If I hear or read that someoneâs (read: politicianâs) words were âhurtfulâ one more timeâŚ
How did things get so far? Unless Iâm mistaken, my generation was raised on âsticks and stones will break my bones, names will never hurt me.â My grandchildrenâs generation on the other hand, is being raised in such a manner, that the greatest social sin is to say something âhurtful.â
I pity my grandchildrenâs generation. They are being shortchange when it comes to the facts of life. âEverybody hurts somebody sometime.â Most of the time, it is totally unintentional. Some of the time, it is totally misconstrued. I recall officiating at a wedding for the Rabinowitz family. It was a family of three children. I had previously officiated at the weddings of the older two siblings. In my remarks, I made mention of the fact of how delighted I was, that each Rabinowitz child had married into a nice Jewish family. No sooner was the glass broken, when I was accosted by cousin Mel. âRabbi, I want you to know that you stabbed me with a knife and then twisted the knife while it was in me.â It turned out, that Melâs three children had married out of the faith. Had this wedding taken place on 2019 instead of 1989, chances are that cousin Mel would have accosted me by saying, that my remarks under the chuppah were âhurtful.â
As Jews, we bear a brunt of the responsibility for introducing the overused usage of âhurtfulâ into American parlance. As Jews, we have been much too sensitive and far too quick to take non-Jews to task for saying âhurtfulâ things, despite the fact that being hurtful was the furthest thing from their mind. Although this may very well be regional, G-d help any Christian who invokes Jesus in an invocation. There is bound to be at least one of us present, who will not hesitate to point to the one who invoked, how offended he/she was by including the name âJesus.â As a group, we have a knee-jerk reaction whenever we hear the term âJewâ come out of a Christian mouth. Any Christian who innocently goes up to the microphone and proclaims how touched he/she is seeing so many Jews in attendance, will be pronounced guilty for not have used the phrase  âJewish friends.â Perhaps itâs time to give Christians the benefit of the doubt, that they mean no harm.
As Jews, we are quick to go on the defensive. Even when a reckless comment is made, such as âJews have all the moneyâ or âJews control the media,â we Jews must remind ourselves never to go on the defensive. We bear no guilt. Hence, we have nothing to defend. Rather than going on the defensive, we should consider responding in a totally unanticipated fashion.  To the former comment, we may consider saying: âIf thatâs wishful thinking on you part, I appreciate your comment more than you will ever know. If thatâs a criticism on your part, I wish we Jews had even more money than that.â To the latter, we may consider saying: âPerhaps you should be more careful in how you treat me, because I have powerful friends in the Jewish controlled mediaâŚyou wouldnât believe what they can do for people like you, or to people like you!â
It was the great sage, Elazar from Modiin (an uncle of the revolutionary Bar Kochba), who said: âHe who (negatively) embarrasses his friend in public, it is as though he sheds his blood.â Clearly, hurtful statements have been around ever since the advent of communication. But with Rabbi Elazar, it was personal. How Rabbi Elazar would have responded to thoughtless comments couched in generalizations, how Rabbi Elazar would have reacted to worn out phrases, is best left open to speculation. Remember however, if personal (negative) embarrassment is tantamount to murder, then personal accolades ought to be a boon to someoneâs life.
Rather than zero in on real or perceived âhurtfulâ words from others, we Americans would be well advised to listen for âpleasingâ words from others. Our society and culture can only benefit from such an approach and in doing so become healthier and stronger.