“Aspirational Zionism”: A Look at the Future of Zionism – By Rabbi John Rosove, 5/12/2020

This piece was posted today on the Reform Judaism Blog (See link below). It is an edited letter from my most recent book Why Israel [and its Future] Matters – Letters of a Liberal Rabbi to his Children and the Millennial Generation with an Afterword by Daniel and David Rosove [my sons] (New Jersey: Ben Yehuda Press, 2019).

My book has been endorsed by a number of Israeli and North American Jewish leaders, including:

“Morally unflinching, intellectually courageous, Rabbi John Rosove has provided us with a desperately needed map for how to navigate the growing tensions between progressives and the state of Israel. By calling out Israel when it has done wrong and calling out its critics when they exaggerate Israel’s flaws, Rabbi Rosove echoes the ancient prophets, who criticized their people but always loved and defended them. This thoughtful and passionate book reminds us that commitment to Israel and to social justice are essential components of a healthy Jewish identity.” –Yossi Klein Halevi, Senior Fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem

“Rabbi John Rosove’s letters to his sons, published in this volume, are tender and loving, but also gripping and challenging, as he grapples with modern Israel, Jewish identity, relations between Israelis and Diaspora Jews, and perhaps most significantly whether ‘you can maintain your ethical and moral values while at the same time being supporters of the Jewish state despite its flaws and imperfections.’ Rosove pulls no punches, laying out both the imperfections and the ethical choices surrounding Israel and American Jews. But he also manifests a passionate love for Israel and what one scholar has called ‘values-based aspirational Zionism.’ This book will raise as many questions for Rosove’s sons as it answers; it is a book that many of us wish we had written for our own children.” – Daniel Kurtzer, S. Daniel Abraham Professor in Middle Eastern Policy Studies, Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Former US Ambassador to Israel (2001-2005) and US Ambassador to Egypt (1997-2001)

“What a marvelous and refreshing book! A liberal social activist and committed Reform Jew, Rosove makes the case to Jewish millennials that they need Israel as a source of pride, connection, and Jewish renewal, and Israel needs them for the liberal values that they can bring to the Zionist enterprise. In its call for “aspirational Zionism,” the book is honest and tough about Israel’s flaws, but optimistic about the country’s direction and filled with practical strategies for promoting change. This is a no-nonsense, straight-talking work, intellectually rigorous but deeply personal. And most important, it demonstrates in compelling prose to young Jews—and Jews of all ages—that Jewish life cannot be sustained without Israel at its core.” –Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, President Emeritus, Union for Reform Judaism

“A moving love letter to Israel from a rabbinic leader who refuses to give into despair, but instead recommits to building a democratic Israel that lives up to the vision of its founders.” –Rabbi Jill Jacobs, Executive Director, Terua: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

“Rabbi Rosove’s truths reach minds and open hearts. I urge each and every individual who feels anyway connected to the Jewish people, to ponder this powerful assemblage of candid, insightful messages which address Israel as a nation, and as a notion. A must read.” -Isaac Herzog, Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel

The book is available on Amazon.

https://reformjudaism.org/blog/2020/05/12/aspirational-zionism-look-future-zionism?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20200513&utm_campaign=Feature&utm_content=2020_5_13

 

 

Hope is a Commandment of the Heart

I changed recently the cover photo on my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/RabbiJohnLRosove) to the image here of the winter sky hovering over the Mediterranean Sea that I took eight years ago from the Tel Aviv shore. It suggests, I believe, what we are facing today as a world-wide community. On the one hand, the sky flows between dark and light grays. Yet, waiting to burst through the cloud cover is sunlight.

We are most assuredly living in dark times, but light shines in the extraordinary deeds of loving-kindness performed by courageous health care workers on behalf of the sick and dying, by those reaching out by phone, text, email, and social media to maintain connections with single isolated people (young, middle age, and senior), by the many front-line workers sustaining our communities in vital jobs, and by many of our nation’s governors, mayors, and members of Congress working on behalf of the safety and sustainability of all (American citizens and non-citizens alike). Collectively, they remind us, if we need reminding, that we “are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality” (Dr. Martin Luther King, March 31, 1968).

I don’t recall who wrote the following, but its wisdom is worth sharing:

“Hope is a commandment of the heart in the face of uncertainty, a vision that opens up the future, based on trust, supportive of purpose, enabling us to live in an enhanced present of constructive waiting.”

 

 

“Coronavirus: The Haredi Response in Israel” – Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer, Editor-in-Chief, “Tzarich Iyun”

Half of all those hospitalized with coronavirus in Israel are Haredi (ultra-Orthodox Jews).

The key questions before the Haredi community (11% of all Israeli Jews – about 800,000 people) are who gets to decide public policy and who has the authority to determine the regulations with which all must comply?

Some of the basic principles that underlie the Haredi response to the virus that Rabbi Pfeffer elucidates include “suspicion of the State and its institutions, isolationism from non-Haredi society and culture, and a strongly institutionalized society. They are certainly not the whole.”

This article (5000 words) is long, but it is an inside look at how the extremist Israeli ultra-Orthodox community thinks vis a vis Jewish law and the secular state, and how the consequences affect all Israelis and the Israeli health-care system.

I am grateful to Rabbi Uri Regev, the founder of Hiddush in Jerusalem, who sent me and a few other rabbis this piece. It is an important essay.

https://iyun.org.il/en/article/coronavirus-the-charedi-response/

Reflections on this Passover – 2020

Dear All:

This is as difficult a year to celebrate Pesach as any of us born after WWII has ever known; but this year is not an anomaly in Jewish history. We’ve known as a people years of suffering before that the Haggadah itself documents in Midrash, rite, ritual, and song. As we do every year, we ask especially now what is the meaning of Passover.

The traditional Haggadah has a statement inserted during times of great oppression that calls upon God to “pour out Your wrath” upon the enemies of our people who caused us such suffering. Many modern Haggadot, however, deleted this reference and replaced it with “pour out Your love” upon Your people and all peoples, especially upon those suffering from oppression, illness, and want.

That being said, it’s entirely appropriate for us to be angry at those federal, state, and local government officials who have been derelict in their duty to follow the advice of medical experts and scientists who early on advocated taking aggressive steps to stem the tide of this pandemic and thereby protect, as much as possible, the well-being of our citizenry. Though many of our nation’s governors, mayors, health-care professionals, first-responders, and community leaders have stepped up to protect us, history will judge harshly those who failed to be the leaders we so desperately need.

Our Seders should include prayers for the healing of every person across the globe who is ill with this virus. Here is the shortest prayer in the Hebrew Bible (Numbers 12:13) that Moses offered on behalf of Miriam who had been struck with leprosy – “El na r’fa na la – Please God heal her.” We can put it into the plural for all those afflicted – “El na r’fa na lahem – Please God heal them.”

This year our Seders likely will be the smallest gatherings we’ve ever experienced. But we can still  celebrate our festival of freedom and renewal, be grateful for our families, friends, and tradition of hope, and say dayeinu – that may be enough.

Hag Pesach Sameach.

Tainted Wheat, Shabbat Hagadol, and Rachmanim b’nai Rachmanim

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810, Ukraine) tells the story of a wise king who told his prime minister, “I see in the stars that everyone who eats from this year’s grain harvest is going to go mad. What do you think we should do?”

The prime minister suggested they put aside a stock of good grain so they wouldn’t have to eat from the tainted grain.

“But it’ll be impossible to set aside enough good grain for everyone,” the king objected. “And if we put away a stock for just the two of us, we’ll be the only ones who will be sane. Everyone else will be mad, and they’ll look at us and think that we’re the mad ones. No. We too will have to eat from this year’s grain. But we’ll both put a sign on our heads. I’ll look at your forehead, and you’ll look at mine. And when we see the sign, at least we’ll remember that we are mad.” (Source – Sipurim Niflaim)

This story describes well what can happen to normal people who are assaulted constantly by the tainted grain of stupidity, ignorance, incompetence, and cruelty. They either assume these qualities themselves, or to protect themselves, they disengage and become indifferent to truth, competence, and human kindness.

I’ve thought often of Rebbe Nachman’s story these last 3 plus years of Trump’s presidency. The story suggests the only way that we can understand why Trump’s political base continues to support him and perpetuates his ignorance, denial of truth, and immorality.

Thankfully, the mainstream media, many of our nation’s governors and mayors, scientists, and health care professionals are telling the truth about Covid19, and we are able to witness the goodness, kindness, courage, and decency of so many everyday Americans, most especially those on the front lines helping the sick and dying. That’s the good news, that most Americans did not eat the tainted grain, that as a nation we remain compassionate not only to those we know among our family and friends, but of others.

This Saturday is considered one of the two most important Sabbaths in the Jewish calendar cycle – the other is the Sabbath that falls between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur known as Shabbat Teshuvah (“Sabbath of Repentance”).

This Shabbat is called Shabbat Hagadol – the “Great Sabbath” – as it comes just before we celebrate Passover, a holiday that focuses our people’s attention on the importance of human freedom and the virtue of nurturing compassion in our ourselves and in the hearts of our children.

The Jewish people are traditionally called rachmanim b’nai rachmanim – compassionate children of compassionate parents – and so we are taught to care not only about each other, our families, and our people, but all people. That is who we are. And that is who Americans are. Thus, no tainted grain ought to corrupt us.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Pesach Sameach.

 

 

 

Food insecurity in the United States and MAZON’s Response

As the coronavirus spreads, MAZON is carefully monitoring the situation, coordinating with its grantee partners and other colleagues across the country, gathering the latest information, and advocating at the federal and state level for swift and effective action to expand access to food assistance for those affected. While it is true that all states and communities will be impacted, MAZON is committed to listening for and lifting up the needs and concerns of those places where there is a disproportionate impact, including in the most food-insecure states as well as those states already reporting large numbers of coronavirus cases. Over the coming days and weeks, MAZON will act as an information clearinghouse for the most-up-to date information from these states as MAZON works to ensure essential services, government benefits and food assistance to all who need them. Please share this resource and visit often for updated information.

https://mazon.org/inside-mazon/charitable-food-resource-guide-during-covid-19

Victor Frankl and today’s health care workers will be remembered

More and more harrowing and inspiring stories are becoming known about medical school students at NYU and UCSF medical schools (among others) and emergency care doctors and nurses in NYC and around the country who are committing themselves to helping the sick at great personal risk. Their courage and selflessness will be one of the noble memories that we will recall once this crisis has passed.

Victor Frankl reflected with these words – I did not change the gender language as he wrote it:

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. ” 

Fourteen Days. That’s the Most Time We Have to Defeat Coronavirus – Ezekiel J Emanuel – NY Times Op-ed

These decisive measures can prevent a decade of dislocation and extraordinary levels of deaths.

By Ezekiel J. Emanuel – NYT Op-ed, March 24

Dr. Emanuel’s comprehensive plan is the most cogent and comprehensive short-term and long-term road-map I have seen to confront the virus. Read not only what he wrote, but some of the initial comments.

I know that Trump will be disinclined to follow Emanuel’s thoughtful plan, but hopefully, somebody in the administration will read it and persuade our criminally stupid and self-serving President to stop thinking about the economic free-fall of his own hotel properties and re-election prospects and get real for the sake of the lives of American citizens and the country as a whole.

It took 67 days from the first reported case to reach the first 100,000 cases, 11 days for the second 100,000 cases, and just four days for the third 100,000 cases – and he’s preparing the ground to ease up on the restrictions that smart governors, mayors, and local authorities are taking to prepare for the worst to come in very short order.

On Accountability and Responsibility

As I watch the news, I am deeply impressed by leaders such as Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, NY City Mayor Bill De Blasio, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, governors, mayors, city councils, boards of supervisors, Democratic members of the House and Senate, as well as the nation’s doctors, nurses, health care workers, and regular citizens who are stepping up to help the sick, shut-ins, the elderly, poor, and incarcerated.

I am also grateful to the major news organizations who not only are reporting truthfully what is happening and asking the hard questions of the President and the federal government that need to be asked in order to understand what the government is doing and not doing, but using their air, digital, and print-time to educate the population about this crisis and what we can do to protect ourselves, our families, and communities. All of them exhibit our best angels of spirit, intelligence, decency, and will.

They are all filling a yawning chasm left by an irresponsible President Trump who denies the truth, makes false and self-serving exaggerated pronouncements, commands but doesn’t follow up, shirks responsibility (and admits it – “I am not responsible”) that any “war-time” president and administration would take, and blames everyone but himself for the state of this crisis.

I think of Abraham Lincoln, FDR, and Winston Churchill as the extraordinary leaders that they were in the darkest of times, and their memory reminds me that our leaders have the capacity to respond to this crisis if they utilize their intelligence, will, and common decency to do so. I exclude from this criticism people like Dr. Anthony Fauci and a few others in the Federal government who are trying to work around Trump to do what is right for the people of our nation.

On this Shabbat eve, I offer a few quotations from Jewish tradition and beyond on the themes of moral accountability and responsibility. Many of our leaders and citizens are rising to the occasion and fighting the good fight despite the overwhelming speed of the disease’s relentless spread. Their decisions and actions are turning out to be the difference between life and death, and we citizens ought to be enormously grateful to them.

“One who is able to protest against a wrong that is being done in his family, his city, his nation, or the world and doesn’t do so is held accountable for that wrong being done.” (Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 54b)

“The legal status of a person is always that of one forewarned, and [that person] is liable for any damage caused, both when awake and when asleep.” (Talmud Bavli, Bava Kamma 3b)

“Few are guilty, but all are responsible.” (Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel)

“Alas, after a certain age every person is responsible for his face.” (Albert Camus)

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves.” (Cassius in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar)

“You take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.” (Erica Jong)

“The buck stops here!” (President Harry S. Truman)

Annexation will doom the Israeli-Jordanian Peace Agreement

According to leaders of the Israel Policy Forum (IPF), a Washington, D.C. think tank (its mission is “to shape the discourse and mobilize support among American Jewish leaders and U.S. policymakers for the realization of a viable two-state solution”) discussions with Jordan’s King Abdullah revealed that if Israel annexes unilaterally parts of the occupied West Bank, the Jordanian Palestinian “street” (70% of Jordanian citizens claim Palestinian heritage) would strongly protest. The King told the IPF that he would have no choice but to withdraw from the 1994 Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty.

To read my entire blog, see Times of Israel at https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/annexation-will-doom-the-israeli-jordanian-peace-agreement/