Sunday, May 29, 2011

Israel - What We Should Agree Upon

American Jews have also recently engaged in fierce debates concerning Israel’s foreign policy. Some say that Israel is not doing enough to promote peace while others say that to do more that the present time though unilateral measures, would compromise the security of the state of Israel. This debate among American Jews has become rather harsh at times and the events of the past week and a half have not lessened to nature or tenor of the debate.

So on Tuesday morning at the AIPAC Conference, I found myself discussion Israel with the incoming President of the URJ, Rick Jacobs. Rick might be a little more dovish than me, but I feel that he has been the victim of a smear campaign by some right wing supporters of Israel. While sitting in this discussion, I was moved to ask myself whether or not there are issues at present upon which all Reform Jews should or could agree. If such issues exist, there might be a more productive starting point for discussions among American Jews who love Israel.

I managed to come up with seven such points.

First, as American Reform Jews we support the Foreign Aid bill which contains more than 3 billion dollars in needed security assistance for Israel. This money is critical in helping Israel maintain its qualitative military edge. Much of this money is spent on military hardware in the United States and thus helps the American economy. We also support foreign aid to the other countries because we view it as a good investment for our country. Building schools and health clinics is good for America because it reflects the highest of humanitarian values.

Second as American Jews, we are very concerned about Iran’s continued push towards the development of nuclear weapons. Therefore we support any act in Congress which will increase and strengthen the international sanctions again the regime in Teheran. We also would support measures directed especially at the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps which has been so brutal in quashing all resistance to Ahmadinijad and the mullahs. Currently in both houses of Congress, there are bills which would do what I have just mentioned and we as American Jews support such efforts.

Third, we as American Reform Jews believe that peace between Israelis and Palestinians can only be achieved through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Therefore we call upon the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table with Israel. We feel that while Mahmoud Abbas the Palestinian leader has been traveling all over the world talking with others about the future of the Palestinian nation, it has been tragic that he has not spoken directly to Israel.

We also feel that unless Hamas recognizes Israel, renounces violence and agrees to abide by all previous agreements, Hamas has no place in these negotiations. Hamas currently seeks the total destruction of Israel. Of all the liberation movements in the world today, Hamas is alone in demanding the total annihilation of another country. Other national libration movements envision living side by side in peaceful coexistence with their foes, but not Hamas. As American Reform Jews, we feel that should an unrepentant Hamas become part of the Palestinian government, the United States should reexamine its relationship with the Palestinian Authority and suspend aid to it. As a matter of fact, such a suspension of aid is mandated by US law.

Fourth, we as American Reform Jews while passionately concerned about the security of Israel are also concerned and critical about decisions made by the Israeli government. We are opposed to building in settlements that clearly will be evacuated in some future peace deal. We are also concerned about elements of civil society in Israel. We feel that Israel can do more to advance the opportunities of Israel's religious and ethnic minorities to be able to participate fully in all aspects of Israeli society. As American Reform Jews, we are deeply concerned about the lack of religious pluralism in Israel. Therefore particularly on these matters, we will not hesitate to be critical of Israel.

And this brings me to my next and fifth point. As American Jews, we support ARZA, the Association of Reform Zionists of America, because ARZA is our way of supporting the cause of religious pluralism in Israel. In a recent article, Rabbi Daniel Allen, ARZA’s Executive Director wrote:

“We must work to expand liberal Jewish religion. We can build an ever more inclusive democratic Israeli society if we marshal the human and financial resources. Israelis physically built a country, with significant assistance from world Jewry that most of us believe is here to stay. It was done through times of war while bringing in our exiles in massive numbers. Israel was built by people many of whom had broken lives before they arrived on its shores. Israel was assisted in physically building the state by a Jewish community that was not as affluent and capable of participating in building the soul of the society as it is today.”

Rabbi Allen calls for increased support from American Reform Jews for the liberal or Reform congregations in Israel. He feels that such support could make a significant impact from within on the state of Israel and would strengthen the ties between Reform Jews and their brothers and sisters in Israel.

My sixth point is upon which I feel all American Reform Jews should agree is that we need to visit Israel. We need to encourage our congregations to take trips to Israel, to send their kids to Israel, to keep abreast of events happening in Israel and to make Israel part of our consciousness as Reform Jews. Too many of our members have never been to Israel. Too many have never seen a country which is so very different than they way it is portrayed in the media.

Too many of our teens have never been in Israel, never had the opportunity to love it and appreciate it and as a result, are ill prepared to speak about Israel when they go to college. Perhaps the worst part of this is that too many young Reform Jews feel alienated from Israel, not in my opinion because they disagree with the policies of its government, but rather the only Israel which they know is that portrayed in the often sensationalist media. The chief cause of the alienation of young Reform Jews from Israel is due to the fact that so few of them have been there and as a result have no appreciation of a narrative as to why Israel is so important and precious to the Jewish people.

My seventh and final point is that as American Reform Jews, we will not hesitate to express and teach our love for Israel; its land, people and its right of national determination. Yes, Israel has much wrong with it. There are many things which need to be improved in Israel. However, when teaching Israel, I want to teach first the narrative of love. I want to teach the story of the importance of Israel as a place for persecuted Jewry throughout the world and as the only place wherein the Jewish people have the right of self determination. I want to teach about the miracle of Jewish self defense in Israel and how Israel in 1976 flew 2500 miles to Entebbe to rescue Jews of various nationalities who had been on a hijacked plane. I want to teach to stories of commitment and heroism of people like Yoni Netanyahu, Alex Singer, Avigdor Kahalani and Michael Levin who make me so proud and inspire me so much. If you do not recognize these names, that it part of the problem! And I, as a rabbi, Zionist and Jewish educator, view it as my holy task to teach you about these heroes.

Yes, I want to first teach you about the love of Israel. Once I have done this, I will teach you about all of the imperfections she has and the challenges she faces in making a more just society and in bringing peace to that part of the world. When we fall in love, we tend only to see the good aspects of our spouses. My feeling is that if we focused upon the imperfections of our spouses only, we would have never fallen in love in the first place. So I will teach you the narrative of love before the narrative of imperfection.

Yes, you may point out twenty five things wrong with Israel, but I will still love her. Israel is a part of my very neshamah, my very soul. It is a tremendous part of how I as a Jew define my Jewish identity

So that is it. Seven points that I would like to see all American Reform Jews agree upon. Of course, I am not so naive that we will do so, but feel that it would be nice if we did.

In the meantime, I feel that for sure all of us can agree that we hope and pray to be able to see a Middle East wherein there are two states, an Israel and a Palestine, living side by side in peace, prosperity and security; an Israel and Palestine competing economically and on soccer field, rather than on field of battle; an Israel and a Palestine whose children are taught the values of mutual respect; an Israel and a Palestine wherein as the prophet Isaiah dreamed, swords would be turned into plowshares!

7 comments:

  1. Fred:

    Beautifully said! I think all American Reform Jews could and should agree with these. Nice job distilling our areas of agreement! Thanks.

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  2. I love it, and would love to see it become a transdenominational platform--I think other denominations would also agree.

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  3. I am not sure that, as a Reform Jew, I can agree with all of these seven points... Let's go one by one:

    1 - Agreed
    2 - Agreed
    3 - Blaming the Palestinians for abandoning the negotiations without mentioning Netaniahu's government and its continued building in the shtachim seems unfair to me. Expanding the Israeli presence in the shetachim is as much unilateral and "creation of facts on the ground" as a Palestinian declaration of independence. What I am willing to agree is that there is no replacement for direct talks and both sides should avoid taking unilateral actions that will make an agreement much more difficult.
    Also, when he publicly revealed the negotiations with the PLO, Yitzhak Rabin made a comment about no one ever making peace with friends. It is always with enemies that we need to negotiate peace agreements. Therefore, while I totally reject Hamas' terrorists tactics and discourse, I still think they have a place at the negotiations' table.
    4 - Agreed
    5 - Agreed
    6 - Here I cannot agree with you. For me, visiting Israel is important as a citizen in the Jewish nation, but visiting Jewish communities in Argentina, Poland, France and New York is equally important. I reject the absolut centrality of Israel in Jewish life and I see Israel as one of the very important Jewish communities in the world. By the way, I developed this perspective after living in Israel for 4 years, which is much more than the average Zionist living in the US.
    Also, if you've been following the polemics about Rabbinical students being critical of Israel, you would realize that, quite often, members of our communities are exposed only to a oversimplified wishy-washy version of Israel in which everything is great, and it is actually their presence in Israel for a longer period of time that makes them critical of the reality they see. It happened with me when I was 16 and visited Israel for the 1st time;
    7 - Which brings me to your last point. I totally reject your assumptions. I don't feel the need to "trick" my students into loving Israel first and meeting the real Israel later.
    I believe in committed engagement, and in role-modeling the kind of serious approach to an issue as complex as Israel (not only in its relationship with the Palestinians.) Some of my students will end up becoming AIPAC Zionists, others will become proponents of BDS. I don't care, as long as they understand what is at stake.

    Now... given my positions. Is there a common ground where you and I can agree regarding Israel?

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  4. I would have added an eighth, implied but not stated clearly enough. As Jews, Reform or not, we have an obligation to advocate for Israel.

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  5. Fred, I think what you have said is pretty much in line with We Are For Israel's positions which is why you are a supporter of We Are For Israel. That said, many in the Reform movement on the political left do not agree. I wish they did.

    Bravo Fred for your advocacy. If only there were more people who believe as you do!

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  6. Dear Fred:
    Thank you for this noble attempt. I agree with many of your points. My differences are in what you don't say, and for there to be consensus with those of us left of center there needs to be greater sensitivity to nuance. Here are two additional points:
    1. There needs to be acknowledgment of a commitment by Reform Jews (as our URJ resolutions have clearly stated) to a two-state end of conflict resolution between Israel and the Palestinians because without it [a] Israel ceases to be a Jewish democracy and therefore will fail to fulfill key stipulations in Israel's own Declaration of Independence, and [b] she will be increasingly isolated in the international community. That isolation will be detrimental not only to her international diplomatic standing, but to her economy and security;
    2. In addition to your point about Israel remaining a pluralistic democratic society, it is important that in Israel's efforts to make peace with the Palestinians that she and we American Jews in our advocacy not be triumphalist and innocent of wrong-doing (as Bibi was in the Congress and before AIPAC), but rather repentant about legitimate wrongs it has committed. Always pointing the finger at the Palestinians' brutality or stupidity or rejectionism is a defensive posture not worthy of a Jewish State and the strongest nation in the Middle East. In addition, such triumphalism defies the facts of history. Israel has not always been innocent of wrong-doing. She has made historic mistakes, some honest and some stupid. Acknowledging this publicly is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of moral and national strength. We ohavei Zion uM'dinat Yisrael need not play by the misguided rules of the Middle East which says that survival means finding blame only in our enemy's court. To be a "light to the nations" means to admit moral and unjust wrong when they take place.
    Kol tuv,
    Rabbi John Rosove

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  7. Loved your post and excerpted it heavily in my own blog - http://rabbipaul.blogspot.com.
    You gave us much to think about.

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