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July 22, 2005
Idealism can go wrong
Suicide bombers die convinced they are heroes.
RABBI AVI SHAFRAN AM ECHAD RESOURCES
Suicide bombers. They continue to take a terrible toll on Iraqi
civilians and American soldiers alike. Israel, which has suffered
repeatedly for years from such attacks, only recently intercepted
several would-be suicide bombers before they were able to carry
out their plans. And quite an assortment of other lands, including
Britain and the United States, have experienced the murder and maiming
of civilians at the hands of people who chose to perish along with
their victims.
For most people, the idea of killing oneself just to kill others
in the process is perplexing. To be sure, some Islamist terrorists
may be motivated by titillating tales of a paradise in the afterlife.
But there are considerably less deluded terrorists, too, including
many eyeing only the carrot of a posthumous political goal's advancement
– and they seem equally happy to dispatch themselves to what
they believe to be oblivion.
A jarring thought, but one worth considering, is that such murderers
are motivated by idealism. If the notion seems outrageous, it is
only because we tend to believe, mistakenly, that all ideals are
inherently good.
The Talmud tells of a renegade kohain gadol, or high priest,
in the Second Temple era, who confided to his father how he had
managed to surreptitiously perform the most important priestly service
of the Jewish year, the Yom Kippur offering of incense in the Holy
of Holies, in the particular manner of the Sadducee sect, against
the prescription of Jewish religious law. The Sadducees sought to
change Jewish tradition and, of course, eventually failed, but the
renegade had done what he could to advance the Sadducee cause. The
father asked the son if he was not afraid of being discovered by
the other, tradition-faithful, priests.
"All my life," the younger man responded, "I have
been pained by the verse ..." and he went on to quote the biblical
words with which the Sadducees sought to justify their practice.
"And I wondered," the rebel continued, "when the
opportunity [to fulfil it] might come before me. Now that it has,
shall I not fulfil it?"
It would be hard to describe the depth of the sin that the Talmud
perceives in the undermining of the Yom Kippur service's most momentous
moment. This makes it astounding to hear, in another talmudic account,
an eerie echo of the Sadducee's words. The account describes the
Romans' execution of the renowned Jewish scholar Rabbi Akiva for
his violation of an imperial edict against teaching Torah. As the
great rabbi recited the Shema, the Jewish credo declaring G-d's
sovereignty and unity, his students were incredulous at his presence
of mind; he was being flayed alive by iron combs as he chanted it.
"All my life," the Jewish sage replied to his students,
"I was pained by the verse ... [and you shall love the Lord
your G-d] with all your soul‚" which implies that one
must be ready to give up his very life if necessary for the glory
of heaven. "And I wondered when the opportunity might come
before me. Now that it has, shall I not fulfil it?"
The implication of the identical wording is inescapable. The editors
of the Talmud were subtly but powerfully imparting a life lesson:
the Sadducee's conviction was no less sincere than Rabbi Akiva's,
only misguided. The Sadducee was an idealist, too, but his ideals
were wrong. And that makes all the difference.
Likewise, the "martyrs" of Islamic Jihad and Hamas and
of the insurgency in Iraq: they die convinced that they are heroes
in the service of the sublime. And their sincerity does not mitigate
their evil a whit.
In these relentlessly relativistic times, it is commonplace to hear
how all points of view are equally valid, but they are not. Just
because a particular culture, country or combatant is sincerely
motivated doesn't make it or him/her laudable, or even tolerable.
There are ideologies – and their attendant idealists –
that are good, and there are others that are evil.
It will be a wonderful day – may it come soon – when the
Iraqi insurgency finally expires, and an even more wonderful day
when terrorism altogether is decisively rejected by all human beings.
But should those days be delayed, we would do well to ponder the
subtext of every suicide bombing: it's not enough to be an idealist.
If we are not right, if we are not good, it means nothing at all.
Rabbi Avi Shafran serves as public affairs director for
Agudath
Israel of America. This article was distributed by the Kaddish Connection
Network, [email protected].
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