Do you remember Yom Kippur fifty years ago? One must be of a “certain age” to have clear memories of that day, of services being interrupted when someone got a message to the rabbi who then announced to the congregation that Israel had been attacked. My congregation was hosting two Israeli teens that fall. I can still see Na’ama’s tear streaked face, her eyes filled with fear.
Israel was still euphoric over the glory of the ’67 victory which, we see in hindsight, blinded them to the signs of the build up towards these attacks. In the first three days of the war, more than 1300 Israeli soldiers were killed, half of the ultimate death toll in the war and an overwhelming number given that the Israeli population numbered 3 million at the time. If an aide to Prime Minister Golda Meir hadn’t convinced her to stop him, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan would have broadcast to the nation his fears that Israel might lose the war. Ultimately, Israel did turn it around and would have reached both Damascus and Cairo if not for the UN called ceasefire. Not since the ’48 war of Independence had Israel faced such an existential crisis. Thankfully, no war has brought them to that point again.
For the tens of thousands of Israelis who march in the weekly demonstrations that have taken place since the Israeli government announced its plans for the judicial overhaul in January, Israel is facing another existential crisis. For the hundreds of Israelis who marched in the streets of NYC this week and everywhere Prime Minister Netanyahu stopped on his trip – Israelis living in America, Israelis rearranging travel plans to include the US, Israelis making a special trip to be here – Israel is facing another existential crisis.
The danger of the Yom Kippur War was external; the danger of the current crisis is internal. The fear of the Yom Kippur War was for the physical destruction of the State itself; the fear now is for the loss of Israel’s soul, the destruction of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
To fully appreciate the depths of this crisis in the hearts of Israelis, one has to understand that Israelis are not big on protests. Sure, there have been periodic protests over the years, but never like this. Israel ranked as the 4th happiest country in the world according to 2023 World Happiness Report – this, despite the incredibly high cost of living, required service in the military for men and women, and living under constant threat of attack. And, with so much of the country closed on Shabbat, Saturday nights are the one night they can go out, even as they have work and school the next day.
Since the government announced plans for the judicial overhaul, however, their love for their country has driven Israelis to rise up, to heed the call of the prophet whose words we read this morning, to raise their voices like a shofar, and to do so in astounding numbers. One report tallied a cumulative total of 7 million protestors in all of the demonstrations![i] Though that number clearly includes many who participate in multiple demonstrations, even weekly, it is still astounding. Another source estimates that almost 5% of the population has been protesting (here, that would be 18 million Americans)![ii]
The protests have been a true grassroots effort, with individual organizers and groups coming together. Even more impressive than its stamina is how diverse THE protests have become. What began as left of center has extended well beyond that, as described by two Israeli Reform rabbis: “These protests have succeeded in mobilizing the entire spectrum of Israeli society – from every social, political, and economic sector. Supporters of both the political right and the left – men and women from every generation, ethnic background, and profession – stand side-by-side at these massive protests. Week after week, hundreds of thousands of blue-collar workers, high-tech employees, social workers, teachers, lawyers, teenagers, students, and entire families attend demonstrations throughout the country. The demonstrators have managed to unite such disparate groups as supporters of West Bank settlements and supporters of Palestinian Independence”[iii]
In another truly new phenomenon, Israelis living abroad have organized, forming UnXeptable, which calls on world Jewry “to come together and preserve the democratic identity of Israel as the home of all Jewish people.”
Even as they are tirelessly speaking out to preserve democracy, there is a real fear among many Israelis that the overhaul will be successful and their beloved country will abandon the democratic values upon which it was founded, no longer the country where they want to raise their families. A recent poll found that 28% of Israelis are exploring other places to live, including 3,000 doctors.[iv] Some tech companies, who have built Israel into the Start-Up Nation it is known for and upon which a significant portion of its economy relies, are planting roots in other countries. The fear is that this Start-Up Nation is imploding; if there is a serious brain and economic drain, what, then, will Israel’s future be?
To briefly recap the major issues so that we are all on the same page:
In the last election, Benjamin Netanyahu, though he did not win a majority of the vote, was given the first chance to form a coalition government. This is common practice in Israel, a country with a multi-party parliamentary government where no one wins a majority. The only coalition Netanyahu was able to form has resulted in the most right-wing, nationalistic government in Israel’s history. Their coalition agreement calls for the annexation of the West Bank. Leaders of these parties are openly anti-pluralist and homophobic and would legalize forms of discrimination based on religious beliefs, constrict women’s rights and formalize the exemption of ultra-Orthodox men from military and national service. The yeshiva students who screamed and spat at us when I was with my colleagues praying with Women of the Wall are affiliated with the parties of this government. The people did not vote for this coalition.
In this parliamentary system where the Executive and the Legislature are one, the only check to their power is the High Court. The proposed changes to the judiciary would denude the Court of its power, freeing the governing coalition to implement its proposed legislations. There are 170 pieces of legislation waiting to be passed, many of which would harm minority groups and give the Orthodox even more control of daily life, in contrast to the promises of the Declaration of Independence: to “foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex…”
While 60% of Israelis polled agreed that some level of reform is needed in the Court system, the vast majority oppose the current plan. In a country without a constitution, the High Court stands as the only restraint on actions of the Executive and the Legislature. While this Court has not stood in the way of settlement expansion or even legitimizations of formerly illegal settlements, for example, it has put a stop to actions that would have allowed for the confiscation of legally owned Palestinian lands. Progress that the Reform and Conservative movements have finally made, including recognition of our conversions for the purpose of citizenship, which number more than 300 a year now, has been through the Courts. This government could well pass a law that would reverse that Court decision, putting into doubt the citizenship of those who have converted through our movements.
The judicial overhaul was presented as a three-stage process. Thus far, only the first step, removing the “reasonableness” test as a vehicle for the Court to strike down government or ministerial decisions, passed over the summer. A number of appeals are being argued before the High Court right now. The government has not committed to abiding by the decision of the Court.
Rabbi David Hartman (of blessed memory), a leading thinker among philosophers of contemporary Judaism and founder of the Shalom Hartman Institute, taught that the first temple (and first Jewish commonwealth) was destroyed because of the sins of bloodshed, lust, and idolatry as described by the Biblical prophets. The Second Temple (and second Jewish Commonwealth) was ended because of the sin of baseless hatred as told in Talmud and Midrash. Now we have a third Jewish commonwealth in the State of Israel. The test for this commonwealth will be a moral one, whether it uses its power justly.
As the years of the occupation of the West Bank turned into decades and Israel became a powerful force, both economically and militarily, this moral test became a reality. How does Israel use its power justly as it navigates the myriad challenges of the overwhelming complexities of this still young nation: meeting the needs of and protecting the civil rights of the various populations of its citizenry; addressing the plight of the millions of Palestinians living under its military authority; all the while, protecting its people from the constant threat of attack?
And what is our role, our voice, as Jews who are not living in Israel but who, as part of the Jewish people are connected to the State, the land and its people. The founding principal of Zionism is the establishment of the State of Israel as the homeland for the Jewish people, all of the Jewish people.
For decades, the understanding was that American Jews, as with the rest of Diaspora Jewry, would offer their unequivocal support for Israel and its government: financially, especially through Jewish Federations and those blue and white JNF boxes; emotionally, by visiting Israel, teaching about Israel, and including Israel in our prayers; and politically, by urging our government’s support for Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East. Criticism of an Israeli government’s policies was verboten; unless you lived in Israel, fought for Israel, voted in Israel – you had no right to speak out. Perhaps disagreements could be expressed in house, within the “family”; but any public expression was likened to washing our dirty laundry in public. When it came to Israel, only absolute unity was tolerated; anything else was viewed as dangerous, anti-Zionist, and would only give fodder to our enemies.
At some point in time, perhaps after the collapse of the Oslo accords, as any hope for a two-state solution faded away, cracks in that unity began to appear, slowly at first as many American Jews began to struggle with the gap between the values that we teach and try to live by, values about treatment of the stranger, about human dignity and all people being created in the image of God, and the actions of Israeli governments, especially those that supported the settlers and the on-going occupation. Organizations such as J Street and Truah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights were founded to provide legitimate spaces for the segment of the American Jewish community whose love for Israel drove them to speak out when they believed the Israeli government was not using its power justly. A new idea emerged, that one could be lovingly critical, a “hugger and wrestler” as some called it. Personally, I was grateful for such alternative voices and have been a member of the J Street rabbinical cabinet and a Rabbinic Chaver of Truah since they were founded.
It is important for American political leaders to understand that the Jewish community is not monolithic with regard to Israel (as with many other issues) and that we are not represented by any one organization. Even more, it is vital that young people be welcomed to express their views and to see such hugging and wrestling modeled within the organized Jewish community or many will disconnect. A Pew Research study from 2021 found that “younger Jews – as a whole – are less attached to Israel than their older counterparts. Two-thirds of Jews ages 65 and older say that they are very or somewhat emotionally attached to Israel, compared with 48% of those ages 18 to 29.”[v]
There are those within the Jewish community and outside of it who continue to see any criticism of Israel as anti-Zionist or worse antisemitic. Mostly, this argument is used as a political tool. Support of Israel has always been and will continue to be a non-partisan issue. To claim criticism of Israel or voting a certain way in America as being disloyal to Israel or associating those who speak out against the Israeli government’s actions as aligning with Israel’s enemies who seek Israel’s destruction is simply wrong and malicious. Criticism of Israel becomes antisemitic when it denies the right of the State of Israel to exist, which is where the BDS movement crosses the line, for example.
This afternoon we will read from the Holiness Code, Leviticus Ch. 19, where among the obligations to be a holy people is the command to “Rebuke your kinsman but incur no guilt because of him.” We have an obligation to rebuke those we love when we see them doing wrong. If we see a family member doing something dangerous, would we remain silent? Would we enable those actions?
The Kli Yakar, a 17th century rabbi of Prague, taught, “if you do not rebuke him then his sin shall be upon you because ‘all Israel is responsible for one another.’” We, Jews in America and Jews in Israel are responsible for one another and we need to hold one another accountable for our actions. We are partners in this enterprise of Jewish living as part of the Jewish people.
The current crisis has brought this realization to a new level, a watershed moment in Israeli-Diaspora relations, where Israelis are now asking us to speak out and join them in protest as Rabbi Josh Weinberg, the URJ vice president for Israel and Reform Zionism underscored in his remarks at the rally in Times Square last week: “We are here not to protest Israel but to support democracy and to support and be in solidarity with the movements in Israel because Israelis are asking us to do that. We love Israel and we want Israel to be a Jewish and democratic state where all Jews can be welcome.”[vi]
While Israeli citizens will always have the final say through their vote, there is now greater recognition that the Jewish people ought to have a voice in the direction of our homeland.
When asked following a webinar what she would like American Jews to know, Rabbi Talia Avnon-Benveniste, Director of the Israeli Rabbinic program at HUC in Jerusalem, shared the following:
“Israel doesn’t belong to Israelis. It belongs to the Jewish people and it’s upon all of us to shape the Jewish state in our reflection of our Jewish state of mind and if Israel falls (again) we won’t be able to recover from it. Unlike previous attempts, exile will not save us, from us. And we have the obligation, in our generation, to make sure that the history of Israel will not be written in the book of Lamentations, rather in the Chronicle of all times.”
The stamina of the Israelis protesting is incredible – it has gone on for nearly 40 weeks. The energy has not waned, not even after the vote. This is a moment of truth for Israelis. Yet, they do not despair. When I was in Israel in February for my convention, we heard from numerous speakers about the crisis. Time and again they quoted a line from one of Israel’s classic songs, Ain Li Eretz Aheret, “I have no other country.” It will take a lot, even for those looking to leave, to actually leave. They are not giving up.
They need our support; they need to know that American Jews also care about the character of the State of Israel, that we cannot allow this third Jewish commonwealth to fail the test of its morality and just use of power.
Israeli Reform Rabbi and Knesset member from the Labor party, Gilad Kariv, has asked for our support in the following ways:
If you know Israelis who are engaged in the protests, reach out and send them words of encouragement. It will mean so much to them to know that you stand with them.
If possible, join in an UneXptable protest.
Support organizations that are working to build the kind of Israel we want to see. There all kinds of NGOs, partnered with organizations here, working to support civil and human rights in Israel.
Prime among them is our movement, the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism, through its congregations, communities and the Israeli Religious Action Center. The IMPJ has established an emergency campaign because it is in danger of losing significant funds from the government that it depends on to support its various activities. The movement has been engaged in the demonstrations since the start, making Havdalah at the sites of the protests before joining in to convey the message that protesting is a Jewish value. The interest in Reform Judaism that has been growing has the potential to expand greatly with the awakening of secular Israelis to the Jewish values that need to be protected and upheld in a Jewish State.
If you are not a member of ARZA, I implore you to join – we are an ARZA Congregation and by sending in your membership through Vassar Temple, a small portion comes back to us.
Your support of ARZA helps our movement in Israel, but you can also support IMPJ directly. There is information on a flyer in the lobby.
We are a people of hope. Throughout our most complex history, even in the darkest hours, we have never given up hope. At a time when all seemed lost, the rabbis developed the notion of a Messiah who would herald a time of perfection and peace. The Messiah, they said, would be born on Tisha B’Av, our national day of mourning for the destruction of the Temples. After nearly two thousand years of living under foreign rule, the independent State of Israel was born. And its national anthem? HaTikvah, The Hope.
The indefatigable spirit of Israelis protesting gives us hope. In an interview at the Times Square protest, Lior Hadary, an activist with the Brothers in Arms veterans group who finished his service in an elite IDF combat unit shortly before the coalition took power said, “Since then I’m fighting for Israel again, but this time in the protests.”[vii]
Can we find hope in the possibility of a Saudi Deal that includes a path back towards a two-state solution, something antithetical to the current Israeli government? One never gives up hope; we’ll have to wait and see what evolves.
The most powerful expressions of hope come from Israel itself. I share these reflections from an essay by Rabbi Naamah Kelman, the first woman ordained at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem:
As we approach the seventh-fifth birthday of the State of Israel, it remains a miracle. A story of haven, refuge, home, and incomparable achievements. It has also come at an incredible cost: wars, displacement, occupation, terror. The next seventy-five years must be devoted to reconciling this terrible equation. Messianic and extremist forces promise to destroy our fragile democracy. Secularism and capitalism are threats to the values of the revival of Hebrew culture, humanism and deep Jewish values of chesed (loving-kindness) and tzedek (justice)! I firmly believe that our worldwide Reform Judaism has and will play an invaluable role in tikkun and healing in this country we love. I can now say that the huge pushback to the so-called Judicial Reform has been a reclamation of Israeli Judaism. The demonstrations are demanding an Israel that is both Jewish and Democratic, based on these two sets of values. Speakers of all streams of Judaism are presenting from the finest of our prophetic tradition that inspired Israel’s Declaration of Independence. Speakers also include Arab citizens, holding up democracy and pluralism. This is perhaps the most hopeful development. We Israelis will not compromise our values and we will partner with Diaspora Jews who are committed to that shared vision for Israel.[viii]
I close in prayer – please join me in the Prayer for the State of Israel, on p. 288 in the Mahzor.
Avinu – You who are high above all nation-states and peoples –
Rock of Israel, the One who has saved us and preserved us in life,
Bless the State of Israel, first flowering or our redemption.
Be her loving shield, a shelter of lasting peace.
Guide her leaders and advisors by Your light of truth;
Instruct them with Your good counsel.
Strengthen the hands of those who build and protect our Holy Land.
Deliver them from danger; crown their efforts with success.
Grant peace to the land,
lasting joy to all of her people.
And together we say: Amen.
[i] “Diaspora Jews and Isarel’s Judicial Overhaul: Differing Stances,” Times of Israel “What Matters Now” podcast, Sept. 22, 2023
[ii] https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/12/middleeast/israel-protests-benjamin-netanyahu-intl/index.html
[iii] Rabbi Kinneret Shiryon and Rabbi Nir Ishay Barkin, “From Demonstrations to Demonstrating the Power of Social Change”, The Reform Jewish Quarterly, (CCAR: Summer 2023) p. 140
[iv] https://www.timesofisrael.com/28-of-israelis-considering-leaving-the-country-amid-judicial-upheaval
[v] https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/05/21/u-s-jews-have-widely-differing-views-on-israel/
[vi] https://www.timesofisrael.com/hundreds-protest-overhaul-in-new-york-as-netanyahu-meets-with-world-leaders/?utm_campaign=daily-edition-2023-09-20&utm_medium=email&utm_source=The+Daily+Edition
[vii] Ibid.
[viii] Rabbi Naamah Kelman, “Reform Judaism and Israel at Seventy-Five,” The Reform Jewish Quarterly, (CCAR: Summer 2023) p. 79
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