Woe to Those who Remain Silent
By Sherwin Pomerantz

With apologies to Pastor Martin Niemöller who used this literary style to talk about the roundup of communists, trade unionists, and Jews in Nazi Germany, I submit the following vis-à-vis the slippery slope down which we seem to be sliding here in Israel.

• First they asked that their brightest young men be excused from military service because there are so few of them that it won’t make any difference, and I didn’t speak out because there were, indeed, so few of them.
• Then they refused to teach their children mathematics, English and other secular subjects, and I didn’t speak out because they have a right to live their lives the way they want.
• Then they decided it was better for their men to study than to work and they secured state support for their learning, and I didn’t speak out because there were, indeed so few of them.
• Then they demanded separate seating on buses, men in the front and women in the back, and I didn’t speak out because I don’t ride the busses.
• Then they put up a separation in their neighborhoods during holiday periods and asked the women to walk on one side and the men on the other, and I didn’t speak out because I never go to those neighborhoods.
• Then some Ashkenazi religious schools refused to admit Sephardi religious students because they were not religious enough, and I didn’t speak out because I don’t have children of school age.
• Then they demonstrated against having parking lots open on the Sabbath outside Old City of Jerusalem to handle the many tourists who come there, and I didn’t speak out because I don’t drive on the Sabbath anyway.
• Then they told Manny, after causing tens of thousands of dollars of damage to his Jerusalem store, that in his book store of religious volumes he has to take certain books off his shelves because they are “Zionist” books and he has to put up a sign advising women to dress modestly, because his English books attract immodest tourists, and I didn’t speak out because I never go there anyway.
• Then they spat on and insulted religious girls going to elementary school because the girls don’t wear stockings, and I didn’t speak out because I don’t live in that city.
• Next they will tell me how I must live my life and, there are now so many of them, that I will have no choice but to do so if I want to continue living here.

My friends will see this and tell me that I am exaggerating. They will tell me that all of this is the work of a small group of zealots in each location who don’t represent the mainstream religious community. And they will be correct in saying this. But if this is a correct analysis of the situation then where are the mainstream rabbis speaking out against such coercive behavior? Where are the political leaders insisting that the police arrest individuals who threaten and cause harm to others in the name of religion? Why are there no arrests when vandalism causes property damage and potential danger to life and limb?

The dictionary tells us that a zealot is a person who is fanatical and uncompromising in the pursuit of their religious, political or other ideals. But history teaches us that generally zealots are inimical to the long term good and welfare of society.

Former US Senator Robert Byrd, who held the record as the longest serving senator in the history of the United States, said it best when he opined “It is the duty of each citizen to be vigilant, to protect liberty, to speak out, left and right, and disagree lest he be trampled underfoot by misguided zealotry and extreme partisanship.”

There is a lesson to be learned here and those of us who value the democratic principles to which we are committed, have an obligation to protest any encroachment on those rights by any member of the society in which we live. We can do no less nor do we have the right to remain silent. Woe to those who remain silent in the face of bigotry.