CARR 255-256 - Central Conference of American Rabbis

QUESTION: I

was recently dismissed from gainful employment with a Gentile company and have proof that

this act was both anti-Semitic and retaliatory in nature. How far can I go in fighting for my rights?

Does my Jewish tradition mandate that I stay within certain limits in taking legal action? (E. J. K.,

Washington, DC).ANSWER: Our struggle against discrimination began in the

Hellenistic period. We fought physically, not only at the time of the Maccabean revolt which dealt

with outright religious oppression, but also in Alexandria and elsewhere against hatred and

discrimination (Josephus, The Jewish Wars; Against Apion; Maccabees I, II, III, IV). We

also struggled against ancient anti-Semitism as it manifested itself in statements and diatribes

against Jews and Judaism in the Hellenistic and Roman literature (see M. Stern, Greeks and

Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism, 3 vols.). These statements were answered in part by

polemics recorded in the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha, as well as the

writings of Philo and Josephus. With this period we began the long struggle against

hatred and discrimination through whatever methods were available to us which were often

dictated by our opponents. In the Middle Ages, scholars and leaders were occasionally forced

into public polemics against their will, for they realized that if they lost to the Christian opponents,

the community would fare badly. On the other hand, if they won over their opponents, hatred

would hardly diminish (Dialogue with Tryphon; Chronicle of Ahimaaz; J. D. Eisenstadt,

Otzar Vikukhim). When it was not possible to conduct a struggle in this fashion, then it

was carried on through philosophical polemics (Daniel J . Lasker, Jewish Philosophical

Polemics Against Christianity in the Middle Ages, 1977). More recently, beginning with some

Russian pogroms at the end of the last century, Jews again defended themselves with weapons.

Clearly we have used the methods appropriate for the society in which we lived to defend

ourselves (L. Poliakov, The History of Anti-Semitism, VoIs. 1-4). As the American society

provides legal redress in cases of discrimination, those should be used fully and without

hesitation. If there are specific local concerns, it would be appropriate to check with the American

Jewish Committee or Anti-Defamation League. Tradition places no limits on our methods of self-

defense.December 1985