On his first trip back to the Bay Area since his controversial trial in Israel, Rabbi Arik Ascherman waded into another hotly-contested area — Presbyterian divestment.
Local Presbyterian clergy met with Ascherman this week to help clarify their stance on divesting from companies that support Israel’s presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Ascherman, a former Bay Area rabbi who is now executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, was making his first trip to the Bay Area since being convicted of blocking an Israeli bulldozer that was attempting to destroy the illegally built home of a Palestinian family.
His fund-raising visit here came while he was awaiting an order to report for community service. He met with the Presbyterians as part of his Bay Area trip.
The Presbyterian General Assembly is in the process of deciding whether it will divest from American companies that help maintain Israel’s presence in the West Bank. Locally, the Rev. Virstan B.Y. Choy, general presbyter, has formed a working group that is in ongoing discussions with the Central Pacific Region of the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation.
Hearing Ascherman’s point of view was to help them better understand the issue, said Choy.
The lunch meeting Monday, May 16, was initiated by Allan Solomonow of the American Friends Service Committee. The discussion took place at the Presbytery of San Francisco, which is actually in downtown Berkeley.
The former spiritual leader of Temple Beth Hillel in Richmond first spoke about the work of Rabbis for Human Rights and the atmosphere in the region as a whole. He described the demonstrations he regularly attends, aimed at showing the Palestinian people that not all Israelis support the actions of their government.
“I am very disturbed by what my people are doing,” he said. “As a Jew, as a rabbi, as an Israeli and as a Zionist, this is not what I read in my Torah.”
But at the same time, he is well-aware of the double standard that exists when condemning Israel.
Ascherman said it was not the place of Rabbis for Human Rights to endorse or condemn the Presbyterian resolution regarding divestment, but “the key question here to consider is are the measures you’re taking creating hope for Israelis and Palestinians? Hope is the essential ingredient to give people incentive to move forward,” he said.
While the resolution was troubling to Jews for multiple reasons, the rabbi said the language calling the occupation “the root of all evil” was particularly disturbing, in that it harkened back to a kind of theological anti-Semitism that equated Judaism with evil.
Rather than divesting, Ascherman said investing in joint economic ventures between Israelis and Palestinians would be much more productive. Though he noted the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians was completely asymmetrical in that the Israelis have more power, such resolutions would bring a measure of hope to both sides, he said.
“Investing in peace sends a very different message, a positive one.”
Rev. Bob Forsberg, a retired Presbyterian minister who noted in a private conversation that he had two Jewish daughters-in-law and four Jewish grandchildren, said he approved of the divestment resolution only because it started productive dialogue on the issue. But he completely agreed with investing in joint ventures that help both peoples.
“I want to be like a nurturing parent,” he said. “And that means helping both sides.”