Bob's Story

The fact that I went to a Quaker College may not be wholly relevant, but a Quaker College teaches the value of listening, of silence, of the importance of realizing that each person is capable of perceiving their own truth, of the importance of listening to the other person's truth. I was a reasonable active member of congregation Beth El when the rabbi asked me to join the dialogue group...

I grew up in Chicago. My four grandparents on both sides came from Europe. On my father's side they both came from Hungary, my grandfather from Budapest and my grandmother from a small town in the country side. My grandfather came from a long line of Orthodox rabbis. On my grandmother's side the family was more liberal Orthodox. My father and his twin were the youngest children in the family.

On my mother's side, my grandparents came from near Bailystock, like Jim's family. They came to the US in the twenties and my mother was the oldest of their children.

I was raised in Albany Park until adolescence. The area was about ninety percent Jewish and is now ninety percent Korean. I was not raised in an extraordinarily Orthodox household, but it was very Jewish. I was active growing up in Bnai Brith Youth. Particularly on my mother's side, I heard a lot about what it was like to be a Jew in Eastern Europe and how important the existence of Israel was. I heard about relatives who didn't immigrate to the US and were lost in the holocaust. So part of my world was knowing about my roots and how lucky it was that my grandparents got out. I had a strong sense of how important Jewish identity, culture and the state of Israel was.

I went to law school and I teach bio tech law. I am married and have two children. As I said, I came to dialogue at the invitation of my rabbi. I was very unsure about what is would be about. I am very much a believer in process, not for where it goes, but for its own sake. Certainly for a law professor, process is important. I respect the process. If a fair process leads to unfair results, I still respect it.

The value of process has helped me to understand two things. First that people are individuals with differing stories, needs and feelings. The problem with the present conflict is depersonalization. Palestinians tend to label all Israelis as other. Certain Jews have a tendency to view Palestinians as all the same. There is tremendous value in recognizing that three million or five million people or whatever all have their own stories. Secondly, not only are all of these people different, but there is no one point of view. Even people that are married to each other may not have the same political views.