In the early 1980s, I attended two panel discussions on serious and controversial topics — one at the 92nd St. Y, moderated by Rabbi Dr. Arthur Green, and the other at Hebrew Union College, moderated by Rabbi Dr. Eugene Borowitz and sponsored by Sh’ma magazine, which he founded and edited.

Both moderators, like all the speakers, were highly articulate, knowledgeable, experienced, and thoughtful leaders in the Jewish community. And at both programs, individual speakers made comments that elicited hissing from some members of the audience. (I don’t remember if I participated in hissing at either discussion.)

Drs. Green and Borowitz reacted similarly. Dr. Green asked the audience to refrain from applause and hissing, since both were inappropriate in light of the serious nature of the matters being discussed. And Dr. Borowitz advised the hissers that he would not tolerate such behavior, adding that “those who hiss speakers are not true friends of Sh’ma.” And that gave me — a friend not only of Sh’ma but also of Dr. Borowitz, with whom I had recently worked closely as a Sh’ma fellow — something to write about. (Some things don’t change.) Shortly thereafter, my article, “In Defense of Hissing,” appeared in the Baltimore Jewish Times.

The article’s title speaks for itself. The gist of my argument was that both applause and hissing are “healthy outlets for the audience, as well as a means of education of the speaker. . . . [because] such programs [are] occasions for imparting knowledge not only to the audience but to the speaker as well. Hissing, as well as applause, are methods of feedback for the speaker, so he or she may learn what the listeners are thinking; a way for the speaker to feel the true pulse of the audience. All too often, speakers, like high officials, have difficulty in discovering what the average........

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