Elitist Arrogance
By Berel Wein

(July 12) So, Daniel Barenboim, noted conductor of the Berlin 
Staatskapelle Orchestra, had the last laugh on us anyway. 
As a second encore to the final concert of this magnificent 
orchestra's performance at the Israel Festival last Saturday 
night, he conducted a piece of music composed by Richard Wagner. 

As reported in this newspaper (June 8), Barenboim addressed the 
audience and told it that he had been asked by the organizers of 
the festival not to perform any of Wagner's works and had agreed 
to change his program to exclude any Wagnerian music. Nevertheless, 
with true artistic arrogance and elitist hubris, Barenboim broke 
his word and determined that "art must triumph." The paper 
reported him as saying that "while the feelings of those who 
opposed the playing of Wagner, who was Adolf Hitler's favorite 
composer and expressed virulent anti-Semitic sentiments, had to 
be respected, one also had to take into account those who wanted 
to hear him." Taking a voice vote of the audience and determining 
that more wanted to hear Wagner than did not, he then conducted 
an excerpt from Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. 

What arrogance! How did he "respect the feelings of those who 
opposed playing Wagner"? 

This article is not about the merits of playing Wagner's music in 
Israel or not. Nor is it about whether it is time to start 
forgetting the past and let the Holocaust rest, so to speak. 
It is about the arrogance of one person who decides on his own 
what is proper, acceptable and correct, riding roughshod over 
the feelings and sensitivities of a large section of the Israeli 
public. Barenboim knows better and, therefore, he can go back on 
his word, hurt people present in his audience and cause anguish 
to thousands of others in the larger Israeli society. 

Is that not the privilege of the elite, the artistic, the 
super-educated and super-intellectual among us? If you have 
any doubts that the few "enlightened ones" have a duty to bring 
all of us unwashed, ignorant, backward (read religious) ones 
into the light, regardless of our beliefs, sensitivities and 
tradition, just ask Chief Justice Aharon Barak and his colleagues 
on the Supreme Court for their views on how important it is in 
a "Jewish democratic state" to have an activist judiciary! 

Activism is often only a synonym for arrogance. 

SPEAKING OF arrogance, have you noticed how Yossi Beilin continues 
to peddle his own personal foreign policy on behalf of all of us? 
He meets with foreign leaders, with Palestinian Authority Chairman 
Yasser Arafat and with other interested parties to our current 
"situation." 

This prime architect of the Oslo disaster who has never, to my 
knowledge, admitted being wrong in all his public career, 
represents whom in the conversations he has with Arafat and 
foreign leaders? He has no official position in any government 
or political party and he is still too young to be considered 
an elder statesman a la Jimmy Carter or George Mitchell. 

It seems to me that it is the height of arrogance for him to 
continue on his merry diplomacy trips and meetings as though he 
is Israel. He is bright, knowledgeable, even sincere in his 
efforts and personality. But he is not our representative of 
anything. He may think he knows best what is good for all of 
us and for the future of Israel and the Jewish people, but his 
past record in this matter is quite spotty to say the least. 

The best and brightest amongst us, our political, artistic, 
educational, judicial and religious leaders, even our august 
weekly oped columnists, could all stand an injection of a little 
humility into our personal opinions and behavior. Our purpose in 
life should not be to injure others, emotionally, physically or 
spiritually. An arrogant person thinks only of his own ideals, 
goals and purposes; how these may impinge on the rights and 
feelings of others is often not taken into consideration. 

There are few, if any, values that should take precedence over 
the damage that arrogance can cause. 

The Mishna in Avot warns us against saying "accept my opinion - 
I know better!" Wisdom is meant to be taught gently to others 
and not to be unilaterally coerced upon them. 

The greatest of all Jewish leaders, Moses, was outstanding 
because of the absence of arrogance in his leadership and 
personality. There is a lesson there for all of us.