S.F. peace rally attracts 200,000 Rabbis say anti-war stance is not same as anti-Semitism

It had to be a first: the words of the Kotzker rebbe invoked at a San Francisco peace rally.

According to Rabbi Stephen Pearce, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, one of the founders of Chassidism, said that truth and peace cannot embrace.

"Each person believing that his truth and not another is the only truth makes peace impossible," said Pearce, the senior rabbi of San Francisco's Congregation Emanu-El.

Continuing to quote the Kotzker rebbe, he said, "What we need is for people to be less strident and more open to what others have to say. Then there can be peace."

Pearce made his remarks at a post-march rally Sunday at the Civic Center in San Francisco, which also featured actor Danny Glover, singer Bonnie Raitt and speakers of a wide range of faiths and political agendas, all united in their opposition to the impending war on Iraq.

The Jewish presence was largely felt at the rally, where an estimated 200,000 marchers gathered to ask the Bush administration to refrain from attacking Iraq.

Hostility to Israel was there as well, with many marchers calling for ending the Israeli occupation, establishing a free Palestinian state and terminating aid to Israel.

Progressive Jewish voices were in abundance at the rally, but Pearce was the only mainstream Jewish leader to speak. As the senior spiritual leader of the Reform Emanu-El, the largest and most influential synagogue in Northern California, he was criticized by some for appearing at a rally sponsored by groups such as International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism), known to be hostile to Israel.

"We will not send our sons and daughters off to war," Pearce said. "We will not turn mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, husbands and wives, and children into mourners."

He continued, "Jewish tradition teaches, 'Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving thy fellow creatures, and drawing them near to the rule of law.'"

Pearce offered a prayer to "illuminate the hearts and minds of those who lead us. May our e-mails to the president@

whitehouse.gov sustain those charged with the responsibility of keeping the peace and be received in the spirit of kindness and mercy."

Ofer Shorr, an Israeli reservist who has refused to serve in the territories now living in Berkeley, also spoke, as did Mitchell Plitnick, director of administration and communications for A Jewish Voice for Peace.

"We join you, as Jews, to say that opposing war on Iraq is not anti-Semitic," he said. "We join you, as Jews, to say that opposing the occupation of the Palestinian people is not anti-Semitic. We decry anti-Semitism, without compromise. And we equally decry cynical charges of anti-Semitism by those who wish to oppress others."

A Jewish Voice for Peace was one of several Jewish groups that could be seen among the marchers, along with the Tikkun Community and Women in Black. There was also a contingent of Jews and Palestinians marching together, who participate in dialogue together, and the Arab-Jewish Alliance for a Just Peace in the Middle East. And then there was a small group marching with pro-Israel signs.

Individual Jewish signs could be seen among the crowd, including one that said "Arab Jews (like me) Against War in Iraq."

Before the march started, several hundred people gathered at the Civic Center for an interfaith prayer vigil.

Suleiman Ghali of the Islamic Society of San Francisco opened the service with the Muslim call to prayer.

After a Methodist minister and a Buddhist priest offered their prayers, Rabbi Pam Frydman Baugh took the stage. Wearing a kippah and tallit, the rabbi of Or Shalom Jewish Community in San Francisco greeted those assembled in both Hebrew and Arabic. While praying for peace in both Israel and "Palestine," she focused most of her attention on the people of Iraq.

The Renewal rabbi prayed that Iraqi civilians are able to "escape the violence perpetrated by Western military forces, and are free from the violence perpetrated by their own people."

David Cooper, spiritual leader at the Renewal Kehilla Community Synagogue in Berkeley, opened his remarks by saying, "We are commanded in the Bible not just to give lip service to peace, but to pursue it."

Cooper painted a doomsday scenario for the world, emphasizing that a war of this magnitude could threaten the whole planet.

"In the 21st century there will be no victors," he said. "Even those who defeat their enemies will have defeated themselves. I'm as concerned about the United States winning this war as losing it."

Before blowing the shofar, Cooper prayed for the security of Israelis, adding, "There will be no peace for Israel unless there is justice in Palestine, and no justice in Palestine if there is no peace for Israel."

Linda Hirschhorn, the cantor of San Leandro's Temple Beth Sholom and founder of the singing group Vocolot, and Michael Baugh led several folk songs in English as well as the new favorite of Jewish peace-lovers everywhere, Sheva's "Od Yavo" -- that peace will yet come to us and everyone.