IN THEORY:Gibson’s fall from grace

Actor and director Mel Gibson has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of drunk driving. While sheriff’s deputies were arresting Gibson, he allegedly made several anti-Jewish remarks. Gibson later apologized for his “despicable” behavior and said he has battled alcoholism for most of his adult life. Speculation has arisen that Gibson’s career may be in jeopardy, and prominent Jewish leaders have condemned him.

What advice as a spiritual leader would you give Gibson at this time?

Years ago, Albert Speer, self-described “second man of the Reich,” expressed his penitence in a memoir aimed at rehabilitation. He donated a portion of the profits to a Jewish old age home.

But he was more regretful over his lost privileges than rueful over his deeds.

There are often two reasons people do what they do: the one they tell you and the one they don’t. Agendas, ulterior motives, and subtexts may lurk behind what the Latin-loving Mel Gibson would know as mea maxima culpa. Is the actor’s avowal of apology a self-serving sham? Is his self-reproach an ingenious and disingenuous ploy to salvage a reputation? Is he genuinely sorry only that his slurs were spread over the Internet? Why, O Why, would his response to being stopped by police officers on a Malibu road be “The Jews cause all the wars in the world”?

Even if Jews orchestrate the atrocities that Sunni and Shiite visit upon each other, what does that have to do with law enforcement? Is Jewish responsibility for the world’s evils relevant to Gibson’s driving at excessive speed? Or is his outburst confirmation of the adage that when the heart is narrow, the tongue is wide?

This rant was hardly a mere slip of the tongue, unrelated to his animus.

Mel Gibson did not imbibe anti-Semitism with his tequila. Of course, Mel Gibson is a Jew-hater, evidenced by the classically anti-Semitic film “The Passion of the Christ,” and his refusal to distance himself from the odious views of the Holocaust belched up by his father. Does his offer to meet with Jewish leaders exculpate him? No, his battle is not only with his personal demons but with the truth. If we believe his protestations and denials, we are complicit in a charade.

Gibson cultivates loathsome views that Jews colluded in the murder of Jesus, fabricated the Holocaust, and are the puppeteers behind the world’s conflicts. He has finally verbalized his vituperation after numerous denials of anti-Semitism. His religiosity is in direct proportion to his repugnance for other faiths, demonstrating that building a church dedicated to the love of God need not obviate hatred of one’s fellow man. In his railing against Jews as the font of the world’s evil, Gibson is a brother to Nasrallah, Ahmadinejad, and bin Laden.

For those blind to the unreconstructed Jewish stereotypes that populated “The Passion of the Christ,” or deaf to Gibson’s evasions about the Holocaust, he has now unmasked himself. His apology is faux-sincere and opportunistic, but perhaps his Jewish Lord can forgive him. My advice to him: Recognize what you are as the first step to repentance.

Watch what will happen next: Mel Gibson will donate proceeds from “Apocalypto” to a Jewish old age home.

RABBI MARK S. MILLER

Temple Bat Yahm

Newport Beach

Oh, the stuff that lives in our subconscious is sometimes the most embarrassing information we contain. And it always comes out when we least expect it or want it.

I do not believe that Mel Gibson is an extremist against Jews. But I know his life has been visited by others who were prejudiced and mean-spirited.

Thus lives the lesson of his experience for all of us. That it is important to take some time to make an inquiry of those beliefs that may have invaded our own lives and seek to forgive ourselves for having believed such things, and, as such poison is revealed through the course of our lives, to be gentle with ourselves and focus on the good things we have done and are planning to do.

There is not a person on the planet free from prejudice or hatred. There is not one of us free from the memories of those who have visited our lives and sought to instill in us those beliefs we so desire to dismiss and forget. I think it is very brave of Gibson to seek forgiveness from those he has offended, and I think it is very generous of the rabbi who offered to have Gibson address his congregation on Yom Kippur. I also think that those who would be quick to condemn Gibson should be careful to not respond with the same vitriolic words that got Gibson in trouble.

Clearly, it takes courage to end the cycles of hatred and violence caused by such beliefs, and to that end, I think it a blessing that Gibson had such a public experience. It enables all of us to reexamine our deepest thoughts and neutralize those hurtful beliefs we have digested and now need to expel.

SENIOR PASTOR

JIM TURRELL

Center for Spiritual Discovery

Costa Mesa

Mel Gibson must be a very complex and problematic person. He is an artistic genius who has given film fans memorable characters. And he has admitted addictions and selfabusiveness. Tabloids and gossip mongers rumor him to have been abusive of others; I mention this only because we know that the line between verbal and physical abuse is thin, don’t we?

Now, Gibson has admitted making statements that should outrage women and Semites, especially Jews, and all thinking people who strive for mutual respect among human beings.

Hooray for Hollywood for drawing our attention to rampant and raging prejudices; regrettably, Gibson’s arrest is far from an isolated incident. The star will surely fall from “most powerful” and “most beautiful and “sexiest” lists. Hopefully this will sufficiently disgrace Gibson that he will take to heart the help he apparently needs desperately.

If he were to ask a spiritual leader for advice, that willingness would be a sign of humility, and humility is the beginning of spiritual healing. If he were to ask me, I would counsel him to use the resources of the faith he claims, particularly confession, penance, reconciliation. I would encourage him to pray what is tried and true ? Psalm 51, for example.

I would encourage him to devote himself to the best help available: medical, psychological and spiritual. If I were his priest and confessor and he sought forgiveness, before declaring God’s absolution I would require Gibson to make personal and honest public apologies to women, Jews, and people who devote their lives to the struggle for mutual respect among us all.

(THE VERY REV’D CANON)

PETER D. HAYNES

Saint Michael & All Angels

Episcopal Church

Corona del Mar

I would say, “Mel, take some time off.” It’s good that Mel Gibson is meeting with his counselors and publicists, but I believe the best resource when we hit a wall is quiet, with a considerable dose of prayer and meditation.

I’m not shocked by this incident, and Gibson shouldn’t be either. Racism, religious bigotry, sexism, classism, and addiction are only average, not exceptional.

If Gibson wants to save his status as a Hollywood great, he will have to do serious work in uncovering what is going on with his confusion and aggression toward Jews. If he wants to enjoy a peaceful family life, why is he drinking at bars at 2 a.m.? And probably the most serious problem is, if he wants to be a trusted citizen of the road, why is he drinking and driving?

Following the last week of Mel’s process, it feels like he is doing “all the right things.” But whether this frenzy of apology and rapid delivery to rehab will drive deep enough to truly heal, he will have to see.

REV. CAROL AGUILAR

Zen Center of Orange County

Costa Mesa

As a result of this week’s events, I would make Mel Gibson take a year’s course in Jewish history. Our main challenge in this world is to correctly interpret current events. We must understand what has happened and understand the comments Gibson made.

Jews have not caused wars, but they have been the victims of wars!

Example No. 1 can be stated that in the times of the beginning of Christianity, Jerusalem was destroyed on Aug. 2, in the year 70.

As a result, this past Wednesday night was a Jewish Holy Day. Tish B’Av commemorates the sorrow of the Jews being slaughtered in history because of wars.

At Titus’ orders, all surviving fighting and those suspected of belonging to the Zealots were killed. The old and sick were next to be murdered. Young boys and girls were gathered on the Temple Mount and subjected to another selection. Those suspected of having in some way participated in the revolt against Rome were put to the sword. Those remaining were divided according to their physical appearance and strength; those aged over 17 were sent as slave laborers to the copper mines of Egypt. Younger ones were sold as slaves; the largest group was sent to the Greek cities on the coast to provide entertainment as the victims of gladiators and beasts in the bloodthirsty sport of the circus; and the last contingent, some 700 of the tallest, handsomest of Jerusalem’s youths, was taken to Rome to be marched in Titus’ victory parade. During the days of the selection of the survivors, some 11,000 more perished of hunger.

According to Josephus, 1,100,000 Jews perished during the entire period of the siege and destruction, and 97,000 were taken captive. Thousands of captives from all over the land were taken by boat to Rome and other cities of the empire to be sold on the slave markets. Knowing that what awaited them as slaves was a life of forced immortality and other sins, many chose to die instead.

Example No. 2 is a case of modern Jewish history:

Wegrow (pronounced VEN-gwoov) is about 55 miles northeast of Warsaw. Jews settled there early in the 16th century, and there were 6,000 to 8,000 of them when the Nazi occupation began on Sept. 7, 1939. A few weeks later, on Yom Kippur, SS officers went to the home of the town’s rabbi, Mendel Morgenstern, dragged him to the central marketplace and ordered him to undress. They handed him a broom and told him to sweep up the manure in the square and carry it to the town dump in his velvet hat. As the rabbi tried to do just this, a soldier drove a bayonet into his abdomen, killing him. His synagogue was immediately closed and ultimately destroyed.

The Nazis set up a Jewish governing body, a Judenrat to collect taxes and supply forced-labor teams. News about the concentration camp in nearby Treblinka swept the town, but the roundups in Wegrow didn’t begin until after Yom Kippur in 1942.

The roundups lasted for several days. About half the Jews in town fled into the nearby forest, where almost all were hunted and shot by Nazis. (Poles got two pounds of sugar for every Jew they killed or captured).

Some Jews did survive. About a hundred were kept in the town to work, though they were herded into a building on May Day, 1943, and burned to death. Others hid in farms and in the forest for the duration of the war. The last survivors included Feivel Bielawski. When the Nazis were driven back, he and his brother returned and sat for days on the front step of their old house. Freedom did not bring happiness, he wrote in his memoir. We were sad and depressed and longed to see another Jew. But, of course, there was none.

Mel Gibson, wake up and smell the coffee. See reality!

RABBI MARC S. RUBENSTEIN

Temple Isaiah

Newport Beach