A version of this sermon was delivered at Temple B'nai Torah - A Reform Congregation on Shabbat Ki Tissa 5783, March 10, 2023
I
became a citizen of the United States in 2006.
After the one-sentence English test and the 10 question American History
oral exam, all the new citizens are brought into a room to take the oath. Just before taking the oath, the group and
any visitors are shown two videos. One,
a message from the sitting president, welcoming us as new citizens. Then, they show us the music video for the
song “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood.
Don’t get this confused with Irving Berlin’s God Bless America. No this is the country-rock anthem. The chorus has the following lyrics.
“I’m
proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free.
And
I won’t forget the men who died who gave that right to me.
And I'd gladly stand up next to you, And
defend Her still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about the
juxtaposition of those two videos they showed us and how they brought up
conflicting emotions of pride and shame.
These are emotions I’ve felt comingled again as Israel’s government has
not lived up to the promise of its founding documents and principles, most
recently with the crisis over the courts.
In the last few years, Israel has had election after election, a
byproduct of its fractured society. In
that respect, Israel is no different than many other nations in this day and
age of polarization. In the last few
years, Israel has barely had a stable government for more than a year at a
time, as factions which used to get along or at least be willing to work
together have polarized and decided that they will not work with each
other. In this most recent election, a
governing coalition came together with the most extreme right-wing-religious
parties. This is not a government to be
proud of. This is not a government that
is seeking to promote a Zionist vision for Israel that I believe in. But, just because we have issues with the
government, does that mean we stop our support for the nation? Do we stop waving that flag?
How are we supposed to respond to this current
crisis? How can we be proud of and
support Israel at a time like this? Can
and should we even be Zionists in a time like this? Should we be Zionists anymore if this is what
Zionism has come to, a government where ministers call for the wiping out of an
Arab town, a government that is predicated on expanding settlements rather than
achieving a lasting peace? A government
that traffics in antiquated religious sensibilities that run contrary to the
majority of Israelis’ viewpoints and practices?
The short answer is yes, we need to be
Zionists. Yes, we need to support
Israel. But it may be time for us to
change what that means for our community and for ourselves as individuals. As this evening’s worship shows us in deep
and powerful ways, as much as Judaism survives throughout the eras and
generations, it also constantly adapts.
It is nimble, our Judaism, and it always has been. Anyone who tells you otherwise is at best
misreading history. Our relationship
with Israel hasn’t always been one way. As
is often demanded of American Jews, our relationship has been: yes Israel,
right or wrong. As the times change, so
too must our relationship with our homeland.
And as Judaism and humanity progresses, so too must our Zionism.
In 1885, a meeting of the Central Conference
of American Rabbis in Pittsburgh declared the following: “We consider ourselves
no longer a nation, but a religious community, and therefore expect neither a
return to Palestine, nor a sacrificial worship under the sons of Aaron, nor the
restoration of any of the laws concerning the Jewish state.”[1] We are no longer a nation, these Rabbis said,
but a faith group. We are no longer
expecting to go back to Zion. We do not
hope for a Jewish State. This is
1885. Before Dreyfuss, Before the first
Zionist Congress. This is 1885 in a time
of expanding rights for Jews across Europe and America. What need did our people have for a homeland
when every nation was now a homeland? It
was also, of course, a time of violence and pogroms across Eastern Europe,
leading to waves of immigration of more traditionally minded Jews to these
shores.
But
of course, these Pittsburgh ideas were not universally shared beliefs among
American Jews, and Zionism became a fixture in Jewish circles. By the early 1920s Rabbi Stephen Wise opened
his Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in competition to the Hebrew Union
College in Cincinnati. The JIR was proudly
Zionist and in favor of free pulpits, rather than clergy hemmed in by their
boards, prevented from speaking as they wish.
In the long run, we know Rabbi Stephen Wise’s direction for Reform
Judaism, once on the fringe, became the norm.
Pulpits are by and large free, and as a movement we are unabashedly
Zionist.
In
1937, Reform Leaders once again gathered, this time in Columbus, OH. Fascism was on the march in Europe. The era of expanding rights for Jews and
other minorities in Europe had ended. An
era of contraction and unimaginable destruction was on the horizon. That, coupled with the growth of the Zionist
project in Palestine, meant that Reform Judaism had to shift its
perspective. The Columbus Platform
stated about Israel: “In the rehabilitation of Palestine, the land hallowed by
memories and hopes, we behold the promise of renewed life for many of our
brethren. We affirm the obligation of all Jewry to aid in its upbuilding as a
Jewish homeland by endeavoring to make it not only a haven of refuge for the
oppressed but also a center of Jewish culture and spiritual life.”[2] By 1937, Reform Jews in America were
supporting the project of Israel, in favor of it, even if not necessarily for
themselves, and cognizant of its potential role and importance as a place of
refuge for their coreligionists. How
prescient they were, and how unfortunate that the land did not become such a
refuge for 6,000,000 of our siblings.
By
the 1976 conference in San Francisco, the Reform Platform included the
following:
We are privileged to live in an extraordinary
time, one in which a third Jewish commonwealth has been established in our
people’s ancient homeland. We are bound to that land and to the newly reborn
State of Israel by innumerable religious and ethnic ties…We have both a stake
and a responsibility in building the State of Israel, assuring its security,
and defining its Jewish character. We encourage aliyah for those who wish to
find maximum personal fulfillment in the cause of Zion. We demand that Reform
Judaism be unconditionally legitimized in the State of Israel.[3]
This is in the aftermath of the six-day war
and the Yom Kippur War. Israel is no
longer a small little nation; it’s now asserted itself. Jerusalem is now under Jewish control and the
Reform Movement has already established its campus there.
By
1997, the Reform Rabbinate focused a declaration solely on Zionism. In that document, we read: “Even as Medinat
Yisrael serves uniquely as the spiritual and cultural focal point of world
Jewry, Israeli and Diaspora Jewry are inter-dependent, responsible for one
another, and partners in the shaping of Jewish destiny.” The responsibilities enumerated for those of
us in the diaspora deal with security, peoplehood, connection and focus on
Hebrew. The responsibility for Israel
was described as follows:
Medinat Yisrael exists not only for the benefit
of its citizens but also to defend the physical security and spiritual
integrity of the Jewish people. Realizing that Am Yisrael consists of a
coalition of different, sometimes conflicting, religious interpretations, the
Jewish people will be best served when Medinat Yisrael is constituted as a
pluralistic, democratic society. Therefore we seek a Jewish state in which no
religious interpretation of Judaism takes legal precedence over another.
Has Israel lived up to its end of the
bargain? Given that Israel had no say, perhaps
it’s better to ask whether our hopes for what Israel could be for us have been
met? The answer, particularly today, as
we orient our hearts to the east is no.
Israel does not allow for equality of the various streams of Judaism. Israel does not recognize our leaders as
clergy, nor our life cycle as valid under religious auspices. Israel allows for discrimination against
women, minorities, and liberal Jews in the religious sphere. And because religion and life are so intertwined
there, it bleeds over into the society as a whole.
And yet, as the nation of my birth, and the
homeland of our people, I still love Israel and still hope for the best version
of Israel to emerge from this melee, for the prophetically called people to
live up to the aspirations of peace and justice and light, for the society to
allow for the variety and diversity that makes Israel so beautiful and special. I believe it is still possible. Because to be a Zionist today must mean not
just supporting Israel, but pushing Israel to be the best version of
itself. The protestors in the streets these
last two months agree. They want an
Israel that is democratic, predicated on social justice, and free for all. They desire an Israel that strives for peace and
security, that follows the rule of law, and that is not led by cult of
personality.
So,
what’s happening now, and how do we respond to it? If our heritage is one of looking at the
changing times and adapting alongside them, what ought our next step be, and
how do we do that in such a way that also keeps our connection to our history
and our emotional and spiritual connection to this place that we call our
homeland? How do we maintain our pride?
At the root of the current crisis is the
reality that Israel, though a parliamentary democracy, has no
constitution. There is no document that
guides the way the government works.
There are laws that have been passed by the Knesset known as “Basic
Laws” which guide and govern the functioning of the state and its institutions,
and those laws together form a sort of constitution, though not codified or
ratified by the populace. Because Israel
is a parliamentary democracy like the UK, what we know of as the Executive
Branch of government is formed by members of the legislative body. So the law makers are also the law
enforcers. This works well when there is
a robust and independent court system whose role it is to overturn any laws that
undermine certain basic human rights, or which go against the Declaration of
Independence. The Supreme Court of
Israel is then the only place the minorities or protected classes can find any
recourse from a law passed by the Knesset or a municipal policy.
The governing coalition is seeking with great
haste to pass a law which will give the legislature, the Knesset, the ability
to overturn any supreme court decision with a simple majority of 61 votes. They have rebuffed President Herzog’s request
to slow down the process. The changes
mean that any governing coalition, right, left, or center, can overrule the Supreme
Court, on any case. Rights of Arab
Citizens of Israel, the Druze, Women in the public sphere, liberal Jews,
Bedouins, the LGBTQ+ community, all minorities really are all therefore at the
whim of whoever happens to be in charge.
According to the coalition, this is a reform
meant to check the power of a corrupt and overly powerful and influential state
institution. According to the
opposition, while the court may indeed need reforms, this is a judicial putsch
designed to centralize power in the Prime Minister’s office. It is a turn away from a democracy, imperfect
though it may be, to an illiberal democracy akin to Hungary, where the leader
is not questioned or challenged.
According to the former VP of the Supreme Court, who spoke to the
assembled Reform Rabbis in Jerusalem, Elyakim Rubinstein, this is akin to
removing the Senate from the judicial confirmation process in America. It removes a check and balance on which the
society relies in order to function for all.
This is a leap toward dictatorship, or at
least a step, the opponents say. They
are right. Israelis have been coming out
into the streets for the last number of weeks against this bill. The most recent round of protests counted
some 400,000. That’s somewhere between
four and five percent of the population.
That’s no small number. In
addition, the protests are growing.
There are reservists from elite units of the military, fighter pilots,
security officials, entrepreneurs, and investors, all warning of the
ramifications of the passing of this bill.
It will weaken the democratic character of Israel. It is already causing a questioning of the
chain of command, which for a nation whose military service is compulsory
unless you’re Orthodox is a scary thought.
The pilots don’t want to serve for a nation that doesn’t live up to its
ideals. The reservists don’t want to
serve a military which fights for a nation that doesn’t protect and preserve
rights for all its citizenry. The investors
are worried that money will leave the country, alongside the talent. Start-up nation may shut itself down.
At the protest I attended in Tel Aviv, along
with 160,000 others, the chants were for first and foremost democracy:
“de-mo-cra-tia!” The chants were
pro-democracy, pro-Israel, and pro-checks and balances. At that protest, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, leader of
the American Reform movement said:
We're here out of solidarity and out of
concern, a concern shared by the vast majority of Diaspora Jews. The Israel we love is Jewish AND
democratic. We can’t imagine a Jewish
State that isn’t democratic but unfortunately there are those who can. We know how precarious it can be to live as a
minority. But we also know that our concepts of equal rights for all, our rule
of law, our independent courts --our democracy—is what protect us.[4]
This is indeed a message that the leadership
of the Reform Movement in 1885 could not have predicted. Judaism changes. Jews change.
Israel changes. None of us should
sit by as the land of our 2000-year hope becomes less than it could or should
be after 75 years as a nationstate for the Jewish people. None of us should be ok with this change
because we feel that eternal connection, we know that something is different
there for our people, no matter whether we drive on Saturday or not.
It
is time for us to change how we approach Israel and our Zionism. It is time for us to invest in the places
where the vision we have of Israel are most coming to fruition. It is time for us to support wholeheartedly,
and with all the shekels we can, the Reform Communities of Israel and the
Israel movement for Progressive Judaism.
One
of the most powerful aspects of my recent trip to Israel was seeing the beauty,
the diversity, and the joy in the Reform Jewish community in Israel. Unlike a generation or two ago, where Reform
Judaism was seen as an import from overseas, an American or European brand of
Judaism incompatible with Israeli society and Israelis, today, Reform
communities are thriving From Jerusalem to the Aravah to Haifa, even without
government funding matching Orthodox institutions. Thanks to the Hebrew Union College Jerusalem
campus, Israelis are being trained as Reform Rabbis, bringing a different
Judaism to the people: a Judaism that is inclusive, joyful, egalitarian,
grounded in respect and dignity for all, and homegrown. The melodies are familiar, but also there is
a growth of Israeli Reform liturgy and music for it. You know some of it from pieces we sing
here. Reform Judaism of Israel can
establish the infrastructure to challenge racism, classism, inequality, and
patriarchy. They already do. Israeli Reform Judaism is the product of and
torch bearer for a Zionist vision that I can be proud of. You want to support Israel, don’t plant a
tree, don’t buy a bond, don’t send your money to AIPAC. Send it to the IMPJ.
Just
like at my citizenship ceremony, there are two videos playing before us
today. In one is an Israeli government
which seeks to contract rights, mandate a particular form of Judaism, and
consolidate power. In the other, we see
Israel brimming with potential, with those who seek a Jewish and Democratic
state, with those who see that there is room for everyone and every expression
of Judaism. They see an Israel ready to
make peace, an Israel ready to defend herself when necessary, and an Israel
inspired by the prophets of God to do justly, to love mercy and to walk
humbly. They see the Israel of my
dreams, of our hopes, and they need our help to make it so. They represent the potential for a Zionism we
can be proud of. Let us help liberal
Judaism thrive in our homeland, and let us work together to bring about the
best iteration of our 2000-year old dream!
For, if we will it, it is no dream.
Shabbat
Shalom
