By Rabbi Josh Knobel
As the United States prepares for yet another ferocious election cycle… as the British Prime Minister earns the rebuke of his nation’s highest court… as Israel launches its second consecutive attempt to patch together a coalition government against all odds… it can seem difficult to navigate the perilous divide between embracing differences of opinion and standing up for what we believe is right.
Our ancestors, too, struggled with this dilemma, recording their observations in an engrossing tale in which a snubbed guest, Bar Kamtza, wreaks vengeance upon the Jewish people because the sages failed to intervene when the host drove him in shame from the party. Throughout the story, the sages forego many opportunities to avert disaster. They could censure the host at his party and prevent Bar Kamtza’s dismissal. They could frustrate Bar Kamtza’s plans for revenge, or failing that, eliminate Bar Kamtza once his motives become clear.
Each time, the sages privilege civility over morality. Rather than embarrass their host… rather than risk setting a poor example for their fellow citizens… they do nothing… standing by as doom comes their way, illustrating that the demands of civility do not abrogate the demands of morality. Even as we strive to create a society of mutual understanding, of cooperation, and of civility, there are those behaviors which transgress the bounds of morality that must never be understood, that must never be accepted in the name of civility or cooperation.
Determining that boundary, especially in these contentious times, presents a difficult challenge, but one we must overcome, if we are to avoid the fate of our ancestors in the New Year.
