I'm waiting for your comments :)