{"id":54868,"date":"2017-01-11T15:00:02","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T20:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=54868"},"modified":"2017-01-15T04:25:59","modified_gmt":"2017-01-15T09:25:59","slug":"rabbi-shimon-garfunkel-un-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/rabbi-shimon-garfunkel-un-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Rabbi Shimon and Garfunkel on the UN Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout the Talmudic tractate of Shabbos, there is an ongoing debate between Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Yehuda regarding what\u2019s called a davar sheino miskaven<\/i> \u2013 something unintentional \u2013 with Rabbi Shimon considering such actions permissible on Shabbos and Rabbi Yehuda considering them prohibited. The prototypical example is found on page 29b. There is a Biblical prohibition against plowing on Shabbos. The question is, may one drag a bench across the yard even though it will likely make furrows in the dirt? Rabbi Yehuda says no: it\u2019s plowing, even though such is not one\u2019s intent. Rabbi Shimon permits it because, in his view, one\u2019s intentions make all the difference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Yehuda are consistent in this world view in other areas as well, as is clear from a story that is recounted a few pages later (Shabbos 33b). Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Shimon were once talking. (Rabbi Yosi was there, too.) Rabbi Yehuda praised this Roman Empire for their great deeds, specifically that they established markets, bridges and bathhouses. Rabbi Shimon disagreed, saying that their accomplishments were far from altruistic. The markets were established to facilitate prostitution. The bathhouses were built so the Romans could indulge themselves. The bridges were built so they could collect tolls. In short, Rabbi Yehuda focused on the what and Rabbi Shimon focused on the why. (As an aside, when the Romans got wind of this conversation, Rabbi Yehuda was rewarded and Rabbi Shimon had to flee for his life, hiding in a cave for years. Yes, this Rabbi Shimon is the famous Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabbi Shimon teaches us that intentions matter. I can\u2019t help thinking about this when looking at the recent unpleasant developments in US-Israel relations. As everyone reading this is no doubt aware, in the last days of his tenure as president, President Obama surprised Jews worldwide with a staggering reversal of US foreign-policy tradition by refusing to veto an anti-Israel resolution at the UN. (It is now alleged that the US may even have actively motivated the vote; details remain to be seen.) Secretary of State John Kerry gave a speech to explain this anomaly, calling the Israeli settlements an impediment to the peace process; the Jewish community found this explanation unsatisfying. If we were confident that this was truly the motivation, we might not like it but perhaps we could agree to disagree. Unfortunately, the intentions are not quite so clear cut.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some hypothesize that the move reflects President Obama\u2019s personal disdain for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. This goes way back. In 2009, a photo was published showing the president with his feet on the desk while talking to Netanyahu on the phone. Ha\u2019aretz<\/i> wrote:<\/span><\/p>\n

A photo released by the White House, which shows Obama talking on the phone with Netanyahu on Monday, speaks volumes: The president is seen with his legs up on the table, his face stern and his fist clenched, as though he were dictating to Netanyahu: \u201cListen up and write \u2018Palestinian state\u2019 a hundred times.\u201d \u2026 As an enthusiast of Muslim culture, Obama surely knows there is no greater insult in the Middle East than pointing the soles of one\u2019s shoes at another person. Indeed, photos of other presidential phone calls depict Obama leaning on his desk, with his feet on the floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

The already-tense relationship between the two world leaders worsened in 2015 when Congress invited Prime Minister Netanyahu to address them regarding the nuclear Iran crisis without President Obama\u2019s consent. It is therefore unsurprising that the Washington Post<\/i> called the UN vote \u201ca vindictive parting shot by Mr. Obama at Mr. Netanyahu, with whom he has feuded more bitterly than he did with most U.S. adversaries.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That may not be the only motivation. The Washington Post<\/i> continues that \u201cThe vote could also be seen as an attempt to preempt Mr. Trump, who appears ready to shift U.S. policy to the opposite extreme after naming a militant advocate of the settlements as his ambassador to Israel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, after a surprisingly-cordial meeting, President Obama and President-elect Trump appear to have reverted to partisan politics-as-usual. Trump dismisses all of Obama\u2019s ambassadors effective as of his inauguration with no grace period, Obama impedes Trump\u2019s reversal of his foreign policy vis-\u00e0-vis Israel. Is that the real motivation? It\u2019s certainly not outside the realm of possibility but there\u2019s no real way for us to know for sure.<\/span><\/p>\n

Intentions matter. We\u2019re never going to like that the US abandoned Israel at the UN but we would see things a lot differently if we knew that the act was a sincere (if misguided) attempt at peace and not a rude gesture at Netanyahu or a roadblock set up for Trump.<\/span><\/p>\n

One question remains: We consider the UN vote to be a trumped-up farce perpetrated by Israel\u2019s enemies. We understand the Arab world\u2019s animosity towards Israel and we expect them to portray Israel as the bad guy. But how can so many observers in the US and Europe witness these proceedings nodding their heads and thinking, \u201cThat\u2019s right. Israeli settlements are the source of the problem.\u201d How is it that when truck attacks occur in Germany and Nice, the world cries \u201cTerrorism!\u201d but when they happen in Israel they say \u201cThat\u2019s justifiable\u201d and the BBC reports it as \u201cDriver of lorry shot?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

To explain this phenomenon, let us turn to the words of another renowned Jew named Simon, namely Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkel, in the song The Boxer:<\/span><\/p>\n

A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.<\/span><\/p>\n

So on one side we have world leaders acting disingenuously, passing skewed resolutions and telling Israel, \u201cIt\u2019s for the good of the peace process!\u201d On the other side we have the citizens of the world ignoring inconvenient truths and saying, \u201cNice resolution. Looks good from here.\u201d In other words, things are currently pretty much the way they\u2019ve always been, from Simon to Simon. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout the Talmudic tractate of Shabbos, there is an ongoing debate between Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Yehuda regarding what\u2019s called a davar sheino miskaven \u2013 something unintentional \u2013 with Rabbi Shimon considering such actions permissible on Shabbos and Rabbi Yehuda considering them prohibited. The prototypical example is found on page 29b. There is a Biblical<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":54912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","category-israel"],"yoast_head":"\nRabbi Shimon and Garfunkel on the UN Vote - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rabbi Shimon teaches us that intentions matter. 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