Sixty Years and Forty Years—And Where Are We in Our Wandering?
September 12, 2007
by Rabbi Gerry Serotta

Erev Rosh Hashanah 5768

For better or worse, the days when you wanted to find out something you went to the library, a dictionary, or an encyclopedia are long gone. Nowadays if you look for information, you go to the Internet—you Google a term, or a person—maybe you look in Wikipedia. Now if you went to the Net and looked up “How to do a High Holy Day Sermon,” I promise you that you will find thousands upon thousands of them—many, many words. But, if you look in a text of Jewish law such as the Shulchan Aruch, you will actually find a job description of the High Holiday preacher, basically instructions for what I am supposed to do and say tonight, especially at the outset of these days, which, of course, were not known as High Holiday or Holy Days traditionally, but as Yamim Noraim, the days of Awe, the awesome days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

To take the most colloquial way of saying it my job is to “bum you out,” To help the congregation and myself determine where we have gone wrong, where we have been inadequate: especially so in our Jewish job description, as a partner with God in renewing and improving the created world, as citizens of the US, as parents, as children, as lovers, as friends.

But, not only to “bum you out”—and with the world outside in the condition that it is, I don’t have to do very much, do I? I could just stand here and hold up a newspaper. But, my job is also, of course, to remind you that that these awesome days are also called “aseret y’may teshuvah,” the ten days of repentance, the ten days of turning around, of contemplating how we might do things differently in whatever time we have remaining in our lives.

I have in mind a particular area of failure of our own community in need of some teshuvah. But, I’ll approach my job tonight indirectly by beginning with a text from the Talmud that speaks of what seems an unrelated issue, what are we supposed to do and say when someone comes to us and says they want to convert to Judaism? One of the great joys of being a Rabbi, (and I know I speak for myself and Rabbi Feshbach as well) is to be present as a guide on the journey of those individuals who choose to cast their lot with the Jewish people—or as it is usually but misleadingly called “convert to Judaism.’ Our doors are always open for such a conversation and such a journey.

I prefer the contemporary term, Jew-by-Choice, to the term “convert,” for at least two important reasons. First, it represents the reality that this process reflects an acceptance of the “fate” of a people more than it implies a “conversion” from one “faith” to another. I have met some Jews-by-Choice whose faith remained constant during this process and others who have new and renewed experiences of “faith.” The whole process is perhaps best characterized as a mutual adoption, whereby an individual person adopts the Jewish people and we adopt him or her simultaneously.

But, more importantly in the world of the 21st Century, becoming a Jew- by-Choice places one squarely in the same spiritual domain as most other American Jews today, i.e., we are all Jews-by-Choice in some sense. Unlike the situation in other countries or other historical eras, we really do have the ability to assimilate in this society. In some fashion, therefore, “Jews-by-Birth” become Jews-by-Choice through our spiritual recommitments at the start of every Jewish year. We are not literally “born-again” as Jews each year, but there is an element associated with the confessional prayers (Ashamnu and Al Cheit) and the implied trial for our life, which is part of the Holy Day liturgy, that requires us to make new and better choices for ourselves each year.

Over the years, I have been privileged to act as a representative of our people on the beit din, the court of acceptance for literally hundreds of wonderful individuals who take this momentous step. In these conversations, I like to refer to the Talmudic text from Tractate Yevamot (47a) which states in part the following:

“Our Rabbis taught: If at the present time a person desires to become a ger, (which I think is best understood as a “naturalized member of the Jewish people) he is to be addressed as follows:

‘What have you seen that you have come to join us—don’t you know that we Jews face oppression and discrimination? If he or she says I know, but I am ready to pursue it, the person is accepted immediately and is given instruction in some of the minor and the major commandments.’” (The text actually does not define what is a minor or a major commandment.)

The candidate is then informed of several specific Torah obligations—sharing our income and our property with the needy for example. It then continues with some ritual obligations, which are not part of being an ethical or decent human being, but are part of the unique traditions of the Jewish people, like observing the Sabbath. I will further analyze this Talmudic text on Yom Kippur, but for tonight I want to focus on the very first question asked the convert. “Do you know that you take on yourself the ‘fate’ of this people, that is, its future as well as its past—its fate perhaps as much as its faith?”

This question harks back to the proclamation of the first clearly conscious Jew- by-Choice, Ruth. She said to her mother-in-law Naomi when she volunteered to return with her to Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel: “Your people shall be my people, Your God my God.” The people first, their “God” second. Ruth knew what is still the case and what we try to make clear to any Jew- by-Choice today. She was joining Am Yisrael, the people of Israel

Now you may have noticed that I have just used two terms, Eretz Yisrael, meaning the land of Israel, and Am Yisrael, meaning the people of Israel, that is the Jewish people. For the last 60 years the Jewish people, wherever we live, has also had the pleasure, the challenge, and I will argue the Mitzvah, the obligation, of engaging with MedinatYisrael, the State of Israel.

Some time in the last two years, a banner appeared on the side of our congregation, which reads “Temple Shalom Supports Israel.” What does this banner mean, and is it true? To which Israel does the banner refer? Does it mean that we, Temple Shalom all support Am Yisrael, the Jewish People, Eretz Yisrael, the Land; Medinat Yisrael, the state; or perhaps the government of that State, Memshelet Yisrael? But, of course, we do see Israel’s government, like all governments including our own as fallible—maybe especially our own.

As the beginning of an answer, consider a story about Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev. Levi Yitzchak was the Chasidic Rebbe who famously decided on the High Holy Days one year that the Jewish people should be putting God on trial for the Divine failure to bring redemption from suffering in the world, rather than the other way around, our being on trial as it were for our failures.) This same Rabbi Levi Yitzchak apparently had two clocks in his house. One clock was set to the time in Berditchev in Eastern Europe, but the other was always set to “Jerusalem time.”

The idea of two clocks was made more compelling for our own family last year when our oldest son Zack spent a “gap year” between high school and college in Israel with Habonim, mostly teaching in Israeli Arab towns near Akko in Northern Israel. We were constantly mindful of the time and the circumstances of Zack and his group. This constant awareness, the keeping track of events, is certainly the beginning of what it might mean to “support Israel.”

This year the local Jewish Federation asked the Rabbis to help them answer what seems to be a “no-brainer.” The Federation has established as their strategic goal for the year (quote) “To create a broader and deeper connection between the Washington Jewish community and the state of Israel.” So they turned to us to answer the seemingly obvious question—“why do we want to do this—why is Israel important to Jews in the DC area today?”

I’ll put it another way. What is the Mitzvah? What is our obligation? And, another question—why is this year different from any other year? After all, most Jews who observe two days of Rosh Hashanah read every year of the tearing of the fabric of the family of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar: the alienation of Isaac from Ishmael that is ultimately repaired when they reconcile and recognize their common inheritance at the death of Abraham. Every year this reminds us of the imperative to bring peace to the descendants of Abraham/Ibrahim in the lands of Israel/Palestine.

I will give you three answers as to why this year is different from any other, especially at Temple Shalom:

1. This year marks some major anniversaries of momentous events in recent Jewish history.
2. This year with the publication of a new prayerbook by the Reform movement, our movement has restored some of the language of connection and aspirations for peace and justice that reminds us daily of our unique connections to the Land.
3. The matzav—The Situation The Jewish people, Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael, and Medinat Yisrael need us more than ever.

But, before we immerse ourselves too quickly in the anniversaries, the liturgy, and the Matzav, especially the politics, I want to point out that there is a living, thriving culture in Eretz Yisrael with much to teach the rest of Am Yisrael and the world. Your best opportunity to experience this fully is, of course, to travel there, and I am delighted to remind you that once again you will have an opportunity for travel together with your community next summer. There are also special free trips to Israel for college age and young adults over the winter break, and I’ll be happy to share details with anyone interested.

I’m sure you are aware that Israelis have made enormous advances in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine that have improved the lives of humanity. There are inspiring and ennobling achievements in the area of the arts, some of which in the area of music have been brought to us by our Chazan Ramón and our beloved choir Shir Shalom over the years. 5768 will bring two wonderful opportunities for enjoyment in the area of music, a community concert at Strathmore in March and a celebration of Israeli Independence Day here at Temple Shalom in May. In May we will also enjoy an exhibit of Israeli art reflecting both the history of Israeli masters and contemporary masters as well.

I’m pleased to report that a dedicated group of volunteers has been hard at work since this summer in our Israel/ARZA Committee, putting together a program together with the Adult Education committee that should stimulate your minds and touch your heart and soul. Please take a look at the blue flyer on your way out tonight and join us in filling in the opportunities we hope to create when we meet on October 7.

The anniversaries I mentioned began last June, of course, when we noted the 40 years that have passed since the Six Day war of June 1967. They continue in the fall with the marking on November 29, Kaf Tet B’November, of 60 years since the passage of the UN plan for the partition of Palestine, creating the international legal basis for a Jewish state and a Palestinian Arab state to share the territory of the British mandate west of the Jordan River. Next May we will also mark the 60th anniversary of the proclamation of the Jewish state of Israel with its Megillat Atzmaut, Scroll of Independence, declaring that the State would be based on freedom, justice, and peace as envisaged by the Prophets of Israel, ensuring complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race, or gender.

In our new prayerbook (when it comes soon, even before the Messiah, God-Willing) you will notice in the morning service two significant restorations of traditional Hebrew language that were removed in the 19th century, both in the blessings connected to the Sh’ma. In Ahavah Rabbah, with the great and deep love that God show us we include the prayerful request, “V’havi-einu l’shalom mei-arba kanfot ha-aretz, and gather us in peace from the four corners of the earth and lead us upright to our Land.” And, in the prayer Yotzeir Or, in which we acknowledge God as Creator of Light and Darkness, we have restored a phrase that meant one thing when our nation was entirely in the diaspora and can mean something else to us today. We will pray “Ohr Chadash Al Tzion Ta-ir, V’nizkeh Chulanu Meheirah L’Oro – Cause a new light to shine over Zion and may we all be worthy soon to bask in its radiance.” Perhaps we should view this as a commitment as well as a prayer. Let us together with God cause the light of peace and justice soon to reemerge in Zion for the benefit of our people and all peoples everywhere.

Why was the prayerbook changed in the 19th century and revised now? Remember that certain of our predecessors, the original framers of the Pittsburgh Platform of Reform Judaism declared in 1885 that “We consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious community, and therefore, do not expect a return to Palestine.” By 1937 the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) had reversed its stand on Jewish peoplehood asserting that: “Judaism is the soul of which Am Yisrael (the people of Israel) is the body.” In 1997, 112 years after the Pittsburgh Platform, the CCAR stated the following: “We believe that the renewal and perpetuation of Jewish national life in Eretz Yisrael is a necessary condition for the realization of the physical and spiritual redemption of the Jewish people and all humanity.”

Our new Siddur, Mishkan Tefillah, reflects this concept of the connection of the modern state of Israel with redemption. But, “Temple Shalom Supports Israel” as our banner says can’t mean only in our prayers. How do we balance our values with respect to the various meanings of Israel implied in our banner?

The 1997 principles further state: “We believe that the eternal covenant established at Sinai ordained a unique religious purpose for Am Yisrael (the people Israel). Medinat Yisrael, the Jewish State, is therefore unlike all other states. Its obligation is to strive towards the attainment of the Jewish people’s highest moral ideals, to be a mamlechet kohanim (a kingdom of priests), a goy kadosh (a holy people), and l’or goyim (a light unto the nations). Centuries of Jewish persecution, culminating in the Shoah, demonstrated the risks of powerlessness. We therefore, affirm Am Yisrael’s reassertion of national sovereignty, but we urge that it be used to create the kind of society in which full civil, human, and religious rights exist for all its citizens. Ultimately. Medinat Yisrael will be judged not on its military might, but on its character. While we view Eretz Yisrael as sacred, the sanctity of Jewish life takes precedence over the sanctity of Jewish land.”

The period from 1948-67 established Israel as a fact. But, the interval between 1967 and 2007 has established that the freedom and dignity of Israel’s citizens is incomplete as long as there is no concomitant freedom and dignity for Palestinians. David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, and Levi Eshkol the Prime Minister during the Six Day War have been proven right. Both predicted in June 1967 that ruling over a recalcitrant Arab civilian population could corrupt the Israeli people who would be cast into the role of occupiers.

As my long time Hillel colleague and Orthodox Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller has written recently:

“The occupation is the greatest catastrophe to befall the Jewish people in the aftermath of the Holocaust. The settlers and the compliant Israeli and American governments that have supported them, the so-called Christian Zionists who support them as a precursor to Armageddon have succeeded in overturning two thousand year of a tradition of justice for the ‘other’ and in transforming the Jewish people into an oppressive occupier. The settlement movement has corrupted the people of Israel to the point that the ideals that inspired the creation of Israel have withered and the moral voice of the Jewish tradition has been compromised.

The occupation is the most un-Jewish of projects and from a religious perspective, it is a hillul hashem—a desecration of God’s Name. We all bear the burden of guilt and can gain atonement by devoting our considerable energies to the struggle to end the occupation. Otherwise, into the future, the State of Israel will remain as a reminder to humanity, not that a people has risen from the ashes with a vision of hope and justice, but that, given the opportunity, the Jewish people has acted no differently from any other conquering power.

 “I have sadly joined the aveilei tzion and cry for Zion daily as part of my teshuvah. Not only does the future of Israel hang in the balance but the future of a principled and just Judaism does as well.”

One of Israel’s most prominent journalists, Danny Rubenstein comments:

“We hear frequently that the conflict is complex, but I am convinced that the principles for its resolution are relatively simple. First and most critical, is the principle of dividing the land into two political entities, or, as it is commonly put, two states for two peoples. There is only one alternative to this principle: if there are not two states, there will be one. One state for the two peoples; there is no other choice. And, what kind of state would that be? One state for the two peoples would necessarily be an apartheid state, a state in which the stronger Jewish community would deny the rights of the Palestinians. An apartheid state, no longer democratic, because full equality for the Palestinians would mean the end of Israel’s existence as a Jewish state. And, how long would such an apartheid state mange to survive? And, at what cost to the moral passions of the Jewish people?”

Whichever path we choose to follow, a truism of Jewish life expressed in a phrase that we chant during the Torah service will inexorably come to pass: “Ki Mitzion Tetzei Torah.” Torah will emerge from Zion. The interaction of the Jewish people and the Palestinians will teach our children and the world who we are. The way the state of Israel deals with foreign immigrant labor, with environmental issues, with its underclass, and with ethnic minorities will teach our children and the world Jewish values. It will be fine for us to continue our activities on behalf of Tikkun Olam here in Chevy Chase, Maryland, but it will not be enough. For better and for worse, after the existence of the State of Israel, what goes on there is of deep existential meaning to us, our children, and our world. Can we preach as Jews about social justice without reflecting on the Israeli relationship with the Arab citizens of Israel? Can we discuss economic justice as Jews without also reflecting on Israel’s approach to equity and distribution?

What I am saying is that the future of Jewish values, of two millennia of Jewish universalism and humanism, so powerfully expressed by the prophets and echoed by many of their heirs, including Reform Jews inspired by what we rightly call prophetic Judaism, these are at stake in the Jewish State of Israel. Do we need Israel?—Israel needs us—Israel is Us. Whether Jews-by-Choice or Jews-by-Birth we are part of Am Yisrael, the Jewish people.

Our loyalty and love of Israel may lead some us to a strong critique. That critique is part of our support. Do we fail to tell those we really love when they disappoint us, do we fail to warn them when their behavior endangers themselves? What I am saying is that Reform Jews and Reform Judaism do have an incredible stake in the nature and the future of the State of Israel.

Reflecting poetically on the special events of this year and the coincidence of Rosh Hashanah as the birthday of the world, Rabbi Jonathan Malino, a colleague in North Carolina with whom I have worked and studied since before 1967, wrote recently

Forty years
Six days

Dreams and hopes
Disappointment and despair
Perplexity and bewilderment

In Six Days God created the worldIn Forty
He washed it away
Hoping for better results

In Six days God created the worldFor Forty
He stuck Moses on a mountaintop
Frightened Israelites
Danced about a golden calf

In Six days God created the worldFor Forty Years
Israel wandered the wilderness
The timid died off
A new generation
Entered the Promised Land

In Six days
Israel conquered Sinai, Gaza, Jerusalem, Hebron, Shechem, Jericho, Bethlehem, Beit El
For Forty Years Israel built settlements and roads
Stole land and water
Uprooted trees
Established checkpoints
Controlled Movement Livelihood Education Health
In Six days Israel conquered The Promised Land
For Forty years it wandered
The wilderness of politics
Without Moses or Joshua
With nightmares of Amalekites

Creation 6
Flood 40
Mt Sinai 40
Desert 40
War 6
Occupation 40

Let my people go

We can be depressed by the reality that the Jewish state has been besieged since before the day of its creation up until this very day, and rationalize or justify every action of the State with some version of a slogan, ain breira, Israel has/ had no choice other than to …Or we can be deeply involved by supporting those in our movement and elsewhere who struggle to uphold the vision of Israel articulated by Reform Zionism.

What is our understanding today of the mitzvah, which was classically defined as “yeshuv haaretz’—settling in the land of Israel.  Let me suggest that the mitzvah be defined as ahavat eretz yisrael, love for the land of Israel, and that this love be defined in terms of deeper knowledge, continuous caring, support and presence whenever and wherever possible.

Do you know how we say knowledge, caring, and support in Hebrew? With the words of the v’ahavta prayer, “B’chol L’vav’cha, B’chol Nafsh’cha, U’vchol Meodecha, with all your heart, soul, and might.” Two of these are easy to quantify: Our Temple, especially our Israel and Adult Education committees will give you this year the tools to connect b’chol lvav’chah, with all the intellect of your heart. Notice the first program of many coming up Friday night, September 28, a lecture following services by Israeli journalist Akiva Eldar. Also,  please consider the possibility of a visit next summer.

B’chol Meodecha means support with your material resources, for example, through Israel Bonds as indicated in envelopes on the tables, as well as complementary ways to invest your energy and resources in special projects in areas such as civil liberties, civil rights, peace education, women’s rights (through organizations like the New Israel Fund), and Rabbis for Human Rights.

B’chol Nafshecha means with your deepest soul connection. To do this work in Israel’s case is a matter of that country’s physical and moral survival. It is a deep, deep honor and privilege to connect with our people’s past and the destiny of the world, which is how we understand it when we say “We believe that the renewal and perpetuation of Jewish national life in Eretz Yisrael is a necessary condition for the realization of the physical and spiritual redemption of the Jewish people and all humanity.”

We need to take the words down from the banner “Temple Shalom supports Israel” and put them into our hearts—not as a slogan like one which sits outside a high school like “We support the Barons, or “We support the Bears or some other animal,” that we support one team over another in some kind of game. The families of Abraham/Ibrahim, Sarah, and Hagar are just that—family. We can only win together or we will lose together.

60 years after the creation of Israel, 40 years since we have wandered the desert of occupation, we need to maintain two clocks. The fate of our people, is spiritually as well as physically on the line—not to engage is to choose a dangerous and unacceptable status quo. Equally, we are forbidden to give up hope. Let us do all we can to make the slogan on our wall, “Temple Shalom supports Israel a reality in this New Year”—may it bring peace, justice, and healing to us all, and may those who wish say, Amen.