Download The Poster - Central Conference of American Rabbis

The Poster
Daniel R. Allen
The poster was published in the late 1960s more as a Zionist hope
than a reality. A laboratory flask filled with blue liquid topped with
a cork and pipette exiting from the top sits inside the shard of a
pitcher from antiquity. It is a picture of the Zionist narrative and
the message is clear: Your future is where your past is: Israel.
Today I am part of that future. I am the son, father, brother, uncle,
and friend of many Israelis. When the news is good we cheer. When
the news is difficult we Skype. When Israel needs our support in
the American body politic, we participate. When words need to be
spoken out of love for matters in Israel with which we disagree, we
call, write, and often show up to address matters directly.
The State of Israel (M’dinat Yisrael) is the modern embodiment
of the history of the Jewish people’s desire for normalcy and autonomy. The creation of Am Yisrael (the People of Israel) by God
was intimately linked to the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael). God
tells Abraham, “Leave your native land and your father’s house
to the land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation,
and I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you shall
be a blessing” (Gen. 12:1–2). The original statement of peoplehood was also the original statement of Zionism. The land, our
land; Israel was the necessary first step to be a people and to be
blessed by God.
Our Reform Movement’s Zionist narrative was at first anti Jewish nationalism. By 1948, it was supportive but ambivalent. On June
5, 1948, after many difficult conversations, the Executive Committee of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations passed the
following resolution:
DAnIEL R. ALLEn (C76) is the executive director of ARZA. He has served as
the CEO of the United Israel Appeal, American Friends of Magen David Adom,
and UJA national Director of Young Leadership. Allen is a past president of the
Association of Jewish Communal Professionals.
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The Executive Board of the UAHC has taken no stand on the problems of political Zionism, nor does it intend to cancel or to minimize
this attitude. nonetheless, this Executive Board feels that it represents the sentiments of its constituents in sending to the new State of
Israel, to its officers and citizens, the heartfelt salutation of the UAHC
and its prayer that God may send it and them peace and tranquility.
At its “birth,” Israel received the well wishes of a distant cousin,
not the support of a partner or sibling.
Change had begun under the leadership of Rabbi Felix Levy, of
Chicago. As president of the CCAR in 1937, he was instrumental in
having Zionism inserted into the Columbus Platform:
In the rehabilitation of Palestine, the land hallowed by memories
and hopes, we behold the promise of renewed life for many of
our brethren. We affirm the obligation of all Jewry to aid in its
upbuilding as a Jewish homeland by endeavoring to make it not
only a haven of refuge for the oppressed but also a center of Jewish culture and spiritual life.
In 1939, three leading Reform Jews, though not in the name of
Reform Judaism, were part of the establishment of the United Jewish Appeal, to this day the most successful practical expression of
Zionism outside of Israel. Rabbi Jonah Wise led the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver led the
United Israel Appeal, and the lay president of the national Coordination Committee was Mr. William Rosenwald.
By 1975 Rabbi Alexander Schindler, president of UAHC, challenged
the U.n. Resolution that Zionism was racism by reminding us that,
“We are all of Jews and whether we use the small z or the large Z we
are all of us Zionists.” Again in 1976, the CCAR adopted a platform
that spoke to Israel. While affirming strong support for Israel, the plank
on Israel did not affirm Zionism’s message of Israel’s centrality:
The State of Israel and the Diaspora, in fruitful dialogue, can
show how a people transcends nationalism even as it affirms it,
thereby setting an example for humanity which remains largely
concerned with dangerously parochial goals.
It took until 1978, thirty years after the founding of the
State of Israel, for the Reform Movement to begin a Reform
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Zionist Organization: The Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA).
The general Zionist narrative in America got a shot in the arm
with The Six-Day War of 1967. Israeli military prowess proved that
Jews were not wimps. Their success captured our hearts, minds,
and imaginations. It changed how America thought about Jews
and how we felt about ourselves. It inspired the beginnings of the
Soviet Jewry movement and led to previously unimaginable successes for Jewish philanthropy. It ushered in an all-too-brief thirtyyear period when as Jews referring to Israel and ourselves we
could really repeat the slogan of the United Jewish Appeal: “We
Are One.”
While many Reform Jews participated and led the post-1967
period they did so mostly as individuals, not as movement leaders. Our movement’s Zionist narrative was and remains stuck. It
is supportive but not enthusiastic. We are often ambivalent about
our support because of elements of Israel and Israeli society that
are not to our liking. As a movement, we are more comfortable focusing on social actions to help the world or our own society than
embracing Israel, where we can truly make a difference.
It is time for us to seize the excitement of our movement in Israel
as a paradigm for our own activity. It is time for serious engagement to build our movement in Israel as the instrumentality that
has the best chance of building an inclusive, democratic society for
all Israelis. We can continue our limited engagement, sending well
wishes to distant cousins as our leadership did in 1948, or we can
fully embrace Israel as the primary place where Jewish history is
taking place. It is a frontier society not yet fully formed that through
our involvement will be strengthened and will strengthen us.
nothing is standing in our way of helping to build a strong liberal Jewish community in Israel. It can and it should be a powerful
force for the furtherance of a democratic and inclusive Israeli society. Our movement in Israel, formally known as the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ, now co-branding as the Israel
Movement for Reform Judaism) is like a healthy plant that could
bloom more fully if it just had some Miracle-Gro.
In the past few years, nine new k’hilot have been established
bringing the number to thirty-six, and more are planned. We now
have over fifty ganim (kindergarten/preschools). Tali schools,
where liberal Judaism is part of the curriculum, are now operating
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in Jerusalem and Modin among other places including Haifa. Sixtytwo Israelis have now been ordained by the Hebrew Union College. noar Telem (nFTY) is bursting at the seams and now runs
a very successful summer camp. IMPJ operates a most successful
yearlong pre-army leadership course known as Mechina. Several
congregations have successfully built buildings and several are in
various stages of construction.
The leadership of the movement is increasingly native-born.
These leaders are Hebrew-speaking, IDF veterans, and committed
to the long-term effort to build a movement and influence Israeli
society. The overall budget, including all activity, is approximately
$13 million. The movement has already begun to secure government funding. When funds for teachers, educational activities,
leadership activities, participation in the movement’s humanitarian efforts, etc., are counted as service-in-kind, the overall budget
nearly doubles. This number does not take into account any capital
and infrastructure building efforts.
Why do we need the Israeli Reform movement? Because it
influences for the better the Israeli societal n’shamah. Our Israeli
congregations and activities are laboratories where the message of
religious meaning and spiritual foundation in a Jewish state and
for the Jewish people is taking hold. If the American Reform Movement were to place Israel at the core of its being, their energy will
invigorate us as we learn to support them, allowing Jewish life to
grow closer between our own societies.
The operational model of the Israel Movement is quintessentially different than the American model. The American model is
based on membership. The Israeli model, with membership as a
component part, is based on outreach and engagement with the
larger community, almost with a missionary zeal. Fee for service
from activities is part of the common model in Israel as it is for our
movement. This model starts with a rabbi, builds to a core congregation, and then moves to ever wider concentric circles of neighborhood, area, municipality, and society. Today, the IMPJ touches
hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jews. The success of the IMPJ and
its congregations is due to a spirit of chalutziut (pioneering).
Gabi Dagan is the rabbi of Ohel Avraham, the congregation of
the Leo Baeck school in Haifa. Gabi was ordained at HUC in 2010,
twenty years after his first ordination as an Orthodox rabbi. He
continues to serve in the IDF Reserves as a rabbi. Last year his
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mother died. In his Sephardic family (Iran-Iraq) the minhag is that
when a rabbi makes a shivah visit he gives a short d’var torah in
order that the family may recite Kaddish.
Gabi has a very large and extended family, most of whom remain Orthodox. Many of Gabi’s teachers and friends from HUC
and the Reform Movement made shivah calls at his parents’ home.
Each time one of the rabbis came, Gabi said to his Abba, please,
they must say a word of Torah. While hesitant, his mourning father
could not say no. Some friends and family questioned Gabi’s dad
about these Reform rabbis. His dad, having met so many of Gabi’s
teachers, proudly explained that the questioners simply did not
truly understand the many ways of being a Jew.
Ilana Baird first tasted the “sweetness of Reform,” in her closed
city in the Ural Mountains. The family made aliyah in 1993. She
was ordained at HUC in 2006. She is the founder of a new Russian
speaking group called Shirat Hayam. Her enthusiasm is infective
as she describes how she works with “my people.” Last Pesach she
hosted a seder for a large gathering because no one in the community had ever been to a seder.
Since Beit Daniel opened eighteen years ago led by Rabbi Meir
Azari, thousands of people have found their lives enriched spirituality and culturally. Along with egalitarian prayer and ritual, Beit
Daniel has a bar and bat mitzvah program, a center for conversion, an enrichment program for many public schools, a network
of nursery schools, classes, and courses. Hundreds of couples have
been married by the rabbis of Beit Daniel, and thousands attend
the Shavuot tikkun, Purim M’gillah reading, Simchat Torah events,
and ceremonies marking Holocaust day and Tishah B’Av. Started
in Tel Aviv as one small Reform congregation, today, through its
programs and two facilities, Beit Daniel touches the lives of more
than one hundred thousand Jews in Tel Aviv. Reform congregations are making the same inroads in Jerusalem and Haifa, and on
a smaller scale in each locale in which they have been established.
Justice for all Israeli citizens is part of our Reform religious mandate. Through the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), the public
and legal advocacy department of the IMPJ, we address our historic
prophetic calling. IRAC occupies a unique place in the social and
religious landscape of Israel, infusing social justice advocacy with
the spiritual energy and humane worldview of Reform Judaism. In
2011 the Israel Supreme Court ruled that public transportation must
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be gender neutral. no one has to sit in the back of the bus. In March
2011 the ARZA staff participated as “Freedom Checkers” on a bus.
Two men and three women boarded a bus in an ultra-Orthodox
neighborhood outside of Jerusalem. We sat in the front of the bus,
mixed by gender, all wearing slacks. The other passengers were
pleasant to us. On that bus line on that day we could affirm that the
ruling of the Supreme Court was being enforced and that through
our movement we were influencing Israeli society.
Our camps and nFTY have embraced Israel. Two hundred Israeli sh’lichim (emissaries) work with our kids every summer. Our
movement has Birthright trips, teen trips, and long-term programs
like the Eisendrath Israel Exchange and MASA programs at Kibbutz Lotan and Beit Daniel. While we could do more, we have a
strong base of youth activity.
Our bigger challenge is our adults. Why not a Reform Adult
Birthright? We need to challenge every congregation to have an
annual trip to Israel and every congregant to go at least every
seven years. Annual summer study in Israel in our movement institutions should become the sine qua non for congregational and
movement leadership in America including some knowledge of
Hebrew. Mifgash (direct experience) has been a growing element in
education in America. We need adult education about Israel on the
ground there. In an age of global connections we and our children
need to know Israeli Jews and feel at home in Israel. Touching,
tasting, and experiencing Israel energizes one’s soul.
We need to build movement-wide institutional participation. It
is well known that during the era of “We Are One” the annual
community campaigns increased because of the focus on Israel.
not only were vast sums of money raised, but using the campaign
as the driving force, leadership was developed both locally and nationally. Primary examples included the competition to be a member of the UJA national Young Leadership Cabinet or to join the
Lion of Judah Society. Membership gave one national status and
entre into not only Jewish leadership but the political leadership of
America and Israel. There was a sense of purpose greater than just
one’s self or one’s own community. Our movement needs that renewed sense of purpose. It will come by our active participation in
helping build an inclusive, democratic Israeli society. The national
cabinets also prepared an entire generation of Jewish leaders for
other organizations as well.
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We need to fund our Israel efforts. Every congregation that
renovates or builds a new building should set aside 3 percent of
the cost to build our movement in Israel. Every b’nei mitzvah family should be encouraged to provide 1 percent of their expenses
to support expanding equality in Israel through our movement.
Every member of a Reform congregation should be a member of
ARZA. Our annual campaign could be and should be at least $10
million a year.
The future of our people and of our religious diversity will come
from Israel. Israel, acting as a Jewish body politic, does and will
continue to legislate Jewish values. Policies as diverse as economics, treatment of foreign workers, health care, and defense are part
of the Jewish conversation. Liberal Judaism and liberal Jews have
important principled views on these subjects. It is in our own self
interest to build a strong Israeli Reform Movement that will provide that our collective voice will be part of the conversation. Without Israel as a core value of our movement, we will be adrift from
the main center of Jewish history.
Our Israeli movement should become a social movement based
on our religious ideals. The only contact sport in Israel is politics.
We can remain on the sidelines of the real policy debates in Israel
or we can enter the fray. The potential positive outcomes of being
involved in the Israeli body politic as a social movement, not a
specific political party, far outweigh the negative consequences for
us, for Israel, and for the Jewish people.
Israel is the face of the Jewish people to the world. When American Jews contribute funds, time, and effort in relief of victims of
earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis, we may do so as Jews.
Those helped usually receive the benefit from Americans. When
Israel performs these same deeds of righteousness, those assisted
see Jews. IsraAID is a prime example. It has helped coordinate
the efforts of various Israeli and Jewish nGOs in new Orleans,
Japan, Haiti, Turkey, Tibet, and many more. The Israeli Army Field
hospital was the first on the ground in Haiti. In Japan several Israeli teams worked the search and rescue missions followed by
field hospitals. This is a Jewish face to the world in which we must
share.
We have much to offer the Israeli society. As American Jews
we have developed many ways to create Jewish community that
includes great diversity among its members. We understand the
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nature of a civil society. Our style and methods of civic political
activism would help improve the public debate in Israel.
Israel is now even more deeply in the middle of the muddle
of the Arab world. The long-term effects of the political upheavals in Israel’s neighborhood, the so-called Arab Spring, will not be
known for some time. It is clear that whatever courses of action the
various revolutions in the Arab countries pursue, Israel, and thus
Jews, will be included for better or for worse. Our views, expressed
in the Israeli body politic through the IMPJ, need to be heard.
Some may ask, “But what about those matters about which we
are critical in Israeli society or governance?” We must continue to
confront those issues within Israel with which we disagree and differ. At the same time, we must make Israel a core value and an integral part of our American Reform Movement. now is the time to
aggressively generate support, both financial and political, for Israel and for our Israeli Reform Movement. If we could but achieve
even a mere 10 percent participation rate of American Reform Jews
traveling to Israel, learning about Israel, and supporting Israel, we
can make permanent improvements to Israeli and Jewish society.
In this way, Reform Jews here and in Israel will be stronger; Israel
and the Jewish people will be stronger. In this way, our future will
be where our past is: Israel.
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