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The
Two Wars in Iraq
Rabbi David Zaslow
November, 2004
There
are really two wars in Iraq – a physical war and a spiritual
war. Our sages teach us that events in our world are mirrored
in the spiritual realm, and visa versa. Regardless of our
political affiliations, I’m sure that we all pray for
the safety of our soldiers, for their safe return, and for
an end to terrorism. Since Biblical times the nation of Iraq
(known then as both Mesopotamia and later as Babylon) was
the quintessential archetype for the “place of confusion”
for the Jewish people. The nation we call Iraq today was known
in Biblical times as “Bavel,” and means both “confusion”
and “withering.” In fact, the English word “babble”
meaning “confused talking” comes from the Babylonian
superpower that challenged Israel’s right to exist as
a nation twenty-five hundred years ago.
In
Genesis Chapter 11 a story is told that “the whole earth
was of one language.... And they said, ‘Come, let us
build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach to heaven....’
And Hashem said, ‘Behold, the people are one...nothing
will be restrained from them which they have schemed to do....So
the Lord scattered them abroad...and they left off the building
of the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel, because
Hashem did there confuse the language....” Herein lies
the secret for understanding the inner meaning of Babylon:
it is a form of arrogance and confused thinking when any of
us think we can “reach to heaven” with our material
possessions and creations. The rabbis of the Talmud taught
us to see Babylon as an archetype that could be applied to
every generation.
The
mystics in Jewish tradition teach us to take the archetype
of Babylon one step further – right to our own personal
lives. Babylon becomes the place of the confusion that each
of us experiences in our own lives: spiritually, intellectually,
emotionally, and politically. For instance, when we build
towers to “reach to heaven” through an intellect
separated from G-d we are, so to speak, serving the gods of
Babylon. When we seek material possessions or power devoid
of Torah ethics we are living in the confused world of Babylon.
Yet, paradoxically, the land of Iraq (ancient Mesopotamia)
was also a place of origin for the Jewish people. The Garden
of Eden was partially on that land, and it was in the city
of Ur where Abraham and Sarah heard the call to “go forth”
to a land that G-d would show them. Later in Jewish history
we were taken into captivity after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed
Solomon’s Temple. He took tens of thousands of Jews as
slaves to cities like Baghdad and Falluja which became the
places of “confused” identity for our people. Why?
Because as horrible as our enslavement was we were permitted
to set up what became the greatest academies of learning in
Jewish history. Even today the most popular edition of the
Talmud is called the Babylonian Talmud.
In
recent weeks the battle for the Iraqi city of Falluja has
been at the top of the news. More than twenty-five hundred
years ago, during the rule of the Babylonian empire the city
of Falluja was one of the greatest centers for Jewish learning,
and was known as Pumbeditha. It was there that we learned
how to analyze and interpret – intellectual skills that
later became a hallmark of Judaism. It was, in fact, in Babylon
that the Jewish people gained detailed secular learning in
subjects ranging from music to astronomy. Most scholars agree
that Torah trope1 was developed
in Babylon. Most agree that the names of the Hebrew months,
and even the names of the archangels were learned in Babylon.
What a paradox! Something bad (captivity) was transforming
into something good (learning) - something that would help
preserve the Jewish people for the next few thousand years.
I’m
sure this transformation was “confusing” to our
people, just as many of us are confused today when we hear
the news. Yet, I believe that the Bible teaches that something
good will also come from all this “confusion.” On
the spiritual plane the second war in Iraq is a world war
against both confusion and arrogance, and it could be that
something incredible (peace and justice) will be coming out
of all the pain and fear we are now experiencing. There seems
to be a Divine message that arises out of the war in Iraq:
whether you are conservative or liberal; whether you were
for the war or against the war – do not be arrogant!
Do not be confused! Rabbi Simon Jacobson recently wrote that
“The real war – which is going on now for thousands
of years, tracing back to the battles between Ishmael, Isaac,
Esau and Jacob – is an ideological one: between matter
and spirit, between the Divine and the universe – a war
to make our peace with G-d and to discover unity between our
natural lives and our Divine mission statement....Saying up
is down and down is up, that’s Babel. Making absurd comparisons
of Sharon to Hitler or Bush to Saadam, that’s Babel regardless
of who you voted for.”
Isn’t
“saying up is down and down is up” what we hear
from commentators and representatives from both the Left and
Right today? From exaggerated claims and scandalous comments
made by members of all the political parties, to the near
paranoid conspiracy theories one hears – this is all
part of Babel; all a part of our personal exile into Babylon;
in the inner land of confusion. Babel is a description of
the archetypal energy that exists in every one of us, in every
culture, and in every nation. It is the force that divides
people through confusion. The opposite of Babel is shalom,
the Hebrew word that comes from a word root meaning “wholeness.”
Shalom means that the whole, both sides of an issue, must
be accounted for, and that people representing each side of
an important issue actually need each other in order to fulfill
G-d’s will in our world. Babel is “babble”
because it divides and polarizes people in ways that are counterproductive
and destructive. Shalom brings people together, even people
who disagree – especially people who disagree! That is
why shalom is so important in our era and why Babel must be
corrected and transformed.
The
archetypal struggle between Israel and Babylon is a struggle
between those of us willing to wrestle with the complex, in-between,
grey areas of truth, and those of us who confuse complex issues
with nasty language, half-truths, hyperbole, and sloganeering.
Let us be very, humble and maintain hope for the great redemption
and cultural transformation that is happening before our eyes.
It is written in Isaiah 63:1, “Who is this coming from
Edom2, with sullied garments
from Basra3? For a day of
vengeance is in My heart and the year of My redemption has
come.” To those of us on the political left – our
garments are sullied! To those of us on the political right
– our garments are sullied! Isaiah’s words imply
a profound, world karmic balancing when he speaks of G-d’s
“day of vengeance,” and yet the message is ultimately
of hope as he quotes G-d speaking of “the year of My
redemption.”
The
metaphor that Rabbi Simon Jacobson,4
uses is that Esau has “two faces:” a face of sanctity
since he is the twin of Jacob and the son of Issac and Rebecca,
and a face of materialism. Just as Issac and Ishmael represent
the struggle between Jews and Muslims in the world today,
so Esau and Jacob represent the struggle and ultimate reunion
between Europe, America, and the West with the Jewish people,
and all other minorities who identify themselves with Jacob.
European nations have always had “two faces” when
it came to the Jewish people. At times we were welcome in
the countries where we lived after the Diaspora, at other
time we were the victims of pogroms, ethnic cleansing, and
ultimately the Holocaust.
During
Talmudic times (two thousand years ago) the rabbis associated
Edom with the Roman Empire, or any nation or individual who
exalted materialism over spirituality, military might over
reason, and personal gain over justice. Yet at the end of
the Jacob and Esau story5
the two brothers seem to reconcile their differences, and
they form a kind of truce or peace treaty. But the story has
a dangling conclusion because their is implied a future reunion6
of the brothers which never took place during their lifetimes.
There are many of who sense that the world is still awaiting
the complete reunion of these two brothers, and that current
events on the world scene may be pointing to such a reunion
very soon.
It
could be said that the repentance of Esau takes place whenever
force (the aggressive and materialistic side of Esau) is used
for a moral, G-dly purpose, such as the defeat of fascism
during World War II, or in the Cold War against communist
tyranny during the second half of the twentieth-century. According
to Rabbi Jacobson, Esau today is represented by Western culture,
and in particular by Christianity. We know from history that
the West certainly has two faces: the shadow side of Christianity
produced the Crusades, Inquisition, the near genocide of Native
Americans, colonialism, the brutal enslavement of Blacks,
and the Holocaust. Yet the other face of Esau has been the
incredible side of Western culture that has produced all the
Torah-based institutions and values we associate with our
democratic systems of justice and governance: freedom to dissent,
freedom of religion, freedom of the press, egalitarianism,
pluralism, etc.). My teacher, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, may
his memory be a blessing, taught that in preparation for this
reunion the Jewish people should call Esau “Uncle Esau,”
so as to welcome him back to the family. The suggestion made
me laugh when I first heard it, but Reb Shlomo was serious
– Uncle Esau, hmm!
In
every instance where there is a successful struggle for civil
and human rights in America (women’s rights; the union
movement and worker’s rights; minority civil rights;
environmentalism; handicap access, etc.) Uncle Esau takes
one step closer to coming home. This submission to Holiness
and Justice by Power represents the true reunion of Esau to
his brother Jacob – of Christianity and Western culture
to all minorities as symbolized by the Jewish people. The
archetypal struggle between Isaac and Ishmael and Jacob and
Esau is being played out before our eyes. America represents
Esau in the process of redeeming himself and returning to
Jacob. Europe, as portrayed by Rabbi Jacobson, represents
the side of Esau that is still struggling with its own brutal
past of religious and racial intolerance, and a very spotty
record in regard to the Jews. President Saadat of Egypt, may
his memory be a blessing, represented the possibility of healing
between the Issac and Ishmael. May their arise in all the
Middle Eastern nations, and among the Palestinians, Muslim
leaders of such vision and courage once again!
Right
now, regardless of our personal opinions about the war in
Iraq, our soldiers need our prayers and gratitude; the citizens
of Iraq need our prayers. President Allawi7
needs our prayers for the success of the upcoming elections.
President Karzai8 needs our
prayers for the success of the burgeoning and vulnerable democracy
that is emerging in Afghanistan. Our president needs our prayers.
Regardless of our personal political positions I hope that
all of us can pray for the speedy capture of al-Zarqawi and
Osama Bin Laden. I hope that all of us can pray for the emergence
of democratic, visionary, and moderate leadership for the
Palestinians. And we need each other’s prayers. We need
to davven for each other especially when we disagree with
each other – and not in a patronizing way, not in a haughty,
arrogant, self-righteous way. We need to all humble ourselves
before the Living G-d, and declare “May Your will be
done!”
During
the past few years I have heard comments about Israel from
people with otherwise progressive political ideas that have
deeply troubled me. Not because their comments were critical
of the state of Israel – after all, the obligation of
the citizen of any democracy is self-criticism. If you want
to hear criticism of Israel you need go no further than Israelis
themselves. They are the only nation in the Middle East blessed
with a constitution that assures and protects pluralism, egalitarianism,
diversity, freedom to dissent, freedom for all religions to
assemble, and for the inalienable right and obligation to
criticize and protest.
The
comments that have troubled me have been based upon beliefs
that are utterly confused, utterly from the spiritual realm
of Babel! How can bright, emotionally sensitive people display
such a dangerous confusion of emotion and reason; a confusion
of facts with slogans? In this past year alone I have heard
Israel accused of practicing ethnic cleansing, slave labor,
racism, apartheid, Naziism, all sorts of brutal human rights
abuses, genocide, and a holocaust against the Palestinians.
All of us have reason to be critical of this or that Israeli
policy under this or that Israeli Prime Minister. In fact
our holy Torah commands us to be bold and courageous in the
face of power when their is injustice in anyplace in the world.
But slander, exaggeration, hyperbole, gossip, mockery, absurd
comparisons, making statements of moral equivalency where
there is no equivalency – these are symptoms of Babylon;
these are the battles we must wage in our own communities
in the second war in Iraq; and the war each of us must fight
within ourselves against arrogance and confusion. Anyone who
equates President Bush with Saadam Hussain, or Ariel Sharon
with Hitler, is under the spell of Babylon.
Someday,
G-d willing, Saadam Hussain will stand trial under a fair
system of justice in a newly democratic Iraq. I hope that
during his trial the handful of Jews who remain in Iraq, out
of hundreds of thousands who once thrived there, will be able
to come into the courtroom just to read the words of the prophet
Isaiah9 who wrote, “That
thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon,
and say, ‘How hath the oppressor ceased! The golden city
ceased!’” But even more, I hope and pray for a time
of confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation for all the
children of Jacob, Ishmael, and Esau in the Middle East –
for the long awaited reunion of the children of Abraham.
Little
by little this seems to be what is unfolding on the world
scene right now. Our own inner work is simply to defeat our
own confusion so that we can make the correct political decisions
along the way. We need to be willing to form new alliances,
and always follow the idealistic vision of our Torah –
the vision that guided Rev. Martin Luther King in the Civil
Rights movement; the vision that Moses followed when he confronted
Pharaoh; and the vision that our father Jacob followed when
he and his brother wept at their reunion. The Holy One is
offering all the children of Abraham (Jews, Christians, and
Muslims) a vision of justice and reconciliation once again.
We, who are the living embodiment of Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob
and Esau, Sarah and Hagar, have arrived at a pivotal moment
in history. We seem to be enacting the final scene on the
world stage that could lead to the messianic era of peace
and justice that we all yearn for.
In
Psalm 137 it is written, “By the rivers of Babylon, there
we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion....If I forget
you, O Jerusalem, May my right hand forget her skill...”
The Psalmist calls us to remember Jerusalem, to remember,
and not to be confused, and not to permit the fear and anger
to guide our lives. Let us work for peace, pray for peace,
and support our friends in Israel today who are living and
dying for nothing less than peace. Let us support all our
friends in all the nations of the world who are risking their
lives for democracy, justice, pluralism, and freedom. Right
now there are Muslims ready to die (and many probably will)
for a reformation of their religion; and for true pluralism
within their cultures; and for democracy within their governments.
Let us keep these courageous children of Ishmael and Esau
in our prayers, and pledge them our support. After all, they
are our cousins! Ishmael was beloved by our father Abraham
and Esau was beloved by our father Issac – we should
do no less.
Finally,
let us never forget the words of prophet Isaiah what he wrote10
regarding Israel, Egypt, and the nations that were once part
of the Assyrian Empire (the land where the modern nations
of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq are situated today) during
the 9th. and 8th. centuries BCE. Let us raise this seemingly
impossible prophesy as a banner of hope for all the children
of Abraham: “In that day there will be a highway from
Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and
the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with
the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be one of three with
Egypt and Assyria – a blessing in the midst of the land,
whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, ‘Blessed
is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and
Israel My inheritance.’” May the Holy One bless
each of us to have the courage to begin building that highway
today – some of us through diplomacy and dialogue, others
through music and art, and some through prayer. Please G-d,
may Israel be seen for what it has the potential to really
be – “...a blessing in the midst of the land.”
1The
ancient system of musical notation used when chanting from
the Torah
2In the book of Genesis Edom is another name
for Jacob’s fraternal twin brother, Esau.
3Basra is an ancient port city in southern Iraq
– close to Kuwait, and close to Abraham and Sarah’s
home in the city of Ur.
4http://www.meaningfullife.com/currentevents/gulfwar/Two_Faces_of_Esau.php
5Genesis 33:1-4
6Genesis 33:14
7The current, interim leader of Iraq
8The newly, democratically elected president
of Afghanistan
9Isaiah 14:4
10Isaiah 19:22-25
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