Sunday, January 1, 2017

What is Hateful to You is a Low Bar - January 2017

דעלך סני לחברך לא תעביד
What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor - Hillel, Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 31a


The sage Hillel gives this summation when asked to describe the entire Torah to someone seeking to convert to Judaism by learning everything necessary while standing on one foot.  Hillel’s rival, Shammai sends the person away, but Hillel summarizes the Torah with this phrase, concluding “This is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary.  Now go and learn it.”


Let’s take this moment to engage in commentary.  For much of my life, I have admired this statement of Hillel’s, mainly for its practicality, in comparison with the contemporary New Testament’s phrasing of the Golden Rule - “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.”  As a smart aleck child, I would say, I want someone to give me a million dollars, but I can’t give them a million dollars.  Hillel’s phrasing seemed more do-able.  I could certainly avoid engaging in behavior that I would not want done to me.


Lately, however, I have come to see that Hillel’s ideal falls short of what we need in our modern world.  The phrase embodies sympathy - we project our feelings on the other person, and feel for them.  I would argue that we are called to empathy  - not to project ourselves, but the reverse - to imagine how that person feels themselves, not as we would wish them to feel.  I would take Hillel a step further - “What is hateful to your neighbor, do not do to them.”


Perhaps this seems common sense.  It would be foolish not to give your neighbor a loaf of bread because you are allergic to gluten; or even to share with them your favorite cheese pizza if they are lactose intolerant.  However, there is difficulty in achieving this more lofty goal.  We know what is hateful to us; we do not need to do any research.  To know what is hateful to our neighbor, we have to know them.  We have to engage in dialogue and get to know what they value and what they loathe.  We cannot guess what is hateful to our neighbor; we must take the time to find out.


I bring this understanding to the current debate about “political correctness”.  I would define political correctness in the following way- everyone has the right to not be called by a name that causes them pain.  If a native American objects to being called an Indian, then what right do I have to tell them that it should not bother them?  If someone of African-American descent wants to be called Black, or of color, or however they choose to identify, I owe them as a fellow human being the right to name themselves.  And, if such a name or identification used in another place, such as a team name or mascot, then I should empathize and feel the echo of the pain that they feel.


We have engaged in this research in many ways at Temple Sholom.  We have invited those without homes into our synagogue home and asked them what they need.  Our JU teenagers have gone to visit the local Muslim community center, to get to know students their own age, but of a different faith.  Our older teens are taking part in a Better Together project to hear about the experiences of African-American peers, Jewish seniors, and their peers as well.


All the rest is commentary - and what we have taken upon ourselves as the inheritors of Judaism, is to continue the conversation and the commentary.  As Samuel Holdheim, the radical Reformer of the 19th century said, the Talmud was right for the ideology of its time, and I am right for the higher ideology of mine.  We have come to understand that names do cause harm. How can we do anything else than empathize - and not do what is hateful to our neighbor?


Rabbi Joel N. Abraham

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