Aaron Tapper's "Towards a Jewish Theology of Non-Violence" (Tikkun, vol. 20, no. 1) is a deeply moving essay expressing admirable sentiments. Unfortunately, his knowledge of Hebrew texts is not on the same level as his social idealism. His essay includes a number of errors that mislead the reader and create the possibility for tragic and harmful mis-interpretation of Jewish tradition and current history.

He describes Purim as a holiday "...in which Jews celebrate the massacre of our enemies". This is false. We celebrate no massacre. The Megillah mentions battles which the Jews fought to defend themselves against Haman's minions. The celebration follows the Jewish victory against armed assailants. Had Haman's plan NOT been up-ended, and had the Jews not been empowered to defend themselves, THEN there would indeed have been a massacre...of Jews…

In his treatment of Shfokh Chamatkha, Mr. Tapper simply misunderstands the entire prayer. Far from being a prayer of vengeance and violence in contradiction to the invitation of Elijah as a symbol of divine redemption, this brief chant is a rejection of human violence. It says that we Jews do NOT seek to exact revenge, we eschew retribution, we forgo the temptation to take justice into our own hands... and instead, we ask God to do that for us, with wrath upon those who deserve wrath (for, after all, only He can know who is deserving of Divine wrath, and who is not)… As Mr. Tapper notes, Jews have much good reason for anger at much of the non-Jewish world for the way non-Jews have treated Jews for thousands of years.  But he fails to note that despite this good reason for anger, Jewish tradition rejects outright the notion that we Jews should stoop to violence as an expression of that anger…

But the most egregious, and the most harmful, of Mr. Tapper's errors is in his suggestion that a nascent Jewish theology of non-violence be applied to the current Arab-Israel conflict; "...where only by engaging in compassionate forgiveness will we be able to achieve an enduring peace"...  Does he sincerely believe that Hamas will abandon its 25-year commitment to genocide very Jew in Israel if we forgive them; as will the twenty Arab countries that are still officially at war with Israel and  sympathize with, or actively support, the dozen terror groups that routinely kill Jews and promise that they will destroy Israel even if they must do it one Jew at a time?...

In sum, by finding massacre and hatred where there is none, by seeing violence in texts that actually reject human violence, and by legitimizing Arab hatred and terrorism, Mr. Tapper does a terrible disservice to the cause of peace…

David Meir-Levi
Investment and Insurance Strategies
Menlo Park, CA USA

Aaron Tapper Responds:

To begin, there is no place in intellectual discourse for comments that disparage another’s knowledge of Hebrew texts, as Mr. Meir-Levi asserts in his opening paragraph. This type of disrespectful communication speaks for itself and is not indicative of an understanding of the biblical mitzvah of tochechah, responsibility to reprove another in a respectful manner but rather exemplifies a lack of understanding of the commandment not to embarrass another in public.

As for his other comments, such as the assertion that Jews do not celebrate massacres on Purim, as I mentioned in my article this has been my personal experience. This cannot be disputed. Even if he had spent time in all of the numerous orthodox yeshivot that I have observed Purim in over the years, or had prayed in the same synagogues that I have over the last three decades—which he surely has not—this has been my own experience. As for my 13 years of Jewish Day School and the times I learned about Purim there, we mamash celebrated the deaths of Haman and his sons in these liberal schools. My teachers did not treat these killings with the gravity they deserve. Even the rabbis of Talmud, who in theory permitted utilizing the death penalty (though there is no proof that the sages ever actually put someone to death), understood the intense seriousness involved in taking another’s life.

As for Meir-Levi’s contention that if the Jews had not been “victorious” against the “armed assailants” in the Purim story then the Jews would “indeed have been massacred” — the text clearly refrains from stating that the tens of thousands of “assailants” were armed. This is Meir-Levi’s interpretation and is not the pshat/ literal meaning of the passage. Further, it is interesting that Meir-Levi implies that the Megillah depicts an actual historical occurrence, which is highly debatable, let alone claims an understanding of the text not even the Talmudic rabbis ever declared.

Regarding my “misunderstanding” of the Shfokh Chamatka prayer, this too is quite a brash statement. For one Jew to publicly declare to another that his understanding of a Jewish text is definitive and another’s is not is myopically shrewd and misrepresentative of the multi-opinioned canon of intra-Jewish discussion. In addition, Meir-Levi’s reading that the Shfokh Chamatkha prayer is “clearly” asking God and not humans to carry out wrath upon others is precisely what my article argues. My position is that we, as a Jewish community, should be hyper-aware of what we are asking God to do in this prayer. Then, if we still choose to make this prayer, we need to confront the fact that this is not our ideal for the world but addresses our anger and pain rather than our utopian vision of peace.

Further, it is clear from my article that I know that the Jewish community—my community—has been persecuted throughout history. I stand against persecution of Jews strongly and loudly. As I write in my piece, “I do not dispute [the] reality” of our “historical maltreatment”. In the next sentence I contend that wrath is not “the ideal way to treat malicious or immoral people.” Having spent time in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, Serbia, Sierra Leone, and South Africa, let alone five years in the Middle East, I understand what it means for both an individual and a community that live in war situations to feel anger and pain. These are real emotions and cannot be ignored. However, this does not mean that at the (arguable) apex of the Pesach Seder, when Jews invite Eliyahu Ha-Navi to herald in the age of the Messiah, we should ask for God to be vengeful upon others. Yes, revenge is a valid opinion within Judaism and numerous passages from the Torah support such a theology. This, however, is not my personal theology, a theology that also falls within the canon of Jewish texts and is supported from passages abound. My own theology of nonviolence is buttressed by the thought of respected Jewish leaders, Martin Buber and Abraham Joshua Heschel among them.

To continue, I find it quite telling that Meir-Levi interprets my article’s mention of the “Middle East” to be, in his own words, “The Arab-Israeli conflict”. There is a clear assumption of knowledge of my intent, yet an inaccurate “knowledge” at that. I was speaking about exactly what I said, the need to move forward in the Middle East—in all communities and all countries—particularly the seven that I have spent years living in traveling in. I have seen quite a bit of pain in all of these countries and believe that even once these countries achieve a two-dimensional peace, evidenced by the signing of peace agreements, they will still need to move towards actually reconciling with one another, as they have only begun to do in Sierra Leone and South Africa, for example.

Finally, as for one of his final declarations, that “Mr. Tapper does a terrible disservice to the cause of peace”, it is my dearest wish that organizations such as the “Israel Peace Initiative”, Meir-Levi’s own organization, were actually involved in peace work rather than offering for all humankind the definitive understanding of history related to Israel. True peace cannot be achieved with arrogance and a monolithic approach to our world. If more people involved in international conflicts actually created a space to listen to the ‘other’ there would surely be less violence and less death in our broken world. Indeed the ‘other’ would cease to be. Then, and only then, can my community, and the world, move towards the age of the messiah.

Aaron J. Tapper