Renting to Arabs: An Initial take

R. Aharon Lichtenstein has issued a letter in response to the call by R. Shmuel Eliyahu and others to ban the rental of housing to Arabs in Jewish areas. The reason for this is the abuse of this right by Arab tenants (not all) who blatantly disrespect the religious and quotidien sensitivities of the (generally, Orthodox or Traditional) Jewish residents of Safed. In addition, there is serious reason to think that some of this Arab activity is being underwritten by the Palestinian Authority, for blatantly political reasons.

Nevertheless, it is my conviction that this action by these rabbis was fundamentally wrong, and led to a terrible Hillul HaShem.

My reasons for saying so are:

1) The Hillul HaShem is an expression of their inability to communicate Jewish concerns in a manner that can command anything close to respect. Indeed, the entire situation reminds me of the way the Rambam characterizes the first of the three approaches to Drashot of Hazal. Certainly the result is precisely as Rambam describes there, that the average person ends up mocking the Torah (or worse)

2) The issue is not whether there is a problem (there is). The issue is whether this is a properly halakhic issue (very questionable), and whether it should be pushed as an halakhic issue (IMHO, absolutely, positively not). The reasons for the latter require more careful formulation. Suffice it to say that issuing halakhic diktats, which are moot (at best) is counter productive.

3) Such declarations are only as effective as the number of followers one has, and usually end up ignored. This further undermines rabbinic authority and credibility. Like excommunications, they only testify to weakness, not strength.

4) These rabbis, in particular, lack the ability to be understood by the average person whose awareness of Post-Modern Liberal ideas is far greater than his awareness of Halakhah. They are thus, willy nilly, open to a specious charge of racism.

Making this into a halakhic issue automatically puts the Torah in the sights of the anti-religious Left who control the media and distort the news. This, in turn, empowers the Left to beat up more on the Torah and alienate Traditionally minded, uneducated Jews.

What should be done is for rabbis to learn to speak in political and human rights terms. One should point out that respect goes two ways; that Arabs who live in Jewish neighborhoods must also respect the needs of their Jewish neighbors. Hamulot do move into houses, so the local authorities have to be constantly badgered to follow zoning laws and landlords could be forced to file bonds against infractions. often do so as political actions.

More to the point, the rabbis and allies should go in the Human Rights offensive. If Arabs want to live in Jewish areas, groups of Jews should settle in towns with deep Jewish historical resonance (Sakhnin, Shefaram, Gush Halav etc.) We should tell the Left to put up or shut up about Shimon ha-Tzaddiq (Sheikh Jarash). IOW, this is a political issue so the tools of politics must be used.

Once again, the weakness of a rabbinate that hasn't a clue about general culture and discourse undermines our attempts to judaize the country and to struggle over Eretz Yisrael. Personally, I have no illusions about the signatories to this letter. They are almost all on record against secular education, against gaining the tools to lead to respect of Torah by those who do not accept its discipline.

In a word, the cause is legitimate. The personnae, the means, the mode, the effect and the implications are wrong. Dead wrong.