“The general view then was that the press was inflaming the situation,” Forman explained.
A policewoman declared the T-shirt could incite violence. And a crowd surrounded his daughter, yelling things like “Arafat’s whore.”
“She fell into my arms, and said, ‘Dad, now I know what it must be like to be a Palestinian.’ And I said to myself, ‘David Forman, you are such an activist, why are you so quiet now?'”
That incident propelled the American-born Reform rabbi to found Rabbis for Human Rights, which he discussed during a recent visit to the Bay Area. Forman, who made aliyah in 1972, will also be speaking at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center.
The human rights group consists of about 100 rabbis; some 15 to 20 are Orthodox, and the rest are split among Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist. An office recently opened in Philadelphia for the group’s American counterparts.
Back in 1995, the group received the Knesset Prize for Peace, Tolerance and Education toward Democracy. Forman was invited to be a part of the delegation to Stockholm for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. But that was then — at a time when peace seemed possible.
Now, of course, peace seems a remote possibility. And a group that forces a public airing on whether the Israel Defense Force may be violating the human rights of the Palestinians can hardly be called popular. Admittedly, with many Israelis fearful each time they leave the house, the human rights of Palestinians and whether they are being violated are not exactly foremost on their minds.
But they weigh on Forman’s mind, even though he is just as susceptible to being killed by a suicide bomber as any other Jerusalem resident.
About a month and a half ago, three terrorists were prevented from carrying out a series of suicide bombings in Jerusalem. Maps were found of their potential targets, and one was the school Forman’s daughter attends. The village near Bethlehem, where the terrorists were from, was immediately put under curfew.
Just as Abraham argued with God against using collective punishment in Sodom and Gomorrah, Forman feels that using collective punishment against an entire civilian population is unjust.
“We’re confronted with that all the time, how we protect the human rights of the other, and how we protect the soul of the Jewish people.”
The group of rabbis takes no position on what should be done with the territories or the settlements. It is specifically concerned with the issue of human rights, period. But often that means showing solidarity with a Palestinian family whose home has been demolished, or replanting a grove of olive trees that the IDF has uprooted on the grounds that it is where terrorists hide.
Forman was clear in his assessment of the IDF’s incursions in the Jenin refugee camp: There was no massacre, as the Palestinians allege. On the other hand, he said, there were cases of looting and destruction of property, which is unacceptable under any circumstances.
“That’s what’s so troublesome. That voice is difficult to express because we’re really at war. Yes, Israel is held to a double standard, but at the same time, we shouldn’t do comparative shopping in some ethical mall. We don’t want to use the lowest common denominator to justify what we do.”
Forman, who is director of the Israel office of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, is also an author. His third book is titled “50 Ways to be Jewish, Or: Simon & Garfunkel, ‘Jesus Loves You Less than You Will Know.'” The book offers advice on how to be a Jew.
Usually, after one’s bar mitzvah, Judaism is “put on a shelf, and occasionally you take it down and dust it off. It’s a part-time proposition. But it can be 24 hours a day without being cumbersome or binding,” he said.
Forman, who turns all of his book royalties over to Rabbis for Human Rights, said this is easily the most challenging period in the 30 years he has lived in Israel.
“I’m fairly convinced that the image of the Jewish people and the perception of Judaism is determined by what happens in Israel. If we want Israel to reflect the best of the Jewish tradition, we have to speak up by supporting those institutions and organizations that reflect what we’d like it to be.”