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Copyright by the State of Israel, Ministry of Foreign A ff airs, 2011



Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,

may those who love you be at peace.

May there be well being within your

ramparts, peace within your citadels.

For the sake of my family and friends,

I pray for your well being.

— Psalm 122



Contents

our sources: scripture, sages and teachings

sample sermons

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:

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background on the issues



e High Holy Days are a time of dichotomous emotions. e sternness captured in the

liturgy, of asking for forgiveness and of praying for our future, is balanced by the sweet

honey that elicits the opportunities that lie ahead. is year, 5772, we feel the Holy

Days’ urgency as dramatic changes grip our region. Indeed, we will usher in the New

Year on the heels of unprecedented shifts in the Middle East.

At this crucial moment in the history of Israel, Jews around the world are coming

together to welcome the New Year. Israel, the ancient homeland of our people and the

modern realization of our self-determination, relies on the strength of our community

world-wide.

It is poignant that the holiest time of year aligns with a turning point for us within

the international community. As our Palestinian neighbors choose to circumvent

engagement, we call on them to take our outstretched hand, to advance down the true

road towards peace.

Neighbors must learn to be friends, not enemies. Now is the time to make our united

call. We are committed to peace. We seek an end to conflict. We must achieve a viableand secure future with two states for two peoples.

We strive for a time when our children and our neighbors’ children never again

experience war, and when all of us will be able to realize the dream of a better future.

We present to you, rabbis and educators, this resource guide on the theme of peace, with

the hope that it will be of assistance during the Tishrei holidays. We all understand the

need for peace, security, and hope. Now is the time to engage those around us to find

our communal voice.

May the coming year be a sweet one in which the vision of the prophet will be fulfilled,

that each man will sit under his vine and every woman under her fig tree and none shallmake them afraid.

L'Shana Tova U'Metuka

State of Israel

Ministry of Foreign A ff airs

“If we join hands and work together for peace, there is no limit to the development

and prosperity we can achieve for our two peoples - in the economy, agriculture,trade, tourism and education - most importantly, in providing our youth a better

world in which to live, a life full of tranquility, creativity, opportunity and hope.”

-P M B N ,



Negotiations and Compromise

,

We have been taught: “Justice, justice shalt thou pursue” (Deut. 16:20) e first mention of justice

refers to justice based on law, the second, to justice based on compromise. How are compromises

worked out? For example: two boats sailing in the same direction meet at a river. If both attempt to

pass side by side, both will sink; but if one is willing to proceed behind the other, both can sail safely.

Likewise, two camels meet as they go up to Bet Horon. If both try to go up at the same time, both

will fall; but if one follows the other, both will be able to go up. How should a compromise be worked

out? If one is carrying a burden and the other not laden, the unburdened once should yield. If one is

near its destination and the other not near, the one near its destination should yield. If both are near

or equally far, a compromise should be made between them, the one who is to go first compensating

the other. Sanhedrin 32b

, A compromise is greater than a legal judgment. Sanhedrin 5b

( ) ‘ ‘ Rabbi Joshua ben Karcha said that it is a commandment to compromise, as Scripture teaches

(Zachariah 5): “Truth and justice shall you judge in your gates.” Tosefta, Sanhedrin 1:3

( ) , , “ ,‘ ( ) , , , , , , “ , , , , “ “ , , , , ‘ , ‘ () .

Rabbi Azariah said in R. Aha’s name: You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness, etc. (Psalm

45:8). Rabbi Azariah in Rabbi Aha’s name referred the verse to our father Abraham. When Abrahamour father stood to plead for mercy for the people of Sodom, what is written there? “Be it far for You

to do this” (Gen. 8: 25). R. Aha explained: You swore not to bring a flood upon the world. Would

You evade Your oath? Not a flood of water will You bring but a flood of fire? en You have not been

true to Your oath! Rabbi Levi commented: Shalt not the Judge of all the earth do justly (ibid.)? If You

want the world to endure, there can be no absolute justice; You want absolute justice and the world

cannot endure, yet You would hold the cord by both ends, desiring both the world and absolute

justice. Unless You compromise a little, the world cannot endure. e Holy One, blessed be He,

Our Sources:

Scripture, Sages and Teachings



said to Abraham: You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has

anointed you with the oil of gladness above your neighbors (ibid.): from Noah to you, there were ten

generations, and out of all of them I spoke to you alone, hence “Now the Lord spoke to Abraham.”

Genesis Rabba 39:6

“ “

( ) ‘ ( ) ( ) , R. Eliezer son of R. Yose the Galilean said: It is forbidden to arbitrate in court, and one who arbitrates

commits a sin. e law must stand, even if it involves cutting through a mountain, for it is said,

“Judgment is God’s” (Deut. 1:17). us, Moses used to say, “Let the law cut through the mountain.”

Aaron, however, who loved peace and pursued peace, made peace between a man and his fellow,

for of Aaron it is said, “e law of truth was in his mouth . . . ; he walked with Me in peace and

uprightness” (Mal. 2:6). Sanhedrin 6b

<> ( )

, : Rav Joseph taught: In the verse “You shall show them . . . the practices that they are to follow” (Exod.

18:20), “the practices” refers to practices in keeping with the letter of the law, and “that they are to

follow” refers to decisions that go beyond the letter of the law. Bava Metziah 30b

‘ , : R. Yohanan said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because judges based decisions on the letter of the law

and refused to go beyond the letter of the law. ibid.

,

Let your brother live beside you. Leviticus 25:36

, Better a near neighbor than a distant brother. Proverbs 27:10

, , ( ) “ , “ , ()

Rabbi Eliezer said (Leviticus 19) “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”—therefore do not say:

since I have been humiliated, let my neighbor also be humiliated! Know it is the image of God you

would disfigure! Genesis Rabba 24:7

A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Genesis 23:15

If your kin, being in distress, comes under your authority and you hold him to be a resident alien, let

him live by your side. Leviticus 25:35

e same law applies to the native-born and to the alien who is living among you. Exodus 12:49



, , , Whoever has a generous eye, a humble spirit and a simple soul is a disciple of Abraham, our

father. Avot 5:22

— , ; , — - - , , .

I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and yourchildren shall live. Deuteronomy 30:19

, ; , row in your lot with us, we will have one purse. Proverbs 1:14

Love of Israel

() e Holy One said: a small company in the Land of Israel is more precious to Me than the Great

Sanhedrin outside the land. J. Nedarim 6:8, 40a

‘ ( ) “ “ “ ‘ ( // ) () .

e Holy One said to Moses: e Land is precious to Me, and Israel are precious to Me. I shall

bring Israel who are precious to Me into the Land that is precious to Me. Num. R. 23:7.

ere is a man who is comely, but his

clothes fit badly; there is another who is ungainly, but his clothes fit him well. Israel becomes the

Land, and the Land becomes Israel: “Yea, the heritage becomes me well” (Ps. 16:6).Num. R. 23:6

() “ Beginning his discourse with the verse “He stood and measured the earth”

(Hab. 3:6), R. Simeon ben Yohai said: e Holy One took the measure of all lands and found no

land but the Land of Israel worthy of being given to Israel. Lev. R. 13:2

, ( ) [] ( ) , , [] , , , , , “ R. Isaac said: e Torah should have started with no other verse than “is

month shall be unto you” (Exod. 12:2), which is the first precept enjoined upon Israel. Why then

does it begin with “In the beginning” (Gen. 1:1)? Because “He wished to declare to His peoplethe power of His works, to be able to give them the heritage of the nations [without causing

protest]” (Ps. 111:6). For, should the peoples of the world say to Israel: You are a people of

robbers, for you conquered the lands of seven nations, Israel will be able to reply: e entire earth

and the fullness thereof belong to the Holy One. He created it and gave it to whoever seemed

right to Him. So when He chose, He gave it to you, and when He chose, He took it from you

and gave it to us. Genesis Rabba 1:2, Yalkut, Bo 187, Rashi on Genesis 1:1 and Psalm 111:6



“ () , , , ere are three sites concerning which the peoples of the world cannot taunt Israel and say, “ey are

yours by acts of robbery.” e three are: the cave of Machpelah, the grave of Joseph, and the area for

the Temple. Gen R. 79:7

, : , : - . : . - , ‘ ‘ - . ‘ - . ‘ : It is taught that Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai

said: e Holy One gave Israel three precious gifts, each of them through suff ering: Torah, the

Land of Israel, and the world-to-come. e proof for Torah? “Happy is the person You punish,

O Lord, for this is how You teach Torah” (Ps. 94:12). e Land of Israel? “As a man punishes his

son, so the Lord thy God punishes you” (Deut. 8:5), followed by: “e Lord your God brings

you into the good Land” (Deut. 8:7). And the world-to-come? “e commandment is a lamp,

and the teaching is light, and exposure to suff ering is the way to life[-to-come]” (Prov. 6:23). Ber.

5a and Ein Yaakov

Rabbi Eleazar said: He who makes his home in the Land of Israel lives with sin. Ketubot 111a

“Ye shall dwell in your Land safely” (Lev. 26:5). Inside your Land, you dwell safely; but outside it,

you do not. Sif. Lev 111a

( ) : . ? , . ? , “Dwell in the cities that ye have taken” (Jer.

40:10). Hezekiah said: How did you take them? By dwelling in them. e school of R. Ishmael

taught: “Ye shall possess it, and dwell therein” (Deut. 11:31). How do you come to possess it? By

dwelling in it. Kiddushin 26a

- When a man purchases a house in the Land of Israel, the bill of sale for it may be written even on

the Sabbath. Baba Kamma 80b.

“ . Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai used to say: If you have a sapling in your hand and are told, “Look, the

Messiah is here,” you should first plant the sapling and then go out to welcome the Messiah. ARNB 31

e Lord appeared to Abram and said: “I will give this land to your seed.” Genesis 12:7

“A land flowing with milk and honey.” Exodus 3:8

, : , ‘ +‘ “ + : , , . . , , , , , , , ,



, . , , , , : , , ‘ +“ ‘ + : . . , , ,

, , , . , , Nothing can be perfect except in Israel. Judah Halevi,

Kuzari, 5:23

: One who walks four cubits in the land of Israel has a place in the world to come.

Ketubot 111a

. : , e air of Israel makes one wise. Baba Batra 158b

Rabbi Zeera said: Even the everyday talk of people in Israel is Torah. Lev R. 34:7

, . , , . , Ten kabs of wisdom descended to the world: nine were taken by the Land of Israel and one by the rest

of the world. Ten kabs of beauty descended to the world: nine were taken by Jerusalem and one by the

rest of the world. Kiddushin 49b

- - : ere is hope for your future,” says the Lord. “Your

children will come again to their own land." Jeremiah 31:16

Peace

- : e work of the righteous shall be peace

and the eff ect of righteousness calm and security forever. Isaiah 32:17

- - :

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger of good news, who announces peace!

Isaiah 52:7

| Peace, peace to those who are far and who are near! Isaiah 57:19

| Crying peace, peace when there is no peace! Jeremiah 6:14

- | : e Lord will bless e Lord’s people with peace. Psalms 29:11

- - : ere is a future for the person of peace Psalms 37:37

Hillel said: Be like the students of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace and bringing them near to

the Torah. Avot: 1:12



. By three

things the world is sustained: justice, truth and peace. Avot 1:18

Scholars multiply peace on earth. Berachot 64a

() Seek peace in your own place and pursue it in others. J. Peah 1

“ So great is peace that it is

God’s name—that all the blessings of the world are within it. Yalkut Shimoni Parshat Naso

Blessings are of no use if there is no mention of peace in them. Num. R. 11:7

.

Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel said: e world endures on account of three things: on account of

justice, truth, and peace. Avot 1:18

- :I will make a covenant of peace with them, it will be an everlasting peace Ezekiel 37:26

ere is no vessel which contains blessing better than peace. Talmud Yerushalmi Berachot

:(“ “ )

.

“Pursue peace” How so? We learned that a person should pursue peace in Israel, that is between

individuals in the same manner in which Aaron pursued peace in Israel by making peace between

individuals, as it says “turn form evil and do good.” (Psalms 34:15) Rabbi Shimon ben Eliezer

said if a person sits in his place and remains quiet, how can he “pursue” peace in Israel? Since it

says “seek peace and pursue it?” How can one pursue peace in his place, therefore “to pursue” it,

he must go elsewhere. Avot d’Rabi Natan version A chapter 12

( ) ( ) ) ( ) (



Come and see how great is the power of peace. Come and see: If a man has an enemy he wants to

hurt him. What does he do? He goes and invites a man greater than himself to injure that enemy.

But it is not that way with God. All the nations of the world provoke Him to anger, yet when

they fall asleep their souls go up to Him. How do we know this? For it is said, In whose hand is

the soul of every living thing (Job 12:10). In the morning He restores to everybody’s soul. How

so? It is said, “He that gives breath to the people upon it (Isaiah 42: 5). Another explanation: If aman injures his neighbor he never forgets it; but it is not so with God. Israel was in Egypt and the

Egyptians enslaved them with mud and bricks. After all the evil they did to Israel, God had pity

on them and decreed, “You shall not despise an Egyptian, because you were a stranger in his land

(Deut. 23:8), but pursue after peace, as it is said, “Seek peace, and pursue it." (Psalms. 34: 15)

Midrash Raba Deut .5: 15

Rabbi Meir said Peace is great. e Holy One did not create a more beautiful attribute. Numbers

Raba 11:7

( ) , : , , , . .

A favorite saying of Abaye was: A person should always be subtle in the fear of heaven. A soft

answer turns away anger, and one should always try to be on the best terms with his brothers

and his relatives and with all people and even with the idol worshiper in the street, in order that

he may be beloved above and well-liked below and be acceptable to all creatures. It was related

of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai that no man ever gave him greeting first, even an idolater in the

street. Berachot 17a

, “ “ “ , “ ‘ , “ ) ‘ ).

() Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai said: it says “out of peaceful (i.e. perfect) stones you shall build an altar,

because the altar makes peace between Israel and their Father in Heaven.” is is an inference from

minor to major. e altar stones don’t see, hear or speak. Yet because they bring peace, the Torah

instructs that iron may not be used on them. How much more then must one who promotes peace

between a person and his neighbor, between husband and wife, have his days extended. God said

“in this world because of the evil inclination, years are cut short, but in the world to come, death will be swallowed up forever and the Lord will wipe away tears from every face."

Tanchuma, Yitro, 17



Three teachings of Rabbi Abraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook regarding the shofar have

implications for our personal lives, the condition of Jews in the Diaspora and the currentsituation of Israel. Rabbi Kook (1865–1935) was the first Ashkenazi chief Rav of British

Palestine, a religious thinker, legal authority, mystic and poet. He was one of the most influential

Rabbis of the 20th century, a master of Jewish law and mysticism, with an openness to new

concepts and sensitivity to social change. His personality and thought drew many religious and

secular people to him and continued to influence others after his death in 1935.

Pay attention to the shofar

Rosh Hashanah is described as a “day of teru’ah-blasts” (Num. 29:1). e Talmud (Rosh Hashanah

34a) discusses the lack of clarity about the nature of the teru’ah-blast. Some say it is “genuhei

ganah,” like a groan. If so, the blasts would be the three sounds that we call shevarim, similar

to the sobs of one pained by remorse and regret. Others teach that the teru’ah is “yelulei yalil,”

trembling cries. us the blasts would be the nine staccato bursts, like the wail of a person inextreme distress and grief.

Rav Kook taught that the shofar blasts are intended to create a spiritual response in us, arousing

our souls. Perhaps they should mimic the groan of the introspective person—the “genuhei

ganah” —of one who has come to the conclusion that he or she has missed personal goals. Or

perhaps the shofar blasts should mime the emotional wail of “yelulei yalil,” the cries of anguish

expressed when one feels distressed. We have a custom to sound both types of shofar blast AND

to fuse “genuchei ganach” and “yelulei yalil” to create shevarim-teruah, a combination of groans and

weeping. Rav Kook taught that this combination shofar pattern reflects the most complete form

of teshuvah, one that incorporates both the head and heart, balances both intellectual reflection

and powerful emotions, and draws upon the strengths of passion and intellect.

For many Jews, attachment to our tradition stems from emotions—memories from childhood, a

love of certain melodies and music, a felt connection to a particular place in synagogue. Others

are attracted by the tradition of study, reasons for mitzvot, or the fierce intellectual debate of our

Rabbis and thinkers. But the strongest link is one that combines and balances both.

Jews who are connected to Israel also have two types of bonds. For many Jews, often an older

generation, the connection is visceral, passionate. ey recall the Holocaust, the struggle for

survival in the face of war and terror. ey are moved by the mythical Israel that has risen from

the ashes to become the “start-up nation.” Many young people haven’t experienced the miracle in

their lives, but come to Israel to discover their history. ey come with more inner questions and

they come with a concern for human rights. ey see Israel as a country struggling to build a justand democratic society and take for granted its security. ey identify with eff orts to find a path

to peace and are more open to criticism of current policies. As with teshuvah and personal growth,

the combination of passion and perspective, the balance of miracle and mundane, will build a

more enduring and substantive relationship to Israel.

e psalmist exclaimed, “Fortunate are the people who know the teru’ah-blast” (Ps. 89:16). Rav

Kook taught that when we understand the true power of the teru’ah —how to utilize both head

and heart — then our future has a solid foundation and — “they will walk in the light of Your

The Shofar Blasts of Rabbi Kook

-



countenance” — our personal path and the path of those who care for Israel will continue in God’s

light. (see Olat Re’iyah vol. II pp. 328-329).

The big shofar

While the shofar has been described as a “prayer without words," it is also at the core of the

prayers of Rosh Hashanah. e Amidah of Musaf includes three additional sections in the middle

called Malkhuyot , Zikhronot and Shofarot , verses that speak of Divine sovereignty, remembrance

and shofar sounds. e ten shofar verses mention diff erent contexts where the shofar was blown

and also diff erent eras of the shofar. e Torah verses refer to the shofar heard during the giving of

the Torah. e Psalm verses mention the shofar used to praise God in the Temple. e prophetic

verses indicate that the shofar will be blown in the future time of ultimate redemption.

One of the verses, from the prophet Isaiah, states that “On that day a big shofar will be blown;

those who were lost in Assyria and those who were dispersed to Egypt will come to worship to

God on the holy mountain in Jerusalem” (Isaiah 27:13). Rav Kook taught that the Jews lost

in Assyria refers to the Jews reluctant to leave the Babylonian exile after the destruction of the

Second Temple. e Jews dispersed in Egypt were those who were enslaved and wanted to leave

with Moses. e symbolic successors of each of those groups will return to Israel after “the big

shofar.”

What is the big shofar? Speaking in 1933, just after the Nazis came to power in Germany, Rav

Kook taught there are Jews who are like the ram’s shofar, who come to live in Israel because it is

a mitzvah. ey want to feel close to God and perform mitzvot linked to the land of Israel. ere

are others, compared to a shofar from another kosher animal, who come up to Israel because they

have national pride and want a homeland. A third group of Jews did not want to move to Israel

but, because of anti-Semitism, came because they had no other choice. eir motivation came

from those forced them to make the move. We pray that in the future all aliyah will be for the

most positive of motivations and that the shofar which was weak will become “the big shofar,”

sounded with redemptive intent (based on Mo’adei HaRe’iyah pp. 67-70).

We too see that there are Jews who define their connection to Israel on the basis of religion,those who see their bond through a positive cultural and historic connection to the Jewish

people, and those who simply happen to be Jews. Many of this last group came to Israel because

of persecution in pre-war Germany, following the Holocaust, because of hatred in Arab countries,

following the collapse of Communism, and, more recently, from Ethiopia or Syria. e barely

adequate shofar has become a big shofar.

During the past ten years, Israel has unleashed exceptional economic growth, but many Israelis

were left behind and yearn to be part of the economic miracle. at group— many of whom came

because of external threat—are now the majority of the State of Israel. ey want to hear a “big

shofar.” In calling for a moral, social and economic re-evaluation of Israeli society, the “cottagecheese rebellion” and the tent city protests are indicative of a desire for a more just society. We pray

for that “big shofar” which will define the future of our people and the Jewish state.

Pay attention to the shofar

ere are two basic types of shofar blasts: the teki’a—a long, constant blast—and shevarim-teru’ah

—three short blasts followed by nine staccato blows. e shofar blasts are organized in sets of

“teki’ah, shevarim-teru’ah, teki’ah” —one long blast, then a combination of broken and staccato

blasts, followed by another long blast. If the shofar is a call to awaken, reflect and act, how might

the shofar blasts inspire spiritual awakening?



According to Rav Kook, the order of the shofar blasts on Rosh Hashanah may be understood as

analogous to three stages in world history, corresponding to the words, “e Eternal reigns, the

Eternal reigned, the Eternal will reign forever.” “ e Eternal reigned” with complete sovereignty in

the pristine past of Eden. is is the first teki’ah, the clarion call of a world that is taku’a, “fixed

in place.” In the end of days, that teki’ah will again be heard and the entire world will be linked to

God. e time when “the Eternal will reign forever” is symbolized by the steady sound of teki’ah.

But between the two teki’ah blasts is a complex series of notes and a confusing period of history.

According to Rav Kook, we live in a world challenged to attain the ideal of “the Eternal reigns” .

Our complicated condition is represented by the “broken” shevarim and the “wobbly” teruah

blasts, a time of instability and indecision, an extended era of “advance and return,” evolution and

devolution. Rav Kook points to the verse, “Blessed is the nation that knows the teru’ah” (Ps. 89:16)

to suggest that those who know how to face the complexity of this world and are able to rise

above the uncertainty and confusion of life will “walk in the light of [God’s] Presence” . ey have

the faith to believe that, in the future, “the Eternal will reign forever” (based on Mo’adei HaRe’iyah,

pp. 62-63).

We live in a time of confusion regarding personal and social morality, a time of Jewish security

and anxiety, a time when Israel is strong and vulnerable. As individuals and families, previouscertainties of behaviour are questioned and challenged. As Jews we are accepted in all areas of

society, yet see a return of the “oldest hatred” in Europe, witness Israel singled out calumny

and criticism, and notice that terror attacks against Jews are often met with silence. Eighteen

years of eff orts since the Oslo Agreements to advance toward some sort of negotiated peace

agreement have led to Israeli economic development and uncertainty about the prospects of

peace. Negotiations are rebuff ed by Palestinian leaders intent on unilateral declarations of

independence. What once seemed to be “true and certain” is now questioned and queried.

Rav Kook’s teaching about the sound of the shofar reminds us to remain faithful in the ultimate

triumph of divine sovereignty and to draw on inner Jewish strength to face this time of

uncertainty, confusion and hardship. We are called to be resolute in the pursuit of a negotiated

peace, to re-assert personal and communal Jewish dignity, and to re-affirm the Jewish values and

traditions that bring us closer to God.

Rather than getting caught in constant eff orts to respond to those who criticize us, we should

consider another teaching of Rav Kook: “e righteous do not complain of the dark, but increase

the light; they do not complain of evil, but increase justice; they do not complain of heresy, but

increase faith; they do not complain of ignorance, but increase wisdom.”

Baruch Frydman-Kohl is the Anne and Max Tanenbaum Senior Rabbi of Beth

Tzedec Congregation, Toronto, Ontario. I am grateful to Rabbi Hanan Morrison

who directed me to these teachings of Rav Kook.



A tiny nation, often misunderstood and maligned, changed the course of history for the good.

is tiny nation produced the Bible and its prophets; sages and mystics; poets and dreamers.is tiny nation, generation after generation, in many ways has been the conscience of humanity,

the litmus test of human civilization.

is tiny nation lived in a tiny land in antiquity. Its King David established Jerusalem as its

capitol city a thousand years before the dawn of Christianity and more than 1600 years before

Mohammed. It was seldom allowed to live in peace: other nations threatened, attacked, made

war. It saw its capitol city razed by vicious enemies, its Temples destroyed by Babylonians and

Romans, its citizens ravaged and exiled.

is tiny nation, scattered throughout the world, faced persecutions and humiliations. Its

men and women and children were confined to ghettos, deprived of elementary human rights,

subjected to pogroms and pillage. Millions of them were murdered during the Holocaust.

Exiled from its land for nearly 2000 years, it always dreamed of returning to its ancestral soil

and re-establishing its sovereignty. It prayed daily for the return. Many of its members made

pilgrimages, and some remained living in the land throughout the generations,

in conditions of poverty and oppression.

In spite of the persecutions it suff ered and in spite of the callousness of so many nations of the

world, this tiny nation maintained faith in One God and in the mission He assigned it to bring

the lofty teachings of Torah to humanity. In spite of all its suff erings, this tiny nation maintained

faith in humanity: it strove to make the world a better place for all human beings, with an eternal

optimism that is truly a wonder.

is tiny nation, born 3500 years ago, wove its way through history and refused to be destroyed

or silenced. is tiny nation, scattered throughout the lands of the world, found the will and the

courage to return to its historic homeland after nearly 2000 years of exile. e return home has

been difficult. It has had to fight wars, withstand terrorism, overcome economic boycotts, endure

political isolation, and combat hateful propaganda.

Yet, this tiny and ancient nation, against all reasonable odds, has re-established its sovereignty in

its historic homeland; it has created a vibrant, dynamic, idealistic society, dedicated to the ideals

of freedom and democracy. With its memory spanning the millennia, it has created a modern,

progressive state.

My wife Gilda and I first visited this historic land in the summer of 1968, a year after our

marriage. When we glimpsed the shoreline from the airplane window, we

both found ourselves with tears in our eyes. We were not born in this land; we had never

been there before; and yet we were returning—we and all the generations of our families were

returning through us. “When the Lord turned back the captivity of Zion, we were as in a dream

(Psalm 126:1).”

is tiny people is Israel. is tiny land is Israel. is nation of dreamers and visionaries, builders

and farmers, sages and scientists, warriors and peace makers—this nation is Israel. is tiny

For Zion’s Sake

I shall Not Be Silent

.



nation is a great nation. is tiny land is a holy land. “e tiny shall become a thousand, and the

least a mighty nation (Isaiah 60:22).”

Israel is a bastion of hope in a world filled with despair. It is a wellspring of human dignity in a

world filled with shameless hatred and strife.

To stand with Israel is to stand for the redemption of the people of Israel and humanity. To stand

with Israel is to recognize the sheer wonder of the survival and contributions of the people of Israel. It is to affirm the preciousness of life over a culture of death; righteousness over hypocrisy;

idealism over despair. is tiny nation in its tiny land is a testament to the greatness of the human

spirit. It is a testimony to God’s providence.

It is a privilege, beyond words, to dream with Israel and share its destiny.

“For Zion’s sake I shall not be silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I shall not rest, until her

righteousness go forth as brightness and her salvation as a flaming torch

(Isaiah 62:1).”

Rabbi Dr. Marc D. Angel is Founder and Director of the Institute for Jewish

Ideas and Ideals, Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel, the historic

Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York City, and Founder of

Sephardic House, today, part of the American Sephardi Federation. He was

born in Seattle’s Sephardic community, and his ancestors are Sephardim from

Ottoman Turkey and Rhodes; he grew up speaking Ladino at home. Rabbi

Angel received his B.A., M.S., Ph.D., .D. honoris causa and his semiha

from Yeshiva University and also has an M.A. in English Literature from

the City College of New York. He is a recipient of the Bernard Revel Award

in Religion and Religious Education. Rabbi Angel was president of the

Rabbinical Council of America, and a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Tradition. Rabbi Angel is the author and editor of over 26 books.

Excerpt by Rabbi Marc D. Angel is from A Dream of Zion: American Jews Reflect On Why

Israel Matters To em 2007 by Je ff ry K. Salkin. Permission granted by Jewish Lights Publishing,

Woodstock, VT, www.jewishlights.com.

http://www.jewishlights.com/

http://www.jewishlights.com/



W hen I was a rabbi in the Bronx I remember attending a meeting between Jewish communal

leaders of the Bronx and the man who was at that time the Bronx borough president, Adolfo Carrion. At the meeting I expressed publicly my opinion that some Jews in New York are

feeling vulnerable. I shared with the borough president my concern about a hate crime against

a Jew in New York City and I said that that hate crime should be a wakeup call for all of us of

what, God forbid, might come.

As soon as the meeting ended, the head of a local Jewish organization approached me and expressed

great upset with my comments. He told me that I was an alarmist giving a distorted picture of

Jewish vulnerability to an influential gentile. He contended that Jews are perfectly safe in New York

City—as proof, he said he feels no concern at all when walking to his own car.

is incident has replayed itself time and time again in my rabbinate. On numerous occasions

I have raised public concern about the safety of the Jewish community. Whether at that momenton the streets of New York City, or in a more lasting manner the threats facing the Jews living in

Sederot, Israel or the existential danger facing the Jewish community of Venezuela, I have tried to

stir the consciousness of the world to the threats that these communities might face.

So the question is, was that Jewish community leader correct in accusing me of being an alarmist.

e answer to this question lies in what it means to say we’re safe. What does “safe” mean?

An answer is suggested by one of the words used in Parashat Behar. Every fiftieth year, the Torah

commands us to celebrate a Yovel, a Jubilee year. On this year all land remains uncultivated, all

land goes back to its original owners, all debts are erased and all slaves go free. It is a revolutionary

year—a year of great freedom—a year when no one is more powerful than anyone else.

Says the Torah:

....

You should sanctify the fiftieth year and put out a call of deror to all the people of the land….

(Vayikra 25:10)

A call for deror. Deror is usually translated as freedom—a call goes out into the entire land for

freedom.

Yet, the word deror is actually a very rare word. In fact, this is the only time in the entire Five

Books of Moses, where the word deror appears. Whenever a word is so rare, our rabbis struggle tocapture its precise meaning. What our rabbis sought to understand was what does the word deror

really mean? Rashi quotes the Talmud and off ers the following explanation: Deror derives from

the Aramaic word dar, “to dwell” or “to live.” Deror means, she-dar bekol makom she-rotzeh, that

the person lives in any place that they desire.

e word deror thus means that one has the ability to live safely—peacefully and openly—in any

place that he wants. at is what the very concept of Yovel is about, and that is what the word

deror means. Deror means you are safe.

Are Jews Free Today?



By such a definition Jews are hardly safe today. Today’s war against the Jews is being waged in such

a way that Jews are continually being told where it is acceptable for us to live. Let us look at Israel.

At one time, it was considered dangerous to live in Chevron, but it wasn’t perceived as dangerous to

live in Sederot or in Southern Israel. But then things change and Jews are implicitly and explicitly

told where it is acceptable for them to live.

Our rabbis tell us that when the laws of Yovel and safety apply to the land of Israel, they also

apply to lands outside of Israel, and when the laws of safety do not apply in the land of Israel,

then they also do not apply outside the land of Israel. We are living this today. What began in

Israel is now spreading throughout the world. First Jews were told in Israel where they can live

and where they cannot live, and now Jews are being told throughout the world where they can

practice their Judaism and where they cannot be Jewish.

It is often perceived as too dangerous for a Jew to wear a kippah on the streets of Europe. And

in the summer of 2011, one European country—Netherlands—passed a bill in one of its

parliamentary houses outlawing shechitah, or slaughter of animals in accordance with Jewish law.

In response to that I met with the Dutch Ambassador to the United States and I told her that

by outlawing shechitah she was in essence saying to the Jewish community: “e way you eat is

barbaric.” From there it is just a short logical leap to saying that Jews are barbaric as well and not welcome at all in the country.

So I do believe that according to the rabbis’ definition of safety Jews are not safe today. We cannot

practice our Judaism however we want, and thus we are not safe. Not in Israel, not in Europe,

and not in Venezuela.

But if the concept of deror teaches that we are not safe today, the Torah also shows us through the

mitzvah of Yovel what is required from us in order to acquire a feeling of safety and security. Yovel

is a blueprint of the path to safety; follow the guidelines of Yovel and safety will follow. e Torah

lists many aspects to Yovel, but for now let’s focus on just two.

e Yovel year follows upon a year of shemittah. In both of these years there was an obligation to letthe land lie fallow. As a result, for two straight years no one could work the land. How were people

to live? It took tremendous faith in God to believe that God would provide for two years without

working. It was an almost superhuman faith in God. Yet, that was what the Torah required.

e Torah says, “If you ask: What will we eat?”… e answer is “ki li haaretz—for the land is

Mine.” God will provide. True safety arises only when the individual demonstrates complete faith

in God. Only then is one invulnerable.

ere is another major factor that leads to freedom.

e Yovel year begins with sound of the shofar. But it is a diff erent shofar than the one sounded

on Rosh Hashanah. On Rosh Hashanah one shofar is sounded for the entire community. Notso on the Yovel; on the Yovel everyone must be personally and actively involved. “Ta’aviru shofar

be-khol artzechem—You should sound the shofar throughout your land” (25:9); the keywords

are “throughout your land.” Say our rabbis, every single individual is obligated to sound the call,

to blast the siren for strength. e blast of the trumpet is a clarion call for safety. e shofar is the

human input into the divine plan.



Safety from our enemies will arrive when each of us as individuals sounds our own shofar. e

obligation to sound an individual shofar is what ushers in the year of safety. Perhaps this is

because it is only if each of us as individuals feel free and bold enough to sound a personal shofar

can we have the courage to live wherever we want.

To summarize: e mitzvah of Yovel shows two paths to safety. Each and every individual must

submit in full faith to God. And each and every person must arise and proudly declare his or

her freedom. is is how the Torah tells us we can accomplish deror—safety—which ultimately

leads to true freedom. If you want to be safe to live wherever you want, stand up and declare your

personal sovereignty. And individually rely upon your faith in God.

Despite the fact that Jews today live with an appearance of physical safety and security, and

despite the fact that we are more secure now than we were 100 years ago, it is still not enough.

If we scratch beneath the surface, we will notice that the truth is that Jews throughout the world

are currently without an acceptable level of deror, without the security to act openly and proudly

as Jews wherever we want.

But what we do have is a guide from the Torah as to how to achieve safety.

Each of us must accept our individual responsibility to sound the shofar to work for the cause of

Jews throughout the world. And each of us must demonstrate an absolute faith in the correctness of

our mission, our destiny, and our God. If we do, we will be on the path to true deror, true freedom.

Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld (also known as Shmuel or Rav Shmuel) is an

Orthodox rabbi, lecturer and activist. Since 2004, he has been the rabbi of

Ohev Sholom: e National Synagogue in Washington, DC. Rabbi Herzfeld

received his ordination and MA from Yeshiva University. He shares his

thoughts on his personal website: http://www.rabbishmuel.com/



Y ou all know the joke about the guy who is walking down the beach and he kicks something

metal in the sand, He bends down to inspect it and realizes that there is a middle-easternlooking lamp on at his feet. As he brushes it off , there is puff of smoke and a genie appears.

“Your wish is my command,” intones the genie.

“Don’t I get three wishes?” says the guy.

“Don’t get greedy,” says the genie. “And don’t be selfish either.”

“All right,” says the guy. “Listen, I have been a Cubs fan all my life. My wish is that they win the

World Series this year against New York.”

“Are you kidding?” says the genie. “Have you seen the Cubs line-up? eir hitting is inconsistent,

their pitching is unreliable and even their fielding leaves a lot to be desired. I’m only a genie. Try a

diff erent wish.”

“Okay,” says the guy. “e Israelis and the Palestinians are trying to get back to the negotiating

table. How about if you make it so they actually succeed in reaching a permanent and satisfying

agreement for both of them.”

e genie thinks for a minute and says, “Do you want the Cubs to win in seven games or to

sweep the Yankees?”

It seems like every few years there is another attempt at peace and shortly thereafter things get worse

for a while for Israel. It is a funny thing, making peace. We have a tendency to speak as if a series

of high-level conversations can undo a history of comprehensive antagonism, or, alternately, as if the

antagonism exists only among some small segment of government or rebel malcontents, while the

people in the streets want nothing more than to live in blissful coexistence.

But my friend Danny Gordis writes of his awakening to a diff erent kind of truth:

In the suburban, well-educated, politically and Jewishly liberal America in which I grew up, we

didn’t use the label “enemy.” “Enemy” was a dirty word, because it implied the immutability of

conflict. Yes, there were people who fought us, but only because we hadn’t yet arrived at a fair

resolution of our conflict. We needed to understand them, so we could then resolve the conflicts that

divided us.

I still recall being jarred, when we made aliya, by the matter-of-factness with which Israelis use the

word “enemy.” But it wasn’t a judgment or an accusation. It was simply a fact: there are people out to

destroy our state who seek to kill us and our children. And as the intifada later amply demonstrated,

they did not yearn for our understanding or our friendship. ey wanted our demise.

When we think about the future of Israel—indeed, when we think about the future of the

United States—we would do well to remember that there is some percentage of human beings

who want nothing more than our demise. And that’s what makes even the concept of peace so

difficult to embrace.

Israel:

A Sermon for Rosh Hashanah

©



Some of you are hoping and some of you are fearing that I am about to take a diff erent position

than you have come to expect from me. Relax, all of you. My politics remain where they have

consistently been, and I don’t expect that to change. is isn’t a press conference and, in spite of

my occasional bravado, I am still just a local rabbi.

Instead, I want to call your attention to two prophetic readings that have been heard in this room over

the last two weeks. One was chanted not a week ago. And the other was just a few minutes ago. What

they have in common is a vision of Jerusalem and, by extension, of the Land of Israel. e former is

Isaiah’s vision and the latter is Jeremiah’s. And it is worth understanding just a little bit from each as we

struggle with the question of how Israel should resolve the dilemma of perpetual enemies close at hand.

“For the sake of Zion I will not be silent; for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still.” So begins

Chapter 62 of the Book of Isaiah, a proclamation of the city rebuilt. Last Shabbat’s haftarah is

the seventh reading of consolation after Tisha B’Av, and it is the crescendo of the series of visions

of the city restored. Risen from the rubble, a strong and vital center of Jewish life has emerged as

a lesson to the other nations of the world.

Such a delight is this set of images that many of them find their way into the wedding ceremony

and celebration— yassis alayikh elohayikh, “Your God will rejoice in you” begins the essential wedding song; sos assis baH’, tageil nafshi b’eilohai , “I deeply rejoice in Adonai, my whole being

exults in my God” anticipates one of the seven wedding blessings.

But the haftarah is not one that is a mere celebration of restoration and renewal. Al chomotayikh,

ir david, hifkad’ti shomrim kol hayom v’kol halaila. You have sung those words in a popular Israeli

song from the 1970s: “Upon your walls, oh City of David, I have posted watchman all day and

all night.” e haftarah is filled with militant images of Jewish domination. “Nations shall see

your victory,” says Isaiah, “and every king your majesty.” “God has sworn, by right hand and

mighty arm, that nevermore will I give your new grain to your enemies for food, nevermore will

strangers drink the new wine for which you labored.”

Isaiah asks the triumphant God, marching from the enemy territories of Edom and Botzrah,“Why are your garments so red?” “I stomped them down in anger,” is the response. “I trampled

them in my rage. eir life-blood splattered my garments and all my clothing was stained.”

e voice of Isaiah—a very diff erent Isaiah than we will hear on Yom Kippur, by the way—

recalls the military triumph that secured Jerusalem, the strikes in surrounding territories, and the

standing army that keeps watch on her walls so that we may rejoice in Jerusalem.

Let me tell you, you don’t have to like that image. You can try to explain it away, but you

would be false in the attempt. ere is a sense from within our tradition that the way to secure

the formerly besieged city is to fortify it, and to strike at enemies well outside its boundaries. e

joy and gladness within for the Jews will come at a price for the enemies of the Jews without, and

God will not only approve, but will lead the charge. e celebratory wine we drink will remind

us of the blood that was spilled—enemies stomped and trampled like grapes for wine.

at is one image of peace for Jerusalem.

It is worth comparing and contrasting the words of Jeremiah, which are never read more

than eight days later. Jeremiah also speaks of new grain and new wine, of a city rejoicing in the

homecoming of its exiles. Jeremiah also speaks of God coming from a distant land, leading the

people who are strong and well, as well as the people who are blind and lame. ey will weep

with joy as they return to a long through open borders and cleared roads.



e haftarah opens with words that are also familiar to you if you have sung Israeli songs: ko amar H’

matza chen bamidbar; am s’ridei charev halokh l’hargio yisrael , “thus said God: the people who survived

the sword found favor in the wilderness, Israel marching homeward.” Jeremiah does not deny the

attacks of Amalek or the wars with the surrounding Canaanites, but the conflict is over. ey find

favor in God’s eyes, and God will lead them home to a waiting land of plenty.

is time, it is not the Lord robed in crimson garments, dyed red by the blood of enemies. is time,

God proclaims, “they came to me in tears, but in compassion will I lead them to the flowing streams

of water.”

e watchmen in the north call out to the people of the land, “Come, let us go up to Zion!” And as

they approach Jerusalem, a voice of weeping is heard: Rachel, the matriarch who died along the way

and who was buried at the side of the road, weeps for her lost children in exile. “Restrain your voice

from weeping,” God reassures her, for your children are returning and there is hope for your future.

Peacefully, fearlessly, with sword and suff ering behind them, the people inhabit the land in loving

relationship with their paternal protector and maternal nurturer, the Holy One of blessed name.

Let me tell you, you don’t have to like that image. You can try to explain it away, but you would be

false in the attempt. ere is a sense from within our tradition that our return to the Promised Land would be complete when peace guides the planet and love steers the stars. Every person will sit under

vine and fig tree and none will be made afraid. It is not that there never was and never would be

conflict, nor that enemies would disappear, but the militant watchman would give way to the friendly

neighbor.

at is one image of peace for Jerusalem.

We have partisans in our Jewish community of both images. Here in the United States we have

politicians and pundits, bloggers and self-proclaimed experts who are persuaded that Isaiah’s image is

correct. Without a set of continually rattling sabers, there can never be peace, and therefore negotiations

are worthwhile only if they are, in the end, irrelevant. e other side can have peace on our terms when

they are ready to accept our terms. And if not, they are prepared to stain the clothing of the stompersand tramplers of an indefinite number of future generations.

And we also have lobbyists and lawyers, analysts and investors who are persuaded that Jeremiah’s image

is correct. As long as walls stand around us with watchmen guarding them, as long as roads are blocked

and reminders of our way of life antagonize our neighbors, Rachel will continue to weep. We can have

peace when we are prepared to acknowledge the terms of peace that our oppressed neighbors desire.

And if not, then we will continue to hold up a weeping Rachel and blame the saber-rattlers for her tears.

As I said, we have partisans of both images here in the United States. I may have overstated their

positions a little bit, especially in some individual cases, but the fact is that those partisans do what every

group of partisans do in the country—they organize into advocacy organizations and attempt to pressure

both the US government and the Israeli government into taking hold of their image.

But I don’t count myself as a member of either camp. e organizations that advocate for their limited

approach, though necessary to our conversations, do not represent me.

And the reason for that is that these two prophetic visions, though they have been carried forward for

thousands of years by our sacred tradition, are neither individually useful nor mutually exclusive in

this modern world of ours. By setting them up as competing visions, these organizations contribute

to the notion that Israel is an issue for us as Jews and Americans. Israel is not and should not be an

issue. Israel is and should be a value.



And what is more, these organizations with limited perspective have a fatal flaw: however well-informed

they think they are and however well-connected they think they are, in the end they betray the value

that we as a synagogue and a religious community articulate when we pray for the welfare of the State of

Israel, asking God to spread the shelter of peace over the land and its people:

Ushlach orkha v’amit’kha l’rosheha, sareha v’yoatzeha, v’takneim b’eitza tovah milfanekha

“Send Your light and Your truth to its leader, its cabinet and its advisors, and instruct them with yourgood advice.”

In the end, that’s the only real way for peace to be made—for the leadership of the State of Israel

itself to make peace on the terms it chooses for its own people. For all of the bizarre politics in Israel

and strangest of bedfellows that have formed coalition governments, there has been a consistent and

persistent eff ort on the part of the Prime Ministers and the governments they have led to seek peace

and pursue it.

Israel’s heritage stretches back to the time of Isaiah and Jeremiah—and even beyond. Yet, much as I

love the Bible, much as I turn to it for knowledge, inspiration and truth, even I recognize that we do

not live in a Biblical world. We don’t live in the time of the Second Temple. Hey—in spite of whatsome superficial paranoids insist on repeating, we don’t even live in 1939.

e current Prime Minister has made at least two formal attempts at peace. e quintessential warrior

for Israel gave his life in the pursuit of peace, and another such soldier lies in a coma that overcame him

half way through his own eff orts. e President and the Defense Minister of this government made their

eff orts when they sat as heads of government, and even the Prime Minister, struggling with his own legal

problems, nonetheless made overtures for peace. ey have all endured uprisings, rebellions, barrages of

rockets, sucker punches, kidnappings, suicide-homicide bombers and the endless economic, political and

academic harassment by enemies funded by their enemies.

For all of the warnings by the Isaiah camp and all of the moaning by the Jeremiah camp, the goal of

peace with the Palestinians who occupy the land has been pursued with diligence, even when it was notso obvious anyone was pursuing back, by the left wing and the right wing of Israeli politics.

How are we to show our support for those eff orts? How are we to stand with Israel as its citizens and

its duly elected government move toward peace and security?

ere are a hundred ways to contribute to the continuation of the Israeli endeavor. Your support of

those organizations within Israel that teach its young people, care for its needy, ensure civil rights and

especially religious freedom, protect its environment are all a good way.

Your investment in Israel is the best vote of no confidence in the spurious BDS movement, the

eff orts of Israel’s genuine enemies to promote boycott, divestment and sanctions against the Jewish

state. Buy Israel Bonds, buy Israeli products and invest in Israeli companies. If you feel like divestingfrom something, try persuading your pension fund to refuse to do business with Iran or any company

supporting their threat to the region.

I wouldn’t dare tell you not to belong to an advocacy organization. If you want to belong to

ZOA or J-Street, to Americans for Peace Now or the David Project, to Stand With Us or Brit Tzedek,

then by all means do so. ey serve a valuable purpose in the discourse in this country about our

values and priorities. But listen to me—Israel is the oldest democracy in the world formed after

World War II, since the founding of the United Nations. And it is the only one of those democracies

whose democratic form of government has not been interrupted since its founding. In the end,



whether you believe in American exceptionalism or globalization, isn’t that exactly what you want

to support—a functioning democracy that has not suspended human and civil rights, representative

government or social services through wars, economic disasters, political upheavals and the inevitable

scandal or two?

Whatever else you support politically, you should support the one organization dedicated to the

policies that the government of Israel is itself committed to—the American Israel Public A ff airs

Committee, AIPAC. All these other groups who claim to be David to the Goliath of AIPAC simply

have it wrong.

It is not that AIPAC is perfect, and it is not that AIPAC always gets things right. But there are two

things that AIPAC indeed always gets right that are the essential things a lover of Israel who does

not live in Israel needs to learn: first, the duly elected government of Israel gets to set its own policy

without being dictated to by anyone else, including the United States and including the Jews of the

United States.

And the other thing for us to learn from AIPAC is that there are enemies in this world. ose

enemies are not American politicians—AIPAC activists like to say that there are no enemies, only

friends we have yet to make. ose enemies are not all people who share a particular religious orethnic label. But there are enemies in the world and it doesn’t make sense to pretend there aren’t or to

waste our energy flinging names at people with whom we simply disagree. It is toward those enemies

that our eff orts must be directed.

at is to say, Isaiah and Jeremiah both would feel right at home in this context, as well they should. No

matter what my preference is or yours, just as they are both in the Bible, the values they each represent in

these brief readings are both in the modern context of 21st century political realities.

My prayers are with the peacemakers. e decisions they have to make are more than difficult—they

have existential implications for all the parties involved. e success of constructive negotiations

would have worth in and of itself, but would also serve to further isolate the enemies of Israel and

of decent human beings around the world. I likely would not have voted for PM Netanyahu wereI an Israeli citizen, but in spite of my disagreements with his politics, he is the Prime Minister that

I support, especially in these eff orts. He knows what his responsibilities are in both failure AND

success.

But honestly, if eff orts toward peace again reach an unsuccessful end point, Israel will remain my

central concern, and AIPAC will remain the location of my choice to preserve that concern.

But optimistically, if the eff orts of the parties result in a peace that everyone can live with…it will be

time to take a serious look at the 2012 Chicago Cubs.

Jack Moline is a native of Chicago and, since 1987, the rabbi of Agudas Achim

Congregation in Alexandria, Virginia. He also serves as Director of Public Policy for the Rabbinical Assembly. A graduate of Northwestern University (School of

Communications, 1974), he was ordained at the Jewish eological Seminary in 1982.

Rabbi Moline is chair of the Interfaith Relations Committee of the Jewish Council for

Public A ff airs, past Chair of the Board of e Interfaith Alliance, Vice-president of the

Washington-Baltimore Rabbinical Assembly, and Secretary of the Faith and Politics

Institute. He has served as President of the Washington Board of Rabbis and is past

chair of the Alexandria Interfaith Association. Rabbi Moline is an adjunct faculty member of the Virginia

eological Seminary, and has served on the Program Board of the Cathedral College of the Washington

National (Episcopal) Cathedral.



A number of our members have traveled to Israel with me in recent years and on those trips it has

been our privilege to be guided around Israel by a very interesting man named David Sharvit.

David is a professional. He doesn’t talk a lot about himself or his family except when he can’t avoid it.

A few years ago we arrived in Israel just before Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s memorial

and independence days. We went to the military cemetery at Mt. Herzl, and David, a generally

talkative man, found it almost impossible to speak. He also refused to, he couldn’t, bring us to the

graves of family members, and there are too many of them. In the wars Israel has fought through the

years, David Sharvit lost an uncle, a cousin, a nephew and his only son. David himself walks with a

limp, from his own war injuries.

Every so often, David talks about his son, who was killed in battle in Lebanon, a brilliant, thoughtful,

caring and handsome young man. I cannot adequately describe, but I will never forget, the pain on

the face of this man as he talked about his beloved son. ere are no words to describe the scene at which so many of us cried for a young man none of us ever met.

Somehow, when Time Magazine put together the cover story of September, 2010, with the big

Jewish star and the title, “Why Israel doesn’t care about peace,” this article in which they talked to a

handful of people who were so busy making money selling condos in Ashdod that they just couldn’t

be bothered worrying about Palestinians or borders or much else, they forgot to talk to David Sharvit.

ey had a bunch of pictures of Israelis having fun at the beach—they didn’t have any pictures of

Israelis weeping at cemeteries. While they kept emphasizing how much money these Jews are making,

a theme we have heard too many times over the centuries, they neglected to note how many of them

would give their every last dime if only they could have their children back. And they would give

everything they have and more to assure that neither they nor their neighbors will ever again have to

stand at the graves of sons and daughters and brothers and sisters and husbands in the future.

I know a lot of Israelis. Many of my friends have made Aliyah. As many of you know, our son Jordan

went to Israel recently to start a new job in Jerusalem. He is not going to make a lot of money. And

most of my friends in Israel don’t make a lot of money—they could make a lot more here in America.

ey are in Israel because they believe in something, and they are willing to make sacrifices in life

style, in comfort, even in their safety and security, because they believe in what Israel is all about, and

it surely isn’t all about money nor is it about having fun at the beach or enjoying the cafes of Tel Aviv.

e last thing I said to Jordan when he left wasn’t, “Make a lot of money.” And it wasn’t even, “Have

a lot of fun,” although I do hope he will. It was, “Be careful - and be safe.”

A lot of people just don’t understand, and perhaps never will. Israel has been much in the newslately. ere are many who want to blame Israel not only for its problems, but for all the tension and

violence in the Middle East and for much of the tension and violence beyond. I have heard people

say that if it weren’t for Israel we wouldn’t have American soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan. Sure. If it

weren’t for Israel the Taliban would love us, and Saddam Hussein wouldn’t have butchered thousands

and thousands of his own people and his neighbors. If it weren’t for Israel extremists all over the world

would love us…for sure.

Israelis don’t care about peace? Please… We could go back over it, year by year and generation by

generation, from the hand of peace that was extended to Israel’s neighbors in 1948, to days before

Israel Wants Peace

.



the 1967 Six Day War when Israel begged for peace, and the outreach after the 1967 War when Israel

literally pleaded with its neighbors to take back territory in return for peace, and the door was slammed

in their faces. We remember that Anwar Sadat came to Jerusalem, at the invitation of Menachem Begin,

and agreed to end fighting, and Israel returned every inch of Sinai, at great cost, giving up strategic depth

and military facilities, airfields and oil fields and much more, for peace. More recently, Israel pulled

back from Lebanon in the year 2000, only to get harassment and attack from Hezbollah across the

international border, and then, at great financial and political sacrifice, Ariel Sharon pulled every Israeliout of Gaza, the result of which was thousands and thousands of rockets pouring down on southern

Israel, including more than a dozen rockets just this week.

We live in a strange world. Israel’s self-defense is branded as naked aggression, if not genocide. Aid

to terrorists is entirely humanitarian. And the assumption is repeated, as fact, from a handful of

anecdotes, that Israelis don’t care about peace.

What is true is that many Israelis have given up on their hope, and dream, that peace will come any

time soon. ere are peace talks going on right now, and I will argue emphatically that that is good.

As noted already, there were many years in which it was impossible to envision any Arab leader sitting

down with any Israeli. People who talk are less likely to go to war, at least for the moment. So peace

talks are good—as far as they go. But they don’t go very far.

Mahmoud Abbas keeps repeating that he has no compromises to make. He will not compromise

on a single inch of land. He will not, on principle, compromise the “right of return” for any and all

Palestinians. Every one must be able to go and claim whatever they say was previously theirs, or their

ancestors’, in Israel.

We know what those code words mean. ey mean: we will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

Having twenty Arab, Muslim, states in the Middle East is fine. Establishing a Palestinian State in which

it will not be acceptable for a single Jew to live, is fine. But Israel as a Jewish state is not. Never in

history has a state been created for people who then insisted that the problem of its refugees must be

solved somewhere else, on someone else’s turf. at language will not lead to peace.

ere are two essential issues that stand in the way of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, two

essential issues that stand out and block progress every time peace comes close. Every other issue can be

resolved and in fact there has been in place over the past decade a fairly good framework for resolving

just about all the issues.

Two fundamental issues are paramount. One is the integrity of Israel as a Jewish state. at doesn’t

mean Arabs can’t live there. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs do live there. Lots of Christians of all

denominations live there. All of them enjoy full religious and political rights, the same as every Israeli.

But when people insist that Israel open its doors to any and every Palestinian Arab who claims, or

whose ancestors have claimed, U. N. refugee status, they are simply saying: we’ll trade our eff ort to

destroy Israel quickly for your promise that instead, in law, we will be guaranteed the right to overrun

Israel a little more slowly. No one is fooled by this tactic, certainly no one in the Middle East. What

is claimed as a “right of return,” a claim never made by, or for, any other group of refugees, ever, in

history, is understood correctly as a demand that Israel in the long run, if not in the short run, cease

being a Jewish state.

e other issue is security. Any Palestinian state must be functionally de-militarized. It must, of

course, have a police force and other internal security forces as needed. It will need to defend itself

from terrorism, as it will have enemies. But it cannot bring into its borders either the military

forces or the weapons that can threaten Israel. To understand this, all anyone has to do is look at a



map. Israel cannot allow military forces with anti-aircraft weapons to be stationed within easy

target range of Ben Gurion Airport. And Israel cannot take the risk that a Palestinian state,

once established, will become another Gaza, or another South Lebanon. No matter what the

final border agreements may be, Israel’s borders will be narrow. In places the distance from the

Mediterranean Sea to what will be an Arab border will be smaller and narrower than the borders

of the City of Columbus, Ohio. And there will be lots of border; miles and miles of twisting

and turning border. ose cannot become the defense lines against an army with sophisticatedmissiles and rockets. To give in on that means to give in on Israel.

at’s basically it. ose are the central issues.

Jerusalem isn’t the problem. We can figure out how to share Jerusalem. e fact that Jews might

be willing to share the holiest place we have is truly remarkable, but there is no question that

Israelis will share Jerusalem for peace.

Settlements aren’t the problem. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. When I get involved

with community groups, which I do regularly, that’s all they talk about: Israel encroaching on

Palestinian land. It is a bogus issue, for a number of reasons; it is an issue that Israel has shown,

over and over again, can be solved.

Everything can be solved if there is good will. Water, which is actually as important as anything else,

connections from one population center to another, trade issues and all the rest, have been addressed

and largely resolved in previous discussions. Two central issues remain, Israel as a Jewish state and

Israel secure from threats and violence. Whether these issues can be resolved is the test of whether

there really is a will to live in peace, or only a desire to put off the next war, hoping Israel becomes

too weak and too isolated to defend itself.

By the way, there isn’t serious disagreement about these issues in Israel except on the extreme fringes.

On these core issues it doesn’t matter which party is in power. Benjamin Netanyahu, Tzipi Livni and

Ehud Barak are largely on the same page here. ey disagree about a lot of other things, and each

thinks that he or she is better able to strike the deal, but they don’t disagree on the basic necessity of providing for Israel’s survival. It doesn’t really matter who the prime minister is and candidly it

doesn’t really matter who the president of the United States is either. All that matters is that the Arab

Palestinians and those who back them are willing to accept Israel as a permanent presence in the

Middle East, with the right to live as a Jewish state in peace and security.

Oh yes, there is one other thing, but it’s not an issue for Israeli–Arab negotiations. e elephant in

the room, as they say, the big presence that everyone thinks about but no one quite knows how to

deal with, is Iran and its nuclear ambitions. Even the Arab countries around Israel don’t want Iran

acquiring nuclear weapons. How to stop that is perhaps the most important question of our times,

maybe even more important than Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and on that I really don’t know

any more than anyone else, although we all have heard people speculate. All I can say is that I hope

someone in some government, in Washington or in Jerusalem, has some real plan in mind to keep

nuclear weapons out of the hands of lunatics. e best thing I have heard was on the recent visit of

Israel’s Consul General who said: “ose who know aren’t talking; and those who are talking don’t

know.”

is is complicated. I understand that a lot of people don’t get it. I’m used to that. I have spent

most of my adult life trying to explain it in talks to church groups, to interfaith and community

groups, to public officials and to journalists. Most people listen, to anything, with preconceived

notions, based on where they are from, what values and/or what prejudices they were raised with,



what limited experiences they have, etc. I know it isn’t easy for most Americans to figure all this out.

Some of them, after all, get their news from Time Magazine, or from sources that are even more

unbalanced. at’s why I keep talking, and why I hope you will too.

It is important that we all do everything we can to help our neighbors and our leaders understand

what this is all about, because there is so much misinformation around us. It is even more

important that we continue to understand ourselves.

I’m not so worried when I meet people who are clueless about Israel and the Middle East. I am

very upset when I meet Jews who are clueless about Israel and the Middle East. And I am most

upset when I hear Jews, in some cases Jews who are reasonably well attuned to current events,

mouthing platitudes that condemn Israel falsely and maliciously. Israel can defend itself well, and

will, and Israel can even stand against a lot of horribly prejudiced world opinion. But Israel needs

us. And for a lot of reasons, we need Israel. Only if we know what the issues are, and what the

truth really is, can we have hope for Israel’s survival and for peace.

Israel cares about peace. Every Israeli I know, and every Israeli leader I know, cares about peace.

Some people want to weaken Israel, not because they want peace, but because they want Israel

to disappear. And by the way, that won’t bring peace to the Middle East. e best thing we cando for peace, for everyone, is to keep Israel strong. Please, for all the many peoples of the Middle

East, for David Sharvit, for my son Jordan, for all the people who just want to live in peace with

their neighbors, never lose sight of how important this all is. Please think about that in the year

ahead, and help bring the dream of peace a little closer to reality.

Rabbi Harold J. Berman has served as Rabbi of Congregation Tifereth Israel of

Columbus, Ohio, since 1979.An honors graduate of Rutgers University, Rabbi

Berman holds a Master’s degree and Rabbinic ordination from the Jewish

eological Seminary in New York. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Rabbi Berman serves on the Va’ad Hakavod (ethics committee) of the Rabbinical

Assembly, the international professional organization of Conservative Rabbis. Rabbi

Berman is also a former chairman and past president of the National Rabbinic

Cabinet of the United Jewish Communities and is a member of the Executive

Committee of the National Rabbinic Cabinet of Israel Bonds.

http://1979.an/

http://1979.an/



Q uestions abound on this holiest day of the year. Kol Nidre has already challenged us as to

whether we have been faithful to the vows we have made over the last year and off ered usthe chance to be released from those we could not keep, hoping that we will do better next year.

Tomorrow morning, Unetaneh Tokef will ask us incredibly difficult questions: who will live and

who will die, who will be tranquil and who will live in anguish over the course of the next twelve

months. Even as a metaphor for transformations that may occur during the year, these are still

powerful questions. Al Chet calls us to account for our specific behaviors toward the people in

our lives and the viddui will ask us whether we are ready to be forgiven and to forgive when we

and those we love have missed the mark. If we take the mandate of this day seriously, these are

difficult challenges to ponder.

e questions do not end with an accounting of our personal behavior; the quiet introspection

of this day invites us to ponder every aspect of our world. For many of us, concerns about Israel

abound as we reflect on the year just ended; next year evokes even more questions. Will theleaders of the region find the courage to make peace? Can both sides ever transcend the mistrust,

enmity and suspicion that plague their relationship? Will the Arab world finally relinquish its

commitment to the destruction of Israel? Will Israel’s government rise above the factionalism

and polarization that defines the coalition and pervades the population? e question mark

symbolizes so much about Israel this year.

Imagine the history of the State of Israel through the punctuation we use when we speak of Israel.

In 1947 and 1948, I imagine that the “question mark” was the prevailing punctuation mark used

when referring to Israel. Would the United Nations actually vote for the Partition Plan? How

would the other nations of the world respond to the newborn state? And probably the most

important question of that time, would Israel survive its initial confrontation with the multiple

Arab armies which attacked it? In those tumultuous days following independence, Israel’s very

survival was a question mark.

Over the next sixty years, we entered the era of the exclamation point and the period. Our pride,

our identities as Jews became intertwined with Israel’s certain presence in the community of

nations. Israel gained respect in the world. Israel was a sovereign state on the map, period. And

there have been multiple times when we joyfully called upon that exclamation point. Most of us

recall the exaltation when Israeli forces reclaimed the Old City of Jerusalem during the Six Day

War! Or when Sadat came to Jerusalem and peace with Egypt was reached! Or the peace treaty

with Jordan! e Oslo accords! ere have been years with certainty and times of exuberance

and high hopes for peace.

But not this year. Have we returned to the era of the question mark? In a recent Jerusalem Post

op-ed, Daniel Gordis seemed quite clear that we have moved beyond the era of certainty. He

wrote: “e world has tired of the state that it re-created when its sense of responsibility was at

its peak. Gone is the era when the world understood, even if momentarily, that we, no less than

anyone else, deserve a place to be. We had it, briefly, but it’s gone.1 ere are days when I worry

that Rabbi Gordis is right. But it’s not just about what the world thinks about Israel that troubles

me, it’s what we, the Jewish people think and how we act in relation to Israel.

Connecting with Israel:

A Sermon for Yom Kippur



In February, I attended a forum on Israel at the Hebrew Union College where I heard a rabbinic

student casually declare that Israel’s continued existence was not a compelling issue for him.

When I heard these words, I felt as though someone had kicked the air out of my lungs. ere

are plenty of people in the world who question Israel’s survival. Some of them are Israel’s enemies

but many are people who care deeply about Israel, not only her physical existence but also her

moral and religious survival. ey work tirelessly to challenge her people and her leaders to

embody the best of Jewish ethical and moral values. eir questions emerge from a profoundconcern about the future of Israel. What made this student’s statement so upsetting for me is

that this student, this future leader of the Jewish people, uttered these words in the context of

not being particularly upset whether or not Israel survives. Israel’s continued existence just didn’t

matter that much. is was hard to hear.

at student’s voice is by no means a lone voice in the wilderness. Even with the tumultuous

events of recent months, whether the raid on the flotilla, possible entanglement between Israel

and Iran or the Rotem Conversion Bill, or even the most tentative steps toward peace, the phrase

on everyone’s lips seems to be “engagement,” or the lack thereof, especially between young

Diaspora Jews and Israel.

Many American Jews feel disengaged from Israel. ose in their 20’s-30’s who are too young toremember the Six Day War, or even connect to images of Holocaust survivors rebuilding their

lives in an ancient land are more disengaged from Israel than ever before. For them, Israel has

always existed; the survival of the Jewish state was never a question. Even though over 100,000

young adults have taken part in Birthright—the program in the Jewish community that off ers a

nearly free trip to Israel for young people ages 18-26, far too many young Jews are disinterested in

and even hostile to Israel. And truthfully, so are many of their parents and other adults.

Too many people believe the slanted news reports they see on TV or in the newspapers. Over

80% of American Jews have never visited Israel; maybe it’s on a list of places to visit “some day.”

ey feel little personal commitment. ey don’t understand how Israel can behave the way

it does on the world stage at times. And they can’t understand as liberal Jews a rabbinate that

represents religious and spiritual values so diff erent than our own.2 And so they feel disconnected

from a place that is our birthright, our yerusha. “And yes, a holy place even when the policy of

the government isn’t so holy.3”

In a controversial article that appeared in the New York Review of Books, Peter Bienart blasted

the American Jewish establishment for its handling of the relationship between young American

Jews and Israel. He described the findings of a study conducted by Steven Cohen and Ari

Kelman to assess the relationship of young Jews to Israel.

“Among American Jews today,” he reports, “there are a great many Zionists, especially in the

Orthodox world, people deeply devoted to the State of Israel. And there are a great many liberals,

especially in the secular Jewish world, people deeply devoted to human rights for all people,Palestinians included. But the two groups are increasingly distinct. Particularly in the younger

generations, fewer and fewer American Jewish liberals are Zionists; fewer and fewer American

Jewish Zionists are liberal. One reason is that the leading institutions of American Jewry have

refused to foster—indeed, have actively opposed—a Zionism that challenges Israel’s behavior in

the West Bank and Gaza Strip and toward its own Arab citizens. For several decades, the Jewish

establishment has asked American Jews to check their liberalism at Zionism’s door, and now, to

their horror, they are finding that many young Jews have checked their Zionism instead.” 4

Bienart correctly describes the frustration of young American liberal Jews and many others as

well. Our progressive Jewish values seem to clash with the Jewish state. Why can’t there be peace



with the Palestinians? Why isn’t there religious freedom for liberal Jews? All are compelling

questions which need to be asked and important questions that deserve answers.

But instead of engaging when we disagree with Israeli policy, too many liberal Jews have checked

out—they are disengaged with Israel. Far too many American Jews no longer see Israel as part of

their heritage and their concern. ey feel hostile to Israel and are quick to believe any negative

report they hear.

is is not the first time in American Jewish history a segment of the Jewish population has

grappled with feelings of alienation about Israel. I suspect that for some here tonight, this feels a

little bit like déjà vu all over again. Perhaps, like me, you can remember similar arguments in the

early 70’s. It was difficult to be a Zionist among feminists in those days as so many of my friends

railed against the patriarchal religious climate that defined Judaism in the Jewish state. And I

also remember heated arguments with anti-war friends who opposed what they considered Israel’s

status as an occupying power. And I recall the mainstream Jewish organizations of that day trying

frantically to tell us that unilateral support for Israel was our best way to support the Jewish state.

Is our situation today so diff erent? I do agree with Rabbi Gordis that the sentiment in the world

feels markedly less supportive. Today, I cannot help but see a trend, both deliberate and inadvertent,to delegitimize Israel — to turn it into a pariah state, particularly in the wake of the Gaza war. e

safety of Israel’s citizens and the security of her borders seem to be below the radar of world concern.

Divestment and boycotts are on the agenda of organizations with whom we ordinarily share many

ideals. Performers cancel concerts in Tel Aviv. And I also believe that tensions in the Middle East,

especially as they relate to Iran’s nuclear program have all of us on edge.

I want to transform this lack of connection that so many feel. I want us to remember that indeed

Israel is not just some place “over there.” Israel is part of who we are. We might not live there.

But we have an important stake in Israel’s success and survival, and Israel’s success and survival

with Jewish values.

Some of you may recall that Hevreh and the Federation sponsored a program called Israel onCampus. Planning for and taking part in this program helped me to understand the seeds of

disengagement among young adults. One of our students had a very distressing experience on

her college campus when she was confronted by a powerful anti-Israel program and realized

that she had neither the background nor conviction to respond to these allegations. Out of her

experience, Rabbi Rosenberg and I created this program, with the valuable help of Ari Delevie.

All Jewish high school students in the county were invited to take part in this seminar which

included workshops on the history of Israel, values clarification exercises on understanding one’s

own connections to Israel as well as reading and evaluating public opinion about Israel. We

had taken for granted that every Jew understands the meaning of a Jewish state in the context

of Jewish history. We learned that many of our students get all of their information about

Israel from the secular media. We learned that we have a lot of work to do, not to recreate amonolith of belief about Israel but to plant the foundation for thoughtful responses to a personal

connection with Israel.

I want to share with you one story of a hopeful voice about connecting to Israel. And no, it’s not

about my son Adam who recently made aliyah, but about his dear friend, Avi. Adam, Avi and

Avi’s twin Yoav were all students on the Reform movement’s high school semester program in

Israel but a year apart. Somehow, these three boys found each other and they were soul mates,

all American Jewish kids, all the children of rabbis and all wanting to make aliyah and live in

Israel. Unlike Adam whose parents—that would be me and Dennis—asked him to wait until



he had finished college, Avi and Yoav both left for Israel right after high school graduation. e

three boys kept in touch while both Schaefer boys served in Tzahal, the Israel Defense Forces.

Last fall, Avi returned to the states and enrolled as a freshman at Brown University. I must share

a substantial part of a letter Avi wrote about a campus group called Common Ground that was

published in the Brown newspaper.5

“My name is Avi Schaefer. I am a freshman at Brown. I’m the one who doesn’t quite look like a

freshman and who generally shies away from the question, “So what did you do during the three

years you weren’t in school?”

You know me as the quiet person who sat in the back of Common Ground meetings. I tried to

speak up, but my opinions were not welcomed.

As a good friend put it, “Avi, it’s time to tell people the truth! Why are you afraid to tell everyone

what you have done?”

I was afraid, because I don’t know how to convince you that I dream of peace, desire it more than

anything and have devoted my life thus far to it. How do I convince you of this, after I tell you

that I volunteered to fight in the Israeli Defense Forces? If I said that I decided to go not becauseof hatred, but rather to work for peace, would you believe me? I went to the army so that my

children will not have to — a dream I fear may not come true. I am telling you this, Common

Ground: Justice and Equality in Palestine/Israel, so you know my story, to implore you to

consider what I have to say.

I came to Brown looking for an environment that embodies the qualities of expression, open-

mindedness and understanding.

Imagine my utter disappointment as I went to a meeting of your group, looking for a forum of

honest dialogue…to find only the Palestinian side being represented, understood and shared.

ere was no attempt to recognize hardships on Israelis or assign mutual blame for conflicts.

I know that the group’s intentions are good, but this situation is too nuanced, too complicated

and too important to only share the Palestinian side. As my father always says, “An enemy is

someone whose story we have not yet heard.” Only through recognition of the other side will

there be peace.

When both sides truly understand that Israelis and Palestinians have a right to live, a need for

legitimate safety and a desire to envision a more peaceful future for their children, then there will

be peace. Can we understand each other in order to help both Israelis and Palestinians realize the

other side’s story? If we at Brown cannot create a forum to understand each other, how can we ever

assume that this will be created in the Middle East?

If you are truly concerned about sharing the unheard voice, about achieving lasting peace, aboutfinding the common ground that Jews, Muslims, Christians, Israelis, Palestinians and other

citizens of the world all care about, you will be true to your name, and work towards peace. You

will not demonize and vilify the Israeli side alone.

I am here, ready and anxiously waiting for you to work with me, not against me. I wait for the day

that the words of the Prophet Isaiah will ring true: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war any more.”



Sami Jarbawi was one of the Palestinian students Avi encountered at that meeting. When Avi

enrolled in an introductory Arabic course for which Jarbawi was a TA, the two students started to

talk and became friendly. “One day Avi approached Jarbawi and said, ‘Sami, I want to have coff ee

with you.’ at was the beginning point.”

eir friendship deepened when Professor of Judaic Studies David Jacobson invited the pair to his

office. Jacobson was interested in a project with the two students that would examine narratives

from both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “ere’s just a uniqueness about having an Israeli

and a Palestinian working together..,” Jacobson said. “I was delighted that the two of them had this

open mind, and they really became friends.”6

And these two young men did form a strong friendship and their plan was to go to Israel this past

summer and work on this project. Here’s where my story turns tragic. It was a plan that never came

to fruition, not because either young man lost interest or even because cultural or political forces

stood in their way. Avi and Sami never made it to Israel because in February, Avi Schaefer was killed

by a drunk driver on the Brown campus. As long as I live, I will never forget the pain in Adam’s

voice when he called to tell me that his dear friend had been killed. e life of this extraordinary

young man whose passion for Israel’s safety, security and well-being was equaled by his commitment

to dignity and peace for all the inhabitants of the land was cut short by a stupid and senselessaccident. It will not surprise you to learn that, along with over 100 Brown students, Sami Jarbawi

traveled to California for the funeral so he could pay tribute to his friend. I have great hope that

Sami and Avi’s other friends will carry his dreams for peace and understanding forward.

Avi Schaefer’s young life and his stirring words and deeds inspire me tremendously. Nestled in his

letter is an important teaching he learned from his dad. “An enemy is someone whose story we

have not yet heard” is teaching is an antidote to another powerful factor at work here. How

ironic in a world with instant access to so much information that we have a growing polarization

of one group from another, less understanding of the other than ever before. American Jews

and Israeli Jews, religious and secular Jews, Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs, Israeli Jews and

Palestinians… the list seems endless. We have gotten particularly skillful at identifying those who

are not “us” as the “other” and in doing so, we seem to be comfortable with stigmatizing those

with whom we diff er.

One of the most important messages I took away from our session with JJ Goldberg last month was

how little we, American and Israeli Jews do know about each other. When we fail to understand

where we are coming from, in terms of our attitudes and our actions, the gap between us widens.

Brandeis professor Len Saxe who has done extensive research on the Birthright experience and is

also a participant in the Library minyan told me at Kiddush one Shabbat that the most unexpected

benefit of Birthright is the increased connection that Israeli Jews who accompany the Birthright

students on their trip feel towards their American counterparts. He has found that there is a direct

correlation in increased level of understanding and appreciation for both the American Jews and the

Israeli Jews that results from these trips. at is yet another important reason why our Connecting with Israel committee sends our kids to Israel and brings their kids here that they can really get to

know each other and understand each other’s lives and challenges. And if you were privileged to hear

our kids speak about their experience after their return, you know how important this is.

ese Yamim Noraim, these Days of Awe are our time for coming together to face our challenges.

e challenges that Israel faces today are formidable and complex. Israel is both a Western nation

and Middle Eastern at the same time. Israel is still trying to figure out what it means to be a

Jewish Democratic State. We American Jews have a hard time understanding the unique blend of



Jewish culture and state that is critical to the fabric of Israel.

Israel is still the only democracy in that region. It is a thriving country. In a recent Newsweek

article about the best countries to live in, Israel ranked in the top 25. Israel’s economy is one of

the strongest in the world and her innovations in the fields of technology and agriculture improve

the lives of people across the globe.

But even as Israel struggles with legitimate questions of national security and protection, Israel isalso challenged by her own successes and excesses as well as the complex relationship between the

Palestinians and other Arab nations. On the one hand, the Arab nations use the Palestinian cause as

a rallying cry but they do little to support the establishment of a peaceful Palestinian homeland or a

governing infrastructure. While Israel’s treatment of her Arab citizens bears careful scrutiny, it is also

true that Palestinians have limited rights in neighboring countries of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

In Lebanon, certain professions such as medicine are denied to native-born Lebanese of Palestinian

descent.7 In recent months more than 3000 Palestinians born in Jordan have lost their Jordanian

citizenship as Jordan worries about a Palestinian majority taking over their country.8 And yet when

Israel expresses concern about a Palestinian or Arab majority changing the Jewish nature of the state

of Israel, its leaders are called racists by the world.

As Israel grapples with these challenges, nothing could be more alarming than a future in which American Jews could not care less about Israel.

To engage with Israel is to encourage Israel to live up to its highest spiritual ideal of our tradition.

To engage with Israel is to advocate for the treatment of all her citizens with equality and dignity.

To engage with Israel is to support religious pluralism.

To engage with Israel is to applaud her resolve to sit down with her neighbors and lay the

groundwork for peace, just as she is doing.

To engage with Israel is to appreciate the complex realities of life there.

To engage with Israel is to embody our name—to wrestle with that which is both ordinary and

divine.

To disengage is to abandon Israel to the world’s anti-Israel rhetoric fueled by untruths about what

Israel is and what Israel stands for.9

In her essay for a book called A Dream of Zion, my colleague Rabbi Janet Marder articulated

much of my own connection to Israel. She wrote: I do not expect Israel to be perfect, as I do

not expect the people I love to be perfect. I see them as they are, and I see the potential in them

as well. I do my best to understand them. I rejoice in their strength; I grieve when they suff er or

go wrong. My job is to keep on loving them, even when it is hard, and to help them in any way

I can to become their best selves. ey are ordinary and they are also amazing, and they are mine

and because of that, they are embedded in my heart.10

On this night of questions, this seems certain. We need each other. Among the many paths to

connecting with Israel is to discover there are many ways we can advocate for Israel which embrace

both our questions and our certainties. When you leave the sanctuary tonight, you will find a blue

sheet with information about a wide range of organizations that care about Israel and invite our



participation. I invite you to learn more, to become more engaged in a way that opens your hearts

to this extraordinary place that is our birthright. May the coming year bring new opportunities

to strengthen our connection to Israel so that our vision of Jewish life for the 21st Century will be

expressed here and in the Jewish state.

1 Rabbi Daniel Gordis, Rest in Pieces, A Jerusalem Post Op-ed, July 19, 2010

2 Rabbi Denise Eger, Rosh Hashanah sermon 5771

3 Adapted from Rabbi Eger’s sermon, see above

4 Peter Beinert, e Failure of the American Jewish Establishment, e New York Review of Books, June 2010

5 Avi Schaefer z’l, excerpts of a letter published in Brown Daily Herald, November 2009

6 Brown Daily Herald, February 2010

7 http://www.wtop.com/?sid=2025536&nid=500 ).

8 (http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=167512

9 Ibid, Eger sermon

10 Rabbi Janet Marder, A Dream of Zion, ed by Rabbi Jeff rey Salkin

Rabbi Deborah Zecher serves as senior rabbi and leader of music at Hevreh

of Southern Berkshire in Great Barrington, MA. She is a graduate of

Brandeis University and was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-

Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York in 1982. Rabbi

Zecher has also served congregations in Scarsdale, NY, Washington, DC

and Germantown, MD in addition to working as a chaplain at American

University and Williams College.

Rabbi Zecher is currently a member of the Board of Governors of HUC-JIR

and serves as president of the Rabbinic Alumni Association of HUC-JIR.

She previously served as Recording Secretary of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and was

also a member of the Board of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the Union for

Reform Judaism). She is a member of the Commission on Worship, Music and Religious Living and

currently serves as the co-chair of the Music ink Tank for the Commission

http://www.wtop.com/?sid=2025536&nid=500

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=167512

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=167512

http://www.wtop.com/?sid=2025536&nid=500



Speaking at the Cairo ceremony marking the 37th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War,

President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, remarked that Egypt will never lose the hope for peace.“We need peace in the Middle East so the generations to follow will enjoy a stable, peaceful

region.”

Talking about children in the context of the Middle East conflict and peace negotiations is always

a good choice. oughts of innocent children always touch our hearts. Perhaps that is why a story

from Israel about the lives of three children recently caught my attention.

Just over a month ago, three-and-a-half-year-old Abdul Hai Salhut, of East Jerusalem’s Jabel

Mukaber neighborhood, fell and sustained grave injuries near his home. He was hospitalized for a

week but his condition continued to deteriorate and he passed away.

His parents approved an organ donation to a five-year-old Palestinian boy who required an urgentliver transplant and to a seven-and-a-half year old Jewish girl who needed a lung transplant. Abdul’s

father, Moussa Salhut, was quoted in the press as saying: “We’re happy to see him alive in other

people, regardless of whether they are Arab or Jewish. It doesn’t make a diff erence when you save

life. In the shadow of our difficult loss, we are touched to have saved lives.” Amazing, isn’t it—that

even with all the Arab and Jewish tensions in this country—a father could see through his pain and

save others—including a Jewish child.

I remember how prominently the subject of children featured in the Interfaith Conference

for World Peace that was held in Israel in 1999. As program director for the Inter-Religious

Coordinating Council I helped bring representatives of over twenty local grass roots organizations

from Israel and the Palestinian Authority to meet with the Dalai Lama, leaders from Bosnia, Ireland,

South Africa and the USA, who shared their first hand experiences in resolving their own complexreligious conflicts.

Prof. Sister Geraldine Smyth, of the Irish School of Ecumenics described how the conflicts

of adults transformed the way children perceived the world. In 1972, one of the bloodiest years

in the Irish conflict, she was teaching her niece the names of the flowers as they walked along

the road. A few months later in the fall, they happened to be walking along the road again, and

Sister Smyth tried to explain that the flowers had died. To which the young girl replied, “who

shot the lilacs?”

And I remember audience member Hadassah Fruman, wife of Takoa Rabbi Menachem Fruman,

telling the following story: During the first intifada, residents decided to reach out to their Arab

neighbors and have their children meet for a day of activities. e Arab and Jewish children rode

together happily until the driver requested that the windows be closed because of the danger of

stone throwers.

One Jewish child responded “but the stone throwers are on the bus with us.” e Arab and

Jewish children realized that they were now united on one side—those inside the bus—against

those who might do them harm from outside. Hadassah commented: “I realized that it was a step

toward peace to recognize that people who physically harmed others were the common enemy,”

she said.

Bringing Peace

, ,



e Torah tells us that our ancestors Avram and Sarai “made souls” in Haran. e rabbis tell us

that this means that they converted the people around them to believe in God. How? ey would

invite people in to their home, give them to eat and to drink. ey showed them acts of loving-

kindness and brought them closer to God.

Abdul Hai Salhut family’s gift of life has the power to convert us. is bold act of loving-

kindness reminds us that there are good people on the “other side.” Of course we know that some

Palestinian parents are preparing their kids to become martyrs—I know it. But we too easily lose

sight of the fact that some of them are praying that peace will come soon.

We should be converted to the idea that Abraham’s challenge to God—to “not sweep away the

innocent along with guilty”—can be our challenge well. Perhaps we generalize too much about

“the Palestinians” and should be more careful about who we are talking about—terrorist groups,

leadership, or ordinary citizens.

I hope that the act of loving-kindness will convert other Palestinians to see the humanity of the

Israelis—how much we value human life—and how much we appreciate this blessed gift. May

both nations learn to grieve the loss of life on both sides of the fence. And may the name Abdul

Hai Salut be made great and a blessing—for us all.

It’s easy to be cynical about the current prospects for peace. But remembering the next generation,

the innocent children, helps us focus on the importance of the task at hand. Hearing the story of

Abdul Hai Salut gives me hope. And Hadassah Froman’s story reminds me that this was another

way to pick up a few more families on the bus.

Rabbi Paul Arberman is the commuting rabbi at the Hatch End Masorti

Synagogue in London, England. He served as the rabbi of Congregation

Yedid Nefesh in Modiin, Israel for three years. He was ordained in 2002

at the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem. Rabbi Arbermanhe lives in Modiin, Israel, with his wife Riki and their three children.



The Future of Hope

.

, ,

A harp was suspended above David’s bed. At midnight, the north wind came and blew and the harp played itself. Immediately, David rose and studied Torah until dawn. Talmud Berachot 3b.

Who was David, the son of Jesse? e IDF soldier might think of David as the young warrior whoslew the giant Goliath. A poet will think of him as the “sweet singer of Israel” who composed thePsalms. Rabbis will view him as a Torah scholar, studying long into the night, answering difficultpoints of law. ose in government service might envision David in his role as head of state receivingambassadors and making alliances. And of course, there is David the baal teshuva, the broken heartedpenitent seeking a return to Divine favor.

ere are many Davids.

Jerusalem was David’s capital, and just as there are many Davids, so there are many visions of Jerusalem.Each of the Abrahamic religions has its own idea of the Holy City. To Christians, it is the place where

Jesus preached in the Temple, was tried, crucified and rose from the dead. To Muslims, it is Al Kuds , theholy place, where the Prophet, on his horse al Barak , ascended to heaven.

For Jews there has always been two Jerusalems. e first is the Heavenly Jerusalem, the platonic ideal,the holiest place in the holiest land: the rock where Abraham off ered his son Isaac as a sacrifice; thelocation of the God’s house, the special portal which atones for sins and serves as the gateway topurity, holiness and Eternity.

And then there is the Earthly Jerusalem. Here you haggle in the market, you wrangle withbureaucracy. is is the Jerusalem where Knesset members shout at each other. is is the place whereyou might get a parking ticket. It is also a city where you can get a great secular or Jewish education,

attend a symphony, enjoy a good restaurant or fall in love.

Its name derives from the word “shalom,” peace. Yet it has been destroyed no less than twice, besieged23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.

e Psalms of David exhort us to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” but from the time of David untilnow that dream eludes the Earthly Jerusalem. What is it people are fighting about? e city has few natural resources and is of little strategic importance. Its value is largely symbolic. But such symbolsare priceless. Ideals are very real, no less real than mundane municipalities.

But as Abraham Joshua Heschel said, a civilization which is at base utilitarian is, at base, barbarian.e soul of a people is more than commodities. Jews have always believed that he best things in

life are not things. As my grandmother used to say “Toirah is der bester shoirah” – Torah is the bestmerchandise. Jerusalem is a city of dreams and visions.

David sings to us in the psalm: pray for peace of Jerusalem! Peace. Very nice. But excuse me, but isn’tthat a bit of a platitude? Isn’t this something one expects to find on a holiday card? Sweet, sappy andnice but not real? Do people really think that someday a messiah or some very bright person willcome with a plan nobody has thought of before—a plan that solves all problems? en swords willbe beaten into plows, tanks melted down into tractors and that the lion will become a vegetarian andsnuggle up with the lamb? After all, anthropologists tell us that intergroup conflict is universal amongthe great apes. Conflict is in our primal—or should I say primate?—DNA.



But would it have been realistic to think that a people who had been exiled from its homeland wouldreturn after two thousand years, reviving its ancient language? Historic enemies really can bury thehatchet. Look at France and Germany or France and England. It is hard to think that they would evergo to war against each other again. Not that long ago, the very idea of a united Europe would have beenan oxymoron. But truth is sometimes stranger than fiction and sometimes miracles do happen. Besides,

without a vision of peace, not only there will be more wars—but even more terrible and cruel ones.

ose of us of a certain age remember President Anwar Sadat historic visit to the Knesset. Afterdecades of bitter war, Israelis and Egyptians took steps—heroic steps—toward peace. It was a

remarkable sight: —it was if we were in a dream.

e question is, what kind of God do we believe in? Are we going to make God small like us, or are wegoing to grow big like God? Is God “a man of war,” or does God “make peace in the highest.”?

David was a warrior king, but he grew. And our tradition teaches us that the messiah will be from hisdynasty. e man of war yields to the peacemaker.

David’s creative genius came with the north wind. at inspiration is bigger than all of us.

Is this a conflict about land? But the Talmud teaches us that at the time the Temple stood in Jerusalemand was filled with pilgrims, it never got too crowded. When the tens of thousands bowed at

the mention of the Holy name a miracle occurred. e Temple grew to the size of Jerusalem and Jerusalem grew to be the size of all of Israel. ere is room for all of us.

Is this a conflict about water? - : “With joy you will draw waterfrom the wells of salvation.” (Isaiah 12:3) ere is water enough for all of us.

When Jews recite the Psalms of David we give voice to our prayers. Prayer is the poetry of the soul.Sometimes we pray because that is all we can do. But today, fortunately, we can pray and we canalso act. We can pray to overcome doubt, to strengthen our resolve, to transcend cynicism, and torecapture our innocence. We can pray to understand that just as risks must be taken in war, so they must be taken for peace.

Perhaps perfect peace is something which exists only in the Heavenly Jerusalem. Perhaps there is no wonderful plan just waiting to be discovered by some wise person which will be embraced by all.Perhaps all problems can’t be solved. But—problems can be managed. And that is no dream. As RabbiNachman of Breslov said: Believe that if you can break, you can also fix.

[ ] | “ Arise, cry out in the night; in thebeginning of the watches pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord;” (Lamentations2:19). In the hush of midnight, the wind blows. Listen for that still, small voice. e harps plays and theyoung soldier, the old man, the poet, the scholar, the penitent, the king sings his prayer—and ours:

- - : - : - :

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, may those who love you be at peace.May there be well being within your ramparts, peace within your citadels.For the sake of my family and friends, I pray for your well-being. —Psalm 122

Rabbi Kenneth L. Cohen is the editor of this resource guide. He was a broadcaster with the Religious A ff airs Department of the BBC. He has served congregations inCardi ff , Wales, Columbia, Maryland and was the Executive Director of AmericanUniversity Hillel. Ken maintains his own website:

www.rabbicohen.com

http://www.rabbicohen.com/

http://www.rabbicohen.com/



Israel does not oppose a Palestinian state,

only its unilateral declaration

It should be emphasized that the issue being discussed is not the question of the establishment of

a Palestinian state but rather the means being used to achieve this end. Unilateral actions will not

lead to peace, but will complicate any peace process.

e government of Israel, in common with previous governments, is dedicated to a solution of

two states for two peoples, living side by side in peace and security.

Israel remains committed to the quest for peace and has a long proven track record of making

strategic concessions for that goal. Over the past decades, it has proved its willingness to negotiate

land transfers, leaving Sinai for peace with Egypt and leaving Gaza and South Lebanon.

Negotiations are the only path to true peace

e only way to achieve a true and sustainable peace is through negotiations. A unilateral

declaration of statehood violates the basic principle of a negotiated peace.

Israel remains keen to engage in bilateral negotiations to resolve the conflict. e Palestinian

leadership, on the other hand, has made a decision that it is no longer interested in direct

negotiations with Israel, preferring to attempt to force their solution on Israel through

international pressure.

Israel calls on the Palestinian leadership to return to the negotiating table without preconditions,

so that a genuine and lasting resolution can be found.

Imposed solutions from the outside will not bring peace

All past attempts to import a solution to the conflict from outside parties have failed. Nor can

peace be imposed. History has shown that the peace treaties between Israel and its neighbors were

made possible by negotiations between the parties. In this case as well, peace will only be achieved

in direct negotiations.

The core issues will not be resolved by a UN resolutionEven if a resolution regarding a Palestinian state is reached in the UN, the Palestinians will not

be able to avoid negotiating with Israel if they wish to achieve peace. None of the core issues—

including borders, Jerusalem, refugees and water - will be resolved by a UN resolution.

A UN resolution will harm eff orts for peace, by locking the Palestinians into positions that

cannot be sustained and by precluding the compromises necessary for any peace agreement.

Background on the issues



A unilateral declaration undermines basic principles of

Mideast peacemaking

A unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood undermines all internationally accepted

frameworks for Mideast peace (UN Security Council Resolutions 242, 338, 1850; the Roadmap;

Quartet statements, etc.), which call for a mutually-negotiated and agreed resolution of the

conflict and which have consistently rejected unilateral actions.

Unilateral Palestinian action violates existing

agreements

A unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood would violate existing Palestinian-Israeli bilateral

peace agreements, most notably the Interim Agreement from 1995, which expressly prohibits

unilateral action by either side to change the status of the West Bank and Gaza prior to reaching a

negotiated permanent status agreement.

The possibilities of violence

e Palestinian UN maneuvers may have implications for the situation on the ground. Reports

indicate that the Palestinians are planning demonstrations to coincide with their political moves,

demonstrations that could slip into violence. Moreover, when Palestinians realize that that their

political moves do not translate into a change in their conditions, their disappointment could also

lead them to violence.

Israel hopes that the Palestinian Authority will keep the public order and prevents the situation

from disintegrating into violence. Israel will take the necessary steps to preserve the sovereignty of

its borders and the safety of its citizens.

Premature recognition of a Palestinian state means

recognition of terrorists

In preparation for the unilateral declaration of a state, the Palestinian Authority has signed

a reconciliation agreement with the Hamas. Hamas continues to call for the destruction of

Israel and rejects the most basic conditions of the international community for recognition as

a legitimate actor in the region. Supporting this agreement without any change in position by

Hamas would serve as de facto international recognition of Hamas’ legitimacy.

Hamas continues to be a recognized terrorist organization, outlawed in numerous states

throughout the world, including the UK and the US. It seeks Israel destruction and rejects the

three Quartet Principles (recognition of Israel’s right to exist, acceptance of existing agreements

and an end to violence).



Palestinians and the U.N.

EDITORIAL, New York Times 41

e time isn’t right for statehood bid IRWIN COTLER, e Gazette 41

Arab League: Palestinian statehood bid could be ‘dangerous’

DANIEL SIRYOTI AND ISRAEL HAYOM STAFF, Israel Hayom 42

Will Abbas’s desperate gambit trigger a third intifada?

JACKSON DIEHL, Washington Post 42

Was Mahmoud Abbas’s Family Expelled From Palestine?

JEFFRY GOLDBERG, e Atlantic 42

Mahmoud Abbas:

e Long Overdue Palestinian StateMAHMOUD ABBAS, New York Times 43

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

Speech by PM Netanyahu to a Joint Meeting of the U.S. Congress

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU 43

Obama, Abbas, Abdullah and Netanyahu at White House Dinner

PRESIDENT OBAMA, PRESIDENT MUBARAK, HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH,

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU AND PRESIDENT ABBAS 43

Address by PM Netanyahu at Bar-Ilan University

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU 44

U.S. Administration:

Wendy Sherman promises U.S. veto of Palestinian statehood at U.N.

JOSH ROGIN, Foreign Policy 44

Remarks by President Barak Obama at AIPAC Policy Conference, 2011

BARAK OBAMA 45

President Barak Obama’s Mideast Speech: Israel Excerpt

BARAK OBAMA 45

Ambassador Michael Oren:e Ultimate Ally

MICHAEL OREN, Foreign Policy 46

Oren: Direct talks needed for Mideast peace

MICHAEL OREN, USA Today 46

Israel and the American Jewish Community: What can we Expect from Each Other?

MICHAEL OREN, Remarks 46

Background Pieces



Palestinians and the U.N.

EDITORIAL, New York Times, August 7, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/opinion/palestinians-and-the-un.html?tntemail0=y&emc=

tnt&pagewanted=print

In little more than a month, the Palestinians are expected to ask the United Nations to recognize

their state. We have sympathy for their yearning and their frustration. For years, they have beenpromised a negotiated solution — President Obama called for a peace deal by September —

and they are still empty-handed. But the consequences could be profoundly damaging for all

involved… e best way, likely the only way, to head off this debacle is with the start of serious

negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. e two sides haven’t even been in the same room

together since September 2010.

e time isn’t right for statehood bid

IRWIN COTLER, e Gazette, September 8, 2011

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/time+right+statehood/5368081/story.html

Any negotiated resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - as part of wider Arab-Israeli peace

and reconciliation - should be based on the principle of two states for two peoples living side

by side in peace and security. Accordingly, a premature, unilateral declaration of Palestinian

statehood would undermine rather than resolve the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and would

constitute a standing aff ront to the integrity of the United Nations, international agreements and

international law.

What has gone largely unnoticed is that opposition to the proposed unilateral declaration has

recently come from disparate - and unlikely - Arab and Palestinian leadership. First, the secretary-

general of the Arab League, Nabil Al-Arabi, said the statehood bid “could be a very dangerousmove for the Palestinians during this period.” Second, Hamas leadership - which presumably

would be part of a proposed Palestinian state - has called the whole exercise a “sham.” ird, the

Palestinian team responsible for preparing this initiative has been given an independent legal

opinion - by its own counsel - that argues against such an initiative and warns of the serious risks

involved to the Palestinian people, a position echoed by Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

ese declarations opposing UN recognition of a unilateral Palestinian statehood bid - whether they

emanate from western political leaders or from Arabs and Palestinians themselves - can be said to be

anchored in a series of foundational principles and related precedents of international law.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/opinion/palestinians-and-the-un.html?tntemail0=y&emc=tnt&pagewanted=print








Arab League: Palestinian statehood bid could be ‘dangerous’

DANIEL SIRYOTI AND ISRAEL HAYOM STAFF, Israel Hayom, August 22, 2011

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=807

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby on Sunday suggested Palestinian Authority

President Mahmoud Abbas reconsider his appeal to the U.N. to recognize an independent

Palestinian state in September.”e unilateral appeal to the U.N. Security Council and U.N.General Assembly could be a very dangerous move for the Palestinians during this period and I

propose that Abbas reconsider the handling of the matter,” Elaraby said. Elaraby said the U.N.

bid could be ill-timed because the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is not in control of the

situation in Gaza in the wake of a violent escalation with Israel in recent days.

Will Abbas’s desperate gambit trigger a third intifada?

JACKSON DIEHL, Washington Post, August 15, 2011

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/will-abbass-desperate-gambit-trigger-a-third-

intifada/2011/08/11/gIQAqDCjFJ_print.html

Over the past four months Mahmoud Abbas has dug himself into a very deep hole in the

Palestinian West Bank. Next month, he will try to blast himself out with what he hopes will be a

controlled explosion — mass demonstrations by Palestinians that, he supposes, will neither turn

against his regime nor get out of hand. Abbas’s desperate gambit may turn out to be a dud…

But it also may be the trigger for another violent upheaval in the Arab Middle East — and one

that changes the course of the poorly named “Arab Spring.” Worst of all, the grand statehood

initiative is likely to produce nothing tangible for average Palestinians, other than the loss of their

jobs. ere will be no Israeli withdrawal, no stop even to the expansion of West Bank Jewish

settlements. No wonder that resistance to the Abbas plan has been steadily growing: Not just the

Obama administration but the Jordanian government, Hamas and Abbas’s own prime minister

have made it clear that they regard his initiative as foolhardy.

Was Mahmoud Abbas’s Family Expelled From Palestine?

JEFFRY GOLDBERG, e Atlantic, May 17, 2011

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/05/was-mahmoud-abbass-family-

expelled-from-palestine/238999/

ere is no particular reason to hope for a successful peace process when the leader of the

Palestinians is selling a false history of Israel’s independence. Reaching a successful settlement of

this dispute will require both sides, Arab and Israeli, to grapple with their mistakes. Mahmoud Abbas cannot bring himself to note that the Jews accepted the partition plan, while the Arabs

rejected it, and went to war to extinguish the new Jewish state in the cradle, and then lost their

off ensive war. During this war, many Arabs were expelled from Palestine by Israeli forces; many

others fled. is is not a unique historical event; most wars cause massive population dislocations.

It is worth noting that some Jews, a smaller number, were also expelled from their towns and

farms by Arab forces. Larger numbers of Jews — 800,000 — were subsequently expelled from

Arab countries, where they and their ancestors had lived for hundreds, even thousands, of years.

ese Jews are not considered refugees today because they were taken in by Israel and given

citizenship. e Arab refugees from Palestine were not treated nearly so well by their brethren.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/will-abbass-desperate-gambit-trigger-a-third-intifada/2011/08/11/gIQAqDCjFJ_print.html


http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/05/was-mahmoud-abbass-family-expelled-from-palestine/238999/









Mahmoud Abbas:e Long Overdue Palestinian State

MAHMOUD ABBAS, New York Times, May 16, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/opinion/17abbas.html?pagewanted=print

SIXTY-THREE years ago, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was forced to leave his home in the

Galilean city of Safed and flee with his family to Syria. He took up shelter in a canvas tent

provided to all the arriving refugees. ough he and his family wished for decades to return totheir home and homeland, they were denied that most basic of human rights. at child’s story,

like that of so many other Palestinians, is mine.

is month, however, as we commemorate another year of our expulsion — which we call the

nakba, or catastrophe — the Palestinian people have cause for hope: this September, at the United

Nations General Assembly, we will request international recognition of the State of Palestine on the

1967 border and that our state be admitted as a full member of the United Nations.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

Speech by PM Netanyahu to a Joint Meeting of the U.S. Congress

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, May 24, 2011

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Speeches+by+Israeli+leaders/2011/Speech_PM_

Netanyahu_US_Congress_24-May-2011.htm

Two years ago, I publicly committed to a solution of two states for two peoples: A Palestinian

state alongside the Jewish state. I recognize that in a genuine peace, we will be required to give up

parts of the Jewish homeland. I am willing to make painful compromises to achieve this historic

peace. As the leader of Israel, it is my responsibility to lead my people to peace. is is not easy

for me. I recognize that in a genuine peace, we will be required to give up parts of the Jewish

homeland. In Judea and Samaria, the Jewish people are not foreign occupiers. is is the land of our forefathers, the Land of Israel, to which Abraham brought the idea of one God, where David

set out to confront Goliath, and where Isaiah saw a vision of eternal peace.

But there is another truth: e Palestinians share this small land with us. We seek a peace in

which they will be neither Israel’s subjects nor its citizens. ey should enjoy a national life

of dignity as a free, viable and independent people in their own state. ey should enjoy a

prosperous economy, where their creativity and initiative can flourish.

Obama, Abbas, Abdullah and Netanyahu at White House Dinner

PRESIDENT OBAMA, PRESIDENT MUBARAK, HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH,PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU AND PRESIDENT ABBAS, September 1, 2010

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/01/obama_abbas_abdullah_and_netanyahu_

at_white_house_dinner_106993.html

I began with a Hebrew word for peace, “shalom.” Our goal is shalom. Our goal is to forge

a secure and durable peace between Israelis and Palestinians. We don’t seek a brief interlude

between two wars. We don’t seek a temporary respite between outbursts of terror. We seek a

peace that will end the conflict between us once and for all. We seek a peace that will last for

generations — our generation, our children’s generation, and the next.


http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Speeches+by+Israeli+leaders/2011/Speech_PM_Netanyahu_US_Congress_24-May-2011.htm


http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/01/obama_abbas_abdullah_and_netanyahu_at_white_house_dinner_106993.html









is is the peace my people fervently want. is is the peace all our peoples fervently aspire to.

is is the peace they deserve.

Now, a lasting peace is a peace between peoples — between Israelis and Palestinians. We must

learn to live together, to live next to one another and with one another. But every peace begins

with leader…

President Abbas, we cannot erase the past, but it is within our power to change the future.

Address by PM Netanyahu at Bar-Ilan University, 2009

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, June 14, 2009

http://www.israelemb.org/index.php/en/component/content/article/69-general/523-address-by-

prime-minister-netanyahu-at-bar-ilan-university-excerpts-

In my vision of peace, in this small land of ours, two peoples live freely, side-by-side, in amity

and mutual respect. Each will have its own flag, its own national anthem, its own government.

Neither will threaten the security or survival of the other… With a Palestinian leadershipcommitted to peace, with the active participation of the Arab world, and the support of the

United States and the international community, there is no reason why we cannot achieve a

breakthrough to peace...

Regarding the remaining important issues that will be discussed as part of the final settlement,

my positions are known: Israel needs defensible borders, and Jerusalem must remain the united

capital of Israel with continued religious freedom for all faiths. e territorial question will be

discussed as part of the final peace agreement.

U.S. Administration:

Wendy Sherman promises U.S. veto of Palestinian statehood at U.N.

JOSH ROGIN, Foreign Policy, September 7, 2011

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/09/07/wendy_sherman_promises_us_veto_of_

palestinian_statehood_at_un

Wendy Sherman, President Barack Obama’s nominee for a top State Department post, told

senators on Wednesday that the U.S. will surely veto a Palestinian request for recognition of

statehood if it reaches the U.N. Security Council… “e administration has been very clear as

well ... if any such resolution were put in front of the Security Council, that we would veto it,”Sherman testified. “e United States is very resolved to a veto threat in the Security Council.

What we are very resolved about as well is urging the parties to enter into direct negotiations

again,” Sherman responded.

http://www.israelemb.org/index.php/en/component/content/article/69-general/523-address-by-prime-minister-netanyahu-at-bar-ilan-university-excerpts-


http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/09/07/wendy_sherman_promises_us_veto_of_palestinian_statehood_at_un








Remarks by President Barak Obama at AIPAC Policy Conference, 2011

BARAK OBAMA, May 22, 2011

http://www.nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/text-obama-s-aipac-speech-20110522

A strong and secure Israel is in the national security interest of the United States not simply

because we share strategic interests… not simply because we face common dangers…America’s

commitment to Israel’s security flows from a deeper place — and that’s the values we share.

I firmly believe, and I repeated on ursday, that peace cannot be imposed on the parties to the

conflict. No vote at the United Nations will ever create an independent Palestinian state. And

the United States will stand up against eff orts to single Israel out at the United Nations or in any

international forum...

Moreover, we know that peace demands a partner –- which is why I said that Israel cannot be

expected to negotiate with Palestinians who do not recognize its right to exist. And we will hold

the Palestinians accountable for their actions and for their rhetoric.

I said that the United States believes that negotiations should result in two states, with permanent

Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent Israeli borders with Palestine.

e borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps

— so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states. e Palestinian people

must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their potential, in a sovereign and contiguous

state.

As for security, every state has the right to self-defense, and Israel must be able to defend itself

–- by itself -– against any threat. Provisions must also be robust enough to prevent a resurgence

of terrorism, to stop the infiltration of weapons, and to provide eff ective border security. And a

full and phased withdrawal of Israeli military forces should be coordinated with the assumption

of Palestinian security responsibility in a sovereign and non-militarized state. And the duration

of this transition period must be agreed, and the eff ectiveness of security arrangements must bedemonstrated.

President Barak Obama’s Mideast Speech: Israel Excerpt

BARAK OBAMA, May 19, 2011

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/19/remarks-president-middle-east-and-

north-africa

Now, ultimately, it is up to the Israelis and Palestinians to take action. No peace can be imposed

upon them — not by the United States; not by anybody else. But endless delay won’t make theproblem go away. What America and the international community can do is to state frankly

what everyone knows — a lasting peace will involve two states for two peoples: Israel as a Jewish

state and the homeland for the Jewish people, and the state of Palestine as the homeland for the

Palestinian people, each state enjoying self-determination, mutual recognition, and peace.

So while the core issues of the conflict must be negotiated, the basis of those negotiations is clear:

a viable Palestine, a secure Israel. e United States believes that negotiations should result in

two states, with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent

Israeli borders with Palestine. We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on

the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established


http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/19/remarks-president-middle-east-and-north-africa









for both states. e Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their

full potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state.

As for security, every state has the right to self-defense, and Israel must be able to defend itself -– by

itself -– against any threat. Provisions must also be robust enough to prevent a resurgence of terrorism,

to stop the infiltration of weapons, and to provide eff ective border security. e full and phased

withdrawal of Israeli military forces should be coordinated with the assumption of Palestinian security

responsibility in a sovereign, non-militarized state. And the duration of this transition period must be

agreed, and the eff ectiveness of security arrangements must be demonstrated.

Ambassador Michael Oren:

e Ultimate Ally

MICHAEL OREN, Foreign Policy, April 25, 2011

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/25/the_ultimate_ally

What is the definition of an American ally? Few countries fit [the] description, but Israel is

certainly one of them. As U.S. President Barack Obama told a White House gathering, “e

United States has no better friend in the world than Israel,” a statement reflecting the positions of

Democrats and Republicans alike. e importance of the U.S.-Israel alliance has been upheld by

successive American administrations and consistently endorsed by lawmakers and military leaders.

Oren: Direct talks needed for Mideast peace

MICHAEL OREN, USA Today, January 20, 2011

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2011-01-20-column20_ST2_N.htm

e Middle East peace process has reached something of an impasse. Israel, together with the

United States, has called for direct negotiations, without preconditions, but the Palestinians refuse

to join us. Still, Israel remains committed to attaining a genuine peace grounded on the principle

of two states for two peoples living side-by-side in security, prosperity and mutual acceptance.

at peace is possible, and this is how we can achieve it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahufroze new construction in the settlements for an unprecedented 10 months and

pledged not to build new settlements or to expand the existing ones outward. We all have

grievances; Israelis, for example, resent Palestinian attacks on our legitimacy in international

forums. ese matters need to be brought to the table, not inhibit us from sitting. Israel will

address settlements as one of several final status issues — security, borders, refugees and Jerusalem

— to be determined in direct talks.

Israel and the American Jewish Community: What can we Expect from Each Other?

MICHAEL OREN, Remarks, September 8, 2011

http://israelemb.org/index.php/en/the-embassy/ambassador/524-ambassador-michael-oren-israel-

and-the-american-jewish-community-what-can-we-expect-from-each-other

Israel is a modern society, complete with hi-speed internet, shopping malls, and great rock music.

American visitors to our country can almost imagine themselves in their own hometowns. Almost.



http://israelemb.org/index.php/en/the-embassy/ambassador/524-ambassador-michael-oren-israel-and-the-american-jewish-community-what-can-we-expect-from-each-other








Acknowledgments

Ambassador Michael Oren, Noam Katz, Ora Miriam Katz, Steve Rabinowitz, Debra Rubin,

Jennifer King, Rabbi Baruch Frydman-Kohl, Rabbi Jack Moline, Rabbi Dr. Marc D. Angel,

Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, Rabbi Harold J. Berman, Rabbi Deborah Zecher, Rabbi Paul Arberman,Rabbi Amy Scheinerman and everybody who made suggestions and supported this project.

—K.L.C.

Produced for

the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel

by Rabinowitz-Dorf Communications

full screen: seeking peace_a resource guide

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