TORONTO — For most Jews, the ninth of Adar is a Hebrew calendar date like any other.
However, on that day some 2,000 years ago, the houses of Hillel and Shammai, then leading sages who founded opposing schools of Jewish thought, erupted in bloody conflict, and a disagreement between the two houses over 18 pivotal Jewish legal matters led to the violent deaths of 3,000 students.
Though initially declared a fast day, mainstream Jewry has long since discarded the practice.
But a burgeoning movement, initiated three years ago by Rabbi Daniel Roth of Jerusalem’s Pardes Center for Judaism and Conflict Resolution and lately taken up by several young Toronto Jews, is pushing to re-appropriate the ninth of Adar as a Jewish day of constructive conflict.
On Feb. 28, several organizers, along with representatives from downtown organizations such as Makom: Creative Downtown Judaism, the study group BASE – Beit Midrash Downtown Toronto and The Orchard: Intentional Jewish Communal House –hosted an evening of study and discussion about ways to transform the historical day of destructive conflict into one that nurtures healthy disagreement.
Toronto’s 9 Adar event was spearheaded by Evelyn Tauben, 36, a producer and curator who primarily works with Jewish artists.
After taking a class with Rabbi Roth at Pardes several years ago, she was inspired to bring the event to Toronto.
“I reached out to different people,” Tauben said, “like fellow organizer Samahra Zatzman, who has also studied with Rabbi Roth, as well as Rabbi Aaron Levy and people from The Orchard, who I know are open to doing different things, and this unexpected team of us came together saying, ‘There’s a global ninth Adar initiative. Toronto should be a part of it.”
She added: “The basic message [of the day] is that conflict exists, and we don’t want to pretend there aren’t disagreements in relationships. The day is not just about how we can speak more productively about Israel and Palestine, though that’s part of it, but also how we, in our daily lives, our homes and families – in the Jewish and wider communities – use Jewish texts to learn how to work through conflict more productively.”
Roth’s message is that disagreements managed constructively ensure healthy and dynamic relationships and communities, and that Israel and the Jewish People, particularly given current challenges, can benefit from learning to better navigate conflict.
His challenge to do this is being taken up by Jewish groups across Israel and North America, including Israeli students, organizations that facilitate constructive dialogue about Israel such as the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Israel Talks and Encounter, and in Jewish day schools across the United States, some of which are taking part in the Pardes Rodef Shalom school program.
The Toronto 9 Adar event, held at The Orchard, near Bathurst and Dupont streets, was attended by about a dozen people, mostly in their 20s and 30s, and kicked off with a musical Havdalah service.
Participants then verbally agreed to a “Rodef shalom (pursuers of peace) Communication Agreement,” compiled by Rabbi Roth, which contained passages about respectful communication from various Jewish texts.
One read: “I will feel free to continue to express, and allow for others to express, different viewpoints in the spirit of machloket leshem shamayim (disputes for the sake of heaven) as the Mishnah (Ethics of Our Fathers, 5:17) describes the dispute between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel.”
The group then broke into chevrutah-style pairs to study an assortment of Jewish texts on disputes and conflict resolution before engaging in a group discussion led by Rabbi Aaron Levy of Makom.
That conversation included an exploration of what constitutes an “argument for the sake of heaven,” which, Tauben said, “is elevating, or productive.”
