How did this happen? How did an article like that get published? Why were Friends not outraged? Frankly, the article escaped my perusal at the time it was published, but when I (finally) saw it I had an epiphany: The national “Quaker” organizations, if not the local meetings, have been seized by political extremists and are now taking political positions in the name of American Friends. Including seeing to it that this article proclaiming their opposition to Israel and the Jewish people in favor of the Palestinians was published.
Why?
The vast majority of those taking a hardened position and opinion are not students of the history of the region or the history of the parties involved, have never lived in or visited Israel, and "know" only what they have been indoctrinated with, and yet Friends let that article go unchallenged and unconsidered.
Why?
The philosophies of the American Friends and the philosophy of the Jewish people are almost perfectly compatible. In fact, I would assert that the Pennsylvania Friends, William Penn in particular, were informed by the Jewish philosopher Maimonides, and Friends’ practice of silent and expectant waiting is, without doubt, a direct expression of our Jewish cultural heritage (click the link to an excellent article, one of many, by Rabbi Brant Rosen).
Some form of silent worship has a long tradition in Judaism, one that our people has regrettably allowed to lapse. The Talmudic sages would “be still one hour prior to each of the three prayer services, then pray for one hour and afterwards be still again for one hour more.” (Moses Maimonides) interpreted this as silent motionlessness in order “to settle their minds and quiet their thoughts.”
In this new age of Reason, most of us have come to reject the dogma and the infallibility of ancient religious texts and recognize our common humanity, while accepting that some groups of people are not interested in subjugating and subsuming their culture into the whole. On a personal level, I reject the idea of “peoplehood,” ethnicity, and race identity. But that does not mean to suggest that I would use force or coercion on those who feel differently, and I am completely untroubled by the inconsistency of rejecting “peoplehood” while thoroughly enjoying the cultures created as a result of “peoplehood.” People will associate, disassociate, propagate, miscegenate, evolve, and devolve as they will and must be free to do so. Humanity will be unrecognizable to any of us in a thousand years.
But who is it in America, and in the West in general, that has taken this stand against Israel, and the absurd posture and policy culminating with the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction movement? Well, it is the same political interests that have seized control of the national organizations claiming to speak for American Friends. I think we all know who “they” are. “They” are the inherently violent political factions that hate family, children, property, and liberty in general—and the United States and Israel in particular. They are the purveyors of anger, the promulgators of propaganda, and the sworn enemy of the life force that provides humanity with a path to the future. We all know whom I speak of. Apparently, it is not enough to hate America, the moral and political scions of the greatest political achievement ever—the Friends' creation of Pennsylvania. Now we must hate Israel, too.
So I say to Israel, and to the Jewish people:
This Friend is your Friend. I consider you, and all people of reason and peace, to be Friends. All of us have been confronted with the incredible and overwhelming evidence and discoveries regarding our existence that has come to light since the dawn of the Age of Reason and that have swamped and routed the explanations that came from an earlier time in human history. The Jewish people have made greater contributions in this effort than any other “peoplehood”—and they have also suffered the “blackest crime in human history". One wonders if these are not related (and I do not mean to belittle the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Cambodian Killing Fields, the Cultural Revolution, the Ukraine Famine and Stalin in general, or the slaughter in the Congo; these are also “the blackest crimes”). Please do not think or believe that American Friends are “no friend of Israel.” I don’t know the precise genesis of this story, why the WSJ thought it was worth publishing, or why more people here were not appalled by it—but I have my suspicions and I am working to counter the disturbing ideas of these people in my sphere of influence.
Gregory T. Jeffers
Quaker Universalist and Unitarian Church, Inc.
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