"Revisionism and Radicalism"

Delivered February 11, 2006, Parashat Beshallach

Rabbi Joshua Heller
Congregation B’nai Torah
rabbi@bnaitorah.org

The following story was made popular by Sigmund Freud:
"The kettle I lent you," says one man to the other, "you returned it to me broken!"
The other man responds: "First of all, I never borrowed the kettle. Secondly, I returned it to you unbroken. And finally, it was already broken when you lent it to me!"

That story, made famous by an Austrian Jew, is perhaps the perfect description of Holocaust denial. Each denial of fact serves as the introduction to statements which, ironically only confirm the irrational hatred which is being denied. Those who deny the Holocaust often couple it with a desire to bring it about again. I won't dignify this distasteful field with an entire sermon. First of all, I'm preaching to the choir- our Bat Mitzvah girl today already spoke of righteous gentiles. Secondly, there are many in the Atlanta community like Deborah Lipstadt, who can address it more with a greater depth of knowledge than I.

However, it's important for us to be aware and vigilant, for revisionism of all types and stripes can be a very dangerous thing. This is particularly so when modern deniers are brought together with modern-day Pharaoh wanna-bes.

But first I want to turn back for a moment to ancient Egypt. The scene is a familiar one. The Jews have left Egypt, literally thrown out in the middle night by a terrified Pharaoh and Egyptians. The Egyptians have been worn down by the plagues until finally they would rather be rid of them than face any more of God's onslaught. The Israelites are heading into the desert, hands raised in praise and triumph. However, they do not head towards any of the objectives we might expect. They do not make a bee-line for the land of Israel, nor even for Mount Sinai, where they are to receive the Torah. Rather, God instructs them to take a circuitous route, to camp in the desert, by the shores of the red sea.

Now word comes to Pharaoh that the nation has fled, "ki barach ha'am" (Exodus 14:5). What, this is news to him? He just sent them on their way two days before! A Hassidic commentary, the Divrei Shaul, explains that it relates to the difference between walking and running. When Pharaoh thought that he had been bested by an Israelite nation that was powerful, with God in its side, a nation marching to its destiny, he could tolerate the defeat, if barely. But in fact, the Israelites are doing nothing more than fleeing- the fact that the Israelites have turned and are without direction must mean that they are weak. Suddenly, Pharaoh has a change of heart. "What have we done letting them go." The revisionism kicks in. Suddenly the plagues are dropped from their mind. The days and nights of plague and terror are erased in fury. Slavery was certainly not so bad, and neither was God's response to it. The dark events never happened, and instead they are to be revisited.

Which brings me to Arthur Butz. He's an associate professor of electrical engineering at Northwestern University, and a Holocaust denier. He had toiled in the obscurity he deserves, until recently, when he came out publicly in support of Iranian President Ahmadinejad's statements in December denying the Holocaust. Butz has been widely quoted in the world press, particularly in the Moslem world, supporting and congratulating the president of Iran. Needless to say the response of the Jewish community at large, and of people of conscience on his own campus, Northwestern has been firm and outspoken. I understand that one of our young people, Molly Lipsitz, who is a student at Northwestern, has been involved in responding to this issue on campus.

You might say that Butz is distasteful, and even appropriately-named, but by himself he's really only a small fry. The real problem is who you associate with. Butz's fig leaf in coming to the defense of Ahmadnejad was a vague dissociation from the crux of Ahmadnejad's message "his political remarks receive no comment on my side. By 'political remarks' I mean those that deal with questions of what ought to happen now."

To understand the real danger, you have to listen to what is coming out of Iran today, and understand what "ought to happen now." I remind you that on October 25th, 2005, Ahmadnejad said "The annihilation of the Zionist regime will come... Israel must be wiped off the map." Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president of Iran, spoke matter-of-factly about the nuclear option: "application of an atomic bomb would not leave any thing in Israel but the same thing would just produce minor damages in the Muslim world."

Pharaoh only tried to kill the male children- they are willing to kill all. Even as they deny the holocaust, they plan the next one. Indeed, those who deny the Holocaust often couple it with a desire to bring it about again.

What is frightening is that the Iranians have the motive, means and soon will have the opportunity to do it. For the past 60 years, we have barely avoided worldwide nuclear holocaust through something called MAD- mutual assured destruction. However much you hated the other guy, you valued your own life more than you valued taking away his. And so wars didn't always end well, but they didn't escalate, either. The Iranians leadership is like Pharaoh, who was willing to continue enslaving the Israelites, no matter what the cost to his own people- no matter how many times his servants said "do you not see that Egypt is lost!" (Exodus 10:7). When you have people in charge whose strategic equation gives a lot of weight to receiving 72 virgins, the balance changes dramatically. Once you are wearing a suicide belt, it's immaterial whether you take with you 20 Israelis in a pizza parlor or 2 million in greater Tel Aviv. If your enemy is not afraid of mutually assured destruction, then that is frightening indeed.

Some would say that this is only rhetoric. But I don't think so. In the Biblical story (Exodus 14:6-7) Pharaoh takes 600 choice chariots, and many more troops with him . What's remarkable is that the text says that "he prepared his chariot." "Vaye'esar et Richbo." Did he really prepare the chariot himself? Surely he had servants and lackeys to do this for him? Bereshit Rabba, a classic Midrash, (55:9) notes that "hate disrupts protocol." He was so overcome by rage that he could not wait for others to do it. A modren general would not change the tires (or even drive) his own jeep, but Pharoah is tieing the straps on his own chariot. Mekhilita (Beshallach 1) , another midrash, points out that this was a rallying cry- by doing it himself, and taking the lead Pharaoh inspired his troops to greater frenzy and they followed him into battle. Right now, you see leadership in parts of the Moslem world whose primary goal is to stoke greater frenzy. You need look no further than the latest fury over the 12 Danish Cartoons of Mohammed. (http://pics.livejournal.com/weev/gallery/000038dy) Some of them were offensive, others fairly innocuous. The result has been chaos- riots, burning embassies, threatening assassinations, all fanned by demagogues with a radical agenda. The voices of tolerance and restraint have been shouted down.

It's important to note that we cannot, and should not, tar all Moslems with the brush of radicalism, but those moderates that there are have those responding with the pen, and those whom I'm afraid of are responding with the sword. The pen may be mightier than the sword, but I know which one I'd rather have in a dark alley. The question is academic as to how many moderate Moslems there are if it's the radical ones who have nuclear weapons and are prepared to use them.

We are fortunate, however, when evil at least has the decency to express its desires distinctly, rather than resorting to subterfuge, to lie brazenly rather than to hide behind mealy-mouthed gray tones and half-truths. Perhaps I cannot blame those who, in the 1930's, did not take Hitler seriously. Hindsight is 20-20. But I want to try to do better when a threat just as real looms today. When someone tells a frenzied mob that he is going to wipe out 6 million Jews, I don't have the luxury of assuming that he is only speaking rhetorically.

The Israelites, coming out of Egypt, were weak, confused, and divided. They engaged in revisionism of their own. They idealized their former lives as slaves in Egypt. "Were there not enough graves in Egypt?" At the first pangs of hunger, they recalled the fleshpots and the delicious food of slavery. There is a risk of responding to adversity by idealizing the past- saying that former catastrophes were not so bad, so maybe the risks we fear for the future are similarly overblown. Fortunately, God stepped in with miracles to redeem our ancestors. While we can always hope for a miracle, we cannot wait for one. We are stronger, and we can act. We all must act.

First of all, educate yourself about this issue- read articles in the paper, visit sites like memri.org that keep tabs on what is going on in the Arabic press, and communicate your concerns to your elected officials, particularly in this election year. AIPAC provides one very strong avenue to do so (and their materials and sources were helpful in preparing these remarks) but there are others as well. Make sure that everyone knows that we support Israel's right to defend itself, and the historical reasons why we must be vigilant. Remind them that it is not just Israel, but 250,000 American troops who are within range of Iran's missles.

And because those who deny the Holocaust are also often those most eager to re-enact it: Most importantly, when others lie, be prepared to speak the truth.

When I went into congregational life, I promised myself that I would never give a sermon just about antisemitism- if we exist only to respond to those who hate us, then of what value are we? An anti plus an anti equals zero. Therefore, I want to close with the conclusion of the text from Mekhilta which I cited a just a moment ago. It reminds us that Pharaoh was not the only important Egyptian leader to prepare his own chariot. Just as Pharaoh prepared his chariots himself, "vaye-esar et richvo" Joseph made ready his chariot (46:49) "vaye'esar yosef merkavto" to go greet Jacob when he arrived from Canaan. Joseph, rushing and preparing his own chariot to perform the Mitzvah of greeting and honoring his father, was already the antidote to Pharaoh's rushing to go and do evil. The true antidote to evil is not merely response and reaction, but goodness. Ultimately, we must do what is good and right. We must act with love, with justice in the world. We must not only preserve the heritage of Abraham, but make sure that it is a heritage that is always worth preserving. We must avoid the threats of revisionism, and create memories that cannot be revised or, God-forbid, wiped out, but that live on.