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| Muslim Terrorist after shooting spree at Charlie Hebdo |
Being a rabbi is similar to other occupations, in that there are
specific tasks I’m called upon to do that are easy. There are other tasks that are
difficult. And there are still other
tasks that are downright impossible.
The impossible tasks
mostly have to do with bringing comfort to people in extreme situations. How is it possible, for example, to bring
comfort to someone who has just lost a revered parent or a beloved spouse or partner? It can be utterly impossible. And if so, how much more impossible to
bring comfort when a parent has to bury their child? When faced with such a task, I pray for words
that will bring comfort. But usually,
the best that I can offer is a pathetic, “I’m sorry.”
Another impossible
task is to bring comfort or meaning when a public act of evil brings death and
suffering. An example was when I stood
before my congregation at the US Air Force Academy on Rosh Hashanah in the year
2001. It was only six days after the attacks
of September 11th 2001. I had
completed my sermons for all the services weeks earlier. I’m guessing they were good sermons; I’m told
that I’m not a bad preacher! But I have
no memory as to what they said. My
congregation never even heard them.
Instead I stood, dumbfounded as to what I might say to bring some sense
to the events of the previous week. I
asked my congregants’ forgiveness for my inadequacy, and I then offered them a chance
to vent their own feelings. And then I
continued with the service, asking G-d to give us a repentant heart that we
might find renewal in that difficult time.
This week might have
been another such occasion. Last
week, whilst Clara and I were in Colorado, another act of terror shook the
world. Everybody knows the sequence of
events. On Wednesday morning, two Muslim
terrorists killed 12 innocent people in and around the offices of the weekly
satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, meaning ‘Charlie Weekly,’ in
Paris. By the time the drama reached its
conclusion on Friday afternoon, 17 innocents were dead including four patrons at
a crowded kosher supermarket in central Paris.
As I said, this
might have been one of those occasions when I had little or nothing to say. This is the first Shabbat in Australia, since
the violent conclusion of the Paris massacres.
But it wasn’t really a shock. It
came only weeks after the December Martin Place killings in Sydney. And in the wake of numerous atrocities committed
in recent months by ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and Boko Harem in Nigeria. And the attack on the Jewish museum in Belgium,
back in May.
I don’t have any
words of comfort tonight, but perhaps I can help make sense of what is
happening in the world. I can only cry “Nonsense!”
to the notion that anything that any of the victims did, caused the violent
attacks. So what that the cartoonists at
Charlie Hebdo lampooned the Prophet Muhamad and various Islamic leaders?
That’s why they died a violent
death? Did any of the four victims of
the Hyper-Cacher siege draw cartoons insulting to Muslims? No, the only thing they were drawing was
breath, until their lives were snuffed out. Their only ‘offence’ was that they were
Jews.
We have to stop drawing these false
cause-and-effect relationships regarding Muslim terror. We must recognize them for what they are. They are part of a long campaign by elements
of Islam, to conquer and subdue the Western countries that have given them
sanctuary.
Pope Francis
disappointed me when he equivocated on the Charlie Hebdo killings. He condemned them, but then he softened the
condemnation by criticising Charlie’s lampooning of Muhamad. This Pope has been lauded for many words and
acts in his short tenure as pontiff. But
here, he missed an opportunity to offer moral clarity. As did Muslim leaders, failing
to effectively counter the fulminations of the clerics who warned of additional
violence if the mocking of Muhamad doesn’t stop.
Should we look upon all Muslims with
suspicion, hold them at arm’s length? No. But in any case, holding them at arm’s length
would be redundant in that the Muslims in Australia tend mostly to keep to
themselves. And that’s unfortunate.
I’ve had a few close
associations with a few Muslims since 9-11. When they complained to me about Muslims and
Islam being largely mis-understood by their neighbours, I told them as gently
as I could that to stop playing the victim.
Stop denying that in Islam there is a hatred of the West even whilst enjoying
its freedom and prosperity. Muslims might
encourage one another to forge close associations with their non-Muslim neighbours.
And ask for help in learning the ways of
the host society. And be ready
and willing to condemn elements in Islam which commit atrocities. During the Martin Place siege I thought about
how powerful it might have been if Muslims had spontaneously gathered on the
street outside the Lindt Café – or as close as the police would have allowed
them – holding signs saying “Not in My Name.” There are Muslims who speak out. But there are not enough. And sometimes, too often, they sound
less than unequivocal.
Yes, that’s a big
responsibility to ask of everyday Muslims. Not everybody is up to it. But think of what a powerful witness it would
be. And think of the confidence it would
help foster, iff it were combined with more conversations and
interactions with their non-Muslim neighbours.
What a gesture it
would be if we, as a group, would reach out in friendship to a Muslim
congregation in our city. I hesitate to
ask us to, only because our group is small and lacks self-confidence at this
point. But imagine how powerful it would
be! I can tell you that just ‘up the
road’ from us, in Toowoomba, there is a lot of reaching out across religious
lines, and it serves that city well. How
much better a place the Gold Coast would be if it were happening here as well.
Last week, in the
wake of the death and destruction visited upon their city, Parisians began
appearing in public loudly proclaiming, and wearing buttons, saying “Je suis
Charlie”; I am Charlie. The cry was
taken up outside France, notably among certain Hollywood personalities. At a mass rally in Paris on Sunday, the
buttons were very much in evidence. It
would have been nice see a significant contingent of Muslims at the rally,
wearing the buttons. There were too few.
It would have been nice to also see
buttons proclaiming, “Je Suis Hyper-cacher.” The attack on Charlie Hebdo, reveals the
intolerance of much of the Muslim world.
The attack on Hyper-cacher reveals its anti-Semitism. An opportunity to proclaim a different
course, was lost. Shabbat shalom.
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