Jerry Spector and Donald Miller sat across from each other and disagreed about peace.
Discussing the topic, “Pursuing Peace,” the pair sorted through their own views of war and peace and discussed realities of the current war in Iraq.
Miller, who traveled with eight others from Green Bay for the day, said he didn’t support the “peaceniks.” Challenging him, Spector, from Milwaukee, asked him if he didn’t agree that war should be the last resort.
Miller said yes, but sometimes, like in Israel, that just doesn’t work. “When someone, like [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, says he wants to kill everyone, how can you make peace with him?”
The two sat among other pairs and threesomes discussing “Pursuing Peace: Do the Ends Justify the Means?” as part of the Milwaukee Chevruta of the eighth annual community-wide Day of Discovery, held on Sunday, Feb. 18, at Cardinal Stritch University.
The free day of learning and discovery was sponsored by the Coalition for Jewish Learning, the education program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, and the Wisconsin Council of Rabbis; and co-sponsored by 21 synagogues and other Jewish organizations.
It drew some 350 people, according to the CJL, to more than 40 sessions on a variety of topics ranging from “History of Zionism” to “See No Evil; Hear No Evil: The Basics of Holocaust Denial;” from “Dybbuks, Golems and Sheydim” to “Jews and the Graphic Novel.”
But the highlight of the day was, for many, the chevruta project, harkening back to the traditional model of discussing texts in pairs. After an introduction by Sherry Blumberg, Ph.D., participants discussed, argued, analyzed and contrasted their ideas through a variety of texts.
Ruth Farber and Felice Bruskin, sitting across the table from Spector and Miller, discussed “Pursuing Peace,” using a decidedly academic approach.
Through close reading and interpretation they struggled with selected readings from traditional texts. “In Judaism, we believe in justice,” Farber said, and Bruskin added, “In the Mishnah it says that to have justice you have to have truth and peace.”
At another table Laurie Blum tackled the same subject with Sheri Goldberg and Cindy Amdur. Goldberg, who said she had just returned from Israel, feels strongly that peace is something people should just “reach out and grab.”
She said that in Jerusalem she walked, unafraid, in the Arab quarters and was impressed by the kind treatment she received. Taking a taxi driven by an Arab-Israeli, she was moved, she said, when he asked her to pray for peace.
If you exude peace — if you live it — it spreads out from you to those around you, Goldberg said.
Blum thought it was a great theory, but “it doesn’t really work that way.” And Amdur said it doesn’t have to be just one way. There can be many right ways.
Like many of the participants who spoke to The Chronicle, Sally Horowitz Stern thought it was fun to talk to someone she would never have talked with otherwise. “We had such completely different perspectives,” she said. Choosing the subtopic, “Killing Your Enemy,” her study partner explained that having been robbed twice, once when he was accosted on the street and again in a house break-in, he believes that he could kill someone who attacked him.
Stern said that, on the contrary, she would engage the person in conversation without worrying about her life. “I would try to figure out why he was attacking people,” she said.
For Marsha Hurwitz, the style of chevruta learning appealed to her as a person who feels shy in larger groups. She felt very comfortable talking with just one other person, she said afterward.
For some participants, the chevruta experience may have lasting effects on their lives. Acquaintances Marge Eiseman, a member of a Reform synagogue, and Yonina Schlussel, a member of an Orthodox synagogue, sought each other out precisely because they thought they would have divergent views, Eiseman said.
But after discussing war and peace through the subtopic “The Will of God,” the topic they thought they would disagree on the most, Eiseman said that she and Schlussel were surprised they were in as much agreement as they found they were.
“I thought we would have radically different ideas,” Eiseman said, but they didn’t and now they are thinking of meeting once a month for coffee and chevruta. They would continue discussing the topics presented at the Day of Discovery, Eiseman said.
After the discussions, Rabbi David Cohen facilitated a wrap-up session in which participants summed up their thoughts. He suggested that one answer to the question of whether war can be just is that there are many other ways to adjudicate differences.
“There is no conflict without losers on both sides,” Cohen said. “The Torah says that each of us is of infinite value and co-equal with each other. At the least we must limit the human damage because it is cumulative and very, very corrosive.”
During the luncheon that followed, Milwaukee Jewish Day School Hebrew teacher Aimee Bachar was honored as CJL’s teacher of the year and eight other teachers were recognized for accomplishments and years of service.
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