Laying Down the Sword by Philip Jenkins

Author:Philip Jenkins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins US

Jews as Amalekites

JEWISH EXTREMISTS DO NOT confine their campaigns to attacking Arabs and Muslims. As Rabbi Lamm observed, in trying to show the moral and intellectual perils of the Amalek doctrine, the concept is infinitely expandable. Lamm deliberately takes the argument to a “bizarre and absurd conclusion.” First, Jews are commanded to destroy the literal people of Amalek; but then they must strike at those other peoples whose behavior is like that of Amalek—that is, every nation under the sun that has ever demonstrated anti-Semitism. But even then, with the globe half-emptied, true zealots would have only just begun, as they would then turn their attention to secular Jews. Next would come the turn of religious Jews whose faith is not quite what the strictest Orthodox think it should be. Actually, in terms of their condemnations, rather than of actual violence, that is a fair description of how some extremists have escalated the biblical commands.38

As the ultra-Orthodox have grown, so they have become ever more strident in denouncing mainstream or secular Jews who, they believe, fall short of the theocratic standards that are demanded of the new Israel. Particularly sensitive are violations of the Sabbath and definitions of Jewish conversion that fall short of the strictest standards of Orthodoxy. Moreover, any talk of conceding sovereignty over the least part of Greater Palestine is regarded as an ultimate treason. Although most such controversies are peaceful (though contentious), they have demonstrated a real potential to ignite violence between Jews. The most extreme example to date occurred in 1995 when an ultra-Orthodox assassin murdered Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, whom he hated for his role in peace negotiations with Arab states. When in 2005 Israel was considering a partial removal of settlements, Mordechai Eliyahu warned that “any Prime Minister in Israel who would dare to damage the Land of Israel or disengage from further parts of it will find himself disengaging from this world.”39

Extremists customarily use the Bible to justify their acts. Haredim engage in intimidation and mob actions against secular Jews, stoning cars being driven on the Sabbath and beating their drivers. The ultras cite the example of Phinehas, who likewise witnessed a blasphemous act that threatened the nation, and who undertook instant direct action. In turning to Phinehas, they echo Rav Abraham Kook. In the words of a modern admirer, “Rav Kook explained that the Torah does not ordinarily approve of such acts of zealotry. Only if they were discharged purely for the sake of Heaven are they sanctioned.” Of course, that “only” gives a huge amount of leeway to individual activists to decide that their cause is that of God.40

Phinehas’s example resurfaced in national politics in 1996, when Israel’s Sephardic chief rabbi denounced Reform Jews for their departures from orthodoxy. He cited Zimri, the victim of Phinehas’s righteous wrath: “Zimri was the first Reform Jew who contended it was possible to assimilate the People of Israel through conversion [of non-Jews].” While the rabbi denied advocating violence, he fully endorsed Phinehas’s acts: “As a result of Zimri’s actions, there was a plague on Israel.

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