Believe it or not, I consider myself an advocate for peace. Real peace. The kind where people have learned to respect one another, to appreciate their differences and to work together to make the world a better place. There's peace between the U.S. and Canada. We don't always agree on everything and once in a while some genuinely hurtful remarks may fly back and forth across the border, but "hostilities" don't come to more than that, and it's unlikely that they ever will. We're at peace with Great Britain, obviously. We're even at peace with Germany and France, though sometimes you wonder why. Peace is a good thing. When there's genuine peace, you can disagree and no one dies.
What I don't advocate is fake peace. Meaningless, empty gestures toward peace. Playing at peace when all you're really doing is putting farcical makeup on the face of war. Like the fake peace of the "peace activists," who go for a slumber party with Yassir at the Mukata and make kissy face while the region burns around them. And the Daniel Barenboims of the world who purport to prostrate not only themselves, but also their country at the feet of their enemies, who make "peace" by denouncing who they are and where they come from, by oozing obsequiousness toward those who would just as soon see them crushed like bugs, by adopting the humble posture of the dhimmi. Those who try to make war into peace by playing make-believe. That kind of "peace" only leads to more war.
In a recent issue of Philadelphia's Jewish Exponent, I found this article, written by David F. Tilman, a cantor at a local congregation. It seems that when he wasn't too busy forcing Holocaust survivors to listen to Wagner or playing free concerts in Ramallah, first class idiotarian Daniel Barenboim was creating a musical peace project in Chicago called "West-East Divan." His collaborator in this project: world famous musical expert and peace advocate (wait for it) Edward Said. More smoke and mirrors? Yes, but it's possible that this project has some substance, as well.
The purpose of the workshop, according to the article, is to bring together "young musicians from Israel and Arab countries to study and perform classical music in a 'totally nonpolitical atmosphere.' " It's brought together the talents of Israeli cellist Inbal Megiddo and pianist Saleem Abboud-Ashkar, a Christian palestinian from Nazareth. But politics appear to play little, if any part.
“Politics doesn’t have to come into music, although it comes into so many other aspects of life,” Megiddo declared with conviction.
Cantor Tilman doesn't agree:
Undoubtedly, their joint music-making is a source for future hope and understanding both for the residents of the Middle East and for the rest of us in these very troubled times.Clearly other prominent contemporary and historical classical performers, who have used serious music to express a variety of ideological positions, do not share this view.
Well, no, it really isn't. And this is where the smoke-and-mirrors part comes in. The East-West Divan has created other unlikely partnerships, as well. Last year, in a similar collaboration, Abboud-Ashkar performed with Israeli pianist Shai Wosner at Georgetown University.
At a panel discussion after the concert, one audience member asked if such a musical partnership could lead to a wider Arab-Israeli dialogue or understanding. Wosner answered, "Unfortunately not. I wish it could. It would be a lot easier," he said.
But this type of musical collaboration can be a "perfect example" of what can be accomplished "in case we get over our [political] problems," said Abboud-Ashkar.
Mr. Wosner and Mr. Abboud-Ashkar are quite correct. These collaborations are, in fact, inspiring, so long as they don't serve as a pretext for political negotiations or unauthorized concessions by either side. They show us what can be and hopefully will be accomplished if true peace can be achieved. They do not, however, promote peace, encourage peace or create peace, nor are they "a source of hope and understanding." It's an important distinction to keep in mind.
True peace. May it come speedily and in our days.
Shabbat Shalom.
