Thursday, September 20, 2018

Yom Kippur Sermon: Don't Give Up Hope on Israel




One of the first lessons you learn as a rabbi is that there’s a third rail in Judaism: “It’s called Israel!”  My fellow rabbis like to joke that no good comes from speaking about Israel on the bima.  No matter what you say, everyone will be angry!  Those on the right and the left will give you menacing stares, write angry e-mails, and you’ll rub everyone the wrong way.  Oh, and you’ll get fired!  Lovely!  So here we go…

With all this uproar and anger, why would I wade into this conversation?  Wouldn’t it be better to talk about something, anything, else?  Alas, I MUST speak about Israel.  Israel has been on my mind.  I’ve heard from many of you about your own worries around Israel.  I too have struggled with recent news.
 
I’d like to start this conversation by describing my own experience with Israel: my love of Israel, but also my current questions.  I hope that by sharing my story, it will help you think about your own personal connection to Israel! 

Israel has been a part of my life, since the very beginning.  Literally, one of my first memories is connected to Israel.  When I was five years old, I remember distinctly making my first Israeli flag at Sunday School.  Blue and White construction paper were cut out and pasted together to form the Magen David (the Jewish Star).  We waved these flags as we sat down on our “El-Al” plane with a mock passport in hand.

Eight year later, I journeyed to Israel for the first time for my Bar Mitzvah.  I remember standing stoically at the Kotel, the Western Wall, alongside my parents and grandparents.  I watched as my grandfather got teary eyed when he spotted Gordon Street written in Hebrew letters.

As soon as I came home, I knew I would be back!  This time for longer.  A semester at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and later my entire first year of rabbinical school.   That year and a half in the Holy Land allowed me to experience Jewish time.  I watched as everyone scurried on Fridays to get home in time for Shabbat dinner.  I was in awe as the streets emptied during Yom Kippur or when each family placed a lit Menorah in their window during Hanukkah. 

Many Friday evenings, I traveled to Kol HaNeshama, one of the Reform synagogues in Jerusalem, praying with Israelis and singing familiar songs.  I met friends who became future Israeli Reform Rabbis.  I was honored to watch these pioneers create a vibrant Liberal Judaism in Israel.

I love Israel.  I love the history and connection to our past.  I love the diversity of Israel, the smells and the sounds: the ringing of the church bells, the call of Muslim prayer, the davening that wafts through the windows of the synagogue.  I love the brashness of the no-nonsense Israeli.  I love the can-do attitude and the hope for a better tomorrow.

Yet, recently, that love has turned to confusion.  The news coming out of Israel has been challenging and at times infuriating.  Not long ago, Rabbi Dov Haiyun, a Conservative Rabbi from Haifa, was awoken in the early morning hours as the police arrested him and detained him. The crime?  Illegally officiating at a Jewish wedding.  Liberal rabbis have officiated at weddings for secular Israelis, Russian Jews, and same-sex couples, even when they were not recognized by the State or the Chief Rabbinate.  This was the first time that a rabbi was arrested for performing a wedding, punishing my liberal colleagues and using this as a scare tactic.

Not long after, the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, voted in favor of the Nation-State Law.  This law focuses exclusively on Israel’s Jewish character, superseding the values of pluralism, democracy, and freedom that were at the heart of Israel’s Declaration of Independence.  There are already repercussions. After seventy years, Arabic is no longer an official language of the state.  The Druze, a small non-Jewish sect, which is deeply loyal to Israel and serves bravely in the army, now feels betrayed.  This is a blow to all who care deeply about both Israel’s Democratic and Jewish values.

At the same time, the Knesset passed a bill, making surrogacy legal for straight couples, but illegal for LGBTQ families.   And then there is the never-ending occupation; the fighting in Gaza; and the pessimism that Israel and the Palestinians will never achieve peace.

I’m saddened by this news.  The Israel I care about is under attack.  I shudder to hear stories of those who are mocked, treated unfairly, and arrested for living their Judaism.  I am hurt that Brian and I would be unable to build a loving Jewish family in Israel, the Jewish State, solely because we are gay.  I’m troubled that the values I hold most dear: democracy, egalitarianism, respect for all citizens, pluralism, diversity, and justice are now under siege.  I love Israel with all my heart, yet it’s hard to love when the values I care most about are trampled upon.

If it makes you feel a little bit better, and it makes me feel better, this is not a new problem.  This is an age old problem.  We Jews have constantly argued with one another.  For millennia, there has been a battle for the very soul of Judaism, the soul of Israel. 

Long ago, the prophet Zechariah lived in the sixth century BCE, just as the Jewish community was returning home to Israel.  After seventy years of exile in Babylonia, the Jewish community began to rebuild what had been destroyed.

A question was asked: “What should a rebuilt Israel look like?  What should be the vision of our new country?”  In Babylonia, the people had mourned for the destruction of their Land and their Temple by fasting and weeping.  Now that they returned home, should they continue these Jewish practices? 

Zechariah replied with a sharp answer: You are asking the wrong question!  It’s not about fasting or lamenting or focusing solely on the Jewish rituals of the past, “No, this is what Adonai says, execute true justice, deal loyally and compassionately with one another.  Do not defraud the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor; and do not plot evil against one another” …. “These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to one another, render true and perfect justice in your gates.[i]

Those who returned from Babylonia stressed Israel’s Jewish identity above all else.  Zechariah disagreed staunchly with this assessment and shared a distinct moral vision for the country.  A rebuilt Israel must also embrace justice, decency, and compassion.  Israel must become a beacon of morality, a light to the nations.  The battle of Zechariah’s day was over the essence of Israel’s character.  That is our battle today.

We might not hear about it, but Zechariah’s vision is alive and well in Israel!  Unfortunately, the attention given by our news sources, tv and print, focuses only on the negative as well as the rise of Israel’s right.  There is another side!  Did you know that weeks ago over 100,000 Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv in support of Gay rights and in opposition of the new surrogacy law?  Did you know that 22,000 people gathered at the Pride Parade in Jerusalem?  These are huge numbers for Israel.  That would be more than 4 million people protesting in Washington or almost a million people marching at a Pride Parade in Baltimore.

Close to my heart, is my friend, Rabbi Tamara Shifrin, who leads Achavat Yisrael a Reform Congregation in Rishon Le’Tzion.  The congregation has been around for seventeen years and has grown and flourished under Rabbi Shifrin’s leadership.  A few months ago, Garin Torani, an Orthodox Community attempted to take over her synagogue building.  Luckily, she and her congregation didn’t back down and received support from the municipality.  All is well, yet she’s worried about the future.  I’m proud that she recently joined an organization called Elifelet that supports Refugee Children in Israel.

And there is Woman of the Wall, a group of Jewish Women who gather each month at the Kotel donned with kippot and tallasim to pray and dance with the Torah.  They are spit on, drowned out with blare horns, and have been arrested for “not keeping the peace” solely because they are expressing their right as women to join in prayer and read from the Torah.  For thirty years, each month, they have gathered and they won’t stop until there is equality for all!

And most impressive is our Reform Movement in Israel, especially the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), which fights against discrimination and abuse in all facets of Israeli Society.  When an extremist group created a job website that only allowed Jewish employers and Jewish job seekers access, IRAC joined with the Mossawa Center and filed a lawsuit that later won in court!  At cross examination, Anat Hoffman, the Director of IRAC was asked: “Why does the Reform Movement care if we discriminate against Arabs?  Isn’t your focus on providing services to Reform Jews.”  Her answer: “We are committed to equality as a religious value.  It is as important to our movement as religious services on Yom Kippur.”

I know the news coming out of Israel is upsetting.  It sometimes feels easier to walk away.  And many in our community have done just that.  More and more liberal Jews feel that the Israel of their youth is no longer the Israel of today.  They feel lied to, betrayed by the Jewish Community for not telling the full story.  They’re angry, sometimes and often rightly so, but that anger causes them to leave Israel behind.

And there are those who close their eyes to Israel’s mistakes.  Sometimes it’s easier to put on blinders and ignore the challenges.  We love Israel, yet, in that undevoted love, we fail to call out Israel’s warts.  Like our country, Israel is not perfect.  Israel must be reminded that she has a duty to support all Jews and all her citizens.

I have felt both these reactions, sometimes too often.  There are times when I just want to walk away.  I want to say enough is enough.  There are other times, when I want to defend the indefensible and hide all of Israel’s problems.  But neither of these reactions is helpful.  It doesn’t further my relationship with Israel and I believe won’t change anything at all.

Rather than walking away, we can effect change!  There are millions of Israelis who care about the values of democracy, equality, pluralism, and peace.  There is a growing Reform Jewish community that just ordained it’s 100th rabbi this past year.  New synagogues are sprouting up and more Israelis are entering these communities for weddings and B’nai Mitzvah!  There are organizations such as the Israel Religious Action Center, the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism, Women of the Wall, the New Israel Fund, T’ruah, B’tzelem, and dozens of others that fight for progressive Jewish values and equality for all.

Our Israeli brethren need our support!  Recently, Rabbi Shifrin reminded me (once again!) that she needs us.  Israelis who fight for justice and equality, who care about peace and pluralism need to know that we are by their side and that we stand with them in support of this vision.

So here’s what you can do, if may be small, but it will make a difference: Travel to Israel!  And when you do, visit a Reform Congregation.  Add Progressive Israeli organizations as part of your annual giving.  Stay informed.  Write to the Israeli Embassy and sign petitions when you are upset.  Get involved in organizations that work for peace.  Stand with our allies in Israel!  Don’t walk away.  Don’t give us hope. 

As the prophet Zechariah teaches: “the fast will become an occasion for joy and gladness, but only if you love honesty and integrity.”  On this fast day, on this Yom Kippur, may our actions bring about joy and gladness in Israel.  May we help build an Israel that is overflowing with justice and mercy, honesty and integrity, an Israel that celebrates all Jewish heritage and the heritage of all her peoples.  And let us say, Amen.


[i] Zechariah 7:3, 9-10 and 8:16

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