|
Edited on Thu Mar-11-10 10:53 PM by azurnoir
JUDAISM AND NON-VIOLENCE: LETTER TO GANDHI BY A JEWISH FRIEND IN PALESTINE, JANUARY 1939 - FROM HARIJAN, JANUARY 28, 1939 I have been realising more and more that there is, as matter of fact, no contradiction between your Satyagraha or non-violence and true Judaism. On the contrary, all the teachings, views and behaviour of the Jewish people's ancestors, especially from about 2000 years ago, were just like yours, almost in all details.
The main error that most non-Jewish thinkers commit - among them I have even to count the great philosopher Schopenhauer - is when they imagine that the Old Testament and the Pentateuch constitute Judaism. They seem to forget that like all ancient races the Jews have passed through a long historical development of which the Old Testament was the early stage, and that during this development Judaism has reached as high a level as other great religions such as Christianity and Buddhism.
The Pentateuch, for example, says, "If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again." (Ex. 23-4); and later, to quote the Testament, "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink;" or, "Rejoice not when thine enemy faileth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth."
Then again there are later scriptures of Judaism, as wide as the ocean, of which non-Jews seem to be unaware e.g. the Mishna and its commentary and the Talmud. These are filled with passages expressing ideas which can compete with those in other religions. Hillel said to a Gentile who had come to learn God's law. "Do not do to your next what you do not wish to be done to yourself. This is God's law - all the remaining is only a commentary to it." And Bruria, the noble wife of Rabbi Meir, advised her husband to pray for the conversion of his enemies and not for their extinction.
Love for animals also finds an important place in these scriptures. Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi once said to a calf which escaped from a butcher and came to him, "Go back to the butcher because it is for this purpose that thou hast been created." And for this sin God punished him with a terrible disease from which the Rabbi was not delivered until he showed his mercy on a small insect which the maid servant had thrown away.
In fact, Jesus Christ has added nothing new to Judaism. He has expressed more intensively the spirit and traditions out of which he himself had grown.
Concerning the very grave problem of Palestine. I must, to my great shame, admit that your dislike for the Zionist movement, so long as 99 percent of modern Jews care only for the material building up of this country and desire political and military power over it for this end is perfectly justified. Such entirely ignore the spiritual upbuilding of the Holy Land and the sublime religious ideals of social justice and righteousness with which the visions of our great prophets have always associated Zion and Jerusalem.
About 40 years ago a prominent Hebrew writer and philosopher, Ahad Haam, greatly blamed Jewish new-comers to Palestine for their imperious behaviour towards their Arab cousins, and prophesied that some day there was bound to come a day of revenge. Ahad Haam resisted all political Zionism and only viewed Palestine as the spiritual and cultural centre of the Jewish Race. Similarly Rabbi A.I. Cook emphasised that no return home of Israel to Zion was conceivable without a preceding revival of the true spirit of the people.
In spite, however, of the apparent victory of violence and cruelty, there is a movement among Jews as among all nations for a spiritual renaissance. There is such an organisation of which I am a member in Palestine, specially bound to the views of the two great men, Ahad Haam and Rabbi Cook, mentioned above, and I am sure the way shown by them will redeem us in course of time. You will see that our programme includes nothing contradictory to the principles of your holy Satyagraha.
top
No Apology, by Gandhi - From Harijan, February 18, 1939
I have two letters from Jewish friends protesting against a remark of mine in a dialogue reported in Harijan over the Jewish question. Here is one of the letters:
"My attention has been called to a paragraph in Harijan of December 24th, 1938, in which you are reported to have said that 'The Jews called down upon the Germans the curses of mankind, and they wanted America and England to fight Germany on their behalf.` I can hardly doubt that you have been misreported, for there is nothing that could possibly justify such a statement. But as the paragraph much distressed me, I should be glad to receive from you a word of reassurance."
I am sorry to say that I cannot give the reassurance required. For I did make the remark put into my mouth by Shri Pyarelal. Hardly a paper comes to me from the West which does not describe the agony of the Jews who demand retribution by the democratic Powers for German atrocities. Nor do I see anything wrong in the attitude. The Jews are not angels. My point was they were not non-violent in the sense meant by me. Their non-violence had and has no love in it. It is passive. They do not resist because they know that they cannot resist with any degree of success. In their place, unless there were active non-violence in me, I should certainly call down upon my persecutors the curses of Heaven. It is not contended by my correspondents that the German Jews do not want the big Powers like England, America and France to prevent the atrocities, if need be, even by war against Germany. I happen to have a Jewish friend living with me. He has an intellectual belief in non-violence. But he says he cannot pray for Hitler. He is so full of anger over the German atrocities that he cannot speak of them with restraint. I do not quarrel with him over his anger. He wants to be non-violent, but the sufferings of fellow Jews are too much for him to bear. What is true of him is true of thousands of Jews who have no thought even of "loving the enemy". With them as with millions "revenge is sweet, to forgive Jews and Palestine, by Gandhi - From Harijan, July 21, 1946 Hitherto I have refrained practically from saying anything in public regarding the Jew-Arab controversy. I have done so for good reasons. That does not mean any want of interest in the question, but it does mean that I do not consider myself sufficiently equipped with knowledge for the purpose. For the some reason I have tried to evade many world events. Without airing my views on them, I have enough irons in the fire. But four lines of a newspaper column have done the trick and evoked a letter from a friend who has sent me a cutting which I would have missed but for the friend drawing my attention to it. It is true that I did say some such thing in the course of a long conversation with Mr. Louis Fischer on the subject. I do believe that the Jews have been cruelly wronged by the world. "Ghetto" is, so far as I am aware, the name given to Jewish locations in many parts of Europe. But for their heartless persecution, probably no question of return to Palestine would ever have arisen. The world should have been their home, if only for the sake of their distinguished contribution to it. But, in my opinion, they have erred grievously in seeking to impose themselves on Palestine with the aid of America and Britain and now with the aid of naked terrorism. Their citizenship of the world should have and would have made them honoured guests of any country. Their thrift, their varied talent, their great industry should have made them welcome anywhere. It is a blot on the Christian world that they have been singled out, owing to a wrong reading of the New Testament, for prejudice against them. "If an individual Jew does a wrong, the whole Jewish world is to blame for it." If an individual Jew like Einstein makes a great discovery or another composes unsurpassable music, the merit goes to the authors and not to the community to which they belong. No wonder that my sympathy goes out to the Jews in their unenviably sad plight. But one would have thought adversity would teach them lessons of peace. Why should they depend upon American money or British arms for forcing themselves on an unwelcome land? Why should they resort to terrorism to make good their forcible landing in Palestine? If they were to adopt the matchless weapon of non-violence whose use their best Prophets have taught and which Jesus the Jew who gladly wore the crown of thorns bequeathed to a groaning world, their case would be the world`s and I have no doubt that among the many things that the Jews have given to the world, this would be the best and the brightest. It is twice blessed. It will make them happy and rich in the true sense of the word and it will be a soothing balm to the aching world. Panchagani, July 14, 1946 top Message to the Arabs, by Gandhi - From The Hindu, May 1, 1947 The Jews are a persecuted people worthy of world sympathy and India sympathises with them. They are energetic, intelligent and progressive. The Arabs are a great people with a great history and therefore if they provide refuge for the Jews without the mediation of any nation, it will be in their tradition of generosity.
top
Interview to Reuter, by Gandhi - From Harijan, May 18, 1947
What is the solution to the Palestine problem?
It has become a problem which is almost insoluble. If I were a Jew, I would tell them: "Don`t be so silly as to resort to terrorism, because you simply damage your own case which otherwise would be a proper case." If it is just political hankering then I think there is no value in it. Why should they hanker after Palestine? They are a great race and have great gifts. I have lived with the Jews many years in South Africa. If it is a religious longing then surely terrorism has no place. They should meet the Arabs, make friends with them, and not depend on British aid or American aid or any aid, save what descends from Jehovah.http://www.gandhiserve.org/information/writings_online/articles/gandhi_jews_palestine.html#Jews%20and%20Palestine,%20by%20Gandhi%20-%20From%20Harijan,%20July%2021,%201946 |
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
