Divestment:  Responding to the Presbyterians
Sermon, November 5, 2004
Rabbi Bruce Kadden

This evening I want to share with you my thoughts about the move within the Presbyterian Church toward divesting some of its investments from companies that do business with Israel.  But before I address this issue I want to say a few words about another important Middle East story, the impending death of Yassar Arafat.  While conflicting reports continue to appear, it now seems certain that he is in an irreversible coma, and may only be kept alive by life support until final arrangements for his burial are made.

While much of the Palestinian leadership seems to be in denial, and an outpouring of grief has already begun in the Arab world, few Jews will shed a tear at Arafat’s passing. 

In fact, the situation reminds me of a story about a Jew in Nazi Germany who made the bold prediction that Hitler would die on a Jewish holiday. 

“How can you be so sure?” one of his friends inquired. 

“Any day that he dies will be a Jewish holiday,” he replied.

And yet, Jewish tradition insists that we not celebrate the demise of our enemies.  When the Jews celebrated their freedom after crossing the Sea of Reeds, God admonished them:  “My creatures are drowning and you dare to rejoice!”  To this day we pour drops from our wine cups on Passover when reciting the ten plagues.

So we must refrain from rejoicing.  Certainly Arafat belongs at the top of the list of Israel’s enemies, directly and indirectly responsible for so many deaths and much destruction.  But what is particularly sad and tragic is that unlike so many other enemies Arafat actually had an opportunity to bring peace to Israel and the Palestinians and failed to do so.  What a different story we would be telling today if he had only accepted the Camp David accords and signed a peace treaty with Israel. 

I believe that it was Abba Eban who said that the Palestinians never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity, and Arafat missed the biggest opportunity of them all:  to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians, to create a Palestinian state, and to bring healing and prosperity to the Palestinian people.

Rather than being remembered in the company of great Arab leaders who made peace with Israel such as Anwar Sadat and King Hussein, Arafat will now be remembered among so many others who embraced violence and terrorism, perpetuating the suffering of the Palestinian people.

Arafat may pass on tomorrow, the next day or next week, but the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians will continue.  At its General Assembly this summer, the Presbyterian Church (USA) , the eighth largest religious denomination in the United States with more than 11,000 congregations and 2.5 million members, passed a resolution calling for “phased selective divestment in multinational corporations operating in Israel” as part of its “policy on social investing.”

The General Assembly passed another resolution of significant concern to the Jewish community that condemns the construction of the security barrier and also defeated a resolution that would have ended national funding for so-called messianic congregations that target Jews for proselytization and conversion.  And shortly thereafter an official church delegation met with leaders of Hezbollah and praised the terrorist organization for its “expression of goodwill towards the American people.”

Now it should be pointed out that most Presbyterians are not aware of these actions taken by their national body, any more than most of us are aware of the resolutions passed at last years Union for Reform Judaism Biennial.  National bodies often take stands that would not be supported by many of their members, and a few influential individuals can often drive an issue, which seems to be the case here.  For most Presbyterians this issue is of low priority.

Nevertheless, each of these acts is quite disturbing, and taken together raise serious questions about the church’s commitment to Jewish-Christian relations.  The greatest concern, however, has focused on the divestment efforts and their long-term implications.

Using divestment as a political weapon is nothing new.  In the 1980s it was used successfully by opponents of Apartheid South Africa, including Reform Judaism, and has also been used by many groups to target tobacco companies.  About a year ago a significant effort was made among college professors to bring the issue of divestment from companies doing business with Israel to university boards.  This effort was effectively quashed by university leaders, most notably President Lawrence Summers of Harvard who rightly termed such efforts anti-Semitic because they single out Israel.

The Presbyterian resolution endorsing divestment has been met by widespread condemnation from the Jewish community and has resulted in at least one meeting between Jewish leaders and church leaders.  Of particular concern is that this effort may spread to other church groups such as the Episcopal Church, which has reportedly been considering the matter.

There are indeed many reasons to be concerned about this effort.  But there are also a number of reasons not to overreact and to believe that it may never come to fruition.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) is a diverse group; some of its ministers and churches are quite liberal, while others are much more conservative.  Efforts are already underway within the church to overturn the resolution.  One such effort is being led by Rev. Douglas Huneke of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tiburon, California.  Rev. Huneke is a Holocaust scholar and author of The Moses of Rovno, the story of the righteous gentile Herman Graebe.  Rev. Huneke is a remarkable man, truly a judeophile who understands the pain and suffering Jews have endured and the importance of Israel to the Jewish people.  We are truly fortunate that he is among those leading the efforts to overturn this resolution.

In addition, there are efforts underway at Presbyterian churches throughout the country to overturn the measure.  These efforts begin when an individual church sponsors what is called an overture to its regional presbytery, which then addresses the issue and decides whether to pass it on to the national organization.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that the church is only beginning to explore the possibility of divestment.  The committee responsible for making such recommendations was scheduled to meet this week to begin the process by developing criteria for assessing the impact of U.S. corporate presence in Israel.  The committee will make its recommendations to the General Assembly Council in March, 2005.  Even if the recommendations are approved, it could take up to three years before any divestment would occur because there are a number of steps that must take place first.

So, while we are still justified to be concerned and upset about the resolution, we should not overreact, but should patiently monitor the issue.  I hope to begin a dialogue with local Presbyterian ministers to express my concerns and the concerns of the Jewish community and to determine their positions.

Nationally, Jewish leaders have already met with Presbyterian leaders, and although the meetings have not led to any significant breakthroughs, they have opened the lines of communication.  Let us hope and pray that when all is said and done the church will abandon this effort and that there will be greater understanding of Israel and the Middle East conflict in the Christian world.

[back to list of sermons]

[back to top]