Are we being honest about the war in Afghanistan?

First a little background. Our congregation has two members currently serving in Afghanistan. Both by the way have been previously deployed in Iraq.

I have heard from some who have been deployed there that in addition to being hot and having lousy living conditions, the security situation there was much worse than in Iraq and that the level of personal danger to US soldiers was quite high. I have also heard some reservations that the current government would ever be able to control the country.

I remember so well that during the Bush Presidency, our movement made a controversial resolution concerning Iraq and calling for a timetable for withdrawal.

With General McChrystal’s statements, it has become clearer to me that President Obama has listened to the voices of the military who have called to an ill thought-out escalation. I was against the escalation at the time and actually wrote a possible resolution calling for the President and Congress of the United States to bring swiftly and safely home all US troops and military, CIA, and similar contract personnel from Afghanistan. There were other points in this resolution which I am willing to share later.

In addition, it seems to me that the US war in Afghanistan has paralyzed and distorted US foreign policy in other, far more crucial areas of the world. Over the last decade, the coalition of forces led by the United States has been preoccupied first with Iraq and now with Afghanistan. While this has occurred, the present Iranian government has pursued the development of a nuclear technology and despite the fact that it has repeatedly asserted is aimed at civilian nuclear energy, most observers have found much evidence to suggest that Iran is indeed pursing a nuclear weapon.

So here is my point.

Why are we being so silent about this war?

Is it because we received a lot of blowback on the Iraq resolution and given our current financial problems we do not wish to aggravate our congregations? If so, then beseder but only to a point, and that point is reflected in the first paragraph above with the current danger being faced by our troops.

Or, is it because we are hesitant to criticize the policies of a Democratic administration with whom we frequently agree? We were not hesitant to criticize the foreign policy of a Republican administration with which we agreed on little. If this is the case, then this type of “real politic” is highly problematic in my view and this leads to the question, “Are we in the Reform Movement being honest about the war in Afghanistan?

Fred Guttman

My J Street problem

In the past several months, J Street has attempted to offer alternative letters in Congress which were not helpful in my opinion. One was a letter circulated in the beginning of May by Representatives Delahunt, Price, Snyder and Kind is unnecessary . This letter was a bit unnecessary since over 80% of Congress, on a bi-partisan basis had already sent a letter to the President supporting the U.S.-Israel alliance and American involvement in peace efforts. All of those Members offered to work closely with the Administration to support common interests between us and the Israelis. In addition, the Delahunt, Price, Snyder and Kind letter seemed somewhat unhelpful since it took the remarks by General Petraeus out of context (about Israel being a strategic burden to the US) and wholly ignored his subsequent clarification of those remarks. The Delahunt, Price, Snyder and Kind letter was not bi-partisan.

Then there was the Diane Feinstein letter which encouraged the President to “drive” the parties towards a peace agreement. The word “drive” was basically a synonym for imposing a peace agreement on then parties. This letter was unnecessary because there had already been a letter in support of the President’s efforts cosponsored by Senators Boxer and Isakson. Again this letter was bipartisan and did not have the word “drive” in it.

Recently, there are letters in the House and Senate in support Israel's Right to Self-Defense in the Gaza Flotilla Incident. To date 79 Senators and 279 House members have already signed the letters. Among other issues, the letters request that the administration use its veto power, if necessary, against any biased or one-sided resolutions emanating from the U.N. Security Council on this issue. The Senate letter is authored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The House effort is being led by Reps. Ted Poe (R-TX), Gary Peters (D-MI), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH), House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA), and Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL).

Incredibly, J Street sent a letter urging Senators and Congressmen not to support these letters because they do not call for an end to the blockade of Gaza something which by the way, officers in the Israel army are strenuously warning against. I would have had less of a problem had they sent a separate letter urging support for some resolution calling for the end of the blockade. To go against the bipartisan letter seems to be self destructive. These letters may not have everything that J Street wants in them, but what their merits are pretty good. My feeling is that J Street is so intent on pointing out that it is not AIPAC or the rest of the organized Jewish community, that if AIPAC supports something, it will not do so, regardless of the merits.

Perhaps this aids their fundraising, but it does not serve the pro Israel community well and calls into question J Street’s assertion that it is both pro Israel and pro peace.

An Understanding of the Flotilla Controversy

At the end of May, Israel boarded a flotilla of six ships trying to break the blockade to Gaza. Five of those ships were successfully boarded and on the sixth, Israel was met with a violent reaction from the people on the ship. Many of the videos posted on YouTube point out the validity of Israel’s claim that the people that attacked the soldiers on the sixth ship were not peace activists, but people who had been trained for confrontation and violence. The videos posted include not only those taken by Israel, but also ones confiscated from the ship from journalists aboard the ship. These videos show violent attacks on Israeli soldiers including one in which an Israeli soldier was stabbed twice in the back.

In the world, this attack on the Mavi Mamara has been met with almost universal condemnation. In Israel, there is much discussion about this as well. Recently, Israel has agreed to a Commission of Inquiry to be headed by Justice Jacob Turkel. Professor of international law and Israel Prize laureate Shabtai Rosen, and Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Horev, former president of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, will also participate. Two foreign observers will take part in the commission's deliberations: Nobel Peace Prize laureate William David Trimble of Ireland, and Ken Watkin, former military judge advocate general from Canada. They will examine both the role of the Israeli Army as well as the people who were on the Mavi Marmara.

This inquiry will stand in marked contrast to previous inquiries by the United Nations such as the slanderous Goldstone Report which accused Israel of seeking to purposely kill civilians during the Gaza war. Two weeks ago, the United Nations passed a resolution in which it first condemned Israel and only then called for an International Commission to investigate the incident. Condemn first, then investigate!

In Israel being the democracy that it is, there is more than adequate condemnation of this event. This condemnation includes the failure of Israeli intelligence to know that the people onboard the ship were indeed looking for a fight. It also includes the fact that Israeli P.R. mechanism was woefully inadequate in getting the films out in a timely manner and explaining Israel’s case to the world.

In recent polls in Israel, there has been an overwhelming majority of the people who were in favor of the interception of the ship. Why is this so?

First, it has become clear that the purpose of this flotilla in the minds of the leaders of Hamas was not necessarily to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. Israel offered the ships to dock in Ashdod port and they would transfer the aid to Gaza. This offer was made again and again and was met with refusal each time. Eventually, all of the six ships were taken into the Israeli port of Ashdod and their cargo was loaded on to trucks and sent to Gaza. Hamas refused to accept the supplies. By the way, Israel transfers about 15,000 tons of supplies and humanitarian aid every week to the people of Gaza.

So if the real purpose of the flotilla was not to provide aid, then what was the purpose?

To answer this, let us look at a little recent history. In January 2003 before there was a blockade on Gaza, Israel intercepted a ship named the Karine A. On that ship, there were fifty tons of weaponry. These included short-range Katyusha rockets, antitank missiles, and high explosives. Since that time, Israel has incepted numerous attempts to smuggle weapons into Gaza including one in 2009 in which weapons were hidden among sacks of flour.

In September 2005, Israel withdrew from every single square inch of Gaza. Every Jew living in Gaza was evacuated as part of Israel’s disengagement.

In June 2006, elections were held and these elections were won by Hamas, a violent Islamic radical group . One year later, Hamas violently seized Gaza and threw out or murdered all of its political opponents. This internal Palestinian coup is rarely cited in the media.

From 2006 until December 2008, more than 8,000 rockets were fired from Gaza into Southern Israel and fell on cities and town such as Sderot and Ashkelon. These rockets made life unbearable for more than 1,000,000 Israelis who were living in rocket range. This is especially true in Sderot which is close to the border. I have been told that there are children in Sderot who still wake up with nightmares and who have bed wetting problems at an age when they should not have them. For the most part, the terror of the rockets ended in December 2008 with Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s war in Gaza.

Meanwhile to the north of Israel in Lebanon, a place wherein there is not blockade on weaponry, Hizbullah, a radical Shiite Islamic terror group, has now amassed more that 40,000 rockets which can be fired into Israel as far as Tel Aviv.

The huge arsenal of weapons amassed by the Hezbollah, in spite of the presence of UN monitor forces in Lebanon, is in direct defiance of UN Resolution 1701, which called for the ""full implementation ... of resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), that require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of July 27, 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese state." Given the failure of the international community to implement that Resolution, it is understandable why Israel should be wary of any kind of imposed settlement.

Therefore for Hamas, the purpose of the flotilla was to break the blockade in order to allow for the unfettered importation of weaponry via the sea into Gaza. Here they would find an ally in the Iranians who were willing to provide them with such weapons. By doing this, the Iranians hoped to create a port in the Mediterranean. The flotilla incident was also convenient for Iranians government to divert the world’s attention, especially in the UN, away from their violations of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty of which they are a signatory and to avoid being sanctioned by the UN. This strategy by the way, would not work for the Iranians. Just this week, the UN did vote to sanction Iran for its efforts in trying to become a nuclear power. Do not however get too excited about this bit of “good” news, for most feel that the UN sanctions are very weak and will have little effect in preventing and even slowing down Iran’s nuclearization.

Finally, let us not forget that on June 25th , Gilad Shalit, whose picture is sitting on the chair over here, will conclude his fourth year of Hamas captivity. During this time he has not been seen by the Red Cross and we are not clear as to his welfare. Lawyers representing the family of Gilad Shalit, the kidnapped Israeli soldier held in isolation, had asked the protestors to take aid for him, they refused. People on boats might have the words Free Gaza as a convenient slogan. Yet Gaza is not under Israeli rule. In fact, only one Jew lives there, against his will. If anything, “Free Gilad Shalit” should be the rallying call heard around the world. As Jews we will continue to pray for his release. It is time to bring Gilad home!

A friend of mine, Rabbi Mickey Boyden from Israel wrote simply the following, “Israel makes mistakes, what country does not? But there are far more serious issues out there than Israel’s interception of the Mavi Marmara. However, it is in the interests of many of the players on the world stage to put the blame and focus on Israel which has become the world’s “Jew” rather than addressing the serious threats that face the civilized world.”

Another friend, Rabbi Jonathan Miller, wrote “Israel is a young, lovely, and vibrant country. It is imperfect, yet it is, to a large extent, the fulfillment of our people’s dreams and hopes. Israel faces many challenges. There are many people out there, including some very real enemies and others who are only the fairest of weather friends, who focus on every mistake that Israel makes and who are critical of each and every fault. These faults are acceptable when made by almost every other nation, but not when made by Israel.”

More than 3,200 years ago, the Jewish people faced very serious challenges on the way to the Promised Land. After more than forty years, the Jewish people did reach the Promised Land. Despite all of these difficulties of achieving peace, more than three thousand years later, we are hopeful and prayerful that Israel will indeed know peace, tranquility and security within her borders.

Teen Education for Reform Jews

Can we do Better?

(The following is a letter sent by Rabbi Guttman to the Reform Rabbis and educators list on June 14, 2010.)

As Reform Jews, can we do a better job in preparing our young people to be Jews? In general, we have not been successful in educating our community, especially our teens and college students. I am particularly worried that our teenagers are inadequately prepared for the onslaught on anti-Israel propaganda that they will face on college campuses. All too often, they have very little understanding of the nature of Israel’s security needs

In 2003, the pollster, Frank Luntz, pointed out that young American Jews are feeling a greater distance from Israel, the nation, and its future. Last month, a columnist named Peter Beinert said that in his opinion, the distance felt by young American Jews was due to the fact that as Liberals, they opposed the policies of Israel and that they were specifically turned off by the American Jewish establishment’s support of Israel’s policies.

The new lobby called “J Street” would represent a protest against the pro Israel lobbying of the American Jewish establishment. “J-Street” has been critical of Israel’s policies and supportive of a proscriptive approach to the Middle-East conflict. In J-Street’s view, the Obama administration should “drive” the parties towards a peace settlement. Another way to look at this is that the peace settlement should be enforced from the outside by the Obama administration and the rest of the world upon Israel. When talking to J-Street activists, I’ve heard two statements. One is, “Israel has had sixty years to solve this conflict and has not been able to do so. Therefore the United States needs to do it.” The second statement that I’ve heard is, “We need to save Israel from itself.”

I have several problems with the J Street position. First, I seriously doubt that any imposed settlement will work for either the Palestinians or the Israelis. There must be “buy-in” from both sides. Second, J-Street’s position does not acknowledge the vibrancy or legitimacy of Israel as a representative democracy which should be in control of its own destiny. Finally, I think it is very sad that the emergence of J-Street does not seem to have brought American Jews who disagree with Israel closer to Israel or back to Jewish commitment. Rather it just seems to have provided to them an outlet for criticizing Israel and thereby becoming even more distant from Israel and the state.

In my opinion however, the distancing of young American Jews is not due to Israeli’s policies as much as it is to the abject failure of Jewish education. This past week in a speech to the Union for Reform Judaism Board, President Eric Yoffie wrote that 80% of those children in the who become Bnei Mitzvah in Reform congregations will have no connection to the Temple or synagogue by the time they are in the 12th grade. I have been aware of this statistic for several years, but now that it is publically out there it is indeed shocking.


Here in Greensboro, there are some significant forces counter to this, but we are only one small Jewish community in America. One of them is, of course, the American Hebrew Academy which is a pearl of the Jewish world in that it is succeeding in creating a strong Jewish identity in teens. The dedication to sending kids to Israel is also seen in the fine program at the American Hebrew Academy wherein the 11th grade spends its fall semester of their junior year in Israel.

The second is the dedication of our congregations toward the education of our teens. Last year in addition to taking kids to Israel, Temple Emanuel organized a teen trip to the Religious Action Center in Washington, DC and a “Disaster and Rebuild” trip to New Orleans and a teen trip to Poland and Israel.


The third factor is the generous support of many philanthropists in our community and most especially, the Greensboro Jewish Federation towards making such trips possible.

The results of our effort to educate teens in our community is to be seen in the following statistics. We retained 80% of our recent twelfth grade class after Bnei Mitzvah. In the past few years, we have maintained somewhere between 70-80% of all of the kids who have become a Bnai Mitzvah Three quarters of those we have retained go to Israel before high school graduation. This year, incredibly, 100% of our teens had been to Israel.

I am more convinced of the importance of such trips. By taking kids to Poland and then to Israel, we are indeed giving to our young people a narrative of why there must be a state of Israel as a refuge for our people and a place wherein Jews can be in control of their own destiny.

The Reform movement, being the largest Jewish movement in America, contains a million and a half Jews and almost a thousand congregations. I have no idea how many kids become Bnai Mitzvah during the year, but for 80% of them not to be connected 5 years later is indeed appalling! This statistical phenomenon is a threat to the future viability of the Reform movement. It is THE major reason why so many non-orthodox Jewish kids are not well prepared to encounter pro-Palestinian propaganda on college campuses. It affects the future viability of the future Jewish-American community, including the Jewish Federation movement.

Friends, we can do better! We can do better in presenting Israel’s case for the world. We can do better in terms of educating our young people to defend Israel from propaganda which seeks to delegitimize her right to exist. We can do better when it comes to turning our Bnei Mitzvah factories with their appalling dropout rates into real schools wherein students remain engaged throughout high school. We can do much better when it comes to educating our young people to love the Jewish people, the State of Israel and Torah. We can do better!

Healthcare and the Dead Sea

I want to begin by telling a story about Jordan. No, not our bat Mitzvah girl, but the Jordan River in Israel. The Jordan River has been the subject of many songs. The Jordan River is deep and wide, Halleluyah. Milk and honey on the other side, Halleluyah. Michael Row your boat ashore, Halleluyah …

Or “I looked over the Jordan and what did I see, coming for to carry me home. A band of angels coming after me. Coming for to carry me home.”

With songs such as this one, one could imagine that the Jordan River is indeed a major and mighty river. Imagine the surprise of those who travel to Israel when they actually see the Jordan River for the first time. The so-called “river” is actually a creek. It is a part of the Syrian African rift, a great rift that extends hundreds of mile north to south in that part of the world.

The Jordan starts in Northern Israel and is fed by several small tributaries, including the Dan, Banias and Hatzbani rivers. It is then collected in the swamps of the Hula valley. From there, it flows as a river south until it reaches the Sea of Galilee or, as it is called in Hebrew, the Kinneret. From the Kinneret, it flows south until it reaches the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is actually the lowest point on earth, some four hundred meters below sea level.

Rabbinical Midrash paints a far different and more realistic impression of the Jordan River and its role in this great Syrian African Rift. The rabbis noted that the Jordan River flows into and out of the Sea of Galilee. Now for those of us who have been to the Sea of Galilee, we can tell you that it is the fresh water reservoir for the state of Israel. In warmer weather, it is a favorite vacation spot for Israeli families and tourists. The Saint Peter’s fish from the Sea of Galilee is really delicious, especially when cooked with lots of butter on an open grill! The Sea of Galilee is a wonderful place to swim or water ski. It has wonderful Eucalyptus trees on its banks. It is a place which seems to be teeming with life.

The Dead Sea, however, is an entirely different place. There is not much life around the Dead Sea. There are no fish living in it. Its salt and phosphate content is so high that it is impossible for a human being to sink in it. The salt content is good therapy for people with psoriases and some other skin diseases. However, woe be unto the one who enters the Dead Sea with an open cut or who has recently shaved! The pain can be excruciating! Getting Dead Sea water in one’s eyes is unbearable, and swallowing the water of the dead Sea can be fatal.

What is the difference between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea? Both of them are fed by the Jordan River, but one seems to be so alive while the other as befitting its name is so dead. The rabbis teach us that the difference between the two seas is to be found in the fact that the Jordan River flows both in an out of the Sea of Galilee, but only into the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is alive because it is a receiver and a giver. The Dead Sea is dead, precisely because it is only a receiver of the waters of the Jordan River and does not give in return.

Now, I was thinking about this midrash this week not only in terms of our Bat Mitzvah girl Jordan, whose Hebrew name by the way is Yardena, but also because of something else in the news.

Specifically, there was news from California that Anthem Blue Cross was going to raise its insurance rates to Californians purchasing their own coverage by some 39%. This occurred after the company reported massive fourth-quarter profits. This rate increase would affect some 800,000 Californians. The Health and Human Services Department says similar pressure on premiums is being felt in at least six other states and possibly more. The department noted that this is coming after a time of growth in company profits. This is also the result of the lack of competition found for many people in the country when it comes to heath care.

Friends, it is time for us to tell the truth. I think many of us like our doctors, but I know few of us who like our healthcare companies. I know that this is strong language, but in my opinion, healthcare companies have become nothing less than “leeches” on American society and threaten the health of so many. The cost of health care is an impediment to the rebounding of our economy and to the general economic health of the United States. If Anthem Blue Cross is allowed to raise its rates by 39%, some families will see their health care premiums increase by $7,000 in one year!
It is indeed sad that Congress has been unable to pass health care legislation. Such legislation would have required that all health care insurance companies spend a minimum of 85% of their premiums on actual health care and not on advertisements, overhead or bonuses for CEO’s and top leadership.

I am amazed at how the healthcare industry has frightened the American people through its advertising campaign and prevented real healthcare reform. I find it incredible that there are only two major industries which are exempt from federal antitrust laws and these are major league baseball and health insurance companies.

So, I find it noteworthy that in light of this outrageous behavior by health care companies, eighteen democratic senators have asked Congress and the administration to reconsider a public option for healthcare as a way to increase competition and to bring down health care premiums.

Now there will be some who will say that this is not the proper topic for a sermon. Yet the rabbis will tell us that he who saves a life, saves the world. Jewish tradition throughout the middle ages taught that providing health care is a communal responsibility. As such, from a Jewish perspective, the issue of affordable healthcare is not merely an issue of economics, but a profound moral issue of our time.

Yes, there are two seas in Israel fed by the Jordan River. One, the Sea of Galilee teams with life while the other, the Dead Sea, is dead. The behavior of the health care insurance companies of late resembles the Dead Sea far more than it does the Sea of Galilee. Such behavior is indeed deadly because of its effect on our community and on the health and well-being of our citizens.

Therefore, I urge you to become more informed on this issue and to increase the pressure on our elected officials for real healthcare reform.

May it be God’s will and our task that health care in our country will be less like the Dead Sea which only receives but does not give and more like the Sea of Galilee, which not only receives but gives, which not only teams with life, but supports life in all of its God given diversity and beauty.

Some Biblical lessons relevant to the Superbowl

Some Biblical lessons relevant to this Sunday

(I owe my colleague Andy Koren for a lot for this inspiration!)

In the Hebrew bible, horses are not well thought of. So often they are the symbol of ruthless political power and oppression. Consider the following verses:

Exodus 15:1. The horse and his rider has he thrown into the sea. Exodus 15:19. For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea. Exodus 15:21. And Miriam answered them, Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider has he thrown into the sea. Amos 2:15. Nor shall he who rides the horse save himself. Zechariah 12:4 .
On that day, says the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic. Proverbs 12: 31. The horse is prepared for the day of battle; but safety comes from the Lord. Deut 17:16. But he (the king) shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt. Joshua 11: 6. You shall lame their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.

Now the definition of a colt is “A young male animal of the horse family.”

In the Hebrew bible, we often find the word “Righteous” as a noun in either a singular or plural form. The Hebrew words are “Tzadik” or “Tzadikim.”

Consider the following verses:

Psalms 97:11. Light is sown for the righteous. Isaiah 3:10. Say to the righteous, that it shall be well with him. Psalm 64:4. But let the righteous be glad. Psalm 92:13. The righteous flourish like the palm tree. Psalm 140:14. Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name. Psalm 146:8. The Lord loves the righteous;

Certainly although Judaism does not have the concept of a “saint,” people who are righteous may be called “saintly.” This the word Tzadik could be translated as “saint” and Tzadikim as “saints.”
Consider also the following verse: Genesis 1:2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And a wind (ruach) from God moved upon the face of the waters.

In English, the word Ruach could be translated as “Brees.” I am not sure if the “waters” are Miami or New Orleans.

There will be some who understand the “profound” significance of the above.

However, before one should take this to the bank, one would also do well to remember that some have read Psalm 26:9-10 “ Do not gather my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men. In whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes” as referring to gamblers and those who make wagers.

The final caveat is to remember the immortal words of Rabbi Pinchas who was said to live at the “end of the town” when he wrote: “Then I'll get on my knees and pray. We don't get fooled again.”

A Jewish Reflection on the Spiritual Message of “Avatar”

A Jewish Reflection on the Spiritual Message of “Avatar”
Rabbi Fred Guttman
January 8, 2010
(No Spoilers here!)

James Cameron’s new blockbuster movie Avatar is now showing in theaters. The movie was the most expensive film in history to make. As of last week, the movie had taken in more than one billion dollars in revenues.
The movie is stunning in its technology and beauty. I saw it both in regular and 3D versions.

What I found most interesting in the film was its spiritual message and how the film spoke to my Jewish soul.

The people of Pandora are called the “Navi.” In Hebrew, the word “Navi” means “prophet.” I found myself wondering if Cameron is trying to make these people into “prophets” for us. Perhaps the Navi in the movie are not only predicting our future, but they are also warning us and chastising us in the present. By the way, the great biblical prophets did more “chastising” that predicting. After all, the cry for righteousness and justice was an integral part of the prophetic narrative.
The Navi when they are in a total reciprocal relationship with someone will say “I see you.” This is a deep type of seeing, the type that the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber would have called and “I Thou” relationship.

Now what does it mean to truly see someone else?

Here again the bible gives us an answer.

After almost sacrificing his son Isaac, Abraham looks up and sees a ram caught in a thicket. (Genesis 22:13). I have always felt that the ram was always there for him to see, but it was only at that moment that he actually saw it. It was only at that moment that he learned to see deeply and with God’s eyes and not just the superficial eyes of most human contact. Notice as well that Abraham names the place it “Adonai Yireh” – the place of “God vision.”

Similarly in Exodus 3, Moses sees a bush burning which was not consumed. The greatness of Moses in my opinion was that he saw deeply enough to see that this was no normal occurrence. Moses was able to see with the eyes of God.
So when the Navi say “I see you,” their type of seeing resonates with me both biblically and in terms of the I-Thou philosophy of Buber. Through the Navi people, Cameron is warning us that when we do not truly see others as what they really are; namely, holy manifestations of the divine, we will indeed become destructive towards them.

Later this month, the Jewish world will celebrate the holiday of Tu Bishvat, the New Year of the trees. From the beginning, our ancestors realized the importance of trees and set aside time to celebrate and educate about trees.

In Deuteronomy 20:19, we read “ki ha'adam ets hasadeh,” “for the human being is a tree of the field.” In Psalm 3:8, the Torah is referred to as a “tree of life.”
In Genesis 2:5 we read “when no shrub of the field was yet on earth and no grasses of the field had yet sprouted, because the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the soil,” The Hebrew here is “v'chol siach hasadeh terem yi’yeh ba’aretz” - “when no shrub of the field was yet on earth” can be translated as “when no conversation of the field was yet on earth.” Perhaps the implication here is that after the world of trees and vegetation is created, the human being is to enter into dialogue with it.

So perhaps Tu Bishvat is a time when we are not only supposed to see trees, but also to enter into discussion with them. By the way, the philosopher Marin Buber who I mentioned earlier, maintained that one can have an I-Thou relationship even with a tree.

And trees figure prominently in the movie Avatar. The place where the Navi live is called “Hometree.” Hometree is a giant tree which sits on top of a large amount of “Unobtainium,” an element which provides energy. Human beings from earth are now trying to get this element because the energy resources on earth have been depleted. As the movie progresses, the humans will first attempt to convince the Navi to abandon Hometree and when this does not succeed, the humans will destroy the tree. The environmental message is clear here. Having, destroyed the trees of the earth through exploitation, global warming and deforestation, the humans now will destroy THE tree of another planet.

It is also interesting to me that the roots of Hometree are said to be connected to the roots of all of the other trees of the planet. For me as a Jew, this is reflective of the Kabbalistic teaching that we all are connected to the Source or God. In the Kabbalah, the unity of creation is its Oneness. We are all interconnected to each other and to God and the ultimate advancement in the history of humankind will be when we recognize that oneness. The prophet Zachariah (14:9) tells us, “On that day, the Lord shall be one; and God’s name, One.” Indeed, the theological basis of Judaism is that one God created the universe and that all of creation; trees, shrubs, animals and human beings, has intrinsic worth and is holy.

After the Hometree is destroyed, the Navi flee to a tree called the “Tree of Souls.” This is the tree which enables them to connect with the souls of their ancestors. In order to do this, they take the strings at the end of their tails and connect them to the strings of the tree. This reminds me of the Jewish tradition that when we recite the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4,  “Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord”) the prayer which asserts the unity of God, we take the four fringes or strings of the Talit (prayer shawl) and put them together.

In the movie, it is this connection with the Tree of Souls which will enable the Navi to overcome their persecutors and prevail. What a wonderful message to us as Jews! When we truly listen to the voices of our mothers and fathers, our grandmother and grandfathers, the ancient rabbis and teachers, the matriarchs and patriarchs, we truly can connect with the wisdom of the past and received guidance from it.

For the Navi, the Tree of the Souls is also the way in which they connect to “Eywa,” the mother God, the God of the planet and the one and only God in their tradition. Here I find it very interesting that the word “Eywa” seems to approximate the sound of a breath. This by the way is also the sound of YHVH in the bible. YHVH is the holiest word for God in the bible and is virtually unpronounceable, except as a breath. For the Navi and for we Jews, God is the breath of all humankind. Without Eywa, and without YHVH, without the breath; we cannot survive.

So James Cameron has created an incredibly spiritual movie. I have no idea whether or not elements of Judaism and Jewish mysticism influenced him, but I do know how the spirituality of the movie resonates with me as a Jew.

In the end of the movie, some humans from earth join the Navi in resisting the crass exploitation of both the natural resources and the people of the planet Pandora. This is James Cameron's "Nevuah" or prophecy to us in a biblical sense. With the threats now facing our planet through the scourge of war and global warming, I begin to wonder if we as human beings will be able to come together to resist the forces of greed which seem to be destroying our hometree, our precious blue green planet which sustains us? Will we be able to learn how to truly see the “other,” not as an opponent, but as part of the Oneness of God’s creation?
Perhaps most important though, will we be able to come together to save and heal the planet and humankind? Will we be able to eliminate the exploration of people and resources, to destroy the forces of bias bigotry and racism and to create what Jesus, who after all was a great Jewish teacher, once described as a “beloved community?”

I hope that you will go to see this extraordinary movie. More than that, it is my prayer that we all will take its spirituality and its message to heart. May we be able to truly see the oneness of creation, the holiness that exists in all people and things. This is so important that the ability of future generations to might very well depend on how well we heed the words of James Cameron's warning to human beings as presented in this wonderful movie Avatar.