Thank God that we are a community of people with serious beliefs. Our members’ sense of ideological purpose is a genuine source of strength for Adat Shalom, and a service to the larger community as well. Even when we disagree among ourselves about a particular issue, we are stronger as a community for the dialogue, and for having as members the adherents of many views.
That is: We are stronger when we dialogue respectfully, and the adherents of each view are valued as they model the rightness of their cause through their right action. We generally succeed at this. But when we fail, we do so noticeably. Our list-serv, usually a place of idea-sharing and community-building, can spread slander and unconsidered statements. Our interactions on Shabbat, usually a weekly highlight, can become acrimonious. Deuteronomy 30:19 teaches that we are given free will, but urged to use it well: "I have set before you this day life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life". Let us strive to always choose the path of blessing.
On no issue has this been harder to do than around Israel. That country which we love, and to which we are each connected in our own unique and profound ways, faces tremendous challenges. We of the larger global Jewish community cannot fail to take note, nor fail to pledge our support and involvement. Yet concepts like "solidarity" or "support" have different meanings: even small gradations of difference can become fodder for conflict, depending on how we express our views.
At the recent regional JRF Evening of Honor (at which we again thanked past president Stan Newman for his years of dedicated service), Rabbi Amy Klein was in from Israel to offer greetings on behalf of the inter/national staff. Amy was an RRC classmate of mine who made aliyah, and today coordinates the fledgling but growing Reconstructionist presence in Israel. She spoke eloquently of the need to both stay connected, and to hear all viewpoints. Amy reminded us that "sides" are not clearly delineated, here or in Israel -- thus we must listen carefully to the whole of what someone is saying, rather than make assumptions, or place labels on them. Hers is advice worth heeding.
That same evening I spoke with Rabbi Jonathan Cohen, another classmate, now serving our neighbors and friends at Mishkan Torah in Greenbelt. He told me that he frames dialogue on such issues by stating a few shared premises at the outset: We are all heartbroken when we hear the news; we all care passionately about what goes on there; we all seek and pray for peace as the ultimate outcome. Of course there will be appreciable differences between our respective strategies for pursuing peace, or the ways that our passion manifests itself here in our communities. But the commonality of purpose and of spirit must not be overlooked.
In discussing the state of Adat Shalom’s internal discussions around Israel, Judy Gelman summed it up well: Whatever position is put forward, "as long as you allow people to stand up and scream at you, it’ll be OK". In other words, we need to create openings for dialogue, and opportunities to expose ourselves to the big picture. Such opportunities have already begun -- We have already invited both an Israeli reservist officer who refuses on moral grounds to serve in "the territories", and a representative of the current government through the Israeli Embassy, to join us on Saturday morning to help us see that bigger picture. Our own Israeli members have been invited to share their reflections. And we are planning congregation-wide opportunities to carry on the discussion.
On no given Shabbat will we have perfect "balance" -- to do so would be impossible, and the very attempt to do so would turn our services into the "Israel Politics Hour". As in any community dialogue, our approach requires patience, and presence, and commitment. Over the course of a number of Shabbatot ahead, a little bit at a time, we will be able to learn and share various facets of the situation, and our responses to it.
Again, for this to work we need sensitivity and involvement. I speak here to myself, coming from a hopefully-thoughtful-though-decidedly-left-of-center standpoint, as well as to the community. Consider "sector truths" -- the idea that no matter where we’re looking at a particular moment, we’re seeing just one sector of a larger whole. It takes all of us standing together, each of us covering one point of view and then sharing that information respectfully with the others, to see the "big picture". We are taught that there are shivim panim la’Torah -- seventy faces to the Torah. Whatever face we’re looking at, there are scores more that may be equally valid.
May we have the courage and the patience to learn of other sectors, and to study other faces. And may all our strivings be for the good of Kol Yisrael -- all of Israel, meaning the people and the land and the country alike -- and for the good of kol yoshvei tevel, all who dwell on Earth.
Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb