Big ideas. Small crowd

Editorial

It was a small crowd Sunday night at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. Prof. Michael Keren had come from Tel-Aviv University (via Calgary, where he is on sabbatical) to discuss Israel's difficulties balancing national security with individual liberties.

The presentation was one of the finest interpretations of Israeli history one is likely to hear, the professor having contextualized the Jewish state's situation within the larger developments of international affairs of the 20th century. Unfortunately, only about two dozen Vancouverites made their way to the centre to hear it. The audience was made up of engaged, attentive people who participated freely in a give-and-take with the speaker, making for a lively evening.

Certainly the people who did attend represented an important group of community-involved individuals, but the faces were quite different from those who routinely attend such events as the Townhall meetings intended to vocalize support for Israel here on the West Coast.

In fact, the audience was devoid of the people who probably consider themselves this city's most vocal Zionist spokespeople.

Is it possible that some in the community prejudged what Keren was going to say? Was Keren deemed to be too much of a free-thinking Israeli to bear listening to?

As it turned out, Keren presented a view of Israel that is, as Ben-Gurion put it, "a light unto the nations." Israel, according to Keren, has done an exemplary job balancing individual freedom with the need for national security, resisting the temptation to crush freedom in the interest of saving the state.

Though Keren's presentation contained countless original interpretations and insightful, original observations, there was little that would have challenged the staunch worldview of this city's mainstream Zionists.

And what if there had been a litany of views expressed that ran counter to the majority view of the local Zionists? A good argument could have ensued and an engaging evening enjoyed by many. As it was, only a small number of Vancouverites were blessed with the wisdom of one of Israel's foremost intellectuals. Too bad.

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