LIST OF ENEMIES
Up until last week, I had never heard of Heritage House. Located on 7 HaMalakh Street in the Jewish Quarter of the old city of Jerusalem, this heretofore non-descript house of lodging made news, when it was discovered that the proprietors of Heritage House drew up a list of individuals who are not welcome. Among those who need not apply for a night’s stay are Senator Bernie Sanders, comedian Jon Stewart and actress/entertainer Bette Midler. Aside from the fact that all three are American Jews of notoriety, they appear to share political views concerning Israel that are not are not supportive of the government. Because of their views, they have been relegated to the category of “Soneh Yisroel” or enemy of Israel and have therefore been blacklisted.
Lists can be dangerous. Anyone who has made (read planned) a wedding, Bar Mitzvah or other life-cycle event, knows only too well that family relations and friendships have been destroyed because of lists. As a rabbi, I’ve heard more times than I care to recall, why congregants no longer have anything to do with “that side of the family” because a son and daughter-in-law never received an invitation to Mervin and Madeline’s wedding. Even though I have yet to see the list drawn up by those at Heritage House (if in fact such a list does exist), I cannot help but feel that it is entirely possible that some names on the list were erroneously added while other names that ought to be on the list, for whatever reason, never made the cut. A word to the wise at Heritage House: If you must blacklist, keep it to yourself and never, ever commit such a list to writing.
Soneh Yisroel is an elusive term. Much like Anti-Semite, Soneh Yisroel is dependent on the individual and the situation. Dare we equate one’s belief that all Jews should be wiped off the face of this earth with one’s belief that a certain segment of the population in Israel is a victim of apartheid, however naïve and reckless that belief may be? Does the fact that one takes up the cudgel for the enemy, make one a Soneh Yisroel? Provided we permit Israeli officials at Passport Control at Ben Gurion Airport to responsibly carry out their duties, neither those at Heritage House nor any other hotelier/ hostelier need be concerned about any Soneh Yisroel. And should it happen, that the officials at Passport Control are too lax in their standards at filtering out “undesirables,” for the likes of hoteliers/ hosteliers, the hoteliers/hosteliers can always resort to the age-old trick at the time of reservation and feign that they are booked solid and there is no room at the inn.
Perhaps most important of all, don’t those at Heritage House have anything better to do than make lists? Although I have never heard of, much less visited Heritage House, I feel it safe to make the following comparison: The King David, it isn’t! Do those at Heritage House actually believe that anyone on that list has any desire or inclination to stay at the Heritage House? Typically, those that made the list, receive a special “Baruch HaBa” or welcome upon arriving in Israel.
If only the purported list were for a totally different reason! Story has it that during the Civil War President Lincoln had occasion at an official reception to refer to the Southerners as erring human beings rather than as enemies to be exterminated. An elderly lady, a fiery patriot, rebuked the President for speaking kindly of his enemies when he ought to be thinking of destroying them. “Why, madam,” said Lincoln, “do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” Perhaps Heritage House’s purported list of enemies was for the purpose of sending them Rosh Hashanah greeting cards wishing them the best for 5779. If only!
