“The problem of evil” sounds like one of those abstract, rarefied questions that is the province of head-in-the-clouds philosophers — until an event like the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States suddenly makes it real and urgent.
The estimated 180 people who came to the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center Saturday night seemed to appreciate the opportunity to have a wide-ranging discussion of that topic.
They came to hear a panel discuss “Good and Evil: What Kind of World Do We Live In?” as part of the “Day of Discovery,” which was held this year for the first time on both Saturday evening and Sunday. The Saturday evening program also included storytelling for families with Dr. Larry Hurwitz, a family Havdalah led by Howard Karsh and children’s programs. Sunday offered more than 50 programs of Jewish study conducted by community members.
Audience member Rhonda Schutkin, a Milwaukee-area nurse, said Saturday evening’s program was the first community event she had attended since Sept. 11. “It was a wonderful presentation and I learned a lot,” she said.
She added that she particularly enjoyed the range of perspectives and approaches offered by the three panelists: Jody Hirsh, JCC director of Judaic studies; Amy Shapiro, professor of philosophy at Alverno College and director of the Holocaust Education and Resource Center of the Coalition for Jewish Learning; and Feige Twerski, educator and Jewish outreach activist, and wife of Rabbi Michel Twerski of Congregation Beth Jehudah.
Audience member Jacob Brennan, a Milwaukee-area businessman, also said he appreciated the “thoughtful philosophical views and practical views and historical views” offered by the panelists. “It was a stimulation to think…. It met my expectations and I enjoyed it very much.”
In his opening remarks, Hirsh said that when he contemplates such questions, “I often for inspiration turn to the arts,” because artistic works “force us to think and ask questions.”
He quoted Israeli poet Yehudah Amichai’s “The Diameter of the Bomb” as showing how “a little evil goes a long way,” up to including the whole world in an endless circle.
He also referred to the classic Yiddish short story “Bontshe the Silent” by I. L. Peretz. While the story tells how a humble man’s silent suffering wins the admiration of heaven, Hirsh said the story suggests that “silence is not such a good thing” in the face of injustice.
Shapiro took a more philosophical approach. She asserted that “how we understand the world is limited” and that “complexity is what’s important.” Indeed, “evil is born out of the absence of complexity.”
She acknowledged that the more complex is one’s understanding of the world and human behavior, “the harder it is to make decisions about how to act.” Yet if we operate out of a simplistic understanding of good and evil, we may “end up participating in actions that may result in evil consequences.”
Twerski recounted more personal experiences. Born in Rumania during the Nazi occupation, she said her family came to the United States after having been turned away from Israel (then Palestine) by the British.
Because of her past, she felt “devastated” by the Sept. 11 attacks, at “how somebody could do this to the country that welcomed us.” Nevertheless, she also felt that the messages of these events include “maybe we’re getting too secure,” that “we can’t be [passive] spectators,” that we all have the ability to do good if we learn about it, and that “you have to be the change that you want to see.”
Moderator Martin H. Katz, community educator and president of the Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations, also presided over one of the smaller groups into which the audience was divided for discussions.
Participants raised many related issues from the need for increased security measures in the Jewish community to President Bush’s call for community service volunteers in his recent State of the Union address.
Following the discussion, Katz concluded that “we have a lifetime of Jewish learning ahead of us.”
The Day of Discovery was sponsored by the Coalition for Jewish Learning, the education program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation; the JCC; and the Wisconsin Council of Rabbis. It received support from the Jewish Community Foundation, MJF’s endowment development program. Lisa Sattell and George Strick co-chaired the committee.
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