“Hotel Everest – One Step at a Time” – A Film Review

The Trailer for this moving documentary describes the film this way:

“In Israel and Palestine, the road to peace is a steep climb. For three activists, one Israeli, one Palestinian and one American, the challenges seem insurmountable. And yet they try to see and understand the humanity in “the other” and forge connections that promote empathy, understanding and, in their wildest hopes, peace. Hotel Everest is their story.”

This 40-minute film was created by the documentary film-maker Claudia Sobral with her writer Sophie Sartain [full disclosure – both are friends and members of my congregation] and centers around the conversations of three peace activists, retired Israeli Colonel Eden Fuchs, Palestinian Ibrahim Issa, and Buddhist American Whit Jones.

Eden attended the showing of the film at my synagogue and Ibrahim spoke to the assembled via skype from Bethlehem. We were joined in Los Angeles by 80 Israelis, Palestinian Arabs, Middle Eastern Muslims, American Jews, Christians, and others.

The film opens with Whit Jones flying from Boise, Idaho to Tel Aviv. A brief history of the conflict is reviewed that includes footage showing the 1947 UN Partition vote that called for the establishment of a Jewish state and an Arab state in Palestine, and then states that in 1948 the State of Israel became independent, a coordinated attack by all the surrounding Arab nations followed, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians went into exile many of whom settled in refugee camps.

Colonel Fuchs explained that at the age of 45 he realized that he knew no and had never known any Palestinians personally. It was then that he discovered the Everest Hotel in Beit Jala, an Arab village between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. There, Palestinians and Israelis meet freely, talk and listen to one another, learn of each other’s losses, fears, despair, and dreams, and discover that they share the same fate and must find a way to live together in peace.

When he was 14, Ibrahim was shot by Israeli soldiers in a demonstration. He grew up to understand, however, that violence is not the way to peace. Sitting in Beit Jala alongside Eden, Ibrahim said: “Eden is my brother and I trust him.” Eden responded simply with a full and loving heart: “Thank you!”

In the Q and A I asked Ibrahim how he came to love and trust Eden given their different histories and identities. He said that having a safe space at Hotel Everest opened their hearts to compassion and friendship.

The film did not address the politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but I couldn’t resist asking what each of them believed to be the best political solution. They agreed that peace can only come when there are mutual respect and acknowledgment of the dignity of the other, when compassion replaces hatred, and Israelis and Palestinians meet as human beings and not as enemies.

Ibrahim said that he believed once in the two states for two peoples resolution of the conflict, but now believes that settlement expansion in the West Bank has foreclosed a two-state solution. A one-state solution, he says, is the way forward, a state in which Palestinians and Israelis share equal rights and acknowledge the dignity and humanity of the “other.”

Eden confessed that he is not a politician and would not express a political position. Rather, he believes that trust, respect, and compassion will result in the right political solution whatever that may be.

Each man has faced dangerous challenges. Eden has been characterized by fellow Israelis as a traitor and as the “seed of Amalek.” He often despairs about this unending conflict, but when he reaches out to his Palestinian partners and they accept his hand with friendship, he knows that “peace can come and my dreams are restored.” He seizes each of the moments as they come.

The film shows Eden arranging for permits with Israeli security services to allow 15 Palestinian Arab women to travel to the Mediterranean Sea to swim in the waters, fully clothed, for the first time in their lives. Though he was gratified to arrange this outing, he felt that his actions forced him to participate in the occupation that he abhors.

Eden worries that the young generation of Israelis who as children were once open-hearted and pure have become hardened as a consequence of serving as occupational soldiers in the West Bank.

Ibrahim too was accused by Palestinian extremists of being a traitor. These extremists regard any Palestinian who cooperates with Israel as contributing to “normalization” of the occupation. Ibrahim rejects the charge explaining that the only way to peace is to engage with and speak to those with whom we disagree.

Hotel Everest is a heart-wrenching and inspiring film that ought to be seen by every Israeli and Palestinian, and especially by their political leadership.

 

See http://www.fjproductions.com/hoteleverest/ and http://www.hoteleverestthemovie.com/

 

 

 

 

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The December Dilemma Revisited

Every year I’m asked what I think about Jews bringing Christmas trees into their homes. For Jews, my answer is simple – it’s inappropriate. But, when a Jew is married or living with a Christian, it isn’t an unreasonable request, as emotionally difficult as it may be, for the Jew to accept having a Christmas tree in the home. After all, for the Christian partner, the tree is a tactile and joyous symbol of the season, the coming together of family, and for more than 50% of American Christians (according to recent polls) the Christmas tree is representative of a deeply held religious belief in Jesus as the Christ Messiah.

For so many Jews, the thought of bringing a Christmas tree into the house feels like a betrayal against the Jewish people, Jewish tradition, Jewish history, and one’s own Jewish identity. Not only this. For Jewish couples to have a Christmas tree in their homes, unwittingly perhaps, is disrespectful of the sacred symbols of Christianity.

Though many regard the Christmas season in America as a secular celebration, the Christmas tree is far more than a secular sign of the season. According to many Christian religious authorities the tree represents the cross upon which Jesus was executed. The crowning star recalls the star over Bethlehem on the eve of the Christian savior’s birth. The tinsel represents angel hair. The bulbs recall the apple on the tree of knowledge and the Christian dogma of “original sin.” The holly wreath symbolizes the crown of thorns worn by Jesus as he carried the cross, and the berries are drops of blood symbolizing the Christian Messiah’s vicarious suffering for the sins of humanity.

For Jews to appropriate cavalierly the sacred symbols of another faith tradition for our own use and purposes is a profound act of disrespect.

All this being said, I confess that there’s something magical about this time of year. I personally love Christmas carols. I enjoy the smell of pine and the beauty of the tree decorated in my Christian friends’ homes. I appreciate it all and I value the deeper religious meaning of these symbols for Christians. But as Dr. Ron Wolfson of the American Jewish University has written, it is one thing for a Jew to “appreciate” Christmas and it is quite another for a Jew to “appropriate” Christmas as it is not ours to appropriate.

A good rule of thumb for Jews when questioning whether we should use a symbol is to ask if that symbol would be appropriate to place in a synagogue lobby.

“Of course not!” most of us would say. “After all – the synagogue is a Jewish house of worship, a place of study and assembly!”

Jewish tradition teaches that not only is the synagogue a holy place, but so too is the home which is called a mik’dash m’at (a small sanctuary). Therefore, what is observed at home ought not to conflict with what is observed in the synagogue.

I once suggested to an interfaith couple that was arguing vehemently about having a Christmas tree in their living room that the Jewish partner might consider creating a “fiction” whereby he would consider the corner of the house in which the tree is placed to be temporarily not part of his home. He’d be a “visitor” there and after the holiday, when the tree is removed, he could reclaim that space as part of his home. That bout of mental gymnastics worked for him, and I’ve suggested it to others as well.

What about the children of interfaith marriages? Can they be raised in both traditions, as so many couples claim to be doing?

I believe it’s a mistake to think that children can be raised in two different religious traditions. Not only is such an effort lacking in integrity, it’s confusing to children.

Judaism and Christianity fundamentally hold different religious world-views, theologies, beliefs, customs, rites, rituals, practices, histories, and traditions. One cannot be “half-Jewish” and “half-Christian.” One is either Jewish or Christian.

For parents of children who believe that during the Christmas season it’s easier to acquiesce to their children’s desires for Christmas in their own home, I have two responses. First, Judaism provides many ongoing opportunities for celebration including Shabbat every week, the holidays, festivals, and life-cycle events. And second, parents often say “no” to their children, whether it be “no” to more toys, television and social media time, high fat foods, and staying up late. Why should it be any different when it comes to having a Christmas tree in a Jewish home?

Parents need to be able to explain that Christmas does not belong to Jews. It isn’t our holiday. It’s certainly appropriate and even enriching for children to visit the homes of their Christian friends and relatives during this season and enjoy the holiday there, but they need to understand that Christmas does not belong in a Jewish home. Giving this clear message to our children is important for as we do so we are teaching them that we Jews have self-respect and that we respect others as well.

My Position on President Trump’s Position on Jerusalem and Reaction to Mahmoud Abbas’ Slander

Photo by Peter Marcus

This week’s Los Angeles Jewish Journal printed my statement (below) on President Trump’s proclamation on Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

I add my dismay and anger about the destructive and hostile rhetoric of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that was delivered in the wake of Trump’s proclamation. Abbas was speaking to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and there he asked the international community to withdraw its recognition of the State of Israel. He added that the Jewish people has no historic claim to Jerusalem.

On its face, his statements are inflammatory and destructive. His claim that the Jewish people has no historic claim to Jerusalem is historically false. Though I can understand his frustration with the Trump message on Jerusalem, a statement avoided by every American President before Trump because they understood that such a statement ought to be considered only in final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. There is no excuse for Abbas’ defaulting hardline rejection of Israel’s national right to a homeland and a State in the land of Israel and to the lie denying that Jews established Jerusalem as their capital city since the time of King David (1000 BCE).

What follows is my statement as it appears in this past week’s print edition of the Los Angeles Jewish Journal (Community Reacts to Jerusalem News – jewishjournal.com/cover_story/228595/community-reacts-jerusalem-news/) 

“All Jews who love Israel recognize that Jerusalem is the capital of the the Jewish state. For me this has never been a question. 

Our people’s yearning for international recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is as old as the state itself. Our yearning at last has been addressed by President Trump’s proclamation this week. 

As satisfying as this is, there was something significantly missing in President Trump‘s address – recognition that Jerusalem is also the capital of a future Palestinian state.  

Had the President said that, world reaction would be magnanimous and I believe positive, and there would be less risk of violence against Jews, Americans, and Palestinians.

Now that Jerusalem has been so recognized, I would hope that the United States and Israel would be able to say publicly that East Jerusalem can one day be the capital of a Palestinian state in an end-of-conflict negotiated two state solution. 

Only a two state solution can address the long term security needs of the State of Israel, preserve it’s Jewish character, and sustain its democratic system of government.

I hope that the needle has been moved in a positive direction as a consequence of President Trump‘s proclamation. I also hope that there is a secret strategic plan that the United States has developed to bring about a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Both Israel and the Palestinians need to be prepared to make painful compromises in a negotiated settlement, and only the United States has the authority and power to help the two sides make peace.  

I pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”

 

 

Israel’s Reform Watershed Moment is Now!!!!

Rabbi Josh Weinberg (President of ARZA) and Rabbi John Rosove (National Board Chair of ARZA) hold a first edition of Theodor Herzl’s Der Judenstaat

When I was a first-year rabbinic student at the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem (1973- 1974), I did not tell my Israeli family what I was doing there. I was studying to be a Reform Rabbi, and at that time the Reform movement in the Jewish state was seen as an American transplant and wasn’t at all understood. Some Israelis dismissed it, while others went so far as to accuse it of being a Christian-Jewish movement meant to destroy Judaism.

In those years, Israelis were either Orthodox, traditional (i.e. they weren’t necessarily observant themselves but believed that Orthodox Judaism was the only legitimate practice), or they were secular.

All that changed in 2017. According to the Dialogue Company, a leading public opinion research firm headed by respected researcher Professor Camil Fuchs, Israel has never been as open to Reform Judaism as it is today.

Dr. Fuchs conducted a comprehensive survey assessing the status of the Reform Movement and religious pluralism in the State of Israel. The survey found the following:

• The rate of self-identification with Reform Judaism is at an historic high in Israel;
• More than half (56%) of the secular Israeli public say they have attended a lifecycle ceremony officiated by a Reform or Conservative rabbi, up about 10% from 2010;
• There is overwhelming support (81%) among the secular public for giving full equality to non-Orthodox religious streams;
• There is wide support (49%) among the traditional public for Reform and Conservative Judaism;
• A vast majority (90%) of all respondents recognized the importance of the relationship with Diaspora Jewry for the State of Israel;
• The number of Israelis who identify as Reform Jews has doubled since 2011 (3.5%). Today it is 7%. When added to the 4% of the Jewish population of Israel that identifies with Conservative Judaism, there are now nearly 700,000 Israelis that identify with either Reform or Conservative Judaism in Israel. That number is equal to the number of Haredim (Ultra-Orthodox Jews).

The Israeli Reform movement has succeeded in establishing itself without any government financial support. Substantial accomplishments include:

• 50 Reform congregations around the country;
• A full Rabbinic seminary – Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem;
• 100 ordained Israeli Reform Rabbis;
• 2 Reform Kibbutzim (Lotan and Yahel in the south);
• The Leo Baeck High School in Haifa;
• A Reform public elementary school in Holon;
• An active Reform youth movement, Noar Telem;
• MASA pre-army programs for high school graduates;
• An Israeli Religious Action Center (IRAC) that advocates against racism and misogyny, and on behalf of equal justice and religious pluralism before the Knesset and the courts;
• Dozens of local social action projects conducted by Reform congregations fighting hunger and poverty, on behalf of women’s and LGBTQ rights, African refugee asylum, economic justice, and a shared society with Arab Israeli citizens;
• Thousands of life-cycle events (baby namings and britot milah, bnai mitzvah, conversions, weddings, and funerals) all performed by Israeli Reform Rabbis.

The Israeli Reform movement is winning battle after battle in the courts, and it is winning the hearts and minds of large numbers of Israelis. Many are attracted to egalitarian prayer and holiday celebrations, Jewish liberal values, and a place to raise their children according to their own values.

The Israeli Reform movement does not receive funds from the Israeli government due to the stranglehold on the budget by the Ultra-Orthodox political parties that hold exclusive control over funds for religious activity. Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox rabbis, synagogues, and schools receive millions of Israeli shekels annually from the Israeli tax-payer.

While our movement fights for equal rights and religious pluralism, we continue to expand with the help of North American Jews and the international Reform Zionist movement called ARZENU.

The Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) led by President Rabbi Josh Weinberg and me as the national Board Chair, is launching the “Campaign for Religious Equality.”

We do with the full support of the Union for Reform Judaism, representing the North American Reform movement. The campaign goal is to double down the investment of our movement in Israel in the coming year. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, made that announcement in his d’var Torah on Shabbat morning at the Biennial Convention of the URJ.

Our goal is for every American Reform congregation (i.e. about 900 Reform synagogues in North America) to contribute an average of $3600 in each of the next three years to the “Campaign for Religious Equality.” Money can be raised from individuals in our congregations, from our congregational budgets, from special campaigns, and from Rabbinic and Cantorial discretionary funds.

We ask that you make checks out to ARZA, with “Campaign for Religious Equality” in the memo line, and send them to the ARZA office at 633 3^rd Avenue (7^th Floor), NY, NY 10017. We will forward your contributions to the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism (IMPJ).

This money will be used to build Israeli Reform congregations, support legal advocacy in the courts on behalf of religious pluralism, democracy, and human rights, and sustain a public relations campaign to promote our shared values and expand the base of our movement in Israel.

The Israeli Reform movement is a positive way for North American Reform Jews to participate in the building of our national home and in advocating for Israeli religious equality and democracy in the Jewish state.

Visit our ARZA website – www.arza.org.

 

Hanukah – A Major Battleground for the Heart and Soul of the Jewish People

[The photo is of a Hanukiya from Ukraine (circa 1809) that is crafted in the style of the Baal Shem Tov. It is part of the Judith and Bernard Briskin Fine Judaica Collection at Temple Israel of Hollywood, Los Angeles.]

Without the success of the Maccabean Revolt in 165 BCE, there would be no Judaism, no Christianity, and no Islam today. That being said, what is the real story of Hanukah as opposed to the traditional story we teach our children?

The traditional story tells of the heroic battle of the Maccabean family against the Greeks, the Greek desecration of the Temple Mount, the miracle of the oil lasting eight days instead of one, the lighting of the Hanukiyah (the 8-branch Hanukah Menorah), eating latkes, and spinning dreidels, but this isn’t the true history of this holiday. The real history is more interesting and even more important for us in 21st century America and Israel (based on the 1st and 2nd Books of Maccabees).

The Maccabean Revolt was a battle for the heart and soul of Judaism and the Jewish people. That revolt affirmed Jewish self-identity and survival, themes that are applicable to every ethnicity, religion, and nation in the modern world.

A few years ago Dr. Noam Zion of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, spoke to the Board of Rabbis of Southern California on the theme: “The Reinvention of Hanukkah in the 20th Century as A Jewish Cultural Civil War between Zionists, Liberal American Judaism, and Chabad.”

He offered a comprehensive view of Hanukah from its beginnings 2200 years ago (165 BCE), and how it is understood and celebrated today by Israelis, American liberal non-Haredi Jews, and Chabad Lubavitch. Based on Hanukah’s history and the corpus of sermons written by rabbis throughout the centuries, Dr. Zion noted that three questions have been asked consistently through the ages:

‘Who are the children of light and darkness?’

‘Who are our people’s earliest heroes and what made them heroic?’

‘What relevance can we find in Hanukah today?’

Jewish tradition considers Hanukah a “minor holiday,” but Hanukah occupies an important place in the ideologies of the State of Israel, American liberal Judaism, and Chabad.

Before and after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the Maccabees served as a potent symbol for “Political Zionism,” for those laboring to create a modern Jewish state as a response to anti-Semitism and as a refuge for oppressed Jews the world over. The early Zionists rejected God’s role in bringing about the miracle of Jewish victory during Hasmonean times. Rather, they emphasized that Jews themselves are the central actors in our people’s restoration of Jewish sovereignty on the ancient land, not God.

For 20th century liberal American Jews Hanukah came to represent Judaism’s aspirations for religious freedom consistent with the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Even as Hanukah reflects universal aspirations, the Hanukiyah remains a particular symbol of Jewish pride and identity for American Jews living in a dominant Christian culture.

For Chabad, Hanukah embodies the essence of religious identity on the one hand and the mission of Jews on the other. Each Hassid is to be “a streetlamp lighter” who ventures into the public square and kindles the nearly extinguished flame of individual Jewish souls, one soul at a time (per Rebbe Sholom Dov-Ber). This is why Chabad strives to place a Hanukiyah in public places. Every fulfilled mitzvah kindles the flame of a soul and restores it to God.

Dr. Zion concluded his talk to us rabbis by noting that the cultural war being played out in contemporary Jewish life is based in the different responses to the central and historical question that has always given context to Hanukah – ‘Which Jews are destroying Jewish life and threatening Judaism itself?’

The Maccabean war was not a war between the Jews and the Greeks, but rather a violent civil war between the established radically Hellenized Jews and the besieged village priests outside major urban centers in Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel). The Maccabees won that war only because moderately Hellenized Jews recognized that they would lose their Jewish identity if the radical Hellenizers were victorious. They joined in coalition with the village priests and together retook the Temple and dedicated it (The Hebrew Hanukah means “dedication”). That historic struggle has a parallel today in a raging cultural civil war for the heart and soul of the Jewish people and for the nature of Judaism itself in the State of Israel.

The takeaway? There is something of the zealot in each of us, regardless of our Jewish camp. If we hope to avoid the sin of sinat chinam (baseless hatred between one Jew and another) that the Talmud teaches was the cause of the destruction of the 2nd Jerusalem Temple in 70 C.E. (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 9b), we need to prepare ourselves to be candles without knives, to bring the love of God and our love for the Jewish people back into our homes and communities. To be successful will take much courage, compassion, knowledge, understanding, faith, and grit. The stakes are high – the future of Israel and the Jewish people.

Is it any wonder that Hanukah, though defined by Judaism as a “minor holiday,” is in truth a major battle-ground for the heart and soul of Judaism and the Jewish people?

Chag Hanukah Sameach!

In the Black Night – A Poem for Vayishlach

In the black night / the river runs cold / slowly passing me by / over formerly sharp edged stones / worn smooth by centuries of churning  / as if through earthy veins / and I Jacob, alone / shiver and wait / to meet my brother / and daylight.

Will there be war? / And will the angels carry my soul / up the ladder / leaving my blood / to soak the ground?

A presence!? / And I struggle / as if in my mother’s womb / and my dreams.

We played together as children / my brother Esau and me / as innocents / and I confess tonight / how I wronged him / and wrenched from him his birthright / as this Being has done to me / between my thighs.

I was so young / driven by ego and need / blinded by ambition / my mother’s dreams / and my father’s silence.

I so craved to be first born / adored by my father / to assume his place when he died / that my name be remembered / and define a people.

How Esau suffered and wailed / and I didn’t care; / Whatever his dreams / they were nothing to me / my heart was hard / his life be damned!

I’ve learned that Esau and I / each alone / is a palga gufa / half a soul / without the other / torn away / as two souls separated at creation / seeking reunification in a great spiritual sea / the yin missing the yang / the dark and light never touching / the mind divorced from body / the soul in exile / without a beating bleating heart / and no access to the thirty-two paths / to carry us up the ladder / and through the spheres.

It’s come to this / To struggle again / To live or die.

Tonight / I’m ready for death / or submission.

Compassionate One / protect Esau and your servant / my brother and me / as one  / and return us to each other.

El na r’fa na lanu! / Grant us peace and rest / I’m very tired.

 

This poem was composed by Rabbi John L. Rosove and was originally published in the CCAR Journal: Reform Jewish Quarterly, Spring, 2010, pages 113-115