The Importance of being Tolerant

I remember it pretty well; it is one of the only memories I have of third grade that is not a blur of carpool, the playground and making sweet potato pie. We came into the classroom after davening, and our teacher, Mrs. X silently handed us lined paper. “A tragic thing happened last night in Israel”, she explained “the prime minister, Yitzchak Rabin, was shot by another Jew”. We all sat still in our seats, silent. I’m not sure all of us understood the extent of the gravity of the situation, but we all realized that this was something serious. Mrs. X proceeded to explain, albeit at a third grade level, about the tragic death of Israel’s prime minister, Yitzchak Rabin.

This past Thursday, Israelis commemorated the fourteenth yahrzeit of Rabin. Official ceremonies were held all over the country, from the Knesset to local elementary schools. Rabin’s murder is a very sensitive subject among Israelis; the murder only exacerbated the growing split between right and left wing that was running rampant at the time. Every year, on the anniversary of Rabin’s death we are reminded of that split, of how grave disharmony and disrespect between Israelis can be.

There are a lot of lessons that can be learned from this tragic event. I think the most important lesson one can learn from this is that of tolerance. It is said that when you have two Jews arguing, you will have three different opinions. People in general and Jews in particular, have different ideas, different perspectives and different beliefs from one another. If you take a good look at the Talmud, you will see that it is riddled with machlokot, arguments, between the different sages.

Unfortunately, we live in a time and place that sometimes, the differences of opinions can mean the difference between life and death, living peacefully, or being evicted from my home. Politics is, and has always been, a point of contention between right and left wing Israelis. However, just because I don’t agree with others’ opinions, doesn’t give me the right to murder them or cause them harm. I also don’t agree with Rabin’s politics and policies (not that I understood them when I was in third grade). In my opinion Oslo was a sham and in the end did more harm than good. However, even I will admit that Yizchak Rabin probably did more for the Jewish nation, and Israel in his lifetime than many of us can hope to do in our lifetime.

Tolerance- hopefully we have all learned this lesson, and will never have to go through another tragic event like that again.