"To be a teacher in the right sense is to be a learner.  I am not a teacher, only a fellow student."  (Soren Kierkegaard)

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A FEW PRE-SHABBAT WORDS FROM RABBI AARON

Quarantines and Boycotts
This parasha and last week's parasha are dominated by the laws of tzara'at [usually translated as leprosy]. Through the centuries, many writers and sermonizers have followed the rabbis' lead in terms of establishing the link between tzara'at and lashon hara [see last week's drash, for example]. The other powerful feature that writers often examine is the isolation of the leper.

How does quarantine fit into a medical model? The contagious person is isolated in order to be more effectively treated, and - we protect others from the disease which has attacked the sick person. And what about the politics of a boycott? Is the boycott about punishment or is it seen as a tool to bring pressure upon someone [an employer, a politician, a nation] to change course? Boycotts have been part of the political lexicon for a long time. I remember Caesar Chavez and certain boycotts he established in order to further the agenda of farm workers' rights. People boycotted Exxon in the wake of the Exxon Valdez spill.

This year especially, I've been thinking about boycotts. Israel, as you know, has been the focus of a long-running economic boycott by Arab countries - and by a number of European countries, as well. Lately, an increasing number of performing artists have joined a cultural boycott of Israel. For me it has been very painful to learn about revered icons like Pete Seeger, Elvis Costello, and Roger Waters [among others] joining the boycott. Recently Kobi Oz, a member of the popular Israeli band Teapacks, wrote a passionate articulate letter to Waters urging him to reconsider. I don't believe that all the boycotting artists are haters of Israel. They are frustrated and angry with Israeli policies, and they have chosen to express their political views in this way. It is dismaying and troubling to see Israel cast in the role of pariah. Some people who condemn Israel seem all to willing to ignore glaring injustice practiced by Israel's neighbors.

You know me well enough to not be surprised when I offer dissent or criticism of an Israeli policy that - in my view - is wide of the mark in terms of the moral and ethical standards that Israel must uphold. [Yes, the leadership may choose to depart from those ideals, but the cost is intolerably high.] Still, as a lover of Israel, I have to differ with those who place Israel beyond the margins. I believe that Israel will have to change course in several ways, but I do not believe the collateral damage of the cultural and economic boycotts is justified. All Israelis - from across the political spectrum, rich and poor - will suffer.

Parashat metzora should help us focus on the crushing blow that we deal to people that we marginalize. There are extreme circumstances that call for a quarantine [remember the initial outbreak of the Swine Flu?]; and some would characterize their boycott of Israel as a response to extreme suffering brought about by Israel's policies.

Separating people from the community, boxing a nation out the world family - these are actions that often bring about another layer of suffering. What the world needs, what each of us needs - is healing.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Aaron

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