YOM KIPPUR MORNING 5767

Solidarity with Israel

Rabbi Eric Polokoff, B’nai Israel of Southbury

AT A PRO-ISRAEL RALLY HERE IN CONNECTICUT THIS PAST SUMMER A COLLEAGUE OF MINE ADDRESSED A CROWD OF NEARLY 600 PEOPLE. RESPONDING TO CRITICISM OF ISRAEL’S CONDUCT OF THE WAR – OBJECTIONS TO THE TACTICAL BOMBING OF BUILDINGS, HIGHWAYS, BRIDGES AND POWER STATIONS THAT READILY MORPHED BY THE MOST IRRESPONSIBLE INTO OBSCENE ACCUSATIONS OF “WAR CRIMES” – MY COLLEAGUE HAD A CHOICE MESSAGE FOR JEWS, AND FOR NON-JEWS. TO JEWS HE SAID: SOLIDARITY WITH ISRAEL MEANS BEING SOLID WITH ISRAEL – AND THAT MEANS WE MUST NEVER CRITICIZE THE JEWISH STATE. AND TO THE NON-JEWS, HE OPINED: AFTER THE HOLOCAUST, JUST WHO ARE YOU GENTILES TO LECTURE US ABOUT MORALITY?

NOTWITHSTANDING MY STRONG SUPPORT OF ISRAEL’S RESPONSE TO HEZBOLLAH TERROR, NOTHWITHSTANDING MY CORE FAITH IN THE MORAL LEGITIMACY OF SELF-DEFENSE, I WAS NOT A ‘HAPPY CAMPER’ LISTENING TO MY COLLEAGUE, NOR DID I MAKE MUCH EFFORT TO HIDE MY DISTRESS. FOR AS A JEW, AS A ZIONIST, AND AS AN AMERICAN, I FOUND HIS MESSAGES OFFENSIVE ON MANY LEVELS. WE MUST NEVER CRITICIZE THE JEWISH STATE? SO MUCH FOR FREE SPEECH. WE MUST COVER-UP OUR THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS WITH COERCED SILENCE? SO MUCH FOR HONESTY AND INTEGRITY. SO MUCH FOR THE REASON WE BEAT OUR BREASTS IN THIS VERY SERVICE, DECRYING DIBARNU DOFI, THAT IS, OUR PLEDGE TO FURTHER REFRAIN FROM UTTERING FALSEHOOD OR HYPOCRISY. WHAT GALLING PRESUMPTUOUSNESS ON HIS PART. WHAT AN ABJECT DEPARTURE FROM THE PRIMARY LESSONS OF JUDAISM: TZEDAKAH, RIGHTEOUSNESS AND MUSAR, MORAL PASSION.

AS MY COLLEAGUE SPOKE I REMINDED MYSELF HOW IN THEIR OWN DEMOCRATIC NATION,THE LAST THING OUR ISRAELI BROTHERS AND SISTERS WOULD EVER COUNTENANCE IS MINDLESS SELF-CENSORSHIP. JUST TAKE A LOOK ON THE INTERNET IN ENGLISH OF THE SHARP COMMENTARIES IN ISRAELI NEWSPAPERS YESTERDAY OVER THE COMPLETION OF THE WITHDRAWAL FROM LEBANON IN THE ABSENCE OF THOSE TWO KIDNAPPED ISRAELI SOLDIERS, EHUD GOLDWASSER AND ELDAD REGEV. YET I KNOW MY COLLEAGUE WOULD HAVE AN ANSWER FOR THIS. HE WOULD COUNTER THAT ISRAELIS INDEED HAVE THE RIGHT TO SAY WHAT THEY WANT – BECAUSE THEY FACE DANGER. IT IS WE AMERICANS, IN OUR CUSHY DIASPORA, WHO MUST EXERCISE RESTRAINT.

NOW THE LAST THING I’D EVER WANT TO DO IS IMPERIL ISRAELIS. NOR DO I WISH TO CONFUSE THE DEMANDS OF ISRAELI CITIZENSHIP WITH THE NATURE OF AMERICAN FRIENDSHIP. BUT THIS ARGUMENT OF SUPPRESSION, THOU SHALT NOT TALK, TOO, IS DEEPLY FLAWED. BY THE SAME LOGIC, IN A HYPOTEHTICAL EXAMPLE, SHOULD A BATTERED WOMAN DECIDE TO STAY QUIET ABOUT HER ABUSE AND HER CHILD’S ABUSE, WE TOO, WOULD HAVE TO REMAIN SILENT, NOT REPORTING THE ABUSE EITHER. AFTER ALL, USING MY COLLEAGUE’S FAULTY LOGIC, SHE – THE BATTERED SPOUSE – IS EXPOSED TO DANGER, NOT US.

I ALSO FOUND UNSOUND MY COLLEAGUE’S CHAUVANISTIC ASSERTION THAT IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE SHOAH, ALL NON-JEWS ARE INTRINSICALLY COMPROMISED. EVER THE PRAGMATIST, I MUSED, ‘NOW THERE’S A SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY FOR ISRAEL ADVOCACY – JUST TELL THE GOYIM TO BE PERPETUALLY ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES.” I THOUGHT: “DON’T TRY THIS ERIC ON YOUR FEBRUARY ADL INTERFAITH MISSION TO ISRAEL.”

NO, I PROPOSE INSTEAD THAT WE APPROACH DISCUSSION ABOUT ISRAEL THE VERY SAME WAY OUR YOM KIPPUR LITURGY COMMANDS US TO APPROACH EVERYTHING ELSE: THAT IS, BY AVOWING NOT TO SUCCUMB TO DIBARNU DOFI,BY NEVER SPEAKING GLIBLY OR RASHLY, BY NEVER SPEAKING IRRESPONSIBLY OR UNFAIRLY. UNLIKE MY COLLEAGUE, MY QUARREL WITH ISRAEL’S JEWISH AND NON-JEWISH CRITICS IS NOT THAT ISRAEL IS INHERENTLY ABOVE THEIR OR ANY CRITICISM, BUT RATHER, THAT MOST OF THE CRITICISM OF ISRAEL HAS BEEN UNINFORMED, UNBALANCED, OR JUST PLAIN WRONG.

IN FACT, NUMEROUS WATCHDOG GROUPS HAVE DOCUMENTED ALL SORTS OF ANTI-ZIONIST BIAS AND MEDIA MANIPULATION. FOR INSTANCE, PICTURES FROM REUTERS THIS SUMMER SHOWING PLUMES OF SMOKE IN BEIRUT WERE PROVEN TO HAVE BEEN DOCTORED BY PHOTOSHOP. I THOUGHT: NOW, THERE’S A SURPRISE!? FOR MY PART, I HAD ALREADY DECIDED TO SURVEY THE NUMBER OF NEWS PHOTOS WHERE PICTURES OF WEDDING DRESSES ARE PLACED IN FRONT OF BUILDINGS DAMAGED BY ISRAELI BOMBS. THESE STAGED PHOTOS SEEMED TO APPEAR SO OFTEN, I’M FAIRLY CERTAIN THAT THERE ARE MORE BRIDAL SHOPS THAN FELAFEL STANDS IN THE ARAB WORLD. OR CONSIDER THIS TELLING EXAMPLE. WHILE ON VACATION IN JULY IN OUR FLORIDA HOTEL ROOM ELLEN AND I FOLLOWED THE WAR. ON EVENING WE WATCHED ON CNN A WELL-KNOWN PUNDIT, FORMER SENATOR GEORGE MITCHELL. MITCHELL REASSURED THE VIEWERS THAT SYRIA WOULD BEHAVE RESPONSIBLY IN THE WAR, SINCE SYRIA WAS POLITICALLY AND MILITARILY ISOLATED, AND FURTHER, IT WAS MILITARILY VULNERABLE TO ISRAELI RETALIATION. ELLEN THOUGHT I MIGHT EXPLODE AS I RAILED AT THE TELEVISION SCREEN: “SYRIA UNPROTECTED? IS HE CRAZY? DOESN’T HE KNOW THAT SYRIA AND IRAN SIGNED A MUTUAL DEFENSE TREATY LAST MONTH? THE REAL ISSUE IS IRAN.” I WAS SHRIEKING AT A TELEVISION, HOWEVER, NOT INTO A TELEPHONE. THE IRAN-SYRIA DEFENSE TREATY FACT WENT OVERLOOKED; NO ONE WAS SUFFICIENTLY KNOWLEDGEABLE – OR VEXED – TO CHALLENGE MITCHELL’S ERRONEOUS AND MISLEADING ANALYSIS.

THIS ENTIRE EPISODE MADE ME REALIZE THAT THE ISRAEL-ARAB CONFLICT WILL BE BETTER GRASPED NOT THROUGH ENDLESS CHATTER AND PITIFUL PUNDITRY, BUT BY RETURNING TO THE BASICS. WOULDN’T IT BE BETTER TO SIMPLY EXPLAIN, TO REITERATE THE CLEARLY-STATED GOALS AND TACTICS OF THE COMBATANTS? HEZBOLLAH AND HAMAS HAVE AN ESPOUSED GOAL – JIHAD. THEY PROPOSE ARMED STRUGGLE TO RECONQUER FORMERLY ISLAMIC-CONTROLLED LAND. TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL, THEY HAVE SAID THAT ANY AND ALL MEANS ARE JUSTIFIED, INCLUDING THE INDISCRIMINATE TARGETING OF CIVILIANS. ISRAEL, ON THE OTHER HAND, HAS A DIFFERENT GOAL. ISRAEL SEEKS NOT CONQUEST BUT SHALOM.ISRAEL SEEKS, TO PARAPHRASE THE PROPHET, PEACE WITH HER ARAB NEIGHBORS SO AS TO FOCUS ON PLOWSHARES, NOT SWORDS; TO CONCENTRATE ON TECHNOLOGY, MEDICINE, FAITH, CULTURE, AND AGRICULTURE.

IN PURSUIT OF SHALOM ISRAEL, EVEN IN FACING JIHAD, ATTEMPTED A LIMITED WAR OF SELF-DEFENSE THROUGH MEASURED, PRECISION STRIKES AGAINST ARSENALS AND INFRASTRUCTURE. BY ITS OWN ADMISSION, THE ENDEAVOR WAS NOT ENTIRELY SUCCESSFUL. YET THIS SUMMER’S WAR EMBODIED, IF NOT REVEALED, WHAT REMAINS EVERYONE’S ESSENTIAL CHOICE: JIHAD OR SHALOM. THE WORLD CAN ACQUIESE TO THOSE ON THE PATHWAY OF JIHAD – OR WE CAN BUTTRESS DERECH SHALOM.

NEITHER OPTION IS WITHOUT ITS CHALLENGES. TO BE SURE, THE IMAGES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF SUFFERING WE OBSERVED IN LEBANON MADE THE WAR AN UNCOMFORTABLE TOPIC FOR MANY. SOME CONGREGANTS DESPAIRED OF TALKING WITH THEIR NON-JEWISH FRIENDS. SUCH SILENCE, HOWEVER, IS NEITHER HEALTHY NOR HELPFUL; IT BREEDS CHAUVANISM AND FALSEHOOD, AND OBSCURES THE VALUING OF MORAL JUSTICE BY JEW AND NON-JEW ALIKE. LET US THEREFORE, AT THIS HOLIEST OF MOMENTS, REFLECT FURTHER ON REAL SOLIDARITY WITH ISRAEL – AND HOW IT CAN HELP TO MAKE US SOLID.

SOLIDARITY WITH ISRAEL BEGINS WITH CLEAR ANSWERS TO THE WELL-ORGANIZED ANTI-ISRAEL OPPOSITION WHOM WE MEET AT FORUMS, READ IN THE NEWSPAPERS, AND EVEN SEE DEMONSTRATING IN FRONT OF THIS CAMPUS. ON THIS LAST POINT AT THE HEIGHT OF THE WAR A PROTESTOR HELD A SIGN OUTSIDE OUR GATE. THE SIGN PURPORTED TO TALLY ISRAELI AND LEBANESE CASUALTIES; THE DEMONSTRATOR WAS APPARENTLY DISAPPOINTED THAT COMPARATIVELY, TOO FEW ISRAELIS – THAT IS, TOO FEW JEWS – HAD DIED. THEN THERE’S AL-ADWA: THE RIGHT OF RETURN, THE LEADING ISRAEL-HATING ORGANIZATION IN OUR STATE. IT IS ACTIVE HERE AS WELL. AL ADWA SAYS THAT IT CHAMPIONS A ONE-STATE SOLUTION, A PLURALISTIC, DEMOCRATIC, SECULAR PALESTINE – AS IF ANYTHING REMOTELY RESEMBLING SUCH A DEMOCRACY EXISTS ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE MIDDLE EAST OTHER THAN ISRAEL. SPEAKING AT A FORUM AT NAUGATUCK VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE IN MAY AL-ADWA ACTIVISTS VOICED THEIR CHIEF GRIEVANCE: ISRAEL IS A “JEWISH STATE.” THEY OBJECTED TO ISRAEL’S LAW OF RETURN THAT SPECIFICALLY WELCOMES JEWS. SPEAKING TO IMPRESSIONABLE COLLEGE STUDENTS IN WATERBURY THEY SINGLED OUT ISRAEL AS AN EXCEPTIONAL, BRUTAL, RACIST ENTITY. AND THEY COULDN’T HAVE BEEN MORE INCORRECT.

HERE’S WHY. THERE IS NOTHING THE LEAST BIT UNUSUAL ABOUT A RELIGIOUSLY-ORIENTED NATION-STATE. THEY INCLUDE IRAN, SAUDI ARABIA, JORDAN, AND COUNTLESS OTHER NATIONS – SUCH AS NORWAY, DENMARK AND ICELAND? THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES ISRAEL AN ANOMOLY IS THAT IT’S THE ONLY RELIGOUSLY-ORIENTED STATE FOR JEWS, THE OTHER MONOTHEISTIC FAITHS TEND TO HAVE SEVERAL. NOR IS ISRAEL UNIQUE IN HAVING A LAW OF RETURN. SAY YOU HAVE AN IRISH BORN GRANDPARENT – YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO IRISH CITIZENSHIP. THERE ARE ALSO PROCESSES FOR REPATRIATION TO THEIR RESPECTIVE HOMELANDS FOR PEOPLE OF ARMENIAN, BULGARIAN, FINNISH AND GREEK ANCESTRIES, AMONGST OTHERS. IN GERMANY, THE “GERMAN LAW” ENABLES PEOPLE OF GERMAN DESCENT, PARTICULARLY THOSE LIVING EASTERN EUROPE, TO ACQUIRE GERMAN CITIZENSHIP. AND IF WE WANT TO TALK DISCRIMINATION IN CITIZENSHIP, HOWEVER, THE PLACE TO LOOK IS FAR EAST OF ISRAEL, TO JAPAN. SOME MINORITIES THERE REMAIN PERMANENT RESIDENTS FOR GENERATIONS. BUT WHO QUESTIONS THE LEGITIMACY OF JAPAN OR IRELAND OR GERMANY? I’VE YET TO SEE LITERATURE ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES CHALLENGING NORWAY’S RIGHT TO EXIST AS A LUTHERAN STATE.

MOREOVER, THE WHOLE MANTRA THAT ‘ZIONISM EQUALS RACISM’ IS PATENTLY BOGUS. JEWS COME IN MANY RACIAL TYPES. JEWISHNESS IS AN ETHNIC – NOT A RACIAL – IDENTITY. AKIN TO IRELAND, UNDER THE LAW OF RETURN PEOPLE WITH A SINGLE JEWISH GRANDPARENT ARE ELIGIBLE FOR ISRAELI CITIZENSHIP. AND SO ARE CONVERTS, JEWS-BY-CHOICE. BY VERY DEFINITION, YOU CAN’T SWITCH YOUR RACE. STILL, ISRAEL’S DETRACTORS HERE AND BEYOND DIBRU DOFI, THEY SHAMELESSLY TRY TO POPULARIZE THEIR PREJUDICED MYTHS.

OUR SOLIDARITY WITH ISRAEL BEGS US TO INTERNALIZE THESE TRUTHS IN ISRAEL’S DEFENSE. OUR SOLIDARITY CHARGES US TO AVOW THAT JEWS, TOO, NEED A HOMELAND – ALONG WITH A MECHANISM FOR IMMIGRATION TO IT. WE LEARNED THIS TRUTH THE HARD WAY, FOR THE ABSENCE OF A STATE NEARLY DESTROYED US. AND AMAZINGLY, EVEN AFTER THE SHOAH, EVEN AFTER THE DEATHS OF SIX MILLION, THERE WERE STILL POGROMS. HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS IN POLAND FACED REPRISAL FOR THE MERE CRIME OF VENTURING HOME. UNWELCOMED IN THEIR HOMES, THAT PRECIOUS REMNANT AND OTHERS JOINED WITH ZIONIST PIONEERS AND OTHER ENDANGERED JEWRIES AND RETURNED TO OUR ANCIENT HOME. THEY ESTABLISHED MEDINAT YISRAEL, THE STATE OF ISRAEL, AND FASHIONED AN OPEN, VIBRANT AND TOLERANT SOCIETY. MEDINAT YISRAEL IS FAR FROM PERFECT – WE REFORM JEWS HAVE A FEW OF OUR OWN SPECIFIC COMPLAINTS – YET IT STANDS A TESTAMENT TO OPTIMISM, TO FAITH, AND TO JUSTICE.

ALL THIS ACHIEVEMENT HAPPENED WITH SOME HELP, INCLUDING ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SUPPORT FROM OUR AMERICAN JEWISH COMMUNITY AND THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. ONE OF THE KEYS TO OUR EFFECTIVE ADVOCACY HAS BEEN TO NOT HOLD ISRAEL ABOVE REPROACH, BUT RATHER TO CANDIDLY AND OPENLY HIGHLIGHT ISRAEL AND AMERICA’S SHARED VALUES AND STRATEGIC INTERESTS. OF COURSE, THIS COMMONALITY OF PURPOSE HAS INEVITABLY PRODUCED OPPONENTS. A NEW PROMINENT OPPONENT IS JOHN MEARSHEIMER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. AT A FORUM LAST WEEK HELD AT COOPER UNION, MEARSHEIMER ACCUSED US ZIONISTS OF LEADING AMERICA INTO THE IRAQ WAR. HE SAID: “THE ISRAEL LOBBY WAS ONE OF THE PRINCIPAL DRIVING FORCES BEHIND THE IRAQ WAR, AND IN ITS ABSENCE WE PROBABLY WOULD NOT HAVE HAD A WAR.” THE COMMENT STRUCK ME AS A NEW TWIST ON AN OLD THEME. FOR IT REAKS OF ANTI-SEMITISM. TO BORROW THE IMPOLITE DISCOURSE OF MY POOR RABBINICAL COLLEAGUE, MEARSHEIMER MAINTAINS: ‘THOSE GOYIM BUSH, CHENEY, RUMSFELD, & RICE: WHAT A BUNCH OF PUSHOVERS! WE JEWS CAN BEND THEM LIKE STRAW.’ AT COOPER UNION MEARSHEIMER ALSO CLAIMED THAT AL QAEDA’S “ANIMUS TO THE UNITED STATES… STEMMED FROM U.S. FOREIGN POLICY TOWARD ISRAEL.” DID YOU GET IT? PROFESSOR MEARSHEIMER WOULD HAVE US BEAT OUR BREASTS TWICE TODAY, NOT FOR THE SINS OF GOSSIP OR GLUTTONY, BUT FOR IRAQ AND OSAMA.

FORTUNATELY, MOST AMERICANS DON’T BUY THESE DABROT DOFI, THESE FALSE HALF-TRUTHS. NOR DO MOST OF OUR LEADERS, WHOM IN BI-PARTISAN AGREEMENT, REMAIN SUPPORTIVE OF ISRAEL. THEY UNDERSTAND WHO ARE THE REAL AGGRESSORS. DAILY NEWS PUBLISHER MORT ZUCKERMAN PUT IT WELL THIS SUMMER AS HE WROTE:

ELEVEN MONTHS AGO, ISRAEL WITHDREW FROM EVERY LAST INCHOF THE GAZA STRIP. THEY DISMANTLED ALL MILITARY BASES, TURNED OVER FUNCTIONING GREENHOUSES THAT COULD EMPLOY 4,000 PEOPLE, EXPELLED ALL 7,500 ISRAELI SETTLERS AT A HUGE FINANCIAL AND POLITICAL COST AND DECLARED THE LINES THAT DIVIDE ISRAEL FROM GAZA TO BE AN INTERNATIONAL FRONTIER, MAKING GAZA THE FIRST INDEPENDENT PALESTINIAN TERRITORY EVER. EVERYONE’S EXPECTATION WAS THAT THE PALESTINIANS, SO TREATED, WOULD SHOW THE WORLD WHAT THEY COULD ACHIEVE WITH FREEDOM. ALAS, THEY HAVE SHOWN ALL TOO WELL.NOT ONE DAY OF PEACE HAS FOLLOWED.

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IN THE WAKE OF QASSAM AND KATUSHYA ROCKETS SOLIDARITY WITH ISRAEL SUMMONS US TO TRANSCEND UNQUESTIONING TRIBAL LOYALTIES. INSTEAD, WE MUST HONESTLY AND SYMPATHICALLY CONSIDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES. BUT THIS SAME SOLIDARITY LIKEWISE DEMANDS THAT WE NOT SURRENDER TO DESPAIR. IN PURSUIT OF ISRAEL’S HIGHEST AIM, SHALOM, WE TOO, MUST REMAIN AGENTS OF PEACE, DEVOTED TO WHOLENESS AND HUMAN DIGNITY, WE TOO, MUST NOT PERPETUALLY WRITE-OFF A POSSIBILITY FOR TESHUVAH , GIVEN A DIFFERENT DYNAMIC, THE POTENTIAL FOR CHANGE.

IN THE MEANTIME, WE MUST CONTINUE TO DO THE ONGOING WORK OF JUDAISM, AND IN THIS REGARD, WE’VE BEEN FORTUNATE. LIKE MANY OF THE CENTERS OF JEWISH ACTIVITY IN 18^TH AND 19^TH CENTURY EASTERN EUROPE, WHAT DISTINGUISHES OUR CONGREGATION, B’NAI ISRAEL OF SOUTHBURY, IS NOT SIZE BUT SPIRIT. BRINGING THE SYNAGOGUE INTO OUR OWN LIVES – FROM TORAH MANTLES TO OUR OWN MUSIC, FROM DARFUR AWARENESS TO PURIM SPIELS, WE HAVE FASHIONED AUTHENTIC, VIBRANT JEWISH COMMUNITY. SO TOO, WE HAVE DEMONSTRATED AN ONGOING SOLIDARITY WITH ISRAEL IN VARIOUS WAYS – LISTENING TO LENGTHY SERMONS, SINGING SONGS, WRITING THOUGHTFUL LETTERS, PLANNING SPECIAL EVENTS AND PROGRAMS, PUTTING ARTICLES ON THE INTERNET (WWW.BNAIISRAELSOUTHBURY.ORG), STUDYING ZIONISM, TEACHING ISRAELI CULTURE, SUPPORTING ADL AND FEDERATION ACTIVITIES, AND RAISING FUNDS FOR FEDERATION, THE WORLD UNION FOR PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM, AND ARZA: THE ZIONIST ARM OF OUR REFORM MOVEMENT. RESPONDING TO THE VOICES FROM OUR THE JEWISH PAST AND PRESENT, THANKS TO OUR IAC, WE’RE SOLIDLY BEHIND THE CAUSE OF JUSTICE AND OF TOLERANCE.

WHAT MORE CAN WE DO? THE WRITER PAUL ELIE HAS OBSERVED THAT “PILGRIMAGE IS A RELIGIOUS JOURNEY IN LIGHT OF A STORY.” ON THIS MOST SACRED DAY OF THE YEAR WE CAN DECIDE TO JOURNEY TOGETHER TO ERETZ YISRAEL, THE LAND OF ISRAEL, THE EPICENTER OF JEWISH LIFE. AS A CONGREGATION WE CAN EXPERIENCE ISRAEL FIRST-HAND AND BE FURTHER RENEWED IN LIFE. WE CAN INSCRIBE AND THEN SEAL A NEW SPECIAL CHAPTER IN THE NARRATIVE OF B’NAI ISRAEL, AND IN OUR OWN PERSONAL STORIES. AND IN SO DOING, WE CAN AFFIRM THE IMPORTANCE OF ISRAEL TO OUR JEWISH AND OUR MORAL CONSCIOUSNESS, AND HIGHLIGHT THAT CONVICTION TO OUR DEAR-ONES AND FRIENDS IN A WAY BEYOND MERE WORDS.

A LETTER FROM THE SUBCOMMITTEE OF OUR IAC IS AVAILABLE FOR YOU IN THE GALLERY. IT EXPLAINS OUR INITIAL PLANNING FOR A CONGREGATIONAL TRIP TO ISRAEL IN LATE DECEMBER OF 2007. I HOPE YOU WILL RESPOND POSITIVELY TO THIS UNDERTAKING, MAKING PILGRIMAGE A HEART-FELT CHOICE.

ARZTA ALINU. AS A CONGREGATION, LET US TO GO ISRAEL. LET US GO NOT TO RETURN HOME AND BULLY OTHERS WITH TOXIC THEOLOGIES OR POLITICAL STRATEGIES, BUT TO DEEPEN OUR OWN COMMITMENTS AND UNDERSTANDINGS. ARTZA ALINU, LET US GO TO ENCOUNTER THE HOLINESS OF A SPECIAL NATION, AND THEN REFRACT THAT EXPERIENCE WITH EACH OTHER AND THIS COMMUNITY. ARTZA ALINU – LET US GO TO ISRAEL BECAUSE AS CURRENT EVENTS HAS PROVED YET AGAIN ISRAEL HONESTLY NEEDS US. AND WE, IF WE ARE TO KNOW SHALOM, NEED ISRAEL. ARTZA ALINU.

CAIN YEHI RATZON. BE THIS GOD’S WILL.