It was a Friday night, Shabbat and I had gone to services since I hadn't gone in a while. The service was like all others, starting with the Barachu, then the Sh'ma, and then the other prayers. The Rabbi proceeded with his sermon of the Torah portion of the week and then a well respected man in our congregation (whose name I will not disclose) came up to the Bima and started with the announcements of the week. Like always, there were adult Hebrew classes on Wednesdays and then Sunday school following the Sabbath.
However, then he told the congregation about an event occurring on Monday of the following week. He explained to us that there was a Palestinian speaker making a presentation at Coe College, and he told us that we should go and picket this speaker. I was astonished at this thought, and it seemed backwards that one of our congregation's leaders was saying this. Aren't we, as Jews, supposed to be open to all thoughts and forms of speech? How come this time we shut our ears to what people had to say? You must see that I do understand people's points of view when it comes to the Palestinian-Israeli War and their extreme views, but I think it is unlike both groups to not want to negotiate with others. By picketing this speaker, we are closing ourselves to peaceful negotiations, and it seemed like a very duplistic idea of my faith.
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