Shabbat Shalom U’Moadim L’Simcha.
A few weeks ago, Rabbi Daniel Gordis published an article in the Jerusalem Post where he claimed that today’s American Rabbinical students have anti-Zionist attitudes. He cited a few examples:
· One student, in Jerusalem for the year, celebrated one of his birthday parties at a bar in Ramallah where anti-Israel slogans were posted on the walls.
· A young Rabbi refuses to stand for the “Prayer for Israel.”
· Another student asked for suggestions for a new Tallit that was NOT “Made in Israel”
· And a North American rabbinical school asked for its students to submit things that they wanted to remember this Yom Hazikaron including losses on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
After reading this piece on the zionist (or anti-zionist) attitudes of Rabbinical students, I think that it is important to point out that it is certainly not the majority of students who feel that way. I for one, love studying, living, and wrestling with what it means to be in Israel- but never have I questioned the right of Israel to exist nor have I ever regretted that there is an Israel.
A week and a half ago, I had the opportunity to sit at a table with Rabbi Danny Gordis and almost 20 other Conservative Rabbinical Students. In a respectful conversation, we spoke about what it means to be a supporter of Israel and how today is a very different world than that in which our parents were raised but how in no way does that make us anti-zionist. Danny Gordis shared that his earliest memory of Israel was watching his parents pace in the kitchen while Walter Cronkite was in the TV during the Yom Kippur War. I thought about mine–watching the handshake of Rabin, Arafat and Clinton on a small TV set in my 6th grade classroom. We are from very different generations. His point was clear, Rabbi Gordis felt that rabbis, especially those in the US, should be open supporters of Israel, that we should promote, defend, and fight for the existence and survival of the JEWISH STATE.
The conversation lasted over two hours. Towards the end of meeting, I turned to Rabbi Gordis and asked him the following question: I am a fourth year rabbinical student in New York City and I am here in Israel for a second year, studying and completing my Masters Degree at an Israeli institution. Five months ago, I married an Israeli in Jerusalem yet our chuppah is not recognized by the Rabbanut. You call for us to defend and promote a Jewish state but Jewish for whom? I too struggle with what it means to have a relationship with Israel- not in terms of the legitimacy of the country to exist as you seem to indicate, but more strongly, what it means to be a future Masotri/Conservative rabbi in Israel and especially as a woman.
He took a few other questions and never really touched on mine. I would like to share more of my thoughts on the matter.
On Pesach, we are commanded to remember and tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt. We read about Moses leading the nation out of slavery, to freedom. We read that the nation was in a rush that they could not bake bread and yet they still had time to gather jewelry and weapons before exiting from Egypt.
Sometimes it feels like not much has changed since then. B'nei Yisrael in Israel is still in a rush. They push, they yell and they have a sense of entitlement. And they are armed. Maybe this is due to the threat of an attack or the mandatory draft but they still carry weapons.
So what has changed? On Pesach, the holiday when we celebrate our getting our independence and freedom, we also read the book of Shir Hashirim. While I don’t appreciate the “Orthodox” translation and interpretation of Shir Hashirim as being a love story between God and his nation, Israel, it certainly does make me think about my own relationship with Israel and about the Jewish people's relationship with Israel.
How can we/I have a Shir Hashirim relationship- one of unconditional love- with such a complicated country? Although I already consider Israel a home, Ari and I are hoping to make Israel our home within the next 10 years. What does that mean for me? Just as I struggle on a regular basis with my relationship with God and with Judaism, I embrace the struggle with Israel and understand that engaging in a struggle is healthy. I hope that I, we and she grow together.
Just as I am not always happy or proud nor do I always support the decisions and actions of the USA, I sometimes feel the same way about Israel; but I never question whether the USA should exist, nor do I raise the same question about Israel. I study about the history of the land, of Zionism and I work on the future. And I make it one of my loves. As my mother would occasionally tell me as I was a precocious child; I will always love you but I don't like you so much right now.
This year I volunteered in a Masorti Kehillah in Jerusalem. The same issues that concern North American Conservative communities are the same ones that this Israeli Masorti community faced. Increasing the level of Kavana, attracting new members, and struggling with defining its place among the other movements. I have spent this year working with them on increasing the level of spirituality felt in services through teaching about the prayers and new tunes, on making the community more welcoming, and with administrative tasks such as revamping the way in which leaders and Torah readers are found.
Israel also has some gifts for me. As a soon-to-be rabbi, I want to bring a sense of all encompassing Judaism to any community where I serve. I want the members of the congregation to know what the holidays and Shabbat fell like, what they taste like, what they sound like. I love that I have had the opportunity in Israel to get that sense of that for myself. Israel is a country where the holidays are felt, where the smells and sounds on the street are both Biblical and modern. Shabbat is special, not only because there are different prayers in synagogue, but because it is tangible. Pesach is a national holiday where all the supermarkets cover whole sections of food, where each neighborhood in Jerusalem has its own koshering station, and where the nation goes to parks and trails to celebrate the festival of spring.
Around the same time that I was watching the Oslo Accords on TV, I remember being taught that "Kol Yisrael Arevim Ze BaZeh," that we are all responsible for each other. I have tried to hold to it. I try to emulate that huge responsibility, but it goes belond Tzedakah. It goes to living, teaching, learning, doing, embracing, celebrating, and struggling with Judaism. It is about studying Torah, history, halakha, etc. It is about engaging others and sharing this learning relationship that is Judaism and guiding them to form their own connections, relationships, and sense of responsibility to Jews, Judaism, and Israel.
I am grateful for these opportunities to love Israel and appreciate Israel. I hope to return soon to be part of her future.
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