Loving Israel Does Not Mean Remaining Silent in the Face of Bad Behavior

 This is a letter I sent out to my congregation in December after the installation of the Netanyahu Far-Right Governing Coalition. Events of the past week in Israel have shown how quickly the situation on the ground is deteriorating. Violence has broken out in the West Bank in the wake of a violent attack on Jewish Settlers near the Palestinian village of Hawara. In response, a group of far-right religious settler hooligans descended upon the Village and went on a violent rampage.

As of this writing, the Netanyahu coalition government is attempting to strip the Israeli Supreme Court of its power to place limits on the abuse of power. In addition, attempts to marginalize and penalize liberal Jewish perspectives on Zionism and progressive Jewish practice and belief are in full force. Hundreds of thousands of Israeli Citizens have taken to the streets to demonstrate peacefully all over the country to protest what they see as a corrupt and racist government.  Tensions are high and the potential for violence are growing.

Dear Friends,

I write this letter on the beginning of my one-month sabbatical in January.  This is the third (and last) of three months that I have been granted by our Board of Trustees to reflect, reinvigorate, and refocus my personal, professional, and creative growth.  I will not be sending you many messages during my time away, but I am making an exception today because of my concerns about a vitally important issue that is impacting the Jewish world: the installation of the current Far-Right Government in the State of Israel.

As many of you know, Prime Minister Netanyahu has formed a coalition government that is unlike any other in the history of the Jewish State. It includes cabinet ministers who are openly hostile - not only to Progressive Judaism, but also to the LGBTQ community, Women’s Rights, the Israeli Supreme Court, the Arab population, and the principle of a two-State Solution. They are also intent on changing the Law of Return that guarantees citizenship to anyone who has one Jewish Grandparent, or who has converted to Judaism – regardless of whether that conversion was performed by an orthodox rabbi or not. They want to remove the separation of Religion and State and create a theocracy in Israel that will restrict or destroy progressive institutions and values.

Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s new Security Minister, is an open supporter of Meyer Kahana’s racist Kach party – a movement that was declared illegal by the Knesset in 1988. Earlier today, in a deliberate act of provocation, Ben Gvir ascended the Temple Mount – surrounded by an armed security detail. The symbolism of this act was lost on no one.  It echoed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disastrous visit to the Temple Mount in September of 2000 that resulted in the outbreak of the 2^nd Intifada in and the loss of life of thousands of innocent Arabs and Jews.

I am very concerned about these events – not only because of the potential political, economic, and military ramifications to the State of Israel and its citizens, but also because of how impacts our relationship – as American Jews – to the Jewish State. All around me I am seeing and hearing American Jews – especially younger people – throwing up their hands rejecting Israel. While Israel is in no way an Apartheid State – as those in the Anti-Zionist camp claim, if the policies proposed by the current government are implemented, the pathway to Apartheid could easily be charted. It is vital that we, as American Progressive Jews who care about the future of the Zionist enterprise, raise our voices in protest and solidarity.

Now is not the time to abandon Israel. On the contrary, our commitment to a democratic, pluralistic, Jewish State is more important than ever. We need to show our support of the Progressive Religious and political movements in Israel. We cannot remain silent in the face of injustice, intolerance, misogyny, racism, homophobia, or any attempts to destroy the pluralistic values upon which Israel was established.

It is for this reason that I will be travelling to Israel in April as one of 39 American delegates representing Reform Judaism, Temple Emanuel, and the World Union of Progressive Judaism at a special convening of the World Zionist Congress commemorating the 75^th Anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel. I am both humbled by and energized by this honor and I look forward to helping to present a strong and resilient presence of Liberal and Progressive Jewish values.

In the next weeks and months, we will be sending you more information about how you can stand up to intolerance and show your support of Progressive Judaism in Israel – both financially and ideologically. We cannot remain silent in the face of the desecration of all that we hold dear.

Today is an auspicious day in the Jewish Calendar – the 10^th of the Hebrew month of Tevet. Our tradition teaches that it was on this day, in the year 588 BCE, the Babylonian’s began their siege of Jerusalem which eventually led to the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE. In the traditional Jewish Calendar, the 10^th of Tevet is observed as a day of fasting and mourning as we remember this terrible loss. Today, we watch as another attempt to breach the walls of tolerance and our progressive Jewish values is taking place.

The Talmud teaches us, Kol Yisrael Aravim Zeh Bazeh – all Jews are responsible for one another. If we remain silent as we watch the potential decimation of our values, we are not living up to our responsibilities as members of the Jewish people. We will not abandon Israel in her time of need – neither will we remain silent as we watch her embark on a self-destructive path.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Let our voices be heard in support and protest.

I look forward to seeing you in person when I return from my Sabbatical in February.

L’shalom  (in peace).

 

Rabbi Joseph R. Black

 

Invocation for the Colorado House of Representatives - "Broken Tablets". February 8, 2023

We all know the story:  Moses ascends Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments.  He descends and finds, to his horror, that in his absence, the people have built a Golden Calf.  Smashing the tablets in anger and disgust, he once again ascends God’s holy mountain.

Upon returning, Moses gently puts the second set of the Ten Commandments into the Ark of the Covenant.  

Throughout their forty years of wandering, the Israelites see that Ark and those Tablets wherever they travelled.

The rabbis of old asked a question:  What happened to the original, broken set of tablets?  Were they discarded?  Recycled? Abandoned?

One answer is that they were given an honored place inside the Ark next to the second pair that was whole.  

Why?  

So that the people could see them and realize that brokenness is as much a part of life as completeness.

Let us pray:

Dear God – help us to see and hear the brokenness around us:  

• On the streets of our cities;

• In the rubble of Turkey and Syria in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake

• In the cries of children and parents who cannot care for them;

• In our parched landscape that thirsts for moisture;

• In the overcrowded schools where students thirst for knowledge;

• In the eyes of the innocents;

• In the lies of guilty

But let us not stop with mere perception – lest we build another Golden Calf of apathy and callousness.  We pray that our seeing and hearing might spur us to action.

May the pristine surroundings of this beautiful chamber not blind us to the incompleteness that awaits us once we leave these hallowed halls.

On this day of deliberation, may these legislators be healers – bringing wholeness to the brokenness that propelled them to serve in the first place.

May we understand that we share in the pain of others – whether they be in Turkey, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela or Colorado – all of us are connected by a chain of humanity that both defines our weakness – when we refuse to see, and shows us our strength when we reach out in solidarity.

May this day be a day of hope, of wholeness and of collaboration.  May all that is broken be healed – and may we heal ourselves as we try to heal others. Then shall we all be a blessing.

Amen

We all know the story:  Moses ascends Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments.  He descends and finds, to his horror, that in his absence, the people have built a Golden Calf.  Smashing the tablets in anger and disgust, he once again ascends God’s holy mountain.

Upon returning, Moses gently puts the second set of the Ten Commandments into the Ark of the Covenant. 

Throughout their forty years of wandering, the Israelites see that Ark and those Tablets wherever they travelled.

The rabbis of old asked a question:  What happened to the original, broken set of tablets?  Were they discarded?  Recycled? Abandoned?

One answer is that they were given an honored place inside the Ark next to the second pair that was whole. 

Why? 

So that the people could see them and realize that brokenness is as much a part of life as completeness.

Let us pray:

Dear God – help us to see and hear the brokenness around us: 

·       On the streets of our cities;

·       In the rubble of Turkey and Syria in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake

·       In the cries of children and parents who cannot care for them;

·       In our parched landscape that thirsts for moisture;

·       In the overcrowded schools where students thirst for knowledge;

·       In the eyes of the innocents;

·       In the lies of guilty

But let us not stop with mere perception – lest we build another Golden Calf of apathy and callousness.  We pray that our seeing and hearing might spur us to action.

May the pristine surroundings of this beautiful chamber not blind us to the incompleteness that awaits us once we leave these hallowed halls.

On this day of deliberation, may these legislators be healers – bringing wholeness to the brokenness that propelled them to serve in the first place.

May we understand that we share in the pain of others – whether they be in Turkey, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela or Colorado – all of us are connected by a chain of humanity that both defines our weakness – when we refuse to see, and shows us our strength when we reach out in solidarity.

May this day be a day of hope, of wholeness and of collaboration.  May all that is broken be healed – and may we heal ourselves as we try to heal others. Then shall we all be a blessing.

Amen

Beshalach, Amalek and Shabbat Shira

Most people see this week’s Torah portion, Beshellach as  a celebration of the defeat of Pharaoh and Egypt. While the text of Shirat Hayam – the song of the sea – is triumphalist in its tone and tenor, it also provides us with a stark message: a warning against the worship of power and self-aggrandizement.  BeShellach is the grand culmination of the conflict between Pharaoh and Moses. If you recall, the events that brought us to the shore of the Sea of Reeds are powered by two very different figures:

• Moses – the reluctant prophet – called by God to challenge Pharaoh
• Pharaoh – the power-drunk absolute ruler of Egypt

If we look at the Meta-theme of this story, however, it is more than simply a power struggle between Moses and Pharaoh.  It is a clash between two world views: one in which morality and compassion are pre-eminent, and one where power, oppression, and inequality reign.

Looking closely at our narrative, we see that Moses and Pharaoh are not the main protagonists – rather it is a story of the triumph of Righteousness over Idolatry. It is God and Pharaoh who are fighting – even though we know and understand that it is not a fair fight. Moses is God’s proxy. Pharaoh’s hardened heart is his downfall.  Many commentators write about the ethical quandary posed by God deliberately “hardening” Pharaoh’s heart and how this ultimately led to his downfall. But, as the Midrash points out – and is later emphasized by Rabbeynu Bachya and the Ramban - looking carefully at the text, we will see that, for the first 5 of the ten plagues, it is Pharaoh, himself, who hardens his own heart.  Only after he has demonstrated a lack of remorse, compassion, or the ability to see that his cause is lost, does God ensure his total humiliation and defeat on the shores of the Sea of Reeds.

We sing the triumphant song of redemption as we cross the Sea of Reeds and watch Pharoah’s armies succumb to God’s power.  If this was the end of our parasha – it would be so satisfying, wouldn’t it?  And yet, immediately after this wondrous event, the Israelites, instead of celebrating victory and placing their trust in God and Moses, start to complain and rebel. They kvetch  - they are thirsty and hungry.  Even when Moses, following God’s command, strikes the Rock at Marah and water pours out for them to drink, even when God provides them with Manna, and quail rains down from the heavens, they are not satisfied. You would think that the miraculous nature of their redemption would give them faith and trust that theirs is a sacred journey, and yet the self-centered mundaneness of everyday life takes over.

Our parasha concludes with the introduction of a new enemy.  Pharaoh has been replaced by Amalek – the one who attacked the Israelites from behind – killing the women and children. The Torah teaches us to both “remember” and “blot out the memory of Amalek” – two seemingly contradictory commands.

In Deuteronomy 25:17, we find the following, we find the words:  Zachor et asher asah lecha Amalek” – which literally translated means:  “Remember what Amalek did to you. – how he cut down the weakest from behind…”

The commandment to wipe out Amalek follows this remembrance.

But I recently learned another, powerful way to understand this passage. 

In the Zohar, the central text of Jewish mysticism, we learn that the Hebrew words:  “Zachor et Asher asa lecha Amalek” can be reinterpreted by taking the world lecha –which we usually translate as meaning –“TO YOU,” and turning it around and translating it as meaning – “within you”. Similarly, in parashat Lech Lecha – when God charges Abraham to “Lech Lecha” – go forth – go within yourself and learn”.  In this light – Remember what Amalek did WITHIN you.” Teaches us that we all have some Amalek within us – we all have the potential to strike out against the good and fragile in our world.

Our story of Redemption is both ancient and evergreen. The clash between good and evil, Right and Wrong, the oppressed and the oppressor is never-ending. Similarly, we, as a nation and as individuals, are susceptible to the same self-centered narrow-minded world view as that of our ancient ancestors who complained in the wilderness. We forget so quickly! In today’s world, the need to remember, sanctify and teach the injustices of the past still plays out in the halls of Congress, in our nation’s long history of distrust and demonization of people of color, in the callous and nefarious attempt to block essential aspects of our nation’s history – especially in regards to the racism in our midst – born out of the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow, in the reconning taking place in our cities around police brutality; in the banning of books; the disinformation that is callously used to manipulate the masses around election fraud, Vaccination disinformation, Climate Change, attacks on women’s health, demonize immigrants, and a myriad of other campaigns designed to intimidate and manipulate vulnerable populations. 

One would think that, given the long lens of history, we would learn from our mistakes and refrain from succumbing to the temptation to think only of ourselves and use power to subjugate others – but, as our people know all too well, the lessons of the past are not easily learned.  The Amalek within us is a powerful force.  It urges us to ignore the evils around us and focus on our own narrow-minded perceptions of the world around us – often at our own peril.

The act of liberation – be it from Egyptian Bondage, American Slavery, Jim Crow or centuries of fear, prejudice and aggression  - is an essential part of our moral compass and daily living. As we are witnessing on a daily basis, there are too many opportunities to forget our mission and allow the Amaleks – from within and without – to rise to prominence. This is a constant danger that we all face.

May we each find the strength and courage to fight the battle within ourselves and our nation to call out injustice, evil and oppression whenever and wherever we see it.  Then and only then, will our song at the sea be fulfilled.

Shabbat shalom