Background: This letter responded to one a few days earlier in the Hamilton Spectator. That letter in turn was commenting on the story in the paper about Rabbi David Mivasair, who went to the West Bank to help repair a road used by Palestinian villagers to access health care, etc. He was arrested by Israeli forces.
RE: RABBI’S VIEWS CLASH WITH JEWISH COMMUNITY (MAY 10)
Several of Gustavo Rymberg’s assertions in his letter need correcting.
He claims that David Mivasair is “highly unrepresentative” of the Jewish community. But surely as CEO of the Jewish Federation of Hamilton, Mr. Rymberg knows about two recent surveys of Canadian Jews showing this is not so.
One survey was done by Environics on behalf of several organizations including Mr. Rymberg’s colleagues in the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. Among the findings: 44% of Canadian Jews felt Israel was not making a sincere effort to forge a peace settlement with Palestinians; and 39% thought that the continued building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank hurts Israel’s security. Almost a quarter believed that the settlements are illegal under international law.
So Rabbi Mivasair’s views are not “highly unrepresentative,” but are held by many Canadian Jews.
Mr. Rymberg tried to dismiss David Mivasair by writing “rabbi” in quote marks. Yet as Mr. Rymberg must know, in Judaism a rabbi is a teacher of Jewish law. Rabbi Mivasair is teaching the tradition of Jewish support for universal freedoms, human rights and social justice.
Mr. Rymberg also claims that Mivasair’s actions provide fuel to anti-Semites. I would argue the opposite. Rabbi Mivasair is countering anti-Semitism by showing the world that not all Jews support Israel’s disgraceful treatment of Palestinians. Instead he follows the principle in Deuteronomy: “Justice, justice you shall pursue.”
Harry Shannon, Dundas