Words, words, words…
Every day we are assailed by words, not just those we speak or hear directly from others, but the torrent of words pouring through our social media.
Words shape our world. They can connect, heal and inspire us. They can damage, harm and injure us. Words in the command of a wordsmith can be gorgeous, clarifying and elevating, words in the armoury of an extremist can be gangrenous, confounding and devastating.
Since October 7, words have been supersonically weaponised against Israel and the Jewish people. A barrage of words charged with venomous lies, propaganda and misinformation continue to target us daily. We have moved from truth being a casualty of war to what Bill Leak calls ‘Chronic Truth Aversion Disorder’.
Philosophy professor, Greg Elsoff refers to it as humanity’s capacity for self-deception, an unnerving ability to deny what you don’t like. Our Tradition noted this century’s ago -King David despairingly cried out ‘All humans are liars’, the rabbis noted that the word for truth-emet-is dangerously close to the word for death-met, reminding us how you can kill through a word. From outrageous accusations of genocide (while calling for Jews to be obliterated and driven into the sea) to blatant denial of the horrors of October 7, we are in a twilight zone of untruth.
Among the most grievous and egregious purveyors of toxic words are the radical imams. Calls for a Jihad to “count the Jewish Zionists” and then “kill them one by one” are preached in some Sydney mosques as well as descriptions of Jews as monsters who love to shed blood. They usually don’t even pretend to distinguish between their hatred of Israel and revulsion of Jews.
The failure to confront these extremists is a stain on our country. It’s easy to dismiss these sermonisers as unrepresentative of Islamic teachings, but it’s dangerous to ignore their influence on the naive and especially disaffected young men they attract. Bob Hawke noted that Muslims have no monopoly on fanaticism. Nonetheless, at the moment they have cornered the market, franchised it and continue to promote it more effectively than other religious extremists. They make our own violent Settler zealots look like kindergarten kids
Despite this we know too well the toxicity of holy words and texts used in unholy ways - Baruch Goldstein invoked the Purim and Amalek stories in his murderous attack on Muslims, the assassination of PM Rabin by a religious Jewish zealot was preceded by vile and violent words.
Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein presciently spoke of the young West Bank ideologues as full of idealism of the wrong ideals. They fail, he said to heed Matthew Arnold’s advice: Firstly, never go against the best light you have; secondly, take care that your light be not darkness.
All religions have their difficult texts - narratives that are puzzling and ethically challenging. Texts that deride other religions and when read by fundamentalists who take them literally are downright dangerous. We have them in the Torah (see Amalek) Christians have them (see reference for example to synagogues of Satan) and Muslims have them (Jews are apes and swine, and worshippers of idols).
Texts may command attention but they demand interpretation. Zealots of all faiths have little respect for a nuanced and in-depth understanding. They want certainty not complexity.
It’s time for moderate Muslims Imams and leaders to call out their radical preachers. It’s time for our government police, politicians and security agencies to challenge and prosecute them. If the law against prosecuting vitriol needs tightening what are our politicians waiting for?
As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in his brilliant analysis of religious violence (in his book Not in God’s Name) notes: ‘Never say I hate, I kill, because my religion says so. Every text needs interpretation. Every interpretation needs wisdom... Fundamentalism reads text as if God were as simple as we are. That is unlikely to be true.”
It’s time to rein in the word assassins.
It’s time to treat our sacred words with the respect and perspicuity they require.
Wishing you all a Shavuah Tov, a good and productive week
Rabbi Ralph