Kol Nidre and white fire of Iran row

The literal meaning of Kol Nidre is “all vows.” More broadly, the prayer deals with the importance of words in shaping our lives, setting the tone for who we are—what we represent.

Its message stands opposite the old adage we said as kids: “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me.”

Not true. Words can hurt; words can harm. While a word is a word and a deed is a deed, words lead to deeds.

A Jewish teaching declares that words have the intensity of fire. They are black fire on white fire, namely, black letters written on the white open space between them. More deeply, this teaches that words have power not only in their explicit meaning—the ink of the black letters—but in the less explicit, but equally important messages they imply. Those are the white spaces.

As 20th-century Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein said, “Language disguises the thought.” But the discerning listener of language can read the white fire, revealing its meaning.

This is an important message as the debate surrounding the Iran nuclear deal gains intensity. By now, the pros and cons of the deal have been presented. Positions have by and large been taken. I, for one, am strongly opposed.

But a matter that is equally as important as the position one takes is the nature of the language used in the conversation: Which words are said; what is their message and what thoughts do they disguise?

Here, both sides have made mistakes. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Republican candidate for president, went too far when suggesting that the deal would take Israel to the ovens, an explicit allusion to the Holocaust. The Holocaust is trivialized when such language is used. Today, unlike then, we have the State of Israel, which can defend itself.

What’s even more disturbing is the language used by President Barack Obama. Candidates seek partisan voters. The president speaks for all of America. As President Obama has said, we are not the red states, or the blue states, but the United States.