Letter to the Editor: The Iran Deal Debate and Beyond

An open letter from the Westchester Board of Rabbis on Jewish rulings about civility.

During the month preceding Rosh Hashanah, through Yom Kippur, Jewish tradition calls upon us to confront the reality of sin, and to extricate ourselves from its grip. Maimonides, the towering Rabbinic scholar and philosopher, devotes ten full chapters of his monumental Mishneh Torah to this very subject. Through the process of teshuvah (repentance), Maimonides teaches, we cleanse our souls, elevate our character, and refresh our bonds with both God and our fellow human beings.

With this in mind, the Westchester Board of Rabbis calls attention to a sin which has plagued our communities this past year, and which must not be carried forward, into the next. The sin is sinat chinam- gratuitous hatred; a hatred which is unwarranted, unproductive, and uncalled for. The debate over the proposed Iran deal has gone from robust to acrimonious. Accusing fellow Jews of deliberately and willfully undermining the safety of Israel, by either supporting or opposing the deal, is beyond the acceptable limits of rhetoric. Verbally assaulting and insulting those who disagree with our viewpoint is both destructive and divisive.

We remind the Westchester Jewish community of the warnings of our sacred literature:

He who publicly shames his neighbor is as though he shed blood. And,

Verbal wrong is even more heinous than monetary wrong. (Bava Metzia 58b)

The continuing tensions have produced conditions in which ongoing, pointless, yet, deeply- rooted hate has begun to infect our souls. In this new year, we call upon our community to reject malicious gossip, speech in which hate-like words are heard, and humiliation of those with whom we disagree. We pray that this new year will usher in renewed feelings of solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Israel, in the United States, and around the world.

Shanah Tovah Umetukah- A good and sweet year to all.

Rabbi Seth Sternstein, President

Westchester Board of Rabbis