These are issues of such historic import that only a Sanhedrin can decide them on the basis of Halakha, or whose decision has the status of Halakha. No one in this generation may arrogate that prerogative to himself. We must develop a new sensitivity to extremism of all kinds. When I argue against uncivil speech, it is not a matter of taste or a preference for bourgeois manners. Le style c'est l'homme.
Style often reveals character.
We must no longer be as tolerant as we have been of strident invective and ugly epithets and hurtful hype. Neither the Right nor the Left have been careful enough in gauging the temperature of debate. All of us must rethink not our positions as much as our methods. And we must develop a new respect for simple civility. I return to the object of our grief, to Yitzhak Rabin.