Last week I twice had the opportunity to hear the words of Israeli Rabbi Paul Feinberg who was visiting Louisville. Rabbi Feinberg, who is a major figure in an international group called “Rabbis for Human Rights,” spoke Wednesday night at Christ Church Cathedral at an event sponsored by Interfaith Paths to Peace. I also heard him when he read and spoke about “the Torah Portion” at Temple Shalom during Sabbath Service on Saturday morning.
A number of things the Rabbi said resonated with me. I noted that he said that Rabbis for Human Rights monitors and tries to ensure the human rights of all persons in Israel, (Christians, Muslims, Druze, Samaritans, Jews and others). At one point in his remarks on Wednesday night, Rabbi Paul (as he invited me to address him) said that in facing threats to human rights, he thought in terms of responses rather than solutions. The distinction between the two words might seem subtle, but it is important. It is particularly important to me in terms of something that I wrote for a Christian “Good Friday” event. I quoted Fr. Daniel Berrigan, SJ, who asserts that Christian peacemakers are called not to be successful, but rather to be faithful. In a culture that is obsessed with success and with winning at any price, the idea of being faithful to what we believe to be right regardless of its chances for success is something almost beyond the pale. I’m not sure that Fr. Berrigan’s ideas and Fr. Paul’s are identical, but to paraphrase Mark Twain, I think they rhyme, at least intellectually. The words of both men remind me to look for something to do that is within my power rather than operating under the delusion that I can effect a “solution” to any of the world’s major problems.
Rabbi Paul also said that in his dealings with what I would term peacemaking activities, he looked toward “harmony” rather than “peace.” Again, a subtle but important distinction. I believe that he was using the musical concept of harmony as a metaphor for social and political situations in which there is room for both concord and discord: we can live together but hold different world views, and even disagree strongly about important issues. Given the troubled nature of our world, harmony may be a more reasonable goal than peace, if by peace we mean living together in agreement.
But there was one other thing about Rabbi Paul’s visit that made an even deeper impression on me, and it wasn’t something he said. Rather, it was something that involved harmony rather than peace. At the Wednesday night presentation at the Cathedral, a young Muslim man (I’m guessing of Middle Eastern nationality) asked Rabbi Paul what he thought about the continuing Israeli expansion of settlements in the West Bank. Rabbi Paul gave a lengthy answer that seemed to be saying that the expansion wasn’t helpful to the peace process. But his answer did not directly address the settlements as a human rights issue.
After the program was over, the young Muslim came up to me and said that he thought Rabbi Paul should have addressed the settlement expansion from a human rights perspective. I suggested to my young friend that he share his concern with Rabbi Paul rather than me. He seemed hesitant to do so. I told him that even though I get teased about being the king of “warm fuzzy” events, I thought that it was only when we challenged each other about difficult issues that we were beginning to engage in meaningful dialogue that could effect change. I also assured him that if our speaker were Palestinian and the challenger an Israeli, I would be saying the same thing.

The young man left me and walked over to Rabbi Paul. They engaged in animated but friendly conversation for what seemed like a long time. I don’t know what either man said. I don’t know that either man changed his mind after engaging in this brief dialogue. But I do hope that both of them came away from their brief verbal encounter with a sense that somehow they could disagree but still live together…in harmony if not in peace.