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15 Av 5762 - July 24, 2002 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Opinion & Comment
"The Berlin Syndrome" of the Thirties -- in London of Today

by Yated Ne'eman Staff

One fine day, Dr. Miriam Shlesinger, lecturer in the Languages department of Bar Ilan University and former chairman of Amnesty International's Israeli division, received a letter from the editor of the scientific journal The Translator, published in Britain, which stated in no uncertain terms: "If you don't resign, I will fire you."

A similar letter was sent to Prof. Gideon Toury of the Cultural Studies division of Tel Aviv University, who is considered one of the leading figures in his field.

The one and only reason for their dismissal: their Israeli ID number. The publisher and editor of the journal, Prof. Mona Baker, an Egyptian scholar with British citizenship, did not bother concealing the reasons for the dismissal: "In such a situation, I cannot accept any cooperation with Israelis and I do not want the name of Israel to be displayed in the journal."

Dr. Shlesinger was deeply hurt. She is a veteran Peace Now and Women in Black activist, with a rich background of human rights demonstrations. She is a former chairman of Amnesty International's Israeli division, which tends to talk about Israel's "war crimes" and at the same time ignores Palestinian violence. All this did not help her when confronted with the determination of Prof. Baker.

Dr. Shlesinger stayed in Europe about 6 or 7 years ago to research her doctorate on simultaneous translating. Baker, a prominent figure in the field of translation studies at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), invited her to join her team. The two became friends. In the year 2000 Baker asked the Israeli scholar to join the academic board of her journal. Shlesinger published articles in the journal, reviewed books, and advised Baker on editing matters. It was a prestigious position, which accorded her great honor in the academic world, and now she has suddenly been unceremoniously fired.

Professional Talents did not Help

"I was appointed because of my professional talents, not because I am Israeli, and there is no reason for me to be sacked because I am Israeli. In general, I am opposed to academic boycotts, which are a form of collective punishment." Shlesinger is understandably bitter.

In an interview with an Israeli journalist, she says about Baker: "It was obvious to me that she was absolutely opposed to anything to do with Zionism. I endeavored not to talk politics with her, especially since I admire and respect her. Even when I went back to Israel I maintained contact with her."

However, nothing could prevent the final move. "My troubles", she continues, "started a few months ago. Baker was one of those responsible for a petition calling for an `academic boycott of Israeli scientists,' which suggested that articles by Israeli scholars should not be published and that scholars should not be invited to lectures and conventions in order to `get Israel to stop committing atrocities.' Baker distributed this petition amongst language scholars and members of the academic board [of The Translator] asking them to join the campaign. I didn't ignore these events, but I also didn't sign the petition. I wrote a response about why any academic boycott is an illegitimate tool, even though I agreed with the criticism of Israel."

None of this helped her, nor did an additional letter in which she wrote to Baker: "I will continue to demonstrate against Sharon, to send packages to the refugee camps, and to support those who refuse to serve in the occupied territories." She was fired together with Prof. Toury, her protests being totally ignored. Neither the fact that 6 out of the 14 members of the academic board resigned in protest in solidarity with her nor a letter from Hugh Gambeille, the President of the European Society for Translation Studies, made Baker change her mind. "On my visit to Egypt and Bahrain I saw pictures in the media of Israeli army bulldozers destroying houses in Jenin together with their inhabitants," Mona Baker wrote to members of the academic board, and that was why she had decided to start a campaign for an academic boycott of Israelis even those who make exactly the same pronouncements as her against the "atrocities of the Israeli occupation."

"An academic boycott is an immoral and disgraceful act", claims Dr. Shlesinger. "For one thing, it is a gross act of hypocrisy. How can you isolate one country, Israel, as if human rights violations only take place there? The situation in China, for example, is terrible, and yet it does not occur to anybody to boycott Chinese academics."

Jews are Persecuted More When They Get Close to non- Jews

Dr. Shlesinger, who cannot come up with any defense of her country, which is forced to fight a severe battle against a band of rioters who send suicide bombers to blow themselves up amongst innocent men, women and children in order to wreak maximum carnage, has not yet grasped the ancient rule that antisemitism never looks for rational arguments but is always based on poisonous and despicable false charges against Jews.

History is now repeating itself when Mona Baker makes a comparison "between Jenin and the Holocaust," a statement which infuriated even Dr. Shlesinger who is committed to continuing her opposition to the Israeli government and to supporting those who refuse to serve in the occupied territories. She lacks a most elementary understanding of the history and nature of antisemitism.

What the Chinese are up to, for example, in terms of human rights violations is of no interest to anybody, any more than the blatant human rights abuses committed by the Palestinian Authority itself.

She does not understand that Jews are always persecuted, but especially when they become close to non-Jews. This happened just seventy years ago to thousands of assimilated German Jews. Only a small percentage of the assimilated Jews managed to escape the jaws of the Nazi beast, though they had considered themselves secure.

They, like her, failed to understand what was happening to them. She asked, "What do they want from me? I also denounce the acts of the Israeli government, I'm also a victim, my brother-in-law was killed in an attack when terrorists shot at his car, and now they don't want my name to be displayed in the journal because I'm Israeli."

Nor is she the only one: "Lately I have heard from academics that articles by Israeli scholars are rejected because they're Israeli. It is difficult to prove this, because they are only told that their article was not accepted, and the factor of their origin is not mentioned, but the feeling is that this is the beginning of a new trend."

Warning to Those Who Think That Berlin is Yerushalayim

Dr. Shlesinger does not understand "what they want from her," just as the assimilated German Jews, who thought that Germany was their fatherland did not understand what was wanted from them. They were suddenly exposed to an antisemitic storm, and all their distinguished contributions to the development of the economy, science, and culture, were quickly forgotten. As soon as a drop of Jewish blood was found to be flowing in their veins, they were "marked" and sent to the "final solution."

People refuse to draw the appropriate conclusions from these events nowadays when non-Jews start persecuting a Jew, even one who has volunteered to cross over to the other side and join those agitating against the "atrocities of Israeli occupation."

The origins of this phenomenon may be traced to the maskilim who despised the Torah and their ancestral religion, hoping thereby to ingratiate themselves with the non-Jews.

The Meshech Chochmoh wrote that someone who distances himself from his nation and invents newfangled and false ideas, criticizes his heritage and forgets his nation's history. In his desire to alienate himself from his traditions and thus liberate himself from the persecutions suffered by his nation, he unleashes every restraint, thought and calculation.

It will not be long, adds the Meshech Chochmoh, before he will make the claim that our ancestors lied to us, and he will eventually forget his roots altogether, wanting to become integrated as a serene citizen of [his adopted] foreign nation. (This may be an allusion to Jews who converted to Christianity). That is how he exempts himself from the difficulties of life as a Jew. Thus he will abandon his religious studies in favor of studies in foreign languages . . . and he will declare that Berlin is Yerushalayim . . . Then a violent storm will come and uproot him altogether (on the posuk, "I will not reject them," Vayikro 26:44).

From the Jewish point of view the slaps in the faces received by Jews who aim to ingratiate themselves with non-Jews by becoming estranged from their religious traditions is a heavenly sign of grace to remind them of their Jewish origin. The Meshech Chochmoh writes that Hashem says He will cause the nations "to despise and abhor them," but not in an absolute manner that would result in the destruction of the nation, because then the covenant with the nation would be breached, but in a manner that glorifies Hashem's Name and preserves the descendants of Avrohom.

There are many Jews today who returned to their Jewish roots because of such "reminders."

This is our advice to Dr. Shlesinger and all those Israeli academics who have been snubbed by academic institutions around the world, including the U.S.: instead of complaining about the insults to which they are subjected, they should praise the Divine Providence, whereby Hashem in His mercy reminds them of their Jewish roots. They should stop looking for happiness and investing their future in non-Jewish societies, because that is not their place.

Heavenly Reminder of Jewish Roots

The Kopishnitzer Rebbe ztv"l used to recall an incident that took place when the Nazis concentrated hundreds of Jews in one place in Vienna following the Anschluss. There was one Jew there who was screaming hysterically, bemoaning his fate.

The Rebbe went up to him and asked why he was in more distress than the other Jews present who were in the same situation as he was. The Jew answered that they could not understand what had happened to him: "I have been living in a small village far away from here for more than forty years, and I had completely forgotten that I was Jewish. Suddenly I have been reminded of this fact . . . How did the Nazis find out that I was Jewish? When she heard that they were rounding up all the Jews, my non-Jewish wife to whom I've been married for forty years went to the police to report to them that I was Jewish!"

We would react initially to this story by gasping at the amazing wickedness of this non-Jewish woman who was indifferent to the fate of her husband of forty years, but on a deeper level we can see the Hashgocho protis which hovered over this estranged Jew. In heaven they wanted him to have the merit of returning to his Jewish roots, and so he was sent a "reminder" in the shape of an imprisonment resulting from his non- Jewish wife informing on him!


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