Torah Study > Chapter 6: Truth and Peace > Case Studies
Case Studies
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks helped to propel the civil rights movement in America forward
when she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. She spoke
about that moment years later: “Our mistreatment was just not right, and I
was tired of it. I kept thinking about my mother and grandparents, and how
strong they were. I knew there was a possibility of being mistreated, but an
opportunity was being given to me to do what I had asked of others.” (Quiet
Strength, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000.)
• Would you call this act by Rosa Parks “rebuking?”
• Was her “target” a person or something larger?
• Can Jewish principles of “rebuke” extend to social inequities? How so?
• Are there modern civil rights struggles that need this type of rebuke?
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Elie Wisel
In 1985, President Reagan was preparing to travel to Germany and participate
in a wreath-laying ceremony at the cemetery at Bitburg. Among those
buried at Bitburg were German officers of the SS, the Nazi army units most
directly involved in perpetrating the Holocaust. Just a few days prior to his
departure, Elie Wiesel was a guest of the President at the White House and
was invited to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest award
America bestows on non-military citizens. What should Wiesel do? It is impolite
to insult your host, but this was a unique opportunity. What would you
have done when facing the President? What would you have said?
Using this unique situation as the time to speak truth to power, Wiesel
dared to speak directly to the President and tell him that he should not go
to Bitburg: “That place is not your place. Your place is with the victims of the
SS.” Nonetheless, Reagan went through with his planned visit.
• Was Wiesel right in his decision to say that to the President?
• Was his rebuke successful?
• How do you measure success in a rebuke?
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Desmond Tutu
The following is the response by Archbishop Tutu on his appointment as
Chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, South Africa,
which was organized to investigate the human rights violations of the
apartheid regime. The Commission had the authority to air injustices but
not to punish them.
I hope that the work of the Commission, by opening wounds to
cleanse them, will thereby stop them from festering. We cannot
be facile and say bygones will be bygones, because they will not be bygones and will return to haunt us. True reconciliation is never cheap, for it is based on forgiveness which is costly. Forgiveness in turn depends on repentance, which has to be based on acknowlf edgement of what was done wrong and therefore on disclosure of the truth. You cannot forgive what you do not know.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, November 30, 1995
• What is the relationship here between truth, peace, and justice? Are
all given equal power and authority in this case?
• Why would a country, after suffering such violence and hatred, create
such an unusual official committee?
• Can you think of other historic injustices in the world that might
benefit from a type of Truth and Reconciliation Commission?
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