TWENTY-FIFTH WORLD RABBINIC CONGRESS
HALICHOT AM ISRAEL

RAMADA HOTEL-JERUSALEM JANUARY 25-28, 2017

(English version of Hebrew Address)

Honorable Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Ono, member of the Rabbinic High Court of Israel, and organizer of this important meeting, honorable Rabbi Yona Metzger, Chief Rabbi of Israel, Honorable Minister Eli Yeshai, Vice Premier of Israel, Honorable Minister of Justice of Israel, Prof. Ya’aqob Ne’eman, Honorable Minister of Social Services Meshuallam Nahari, Honorable Minister of Finance Michael Eitan, Honorable Member of Knesset Rabbi Yishaq Waknin, Honorable Chairman of the Right of Children Zeblun Urlab, Honorable Member of Knesset and Chair of ShasAbraham Michaeli, Former Member of the Knesset Nisan Salmaniski, Honorable Mayor of Qiryat Ono.

Honorable Rabbis and Holy congregation:

It is a great honor for me to be invited to deliver a few words of welcome to this holy gathering of Israeli chief rabbis coming together to discuss the relevance of traditional Jewish civil law based on Torah and Talmud. I thank profoundly my dear friend Rabbi Rason Arrussi, Chief Rabbi of Qiryat Ono and Member of the Israeli Rabbinic High Court for this honor. Rabbi Arussi is a great man of faith and peace who has been organizing this rabbinic gathering for twenty years making a huge contribution to the study of traditional Jewish law and Israeli religious life and working for peace with Israeli and Palestinian leaders for a decade. I congratulate him deeply and respectfully.

Honorable Rabbis and Teachers:

I have not come here to teach you. You are all teachers, learned rabbis imbued in the knowledge of Torah and Talmud. I am here to say a few words of welcome and to remind you of the serious responsibility rabbis like you have to mankind, in particular to promote peace and justice, in our world today.

“Yose ben Yoezer, Man of Saredo, said, ‘let your home be a place of gathering for the wise and learned people, sit at their feet in the dust before them and drink from their wisdom and quench your thirst’.” (Pirkei Aboth.)

You, who sit here in this gathering, chief rabbis of Israel, teachers of the Torah and Talmud, are chosen by the Almighty to learn and teach the Torah, to be leaders of the people of Israel for knowledge and understanding. Great honor comes to you. Your role is lofty and most honorable. All Israel honors you, and sits at your feet and drinks from your teachings of wisdom.

Honorable Rabbis and Wise Teachers:

But it is written “he whose wisdom surpasses his good deeds, his wisdom does not remain standing…” (Pirkei Aboth) It is also written, “The world stands on three things: on learning Torah, on Worship, and on doing good deeds.” (Pirkei Aboth 1:2) Our Torah is wonderful when combined with good conduct, good deeds, and honest labor, as Rabban Gamliel says, “the study of the Torah is beautiful when combined with good deeds…the ultimate end of the study of the Torah that is not combined with good deeds and hard work results in utter failure...” (Pirkei Aboth2: 2)

I am very sad to say that the beautiful world that the Almighty had created and said each day of the creation that it was good has today become an ugly world of hate, greed, of wars and terrorism, a world of destruction and ugly human relations. Everything is not lost, but by and large, we live today in a tense and worried, corrupt world.

Hence, Honorable Rabbis, if it is not you, the great learned people of the Torah and the Prophets and the Sages of the Talmud, who can expose transgressions and sinful actions and admonish humanity to repent and do what is right--- to promote peace and reconciliation in a world full of death and destruction in the battlefields throughout the world?

Many teachers come today from various religious traditions, from India and Tibet, Korea and China to teach us that their respective religion is a religion of love, of compassion, of peace, and wisdom. I am a member of several Boards of Inter-religious and Inter-faith organizations. So, I respect these teachers and work with many of them. But, honorable Rabbis, where are you? 

But where are our rabbis who study our ancient holy scriptures and heed the words of our prophets, who were among the first to cry aloud about love, peace, and compassion?

Some years ago, I heard a lecture at the famous Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton on Human Rights. The professor traced the origins of human rights to the French Revolution, the American Revolution, the European Enlightenment, and to Spinoza. After the lecture, I met the professor, a Jewish person, and suggested to him to also read the Torah, the earliest ancient writings that in many places propounded the legal and human rights (see my article Slavery in the Hebrew Bible in A Historical Guide to World Slavery ed. by S. Drescher & S. L. Engerman, Oxford University Press, 1998), or the Prophet Isaiah, for me the Father of Human Rights, or Hosea and Amos. Was it not these who were among the first to cry aloud against violence and war, against unjust treatment of individuals, the oppression of the poor: Nations shall not raise arms against nations; they shall no longer learn and become skilled at war. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks… (Is 2:4); the wolf will lie with the lamb, the kid with the leopard…. They shall never again fire weapons and injure or kill a person… (Is 11:6ff.) Was it not our great prophet who was the first among ancient prophets to declare that true piety is to free those who are imprisoned, lift and break the yoke of brutality, liberate and give freedom to the oppressed? (Is 58:6) Was Isaiah not among the first to cry out that true piety is a responsibility of feeding the hungry, giving shelter to the homeless poor, and clothing the naked… (Is 58:7)? Were our prophets not among the first who cried, O humanity, what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and walk humbly…” (Micah 6:8); or, let justice roll down like the mighty rivers and righteousness like endless streams…” (Amos 5:24)?

I do not mean to accuse you for not giving priority to these teaching, but simply to remind you to wake up. Above and beyond learning and teaching being good teachers and great interpreters of the Torah and Halacha, the Lord requires of us also to be responsible leaders of good deeds, promote peace, and fulfill our righteous duties to our fellow humans. 

So, why are we today behind the other political (UN) and religious leaders in the world in defending human rights, promoting peace in this land and the world, and doing well for humanity by preaching love (love not only of our neighbors but also of strangers), peace, and compassion? “You shall love the stranger (non-Jewish person) as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt…” Lev 19:34)

The great teacher Hillel said, Love peace, follow peace, love humanity, and advance the knowledge of the Torah [of good deeds] by bringing all even non-Jews [to the fear of the Almighty] … (Pirkei Aboth 1:12)

Wise Rabbis of Israel:

The world is waiting for you to take the lead- not only to learn and teach but also to show the way of the love of our fellow human beings, peace in the world, compassion of the heart at home and abroad, humility, and to work hard to do what is right to help turn our world to the paths of love, peace, compassion, and all blessings.

I cry to you like a voice in the wilderness: How wonderful and beautiful is the study of our Torah. Let us advance the learning of the Torah and Talmud more and more. May the study and knowledge of our Torah and Talmud flood our institutions?

But how much more wonderful our Torah when combined with love, humility, compassion, world peace. Hate, prejudice and human suffering have conquered our world and locked up humanity. So, let us also use our Torah and Prophets as weapons of love and peace and defense of human rights. If it is not you the great teachers, exponents of the teachings of the Torah, who can open the closed gates and lead our people and all humanity to freedom? The key is your hands.