 Take my advice: don't take my advice
A friend in North America has invited me to address a group of friends committed to Israel and also to a Liberal worldview. They are concerned about what they see as the disconnect between the pro-Israel stance offered by most in the Jewish establishment and the daily reality of alienation, frustration and growing apathy which they see around them. At the end of the letter he asks: should we establish a local J-Street (if any of my readers don't know what this organization is, you can Google them), put pressure on our government to work for the policies we support, renew our membership to Israeli peace organizations? Gaza and Goldstone, settlement activity, attitudes to the Other in Israeli society, the bizarre relationship between Religion and State - all these persuade my friend and his circle that they have to do something other than just mouth the usual platitudes. For the sake of variety, they want me to come and share my platitudes What should I say to such a group? And what's the idea behind having me and mixing my angst with theirs? There is in part a vestige here of the old authenticity dilemma: since you don't live in Israel, the old line goes, you don't really have the right to make a noise in the way you would really like to. Meanwhile many Israelis seem to have no problem decrying the excesses and stupidities of their government, so why not bask in their irreverence? There is something wrong with this picture. Jews in the Diaspora do not need to ask permission from anyone to express their views. It's a remnant of a moribund guilt complex, an urge to defer to those who realized Zionist nirvana and now pay their taxes to the Jewish State. Israelis have no right to tell Jews in the Diaspora what to do, who to marry, how to behave, just as my sister has no right to order me to clean my room. But if my sister stays in touch, shares in my triumphs and disasters, then she does indeed have the right to tell me that if I ever want to get on in life, I should clean up my room. There is a condition of mutuality - I have to be able to tell my sibling about her interior design disasters, and she has to be able to listen as well. A message to Ahmedinejad
Dear President Ahmedinejad, You don't know me, and the chances of us meeting are not great. I live in Jerusalem, a Jewish citizen of the State of Israel. I was born in Britain, which I understand figures pretty high on your list of Satanic nations. I am also a Reform rabbi, an exponent of a religious philosophy which espouses moderation and modernization. So it's fair to say that you and I mix in different circles, or perhaps that should be centrifuges. Mahmoud (you can call me Michael if you choose to reply), I get the feeling we need to talk. Apart from the unpromising start (British-born Zionist liberal Jew Beelzebub), you ought to know that there are many things against the State of Israel you could say which I would agree with. In our regime here such opposition is allowed, indeed it's even encouraged. I am profoundly concerned about the way in which we distribute our resources here, and I fear that our approach to the Palestinian people has been tragically in error. I also think it's time to wrest authority from the hands of religious politicians who have done a disservice both to politics and to religion. (Come to think of it, we may not have so much in common on that last point.) We've just had a big day here in Israel and around the Jewish world (I think you call it the international industrial-financial insidious cabal). I am sure you have received satellite imagery of sudden and intensive cycling and skateboard activity, and before you misinterpret this as a military maneuver or sinister escalation, I ought to explain. In some ways, you would have approved of the scene - millions of Jews reflecting on what they have done wrong and resolving to do better. I'm sure you would have been happy to offer many suggestions in this regard. It was quite a scene here - religious and secular (I'll explain that another time) spending a day removed from their workaday lives trying to think through the meaning of life and the nature of their relations with others. Some exploited the almost complete absence of cars on the road to set loose their children on self-propelled wheeled conveyances of every imaginable kind. I spent a good part of the day thinking about my personal pitfalls and shortcomings, and also about the challenges facing my people and my country. I won't bore you with the personal stuff - I guess much of it would sound familiar to many of your countrymen, since the human condition transcends political and ideological boundaries. On the wider social level, I have been increasingly alarmed about the increasing chauvinism and insensitivity on display here. I also pray fervently that we will have the courage to face up to those in our nation who combine messianic fervor with political fanaticism. We have a lot of work to do. Why am I telling you all this? If you read any of our newspapers (it's a shame there's no Persian language edition of the major titles, but I am sure you have assistants with good Ulpan Hebrew) you'll know that my views are shared by many in Israel. The point of all this, then, is not to leak you information you would not otherwise have received. Instead, I want you to know that by your utterances and actions you have made all the differences between moderates and extremists in my country dissolve into irrelevance. By choosing to repeat the old Big Lie, and by raising the specter of our annihilation, you may have done more for Jewish unity than anyone else I know. How do you say pluralism in Hebrew?
Some fifteen years ago I was a serving as rabbi in the wonderful Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa. The relationship between the City of Haifa and the Jewish community of Boston was just beginning to develop, and a delegation was sent out from the Middle East to the North East to discuss terms and details. I was in my office one day when I received a call from an acquaintance who was part of the Haifa group. I was surprised, since I knew he was in the States and it was the middle of the night over there. When I inquired as to the purpose of his apparently urgent call, he explained: "I have spent the day with representatives of the Boston CJP [the Federation equivalent]. All day long they have talked to me about their commitment to pluralism, and I have nodded furiously and agreed vociferously. "But tomorrow they want me to say something about our commitment to pluralism, and I realize I know nothing at all about the subject. Rabbi, you're both Reform and born in Britain, but you have been in Israel a while and seem OK. So tell me, what are they talking about when they say pluralism?" My nocturnal caller was not alone. Fifteen years ago the term "pluralism" was hardly used in Israeli discourse, and more often than not it emerged when an Anglophone philanthropist mentioned it as an interest or a priority. In Hebrew, our Movement's Israel Religious Action Center is called the Center for Pluralism, and I am informed that to this day they receive calls from would-be clients convinced they are talking to the Center for Floralism (in Hebrew it looks the same without the vowels). They still have to turn away orders for wreaths and bouquets. Jerusalem is a special cityJerusalem is a special city. If you ever doubt this, try staying away for a little while. True, many Israelis have become so practiced in the art of staying away from Jerusalem that this has been elevated from simple aversion to full-blown abhorrence. True, many of us who bring up children in this city know that our offspring are preparing to spring off and leave as soon as the opportunity presents itself. True, increasingly Jewish visitors from abroad are becoming inured to the blandishments of the holy city, and developing a marked preference for the lure of Tel Aviv (The Big Pineapple) or Haifa (The Bahai Chapel) or even Hadera (the Big Falafel), over Jerusalem - the Big Grapple. Reports of 'death' exaggerated
I have been absent from this column for months, working hard to deal with the challenges facing my institution, which is struggling along with just about every other institution in the world in the current economic atmosphere. What might have sparked me back into life in the blogosphere were the reported comments of Rabbi Norman Lamm, predicting the imminent demise of the Reform and Conservative streams of Judaism. I have no idea, incidentally, if the very venerable Rabbi Lamm really said the things attributed to him in the Jerusalem Post article. Whoever did concoct the notion that non-Orthodox Judaism is on its last legs is guilty of an extreme case of wishful thinking. The truth is that there is ample and powerful evidence that a Judaism of meaning aimed at those for whom Orthodoxy is untenable, unpalatable or impossible is more urgently in demand today than ever before. Testing loyalty
"This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." In order to avoid any unpleasantness with copyright lawyers I should make clear that these stirring words are not mine. And however germane they may appear to be to these times and this region, their origin (as many of my readers will have identified) is different. It was with these words that Franklin Delano Roosevelt accepted the office of President of the United States of America, a little over 75 years ago. Whose Hannukah is it anyway?Both of my regular readers will have noticed that I have been silent for the last couple of months. I have not been away, nor has there been a shortage of events worthy of comment. In fact, the problem has been mine: I have been struck by the uneasy sense that nothing I write can make any difference. No difference to the inhabitants of Sderot and the settlements closest to the Gaza Strip. No difference to the drivers of Israel as we engage in our relentless cull of pedestrians and passengers. No difference to the recipients of hundreds of millions of philanthropic dollars which have been lost in the greatest con trick in the history of Wall Street. No difference to the confused voters of Israel, caught between mediocrity and demagoguery, platitude and posturing. The winner of Jerusalem's image campaign
What's the big story of the week? Forget world economic meltdown. Forget Ahmedinejad's version of the blood libel on steroids. Forget road carnage, family brutality, re-enactments of The Godfather on the mean streets of Netanya. All of this pales into insignificance. Even the Day of Judgment, the Season of Repentance, the Days of Awe are Days of Ordinary in comparison with the scoop of scoops. It is of course, the extraordinary decision to allow a cartoon figure to run for Mayor of Jerusalem. For those of you not privileged to share the delights of Jerusalem living - the uplifted souls and the upturned sidewalks, the exhaust fumes, the exhausted, the fuming, the magical vistas and the tragic missed opportunities, the sheer beauty, the Wall, the Barrier, and all the rest - an explanation is necessary. Reform's 'tude' problems
In June an article about Reform Judaism was published in Commentary Magazine. Those interested in Prof. Jack Wertheimer's analysis in all its glory would do well to locate the original. I'll give you the short version - he suggests that Reform Judaism is a failure. As a Reform insider, I'm here to tell you that Prof. Wertheimer is right. The more you know about a religious denomination, the more reason you should have to be concerned about its omissions and disasters, about the gulf between what it avers and what it achieves. Reform is a failure, and I hope it continues to be so in the future. I want to outline some of our major problems, and then I want to tell you why I'm happy to stick around and grapple with these failures, rather than go off in search of a whole set of new ones. I also want to suggest that most of the traditional claims against Reform Judaism are misguided or mean. If you're looking for the real failures and challenges of our movement, you might consider sticking with an insider for the real scoop. The picture of air-headed ignoramuses misleading the masses is a fake, and if that picture titillates you, you may need help. The real story is a little more complex. So here goes: Life and death on King David street
For much of my adult life I have studied, taught and worked on King David Street in Jerusalem. It is certainly no ordinary work address. World leaders stay there - in recent months we have played host to Bush, Blair, then Bush again, Blair, Rice, Blair Carter, Sarkozy, Blair (I'm beginning to think that man has nothing better to do), Brown, Mc Cain, Obama - and that doesn't do justice to the tens of less famous officials - Fishing Ministers from Ruritania and Tax Inspectors from Uzbekhistan. Then there are the Life Cycle Events. Families compete with each other to hold the most opulent and often gaudy events: barmy Bar Mitzvahs, wild weddings, and far from circumspect circumcisions. And let's not forget the welcome crush of tourists, staying in comfort and often returning home with some expensive artifacts purchased at one of our street's many upscale emporia. More hotels are on the way, along with a plethora of swanky apartment buildings aimed at visionaries and speculators. |
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