The Trap of Binary Thinking

by Audrey Lichter

Let me say at the outset, I am not a fan of moral ambivalence. I do believe that there are certain fundamental truths that we should aspire to. Lately, though, I’ve been struck by how little appetite we have for nuance and complexity.

We say, for example, that religion teaches love and compassion. Yet, we Jews find ourselves in a brutal war with an enemy that does not seem to care whether babies and other innocents are slaughtered, as they appear to be used as human shields. We want our holy spaces to have our tents open wide, and yet, now we are forced to vet with suspicion every person we do not know. Just try attending a Shabbat service in a foreign country (we just had to give them our passport number and our Rabbi’s contact ahead of time to daven in South Africa).

We live in a time where anti-Semitic accusations seem to be everywhere, and becoming increasingly more deadly, yet we want to defend free speech and the freedoms America stands for. Now, after the brutal murders outside the Jewish Museum, we have to wonder how far the envelope of security has to extend.

We must suspend binary thinking and delve into the murky waters of complexity.

This is a time that calls into question the dangers of binary thinking as well as the opposite – moral equivalency. We must stay clear-sighted and strong, able to hold the need for self-defense and compassion together as a single mandate and a moral imperative.

The Jewish people have been here before; let’s not delude ourselves. We have tried assimilation, hasbara, separation, and everything in between. Antisemitism, as Ruth Wisse likes to say, is not our problem to solve. It is the canary in the coal mine that something is wrong in society. We must do what we must to defend ourselves while not losing sight of the ideals we would like to live by. We must suspend binary thinking and delve into the murky waters of complexity.