Human Rights Yeshiva

The Rabbis for Human Rights Yeshiva is a program combining weekly study and volunteer fieldwork for Israeli University students. It 
promotes Jewish values in defense of human rights. This is a description of a sample evening of study in the Rabbis for Human Rights Yeshiva.

"..The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they who do his commandments." [Psalms 111:10]

The topic is "The Relationship to the Non-Jew," and it introduces the next nine Yeshiva sessions, which will focus on "Equality." Nevertheless, the topic calls to mind earlier discussions about the treatment of foreign workers, and it furthers our ongoing consideration of the idea that humans are created in the Divine Image.

Rabbi Ehud Bandel introduces himself to the group and, apropos to this evening’s topic, tells them about his stint of reserve duty in Gaza during the first Intifada, an experience that led him to become one of the founding members of Rabbis for Human Rights in 1989.

Together, the group examines several classic sources that see non–Jews as inferior, among them: "You [Israel] are called adam, but other nations are not called adam" [b. Yevamot 61a]; and "Israel, which stood at Sinai, ceased their impurity. The nations, which did not stand at Sinai, did not cease their impurity." [Shabbat 144b].

A discussion ensues over whether the last text, as opposed to the others, may suggest a view not inherently racist. Someone asks if the Jewish historical experience can excuse, or at least explain, contemptuous attitudes towards non-Jews in the sources.

Other texts, presenting a different view, are distributed and the students divide into small study groups or pairs: "One who steals from a non-Jew is required to return it to the non-Jew. Stealing from a non-Jew is worse than stealing from a Jew, because it desecrates the Name of God." [Tosefta Baba Kama 10] 

And "Charity collectors take donations from Jews and non-Jews alike in a city where both reside, for the sake of peace. We provide for the impoverished non-Jew just as we provide for the Jew, for the sake of peace. We eulogize and bury the deceased non-Jew for the sake of peace and comfort the non-Jewish mourners for the sake of peace." [Tosefta Gittin 3:13]

The group takes a twenty-minute break. A different student brings refreshments each week, usually pita bread and humous, olives, chips, and cola. This evening, the student has added her own home-baked brownies. Everyone approves, and the students converse jovially with one another between calls on their cell-phones.

Having seen that the tradition can support either a favorable opinion of non-Jews, or advocate antagonism towards them, Rabbi Bandel asks the students how we are supposed to decide which aspects of the tradition might guide us today. He cites an article from Moshe Greenberg (also a member of Rabbis for Human Rights) [from "HaSigula v’HaKoach"] that explains how the Torah’s value priorities may be determined from within the tradition.

This article and its conclusions are discussed for some time, along with other comments on the subject by Yeshiyahu Leibowitz and David Hartman, which are printed on the students’ source sheets.

The evening’s study concludes by comparing two responsa on the use of corpses for medical research in Israel. One written by Abraham Isaac Kook [Shealot v’Teshuvot Da’at Cohen 199] advocating use of non-Jewish bodies only. And the other by Ben-Zion Uziel [Shealot v’Teshuvot Mishpatei Uziel, Yoreh Dea, vol. 2, no. 28] that rejects Kook’s opinion, and claims the Divine Image is the essence of all humans, Jew and non-Jew alike.

http://rhr.israel.net/projects/yeshiva_eveningofstudy.shtml

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