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Friday January 5, 2007

The passing of 2 giants of Jewish history

The news this week has been dominated by death, in particular three momentous passings: Saddam Hussein, Gerald Ford and Teddy Kolleck.

If anyone deserved to hang, it was Saddam. Though the travesty of his execution, during which hooded thugs mocked him, merits further investigation, the Iraqi dictator reaped what he sowed.

On the opposite end of the moral spectrum, the world lost two admirable leaders in Ford and Kolleck.

As with every passing of a president, media eulogies tend to be uniformly positive. However, Ford truly was a decent and honorable man. Though his presidency is best remembered for his pardon of Richard Nixon, we should recall that Ford was by and large a friend to the Jews.

In 1975, Ford signed the Helsinki Declaration, which held the Soviet regime accountable for its miserable human rights record, including its mistreatment of Jewish citizens. Ford also signed the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which called on the USSR to permit Jews to emigrate. Moreover, Ford was a vocal critic of the ongoing Arab boycott of Israel.

We don’t wish to engage in hagiography. Let it also be remembered that in 1975, Ford curtly refused to meet with Alexander Solzhenitsyn — then, when thinking better of it, finally extended to the Soviet dissident an invitation to the White House. Solzhenitsyn refused.

Still, the overall record of Ford’s life is marked with achievement, love of family, genuine patriotism and common decency. American politics needs more of that.

The loss of Teddy Kolleck this week at age 95 marks the end of an era. As six-term mayor of Jerusalem, Kolleck was a bridge builder, developing good relationships with all his constituencies, from the haredi Jews to East Jerusalem Arabs.

No one was a better pitchman for Jerusalem –– and by extension, Israel –– than Kolleck. His man-of-the-people style endeared him to many. It’s hard to imagine anyone with more friends than Teddy Kolleck.

In pre-independent Palestine, he proved to be an ace smuggler of both arms and Jews. After independence, he worked closely with David Ben-Gurion to build the Jewish state, reaching out to diaspora Jews for support.

Kolleck’s vision has suffered in recent years. Walls, not bridges, are all too common in the region. While they are arguably necessary, those walls do not represent Kolleck’s dream for the city of peace.

Perhaps it’s not too much to hope that his dream may someday live again.

We mourn the passing of President Gerald Ford and Teddy Kolleck.

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