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“The best teachers of humanity are the lives of great men.”

~Charles H. Fowler

November 27, 2009

In thinking about what does tolerance actually mean and how is it practiced, my initial thoughts were that it is a passive act. If I do nothing about anything, that will lead me onto the path of tolerance. Then I won-dered, what is the opposite of tolerance? So I discussed this question with a colleague who felt “baseless hatred” is the opposite of tolerance. Although, when I think of hatred it conjures up some sort of activity, an expenditure of energy. If I wish to show my hatred for anybody or anything I must demon-strate that, otherwise how will anyone know what I hate? And if I can even imagine baseless hatred, that sounds like it requires even more en-ergy. Which now leads me to believe that tolerance is not a passive act but rather requires action, commitment, taking a chance.

Looking at one of our forefathers, Abraham, we see the epitome of tolerance. He sets up his tent in order that travelers, regardless of who they were and what they practiced and no matter which direction they were coming from or going to, were welcomed with open arms. When the three angels came to his tent, Abraham, no doubt, thought that they were idol worshippers. Still, he didn’t pull down the flaps to his tent nor did he post a sign “closed for the day.” Rather, he fully embraced and welcomed them. The fact is, it’s easy to welcome people who think like us or look like us. The trick is to reach a level that we can exude that same type of accep-tance with people who think differently, look differently, or dress differently than us.

If I may quote the famous Sir Paul McCartney, “I used to think anyone doing anything weird was weird. Now I know that it is the people that call others weird that are weird.”

At the end of the day, how do we as individuals practice tolerance? If I may suggest, tolerance begins at home, which for many of you is the col-lege campus. As we all are aware, all of us think differently, look differently, and dress differently. Based on these three categories some of us jump to certain conclusions about the other person(s) based on how they present themselves. I challenge you, the future leaders of your generation, to con-sciously challenge the immediate stereotype that you might conjure up based on whatever and move beyond that initial assessment of your fellow students and practice tolerance on a daily basis.

David Himber, MSW, MA

University Dean of Students

The 2 nd Annual YU Tolerance Club

Newsletter

I thought for a long time about who I look to in my life as a role model for my definition of tolerance. I was greatly bothered by the fact that I had been thinking so deeply about this for so long, yet had still not thought of someone who exemplifies this fully. I asked many of my friends if they had a role model of tolerance in their lives. Some could not answer the question at all. A few answered with great historical figures, people who we read of in history books and such, but not one person could answer a specific figure that exists in his or her life. Why is it that it takes so much to think of a role model for this? Is it because our generation lacks in tol-erance? Or perhaps we have so much diversity in our lives today that we do not think of those who are par-ticularly tolerant as role models, but rather as typical? I do not have the answers to these questions; I can only say what I myself have experienced in my own life. Ac-cepting others and not judging them for what I see them doing is something that I been working on in myself for a long time. I have not yet reached the point where I can consider myself to have conquered this, as I will admit that I have come a long way, but I still have a long way to go. In the poem "Everyday Heroes" by Ted Hibbard, he writes, "There are no headlines/ for everyday he-roes/ there is no tickertape/ no standing ovation/ some-times it's all they can do/ to set their feet on the floor in the morning...they go through their days/ the best they know how." I cannot think of one specific role model of tolerance, but I do have many "everyday heroes". They come in many forms; they are my best friends, my fam-ily, the woman who makes coffee at Dunkin Donuts in the morning, the man who smiles at me on my walk to school. I see the way they talk to and deal with other people, and through the little yet incredible things that they do, I can piece together my perfect role model. As Charles H. Fowler said, “The best teachers of humanity are the lives of great men.” Everyone has the potential for greatness. Perhaps it is hard to think of one specific role model, however we are here together to learn from one another and we have the potential to inspire others every day. Everyone is someone else's role model and everyone can find a piece of their own role model in anyone.

Rachel Fried President, SCWSC

“Tolerance Eh?” Born in Montreal, Quebec, Pierre Elliot Trudeau was one of the most influential figures of Canadian his-tory. Carried into office on the shoulders of the media and gaggles of adoring women during a time that can only be termed “Trudeaumania,” Trudeau dominated the political scene for over twenty years. A charismatic individual, he travelled the world, drove sports cars, dated celebrities like Barbara Streisand, made a “fuddle duddle” in Parliament, and even danced a pirouette be-

hind the Queen of England when she wasn’t looking. Yet, it was his shrewd intellect and unwavering fairness which made poet Irving Layton consider him “at last... a [Canadian] political leader worthy of assassination.” Trudeau dreamed of a “just society.” John Lennon said of him that “If all politicians were like Mr. Trudeau, there would be world peace.” Still, he took a very prag-matic approach to tolerance, something inspired per-haps by years of Jesuit private-schooling. He appreciated “reason before passion.” In post-WWII Europe, he saw where intense nationalism led to – genocidal elitism, intolerance, and complete societal collapse. To combat these attitudes and outcomes, he promoted multicultur-alism and mutual respect. He said, "There is no such thing as a model or ideal Canadian... A society which emphasizes uniformity is one which creates intolerance and hate." At the same time, Trudeau was not one to take tolerance too far. He never hesitated to take action to-wards fighting intolerance or hate. When a British diplo-mat and a Labour Minister were kidnapped and mur-dered by the Front de Libération du Québec, an extrem-ist, Québécois separatist group, Trudeau became the only Prime Minister of Canada to impose the War Meas-ures Act during a time of peace. When a reporter asked him how far he was willing to go in using force to con-tain terrorism, he responded famously, “Just watch me.” Trudeau greatest challenge was quashing the rising Quebec separatist movement? First, he legislated the Official Languages Act of 1969, which made the fed-eral government of Canada officially bilingual – all fed-eral services were to be offered in both English and French. Finally, as his last act in office, Trudeau ratified a document that would define Canada and list all Canadi-ans’ civil rights and freedoms, the Canadian Constitu-tion. He hoped that this constitution would “permit the co-existence of several cultures and ethnic groups within a single state.” Embracing tolerance came naturally to Trudeau. Seemingly, he never even had to make a conscious effort towards treating everyone equally. He appointed the first Jewish Cabinet minister, Supreme Court judge, prin-cipal secretary to the Prime Minister, and deputy minis-ter of external affairs. But when thanked by a Jewish group, he was surprised as to why. They enumerated all he had done for the Jews! He merely responded, “Oh, I guess I did.” Trudeau did not promote tolerance for toler-ance’s sake. No. He recognized it as the only way that such diverse and conflicted country could exist. As with everything, he believed in tolerance as a purely logical and practical ideal. He proclaimed to the nation, “Let us overthrow the totems, break the taboos. Or better, let us consider them cancelled. Coldly, let us be intelligent.”

Avi Kopstick and Miriam Gofine Presidents, YUTC

YU Tolerance Club Newsl etter

Perhaps no national figure embodied tolerance as did John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the Unites States. In the midst of the Cold War, with the world divided and constantly on the brink of nu-clear annihilation, Kennedy got up in front of the nation and made the case for peace. In a commencement address delivered at American Uni-versity in Washington D.C., Kennedy asked his country to reassess their conception of peace. “What kind of peace do we seek?” he asked them. “Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. . . I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a bet-ter life for their children – not merely peace for Americans, but peace for all men and women.” Above all, Kennedy urged Americans to give up their hatred for

the Soviet Union. “No government or social system is so evil that its people must be considered as lack-ing in virtue,” he said. “For in the final analysis, our most basic com-mon link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our chil-dren's future. And we are all mor-tal.” Kennedy’s call to “help make the world safe for diversity” carried through into his domestic policy as well. During his presidential cam-paign in 1960, Kennedy showed his support for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by phoning the jailed reverend’s wife, and was later instrumental in securing King’s release from prison. Kennedy sent federal marshals to protect the Freedom Riders, the famous civil rights activists who rode through the Southern U.S. to force desegregation, and on more than one occasion sent federal troops to protect black students attempting to

enrol in white universities. It was the evening after one such event that Kennedy delivered the civil rights address that would become the foundation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. On national tele-vision and radio he declared that that “the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened,” and insisted that now was the time for America to protect the freedoms it stood for: “We preach freedom around the world,” he said, “and we mean it, and we cherish our freedom here at home – but are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other, that this is the land of the free except for the Negroes?” This was not a legal issue alone, he believed, but a moral crisis. Only by fully accepting all of its citizens as equals could America fulfill the promise of its destiny.

Simeon Botwinick Managing Editor, The Commentator

“To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue in a state of childhood. “

~Plutarch

YU Tolerance Club Newsl etter

“Happy Birthday Benny Goodman” The legendary Jewish American jazz clarinetist, Benny Goodman, was born 100 years ago this past May. Goodman, commonly known as the “King of Swing” was born and grew up in Chicago. His parents were immi-grants to the US from Russia, and his first music lessons took place at the Kehilath Jacob Synagogue in Chicago. As is the case with Elvis Presley, who many music historians credit with bringing a form of music formerly associated with African-American musicians and audi-ences to the broader (i. e. Caucasian) community, Good-man is frequently credited with playing a major role in popularizing jazz beyond the African-American audi-ence. But this is not exactly why I chose to write about him. Goodman began to become popular in the 1930’s. During this time major jazz orchestras and bands were completely racially segregated. In fact, in many parts of the ‘South,’ it was illegal for Caucasian and African-American musicians to perform together as a result of Jim Crow laws. In 1935, Goodman added the great (African-American) jazz pianist, Teddy Wilson, to his band and soon after, hired vibes player Lionel Hamp-

ton. As a result of his courageous act (which by the way was quite a few years before Jackie Robinson entered major league baseball), Goodman and his band were no longer able to perform in the Southern USA. Lionel Hampton claimed that, “As far as I’m concerned, what he did in those days…made it possible for Negroes to have their chance in baseball and other fields”. It is this position of courage and integrity that leads me to acknowledge Benny Goodman as a Hero of Toler-ance. Check out wikipedia and, http://www.pbs.org/jazz/, for more information about Benny Goodman and the history of jazz. Challenge question: There is another person whose last name was Goodman who played an important role in the civil rights movement. This person also had a con-nection to YU. Please email if you can say who this was, why is he known, and what was his YU connection?.

Victor Schwartz, MD

University Dean of Students

Dean Schwartz’s Challenge:

Please write me (victor.schwartz@yu.edu) if you know who the other Goodman is.

“Happy Birthday Benny Goodman” The legendary Jewish American jazz clarinetist, Benny Goodman, was born 100 years ago this past May. Goodman, commonly known as the “King of Swing” was born and grew up in Chicago. His parents were immi-grants to the US from Russia, and his first music lessons took place at the Kehilath Jacob Synagogue in Chicago. As is the case with Elvis Presley, who many music historians credit with bringing a form of music formerly associated with African-American musicians and audi-ences to the broader (i. e. Caucasian) community, Good-man is frequently credited with playing a major role in popularizing jazz beyond the African-American audi-ence. But this is not exactly why I chose to write about him. Goodman began to become popular in the 1930’s. During this time major jazz orchestras and bands were completely racially segregated. In fact, in many parts of the ‘South,’ it was illegal for Caucasian and African-American musicians to perform together as a result of Jim Crow laws. In 1935, Goodman added the great (African-American) jazz pianist, Teddy Wilson, to

his band and soon after, hired vibes player Lionel Hamp-ton. As a result of his courageous act (which by the way was quite a few years before Jackie Robinson entered major league baseball), Goodman and his band were no longer able to perform in the Southern USA. Lionel Hampton claimed that, “As far as I’m concerned, what he did in those days…made it possible for Negroes to have their chance in baseball and other fields”. It is this position of courage and integrity that leads me to acknowledge Benny Goodman as a Hero of Toler-ance. Check out wikipedia and, http://www.pbs.org/jazz/, for more information about Benny Goodman and the history of jazz. Challenge question: There is another person whose last name was Goodman who played an important role in the civil rights movement. This person also had a con-nection to YU. Please email if you can say who this was, why is he known, and what was his YU connection?.

Victor Schwartz, MD

University Dean of Students

Don’t Forget: Learnathon!

Dec. 3!

Students from diverse learning backgrounds all studying Torah

together to raised money for the Anti-Defamation

League!!!

Sponsored by: YSU, SCWSC , SOY, and TAC

YU Tolerance Club Newsl etter

To my mind, the exemplar of loving acceptance—a greater achievement than tolerance—was Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. This indi-vidual had the courage to break from a traditional rabbinical role to

pursue his own unique path—one of strumming the heartstrings of Jews that some might have written off as lost, playing songs for homeless peo-ple under New York City's bridges and other acts of chessed. We would

live in a less fragmented world, in-deed, if Rabbi Carlebach's actions permeated our religious existence as often as his tunes.

Yaelle Frohlich Editor-in-Chief, The Observer

“Rambam and Tolerance” One of the great challenges of the Orthodox Jew is to determine how to bal-ance tolerance towards others with princi-pled commitment to beliefs to be accepted as absolute. Tolerance is generally associ-ated with relativistic views of morality and reality. If the argument is that no one can know the truth, who can say that my truth is more correct than your truth? Accep-tance of Torah, however, is predicated on a belief that, not only is there a truth but, human beings can know this truth. Such an assertion, though, is generally associated with intolerance. If one accepts a certain position as reflecting absolute truth, deviation from the truth, generally, cannot be respected. Is it no wonder that fundamentalists of all stripes, throughout the world, necessarily define one who does not accept their truth as evil, an infidel, destined for Hell? The argument is that these transgressors really do know the truth, right from wrong. Prompted by their evil inclination, they are just trying to deny it. There is, as such, no reason to be tolerant. Rambam shows us, though, that it is still possible to be tolerant notwithstanding a more absolute view of truth. Rambam’s insight is actually not to-tally original. Many sources point to the same conclusion yet the fact that Rambam makes this assertion is most significant, given his powerful presentation of the 13 principles of faith of Judaism and his cri-tique of one who does not accept them (see his Commentary to the Mishna, Introduc-tion of Chapter Chelek, Tractate Sanhed-rin). He contends in Mishnah Torah, Hilchot Mamrim 3:3 that those brought up and educated within a system of non-Torah ideas cannot be held responsible for their viewpoints and, as such, must subsequently be treated in a loving manner. He distin-guishes between the idea and the person.

One can maintain powerful viewpoints with strong negative responses to opposing ideas but that need not, and often should not, extend to the person. Human beings are inherently fallible in their cognitive abili-ties. This must be acknowledged and foster tolerance. There are two interesting corollaries of this perception. One is that it is not only, specifically, the upbringing of a person that can colour his perceptions but other as-pects of reality as well. Thus, for example, this concept has been extended to almost anyone today since we live in a world with-out open miracles and a truth is not easy to prove. We must simply recognize the limita-tions of the human thought processes and the result necessarily must be tolerance. We must also recognize our own limitations. Doubt can have value. (See, also, my Nishma Insight 5762-01: In the Name of Religion.) It is thereby that we can question ourselves, effectively leading us to the growth of education and teshuva. It is the one who is inappropriately sure of self who cannot correct himself/herself. Through tolerance we, however, recognize the reality of the human condition and, thus, our own limitations. The Rav often contended that we must live within the reality of the dialectic. This is another example: we must be com-mitted to our belief in Torah yet we must also recognize our inherent cognitive weak-nesses. It is with the recognition of this truth and the subsequent application of tolerance that we are able to truly learn and grow. This lesson emerges from the words of Rambam. ~Rabbi Benjamin Hecht is the founding di-rector of Nishma and has written exten-sively on issues of tolerance and diversity in Halacha and the Jewish world. To find out more about Rabbi Hecht's work, check out www.nishma.org.

To receive exclusive event updates and meeting info: email YUToleranceClub@gmail.com or find YUTC on Facebook!

Coordinator: Alana Himber

Contributors:

Dean David Himber Rachel Fried Avi Kopstick

Miriam Gofine Simeon Botwinick

Dean Victor Schwartz Rabbi Benjamin Hecht

Yaelle Frohlich

Newsletter Design: Avi Kopstick

Jakob Layman

Thanks for all of your help!