Editor’s Note: Desmond Tutu’s ‘My plea to the people of Israel: Liberate yourselves by liberating Palestine’ published in Haaretz on 14 August 2014 prompted David Good to reflect on the work of the Tree of Life Educational Fund for which he serves as chair of the Board of Directors.

This article reminds me of something I've been wanting and needing to share with those who have taken part in our Tree of Life Educational Fund, its journeys and programs.  For me, the most painful thing is when we are accused of being "anti-Jewish" or "anti-Semitic."   Sadly, we have been on the receiving end of such epithets, and they come from those who feel they have to defend the State of Israel, as if Israel equals Judaism. As a Protestant minister, I myself was reluctant to become involved in this issue.  The Christian church's theology played a sad and powerful role in the centuries of anti-Semitism that culminated in the ghastly atrocities of the Holocaust.  My journey toward the Israel/Palestine issue and the struggle for human rights came by way of South Africa.  Back in 1988 our church had our first journey to Apartheid South Africa, and it was through that and subsequent journeys that I came to see that the church, if it's to be worthy of the name, needs to be actively engaged in such issues, regardless of the scorn and criticism it inevitably will receive, both within and without. We met a White Methodist minister who lived in Soweto -- the only White minister then or now -- to live in that location -- who offered sanctuary in his home to boys detained and tortured by the South African police. We met with leaders of a church in Johannesburg who broke the law by offering their fellowship room for a noon meal for both Whites and Blacks, the only place where such an integrated meal was possible. We met with Joe Seremane, severely tortured by the South African police, and yet he had a constant  smile, and he defended that smile by saying, "they may have been victorious over my body, but I refuse to give them victory over my soul."  Nelson Mandela was on Robbin Island, dismissed by our own government as a "terrorist."  Steven Biko had just recently been murdered by the South African police.  And of course, we were introduced to the great prophetic leadership of this diminutive man by the name of Desmond Tutu.  Then and now, Tutu is ever ebullient, an outward manifestation of his irrepressible spirit, one of the most loving people I have ever known, and the title of one of his books, speaks volumes about his spirit, "No Future Without Forgiveness."

How sad it was then, many years later to see that Desmond Tutu was demonized as being "anti-Semitic" because he spoke out against the human rights violations from which Palestinians suffer.  Right here in Connecticut, at one of our major universities, horrible epithets were attributed to this man.  I confess that knowing that has been something of a sanctuary for me as I've endured the "slings and arrows" of such epithets. And it was from Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Paul Verryn, Steve Biko, Joe Seremane, Women in Black, Frank Chicane, Charles Villa Vicencia, John DeGrutchey and a host of others that I learned that the mettle of our character and integrity is measured by our willingness to keep on keeping on, regardless of the consequences, or as Clarence Jordan of Koinonia would say, "in scorn of the consequences."

If our churches (and other faith communities) are languishing, its because they haven't been courageous enough in championing the cause of freedom, justice and peace.

Back in 1988, we were also introduced to another man, Allan Boesak, a minister and theologian who was also involved in the struggle against Apartheid, and even now, he has spoken at a number of conferences as a voice of conscience on the situation in Israel and Palestine.  For those of us who attended Sunday School, chances are we remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (I'm doing this from memory and so please forgive the spelling errors!)  As you may remember, these 3 would not bow down to the "music" of the ruling authorities, and so they were cast into a red-hot oven, but when the "security" forces looked into the oven they saw that they were not consumed by the fire. They were amazed by this and they saw that there was a fourth person standing with them in that furnace and surmised that he or she was the reason the three survived.  It was in the retelling of this old story that Allan Boesak helped me to identify with what is sometimes called, "a theology of accompaniment."  We may not be able to solve the tough issues of our day, and clearly there are no quick fixes to any of our human rights issues, particularly in those situations where there is a sizable disproportion of power -- which there clearly is in Israel/Palestine.  So, in light of this, we might be tempted to say, "little ol' me, what difference can I make?"  Allan Boesak helped me to understand that the church (and other faith communities) may seem powerless by comparison to the principalities and the powers, the powerful lobbies of military contractors, etc., but we can be that fourth person in the furnace; by our steadfast presence we can help the contemporaries of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego not be consumed by despair.  In short, to borrow the wisdom of my Native American friend, Eunice Larrabee, “we can show them that we care."

Our annual Tree of Life Conferences and Journeys are more than just an educational enterprise.  It's also our opportunity to be a presence for the voices of conscience in Israel and Palestine who are "in the furnace" of injustice everyday.  By listening to them, by honoring their message, perhaps in some small way we empower them in their work.

Anyway, this is the theology that was gifted to me by our immersion in apartheid South Africa, and so I will remain ever grateful for the way this theology has been taught and lived by this remarkable man, Desmond Tutu.  May his inspiration find its way into all our faith communities, seminaries and secular organizations!

--David Good

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On 20 August ‘Why Jews Are Worried: Deborah E. Lipstadt on the Rising Anti-Semitism in Europe’ was published in The Opinion Pages of the New York Times. Marie Tessier responded  on 22 August. And don’t forget the comments to both articles.

Episcopal priest Bruce M. Shipman, who traveled this year with the Tree of Life Educational Fund to Palestine/Israel, responded in a 3 sentence letter to the editor dated 21 August. Philip Weiss commented on the Lipstadt opinion piece and subsequent controversy in a column dated 28 August. One of Weiss’s conclusions: “But the Lipstadt piece followed by the reaction against Shipman demonstrates that there is a bifurcated discourse in the U.S. on Israel that recalls the bifurcated consciousness of the O.J. trial. Those friendly to Israel look at the whole situation one way, and those on my side look at it another way. We are simply in different realities, and who is right? Well my side is right; I’ve been to the occupation. But what will it take to break down the epistemological walls of the other reality?”

Remember that the venue of a Sabeel regional conference in 2012 had to be changed because the original site sponsor got pushback. Don Wagner, program director for Friends of Sabeel North America responded here.

Recalling that The Episcopal Church stated in 1991that it "recognize(s) that a distinction exists between the propriety of legitimate criticism of Israeli governmental policy and action and the impropriety of anti-Jewish prejudice,” how might we as Episcopalians and persons of faith work, as Weiss suggests, “to break down the epistemological walls of the other reality?”