I fully agree with Rabbi Yoffie. Legality and ethics are two different sides of a coin. You can one without the other. But it is difficult to have both at the same time, if at all. Building a structure to promote tolerance in a world filled to the "brim" with intolerant people and nations, is wonderful. But not if it means being morally blind. It is the same mistake White Europeans made when believing America was empty and they could do as they wished. They murdered and enslaved my ancestors. Building a Jewish Museum of Tolerance on top of a burial ground would be no different. Instead of bridging a gap,this museum will create hate and more intolerance. There is no such thing as a three-sided coin. As my elders taught me "you cannot have your cake and eat it too"!
I am a Black American-Native American Reform Jew. I am a convert. There are those Jews who believe when one converts to Judaism, they close the door to their past. A nice thought but not reality. I can not forget my skin color anymore than those who refuse to let me forget it. I live in a country,state and community in which racism is very much alive. Unfortunately, it also lives in the Jewish communities as well. As a child growing up, I was very close to my grandfather. He is the person responsible for me choosing Judaism. My grandparents taught me the importance of respect. Not only for the living but also the dead. I was taught not to speak ill of the deceased. I was also taught where ever they were buried, was "hallowed" ground. I was not to walk on their grave nor do anything that would deface or demean their "resting place". In addition, it was forbidden to "unearth" a person once they are committed into the ground. Note, I used the word "person". Regardless of whether Muslims still consider the graveyard as hallowed or not is not the point. The fact that "people" rest there is.
As Jews we are to be exemplary. We are to respect "all" of G*d's creations, both living and dead. Whether they are Jews, Christians,Muslim,Buddhist etc..How can we expect others to respect our dead, if we do not respect their dead? All construction on this site should be stopped and the graveyard restored to its original state or as best as possible to what it was. A new site for the Jewish Museum of Tolerance should be chosen which is on neutral ground and it be built there.
I am a Black American-Native American Reform Jew. I am a convert. There are those Jews who believe when one converts to Judaism, they close the door to their past. A nice thought but not reality. I can not forget my skin color anymore than those who refuse to let me forget it. I live in a country,state and community in which racism is very much alive. Unfortunately, it also lives in the Jewish communities as well. As a child growing up, I was very close to my grandfather. He is the person responsible for me choosing Judaism. My grandparents taught me the importance of respect. Not only for the living but also the dead. I was taught not to speak ill of the deceased. I was also taught where ever they were buried, was "hallowed" ground. I was not to walk on their grave nor do anything that would deface or demean their "resting place". In addition, it was forbidden to "unearth" a person once they are committed into the ground. Note, I used the word "person". Regardless of whether Muslims still consider the graveyard as hallowed or not is not the point. The fact that "people" rest there is.
As Jews we are to be exemplary. We are to respect "all" of G*d's creations, both living and dead. Whether they are Jews, Christians,Muslim,Buddhist etc..How can we expect others to respect our dead, if we do not respect their dead? All construction on this site should be stopped and the graveyard restored to its original state or as best as possible to what it was. A new site for the Jewish Museum of Tolerance should be chosen which is on neutral ground and it be built there.
1 comment:
It's a very complicated issue. The site was used as a parking lot for years and years with no protest. Only when the museum was scheduled to be built did people begin to protest. It's also difficult to build anything is this country without building on top of something else - that's what happens when you live in a very crowded place that has been inhabited for 5000 years.
The site of the museum is in downtown Jerusalem, so space in incredibly tight. Most people don't object to building museums on top of old parking lots, but some very political people, with the purpose of intolerance, made an issue of it.
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