The Power of Words
Vayera
We stood outside in Ann Arbor, Michigan, holding our signs, which read, “This is an Anti-Semitic Conference,” “Shame for Inciting Violence,” and “Shame for supporting Terrorism.” We were protesting the Second gathering of the National Student Conference on the Palestinian Solidarity Movement. As people walked into the conference, we said to them, “Shame, shame for supporting terrorism.”
As we stood there, some from the conference said to us, “We’re not anti-Semitic. Come inside, engage us in dialogue.” One conference participant, a member of the executive board of the American Muslim Council even said, “We don’t support suicide bombing. There is no justification for it. We absolutely condemn it.”
This was at least the message that many in the media took away from the conference. As one well-meaning reporter from a distinguished wire service said to me, “They are saying that this conference is only about the occupation. They are saying, the major problem is the occupation.” Many asked us, if they are condemning terrorism and want to engage in dialogue, why then are you protesting?
I want to answer this question by exploring a concept in the Torah that will help explain why we protested. Perhaps the pivotal story in the Torah is the Akedah story. Its the story of God commanding Avraham to sacrifice his son Yitzhack upon a mountain. And so Avraham took his son up the mountain, held a knife to his neck and at the last second was stopped by angel, who told him to stop.
This is a story full of deep questions. No matter how many times I read the story, I always wonder, How could Avraham have done it? How did Avraham find the strength to pick up a knife and hold it over his son’s neck? So he didn’t sacrifice his son…but how could he have even picked up the knife?
Great insight into this story can be seen by looking at another story in Tanakh. Very often the later parts of the Torah act as a commentary to the earlier parts. So when we see a later story we should compare the stories in order to see how the later story can illuminate the earlier one.
The later story in this case is the story of Yiftach and his daughter. Yiftach was one of the shoftim, judges. He was going out to fight the enemy. Before he went he took an oath and said: if I will be victorious in battle, then I will sacrifice the first thing to greet me upon my return. Hayotzei asher yeitzei midaltei beiti…ve-ha-alituhu le-olah. Yiftach thought that an animal would greet him. But instead when Yiftach returned victorious from war, his daughter—his only child—runs out to greet him. Yiftach sees her and immediately cries out in pain and tears his clothes because he understands that he must sacrifice her.
In many ways the two stories are the exact opposites of each other. In the Akedah we have God commanding a man to sacrifice with great specificity his only son, the man is very willing, even eager, to do it, the son seems not to know anything about it, and then God stops the father at the end. On the other hand, with Yiftach, we have a man who on his own vows to sacrifice anything at all. To his great distress, he then ends up sacrificing his daughter with her full knowledge and agreement.
Avraham was willing to sacrifice his son and yet he ends up not doing it. Yiftach did not want to sacrifice his daughter and yet he ends up doing that. Why the opposite outcomes? Why is Yitzhack saved and Yiftach’s daughter allowed to be sacrificed?
The answer lies in the language that both Avraham and Yiftach used.
Avraham’s actions showed that he was willing to sacrifice his son. He walked with his son for three days, he got up early in the morning, he chopped the wood, and he picked up the knife and held it over his son’s throat. But with Avraham’s words he told a different story. With his words Avraham was saying, that despite whatever actions he took, at the end of the day, he would not sacrifice his son. Avraham says to his servants who accompanied him: Stay here ve-nashuvah aleichem, we will return to you. We: Together with Yitzhack I will return. Yitzhack asks Avraham where is the lamb for the offering (ayei haseh leolah)? Avraham says, elokim yireh lo, God will provide the lamb.
Avraham’s words are what allowed him not to have to sacrifice his child. Its true he acted as though he were going to sacrifice his child, but with his words he willed himself into not doing that. We often say actions are louder than words. But sometimes words are louder than actions. Because Avraham spoke as though he was not going to sacrifice Yitzhack, in then end, he did not have to sacrifice Yitzhack.
The psychologist Dr. David Pelcovitz once shared with me some interesting research. There is a study that takes recently engaged people, watches them interact with each other, and then can predict with incredible accuracy whether the relationship will last. Even though the couples are acting with great romance, the words they use with each other will predict whether or not the relationship will last. The future is best predicted by looking at the words.
This is the message of the Yiftach story. Yiftach acted upset. He tore his clothes and cried. But his daughter said to him, Avi patzita et pikahah…aseh li kaasher yatza mipikhah, my father you have opened your mouth, now you must do to me what you have said. The language we use, the words we employ willy-nilly obligate us to act that way.
This was why we protested the conference at the University of Michigan. The opening speaker was a man named Hatem Bazian. He is reported to have said at an earlier conference on a university campus, “Kill the Jews.” The featured speaker is Sami Al Arian. Sami is a person who has been videotaped fundraising for Islamic Jihad. He has been videotaped praising terrorists. He has been called one of the founders of Islamic Jihad. When people like this are invited speakers at a conference, the other actions of the conference organizers are to a large degree irrelevant. When people who support the murder of Jews are given a forum, we should denounce that forum categorically. There is nothing to talk about with someone who supports terrorism. There is nothing to talk about with someone who gives a forum to terrorism.
That’s why I wasn’t surprised when towards the end of the day a crowd of around 75 Palestinians surrounded us and screamed, “From the River to the Sea Palestine will be Free.” These are code words for the annihilation of all of Israel, not just the West Bank. Others then shouted, “Chrad al-Yahud,” which means annihilate the Jews. When you have speakers like Hatem Bazian and Sami Al Arian, its no surprise that a mob from the conference will surround us yelling these horrible things.
So the conference organizers can say the conference was about the occupation. But that wasn’t what it was about. It was about what happened this past week in Israel. When a passenger bus was blown to pieces by terrorists and people were burned alive, the terrorist group Islamic Jihad rushed to claim responsibility for that act. Sami Al Arian, an important supporter of Islamic Jihad, is surely responsible for that act. And with respect to all those who supported Sami and this terrible conference at the University of Michigan: They now have the blood of innocent people dripping from their hands.
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