Star Wars and Tisha Baav
Word from: Alieza
At a recent Tisha Ba'av event in Jerusalem, speakers were invited to disagree: A left wing activist said the disengagement is redemption from the occupation, while a Palestinian speaker said he would not cry for the Jews leaving their homes. A woman in Gush Katif felt that the country would suffer for its illegal and immoral action, while many expressed solidarity with settlers' individual pain if not communal and political fall.
As I listened my stomach revolted against all the extremes. I guess, the people with the most to gain and lose: the woman leaving her home and community, and the man gaining independence in Gaza were the ones who sounded the most black and white, the ones that make me the most uncomfortable. And those speakers for whom this is a political discussion that will not touch them personally- those who will only gain a sense of abstract morality and maybe shed some guilt- these speakers sounded rational to me.
How removed from the consequences do you need to be to think? How can we decide how to act, if the rational answer is
always so grey? On a slightly related note, I went to see Star Wars III on a big open screen in Jerusalem last night. We sat outdoors under a huge moon. To my surprise quite a few Israeli's are star wars fans. Despite Anakin's Brooklyn accent and the terribly scripted love scenes, the movie raised interesting moral questions.
I keep returning to the final scene when Obi Kenobe lets Anakin burn to death because he has tuned to the dark side. I am left wondering: Did the Jedi way (to avoid killing unarmed enemies) save the life of the violent soon to be Darth Vader? Did Obe Wan's pacifism simply lead to more war? On the other hand, had he saved Anakin from the fire, would that act of love- despite disagreement- have saved Anakin from becoming Darth Vader?
One of the Jedi masters says, Only the sith (dark side) think in absolutes. I have always gravitated toward the idea of grey: But I am conflicted about Obi Wan's final act of abandonment. In his conflicted feelings of love and disappointment, he neither saves Anakin nor kills him, allowing Darth Vader to grow in the vacuum of action.
Do we inevitably sacrifice complexity in the moment of action?
I apologize for the heavy post. Any thoughts?
2 Comments:
At 4:30 PM, menachem said…
Alieza,
Your comparing Star Wars and the disengagement is wonderful. Very brilliant work. I think it works as a metaphor for the Arab-Israeli struggle too. I no longer know which is the dark side and which is the right one, but I can say for sure I agree with you about the grey area. Unfortunately, I think those in both situations here are thinking only black and white.
And your post was great. If that is "heavy," keep posting more heavy stuff!
At 4:47 PM, Yaacov said…
Two things I saw while obsessively watching the coverage of the "hitnatkut" on Israeli TV and the internet.
The first is about contrasts: the anchorman tells us to watch the scene of angry protesters throwing paint on chayalim a bit more closely, so that we notice the young boy clutching at a police officer, crying, amidst struggling bodies and flying buckets of paint. The boy looks lost, alone and defeated, and his reaction, grasping at the nearest adult, is a marked contrast to the mayhem and chaos around him.
The second is about greys: I read in an article on JPost or the NYTimes that Palestinians are seeing a more human face on the Israeli army and the settlers, one viewer heard questioning "Did you see that soldier crying?" Do I want Palestinians to see an Israeli soldier cry?
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