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From: am@vilya.UUCP (MALEK)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Human rights and Judaism: A hope for 5746.
Message-ID: <204@vilya.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 14-Oct-85 11:46:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: vilya.204
Posted: Mon Oct 14 11:46:17 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 17-Oct-85 23:29:03 EDT
References: <31087@lanl.ARPA>
Distribution: net
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories @Parsippany
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> Not that anyone should care, but here is my wish list for those issues which
> I feel need to be raised by all Jewish communities during this new year:
> 1. The responsibility of religious Jews to human freedom in South Africa.
>    Most orthodox rabbis, unlike their counterparts in other movements,
>    have remained silent in South Africa on apartheid.  Only one courageous
>    orthodox rabbi, Rev Ben Isaacson, has been outspoken in his condemnation
>    of racism.  ("You cannot suppress the G-d given rights of fellow human
>    beings with impunity." he has stated).  Rev Isaacson is now being called   
>    a "rebel rabbi" since his ostracization from the orthodox establishment
>    in South Africa.            bill peter          ihnp4!lanl!wkp
	While it is necessary and proper for Rabbis to speak out against the
excesses of apartheid, as Jews we should not speak out against the rule
of SA by those presently in charge until the black opposition shows us that
it will treat the Jews of SA differently than the Jews of the other
countries in Africa were treated when independence was granted.
	It is a well known fact that the whites of those countries (and in many
cases the blacks from minority tribes) were treated in a manner worse
than the blacks had been treated before independence. In many cases, the
Jews were singled out for special persecution. In almost all of Africa,
minorities were deprived of their rights.
	Bishop Tutu has spoken out against Israel and in favor of the 
terrorist organization known as the PLO on many occasions, so the future 
of the Jews in SA would be rather bleak if the currect government were to fall.
	It is our obligation as Jews not to do anything which may endanger 
the lives or property of our brethren in SA, and  although the lack of
responsible black opposition to apartheid is probably caused by the current 
opression, we cannot fix things up. I believe that most of the people in SA,
blacks and whites, would rather have the current regime continue than have 
an Idi Amin or a Khoumeini take over.
	Any overt act on our part to overthrow the Botha government may
put us into the category of "moser" or "rodeph", so we must take great care
to qualify our opposition to SA's system.
	In addition, supporting a movement whose spiritual leader is a
notorious anti-semite (yes, Johnny, anti-zionism === anti-semitism) is
downright foolish. I understand that the Jewish community is under pressure
from outside to help in the SA campaign and that the issue is sensitive,
but I don't believe that all black people here support the abrupt end of
the SA system either.
-- 
Avi Malek @ATT Bell Labs Parsippany, NJ