From 1960 to 1967, my aunt Edith Woodrow, z"l, my mother's younger sister, served as executive secretary to the Israeli ambassador to Canada, in Ottawa. After the 1967 war, she moved to Toronto to be closer to her married daughter and went to work for Israel Bonds.
One of Edith's regular duties at the embassy was to call the hosts of any diplomatic dinners to which the ambassador was invited. The point of the call was to remind the hosts that her ambassador couldn't be seated at the same table with the ambassadors from Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc.
Once, while Edith was on vacation, the person covering for her forgot this critical task. As a result of the oversight, the ambassador arrived at a dinner to find that he had been seated with one of the Arab diplomats. When the hosts tried to find someone to switch places with him, they discovered other complications: They couldn't move the Greek ambassador to the same table with the Turkish ambassador, nor could they seat the Indian ambassador at the same table with the Pakistani ambassador, nor the Taiwanese with the Chinese, etc., etc. What a nightmare!
While Edith was still at the embassy, my parents and I traveled from Detroit to Montreal to attend a family wedding. We stopped in Ottawa so that Edith could travel to Montreal with us. While we were there, she took us to a production of the Broadway musical "Fiorello", about the former mayor of New York. In one scene, depicting his first campaign for Congress, LaGuardia visits various ethnic neighborhoods and addresses each group in their language, with an appropriate sign. The troupe approached Edith for help with wording a sign to be held up in the Jewish neighborhood. She transliterated LaGuardia and Congress into Hebrew letters but the troupe didn't get it quite right. The Hebrew sign they held up read "Congress for LaGuardia".
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
The 1967 Six Day War -- Things I Didn't Know
I was 17 in June of 1967 when Israel's Six Day War with the surrounding Arab nations took place. I remember the tension and the triumph, but I don't remember a lot of details. I knew that Israel knocked out the Arab air forces very quickly, determining the eventual outcome of the war on the first day. I remember the joy when Israeli troops captured the Temple mount.
Here are a few things about the war which I learned in the process of writing a paper for my course about Israel at Gratz College. As debate continues about Israel's occupation of the West Bank, these facts may be helpful in putting the current situation in perspective. The information comes from Israel, A History, by Sir Martin Gilbert, published in 1998 by William Morrow, NY.
1. After knocking out Egypt's air force and launching a ground assault in the Sinai, Israel contacted the Jordanians via multiple channels, asking them not to enter the war and offering to honor fully its existing armistice with them. If Jordan had agreed, Israel would not have been able to capture the Old City of Jerusalem or the West Bank.
2. While the war was still on, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan told Chaim Herzon, Military Governor of the West Bank "...see that everything returns to normal...But don't try to rule the Arabs. Let them rule themselves....I want a policy where an Arab can be born, live and die in the West Bank without ever seeing an Israeli official."
3. Dayan thought this "non-interfering occupation" would last for only two to four years.
4. The Israeli cabinet's immediate postwar position was a willingness to withdraw to the prewar borders in return for "full peace", essentially what UN Security Council Resolution 242 called for. Unfortunately, the Arab nations, at a summit in Khartoum, not long after the war, flatly rejected Israel's peace proposals, saying "No peace. No negotiation. No recognition."
5. In the early post-war years, Israel invested "large sums" in the West Bank and Gaza, for roads, schools, agricultural improvements and even Arab homes. This was long before the surge in settlement in those areas by religious Jews.
P.S. Israel didn't attack Syrian forces in the Golan Heights until the final days of the war, in spite of the demands of the embattled Israelis in the area, partly due to concern that the Soviet Union might enter the war.
Here are a few things about the war which I learned in the process of writing a paper for my course about Israel at Gratz College. As debate continues about Israel's occupation of the West Bank, these facts may be helpful in putting the current situation in perspective. The information comes from Israel, A History, by Sir Martin Gilbert, published in 1998 by William Morrow, NY.
1. After knocking out Egypt's air force and launching a ground assault in the Sinai, Israel contacted the Jordanians via multiple channels, asking them not to enter the war and offering to honor fully its existing armistice with them. If Jordan had agreed, Israel would not have been able to capture the Old City of Jerusalem or the West Bank.
2. While the war was still on, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan told Chaim Herzon, Military Governor of the West Bank "...see that everything returns to normal...But don't try to rule the Arabs. Let them rule themselves....I want a policy where an Arab can be born, live and die in the West Bank without ever seeing an Israeli official."
3. Dayan thought this "non-interfering occupation" would last for only two to four years.
4. The Israeli cabinet's immediate postwar position was a willingness to withdraw to the prewar borders in return for "full peace", essentially what UN Security Council Resolution 242 called for. Unfortunately, the Arab nations, at a summit in Khartoum, not long after the war, flatly rejected Israel's peace proposals, saying "No peace. No negotiation. No recognition."
5. In the early post-war years, Israel invested "large sums" in the West Bank and Gaza, for roads, schools, agricultural improvements and even Arab homes. This was long before the surge in settlement in those areas by religious Jews.
P.S. Israel didn't attack Syrian forces in the Golan Heights until the final days of the war, in spite of the demands of the embattled Israelis in the area, partly due to concern that the Soviet Union might enter the war.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
A Tribute to Israel's Philosophers
My seminary colleague, Irwin Huberman, continues to send reports of his experiences in Israel. I would like to share parts of another one of these. In less than a week, I expect to be in Israel and able to create reports based on my own first hand experiences in our ancestral homeland.
JERUSALEM, Israel. July 25, 2008
I recently had the opportunity to speak with one of Israel’s great philosophers.His name is Amnon and he drives Taxi #1048 in Tel Aviv. It seems everyone in Israel is a great philosopher. Each has an angle on life here. As Amnon sped through the streets of Tel Aviv, he reflected on a decision he made years ago, to move to the United States, and why in the end he decided to return. “I lived in United States for six years,” he said. “But I came back to Israel because I wanted to return to a country where life is safer.”“Safer?” I replied, eyebrows raised.
“Look at these streets,” said Amnon, as the lights of downtown Tel Aviv flashed by my passenger window. “No one is mugged. No one is stabbed. Children can walk home on their own. If they get lost, a stranger will take them by the hand to their home. A Jew in Israel is more likely to offer you a ride than bother you. I feel safer here even with one war every ten years, and an occasional terrorist attack.” And Amnon the philosopher offered me a refresher in American history. “Live free or die,” he said, quoting the New Hampshire license plate....
When our...group recently visited Sefad, a northern Israeli city of 37,000, we talked briefly with a volunteer policeman.“How many crimes were there in Sefad last year?” I asked. “There was one,” replied the officer. “But we’re not really sure.”Apparently someone borrowed someone else’s Tallit, and there’s still discussion whether it was a theft or a case of a mistaken Tallit bag.
During the past week, I’ve twice sat in the grass in a Haifa park at open air concerts watching people greet strangers like they’ve known each other for years. You get the feeling here that you’re part of one big family under siege, trying together to carve a slice of peace in this very tough but holy neighborhood. Each member of this extended family has lost someone to terror or in war. They have parents or grandparents in the “old country” who never made it here. Each person waits silently...for the next “incident.” But ultimately, each person basks under this country’s eternal light, because in spite of everything, Israel is Jewish and it is free....
I’ve been writing for weeks about how this new Israel is different from that which we visioned in our Zionist dreams of the 1950s and 1960s....In the evening in Jerusalem, thousands of young Americans and Europeans on Birthright tours come out, to eat, drink, laugh, sing and flirt Jewishly. The beggars beg Jewishly. The street musicians busk Jewishly. And on street corners Israelis argue Jewishly.
In the United States, everyone seems concerned about safety here. But let me tell you... in Israel, chances are you will never feel safer.The wrinkles on the faces of Israelis show the stress of decades of attacks, wars, and most of all looking over your shoulder at the next person. But as I write this from the patio of a small hotel in Jerusalem, I smell the smells of Shabbat coming, and hear the steps of Israelis shopping for their Challah, their flowers and their Sabbath meals. I hear someone playing the flute in the distance. I also recognize the voices of the beggars calling out “Tzedakah l’Yom Shabbat.” (Charity for the Sabbath).The beggars do us a favor. They give us the opportunity to take from our abundance, and help repair and rebalance the world. They provide us with the opportunity to perform a Mitzvah. It’s an important job.
...as Jews in the United States face the threat of assimilation...we need to be reminded that there exists a nation where a people struggles to build a moral and charitable country based on the essence of Torah. In 2008, I believe that we need Israel more than Israel needs us. There is corruption. There is war. There are setbacks. But this is still our country. It is a [place] where everyone on Friday, observant or not, wishes you “Shabbat shalom.”
...as I watch the young children walk the streets holding their parents' hands, I can’t help but ponder what the future will hold. Will this child serve in the army? Will he or she survive? In the end, it’s a matter of what you consider true safety and happiness to be. Indeed, there is wisdom and truth in the words of these great Jewish philosophers. All five million of them.
JERUSALEM, Israel. July 25, 2008
I recently had the opportunity to speak with one of Israel’s great philosophers.His name is Amnon and he drives Taxi #1048 in Tel Aviv. It seems everyone in Israel is a great philosopher. Each has an angle on life here. As Amnon sped through the streets of Tel Aviv, he reflected on a decision he made years ago, to move to the United States, and why in the end he decided to return. “I lived in United States for six years,” he said. “But I came back to Israel because I wanted to return to a country where life is safer.”“Safer?” I replied, eyebrows raised.
“Look at these streets,” said Amnon, as the lights of downtown Tel Aviv flashed by my passenger window. “No one is mugged. No one is stabbed. Children can walk home on their own. If they get lost, a stranger will take them by the hand to their home. A Jew in Israel is more likely to offer you a ride than bother you. I feel safer here even with one war every ten years, and an occasional terrorist attack.” And Amnon the philosopher offered me a refresher in American history. “Live free or die,” he said, quoting the New Hampshire license plate....
When our...group recently visited Sefad, a northern Israeli city of 37,000, we talked briefly with a volunteer policeman.“How many crimes were there in Sefad last year?” I asked. “There was one,” replied the officer. “But we’re not really sure.”Apparently someone borrowed someone else’s Tallit, and there’s still discussion whether it was a theft or a case of a mistaken Tallit bag.
During the past week, I’ve twice sat in the grass in a Haifa park at open air concerts watching people greet strangers like they’ve known each other for years. You get the feeling here that you’re part of one big family under siege, trying together to carve a slice of peace in this very tough but holy neighborhood. Each member of this extended family has lost someone to terror or in war. They have parents or grandparents in the “old country” who never made it here. Each person waits silently...for the next “incident.” But ultimately, each person basks under this country’s eternal light, because in spite of everything, Israel is Jewish and it is free....
I’ve been writing for weeks about how this new Israel is different from that which we visioned in our Zionist dreams of the 1950s and 1960s....In the evening in Jerusalem, thousands of young Americans and Europeans on Birthright tours come out, to eat, drink, laugh, sing and flirt Jewishly. The beggars beg Jewishly. The street musicians busk Jewishly. And on street corners Israelis argue Jewishly.
In the United States, everyone seems concerned about safety here. But let me tell you... in Israel, chances are you will never feel safer.The wrinkles on the faces of Israelis show the stress of decades of attacks, wars, and most of all looking over your shoulder at the next person. But as I write this from the patio of a small hotel in Jerusalem, I smell the smells of Shabbat coming, and hear the steps of Israelis shopping for their Challah, their flowers and their Sabbath meals. I hear someone playing the flute in the distance. I also recognize the voices of the beggars calling out “Tzedakah l’Yom Shabbat.” (Charity for the Sabbath).The beggars do us a favor. They give us the opportunity to take from our abundance, and help repair and rebalance the world. They provide us with the opportunity to perform a Mitzvah. It’s an important job.
...as Jews in the United States face the threat of assimilation...we need to be reminded that there exists a nation where a people struggles to build a moral and charitable country based on the essence of Torah. In 2008, I believe that we need Israel more than Israel needs us. There is corruption. There is war. There are setbacks. But this is still our country. It is a [place] where everyone on Friday, observant or not, wishes you “Shabbat shalom.”
...as I watch the young children walk the streets holding their parents' hands, I can’t help but ponder what the future will hold. Will this child serve in the army? Will he or she survive? In the end, it’s a matter of what you consider true safety and happiness to be. Indeed, there is wisdom and truth in the words of these great Jewish philosophers. All five million of them.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
More on the Lebanese Prisoner Exchange
Please read my previous entry first. It includes important background on this subject.
I ended my previous post by asking whether Rabbi Daniel Gordis was being unduly pessimistic when he wrote, recently, that peace between Israel and its enemies won't be possible in the forseeable future. That was somewhat a rhetorical question. Here is my partial answer:
When Bill Clinton and Ehud Barak offered Yassir Arafat a Palestinian state on a silver platter, I was amazed that he turned it down. When Arafat died, I hoped that whoever succeeded him would be a better partner for peace. At first it seemed that Mahmoud Abbas might be such a partner, but whatever his intentions, the ongoing strife between Hamas and his Fatah faction show that he isn’t in control of the situation on the ground. The continued rocket attacks on Israel’s coastal towns and the recent terror attacks in Jerusalem, by Arabs driving construction equipment, suggest that much of the Palestinian population still wants war rather than peace.
Many generations of Jews have been inspired and guided by Pirke Avot, the Mishnah tractate commonly called "The Ethics of Our Ancestors". Some of its most compelling teachings are those of Rabbi Hillel (circa 60 BCE - 20 CE). The first of these begins "Be like the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace…” (Avot 1:12) But what if it’s not possible to make peace?
In 2001, one rabbi that I know, a long-time dove, was visibly heartbroken after seeing Palestinians on TV, rejoicing in the streets after the World Trade Center was destroyed. He concluded reluctantly that “There are some people that you just can’t make peace with.” If he's correct, how should we think about the State of Israel and what should we do for Israel?
First, we should remember, as Herb Keinon wrote in the Jerusalem Post on the day after the Lebanese prisoner exchange, that no other country in the world would have made such a deal. It illustrates to the world the difference in morality between Israel and its enemies.
Second we should continue to be advocates for Israel to our political leaders and to our non-Jewish neighbors. It’s the least we can do as we enjoy our relative comfort and security, far from Israel’s ongoing wars and daily concerns about potential violence.
Third, we should make an effort to travel to Israel, as I am doing very belatedly, to give her our physical support. More than our financial contributions, we need to show our fellow Jews in Israel that we’re with them in body as well as in spirit.
In about a week, I'll begin and educational tour of Israel with some of my fellow seminary students, some of whom are already in Israel. One of them, Irwin Huberman, spiritual leader of the Conservative synagogue in Glen Cove, NY (Long Island), whose "letter" to his Zaidie I quoted in my 3rd blog entry below, witnessed Israel’s mourning for Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev first hand. He wrote to us that “The rabbis, politicians and military leaders who spoke at the funerals talked about Israel’s iron will to carry on…that [Israel] is not a country of victims but rather a nation of victors.” He says that in addition to expressing their outrage, they apologized to the two dead soldiers “for not coming to their rescue sooner.”
This Shabbat, when it’s time to recite the mourner's Kaddish, I'll be inviting congregants to rise and join me in praying for Ehud and Eldad, with the hope that future generations of Israelis will somehow manage to live in peace in the holy land which they fought to defend.
I ended my previous post by asking whether Rabbi Daniel Gordis was being unduly pessimistic when he wrote, recently, that peace between Israel and its enemies won't be possible in the forseeable future. That was somewhat a rhetorical question. Here is my partial answer:
When Bill Clinton and Ehud Barak offered Yassir Arafat a Palestinian state on a silver platter, I was amazed that he turned it down. When Arafat died, I hoped that whoever succeeded him would be a better partner for peace. At first it seemed that Mahmoud Abbas might be such a partner, but whatever his intentions, the ongoing strife between Hamas and his Fatah faction show that he isn’t in control of the situation on the ground. The continued rocket attacks on Israel’s coastal towns and the recent terror attacks in Jerusalem, by Arabs driving construction equipment, suggest that much of the Palestinian population still wants war rather than peace.
Many generations of Jews have been inspired and guided by Pirke Avot, the Mishnah tractate commonly called "The Ethics of Our Ancestors". Some of its most compelling teachings are those of Rabbi Hillel (circa 60 BCE - 20 CE). The first of these begins "Be like the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace…” (Avot 1:12) But what if it’s not possible to make peace?
In 2001, one rabbi that I know, a long-time dove, was visibly heartbroken after seeing Palestinians on TV, rejoicing in the streets after the World Trade Center was destroyed. He concluded reluctantly that “There are some people that you just can’t make peace with.” If he's correct, how should we think about the State of Israel and what should we do for Israel?
First, we should remember, as Herb Keinon wrote in the Jerusalem Post on the day after the Lebanese prisoner exchange, that no other country in the world would have made such a deal. It illustrates to the world the difference in morality between Israel and its enemies.
Second we should continue to be advocates for Israel to our political leaders and to our non-Jewish neighbors. It’s the least we can do as we enjoy our relative comfort and security, far from Israel’s ongoing wars and daily concerns about potential violence.
Third, we should make an effort to travel to Israel, as I am doing very belatedly, to give her our physical support. More than our financial contributions, we need to show our fellow Jews in Israel that we’re with them in body as well as in spirit.
In about a week, I'll begin and educational tour of Israel with some of my fellow seminary students, some of whom are already in Israel. One of them, Irwin Huberman, spiritual leader of the Conservative synagogue in Glen Cove, NY (Long Island), whose "letter" to his Zaidie I quoted in my 3rd blog entry below, witnessed Israel’s mourning for Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev first hand. He wrote to us that “The rabbis, politicians and military leaders who spoke at the funerals talked about Israel’s iron will to carry on…that [Israel] is not a country of victims but rather a nation of victors.” He says that in addition to expressing their outrage, they apologized to the two dead soldiers “for not coming to their rescue sooner.”
This Shabbat, when it’s time to recite the mourner's Kaddish, I'll be inviting congregants to rise and join me in praying for Ehud and Eldad, with the hope that future generations of Israelis will somehow manage to live in peace in the holy land which they fought to defend.
The Lebanese Prisoner Exchange
One of the "ground rules" for this Israel blog, from our Gratz College professor, was to write about matters of interest other than the political situation between Israel and its Mideast neighbors. Today I’m going to break that rule. The exchange last week of five Lebanese prisoners and the remains of two hundred Lebanese fighters for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers captured in 2006 demands to be written and spoken about. It says a lot about the character of Israel, of the Hezbollah terrorist organization and of the Middle East situation in general.
Last Thursday, July 17, two pictures were published side-by-side in The Wall Street Journal. I hope they were published together in many other papers. In one photo, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is standing next to Karnit Goldwasser, the widow of one of the dead Israeli soldiers. Their heads are bowed, their foreheads are touching, their faces show infinite sadness and each of them has a hand on Ehud Goldwasser’s coffin.
In the other photo, a smiling Samir Kuntar, one of the five Lebanese men who were released, is standing in uniform next to Hezbollah’s leader, Hasan Nasrallah, who is also smiling. Kuntar, who received a hero’s welcome, took an Israeli family hostage in 1979, shot and killed the father, crushed the skull of his 4-year old daughter and indirectly caused the death of the family’s 2-year old daughter when her mother accidentally suffocated her while trying to keep her quiet. An Israeli policeman was also killed in the incident. Some of us have seen photos of a banner in southern Lebanon which said “Israel is shedding tears of pain. Lebanon is shedding tears of joy.”
Many of us remember the Achille Lauro incident in 1985. Bret Stephens wrote, in The Wall Street Journal, that the Palestinian terrorists, who killed Leon Klinghoffer, by pushing him overboard in his wheelchair, seized the ship intending to trade for Kuntar’s release. I've heard, on Fox News, that Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, congratulated Kuntar on his release.
Many people, inside and outside Israel, have criticized the Israeli government for making this exchange. They say that the government should have known that the two soldiers were dead and that Israel gave up too much for their bodies. They say that a terrorist like Kuntar shouldn’t have been released to kill again. They say that Hezbollah, Hamas and other enemies will be emboldened by Israel’s appearance of weakness. They say that Corporal Gilad Shalit, still held by Hamas, might not be released alive and that the price that Israel will have to pay for his return, dead or alive, has now gone up.
Rabbi Donniel Hartman replied that Israel must do whatever it can to bring its children home, dead or alive. He has written that this exchange and the future exchange for Corporal Shalit are not only necessary but critically important for Israel. Our tradition teaches that one human life has infinite value. Therefore, Rabbi Hartman says, there is no such thing as a disproportionate payment. He says that Israel should welcome the opportunity to express the value that it places on one human life, that the infinite value of every life makes every prisoner exchange, regardless of the numerical ratio, a bargain from a Jewish perspective.
Rabbi Daniel Gordis, an American who now lives in Israel, has written that if this exchange was a mistake, it was a mistake worth making. It gave the soldiers a decent burial and their families some closure and the opportunity to move on, no matter how painful that will be. He likens the exchange to the withdrawal from Gaza, which he also calls a mistake that Israel needed to make. Rabbi Gordis says that the withdrawal from Gaza proved, once and for all, that Israel’s enemies have no interest in a state of their own, that they only want to destroy Israel. He says that Israel needs to recognize that peace with its enemies isn’t possible in the foreseeable future. He says that Israel’s war with the Palestinians can’t be won and that Israel needs to learn how to live and even to flourish in a state of perpetual war.
Is Rabbi Gordis being unduly pessimistic? I wish that I could think so. Please see my next entry for some further thoughts and suggestions about what we in America can do to help.
Last Thursday, July 17, two pictures were published side-by-side in The Wall Street Journal. I hope they were published together in many other papers. In one photo, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is standing next to Karnit Goldwasser, the widow of one of the dead Israeli soldiers. Their heads are bowed, their foreheads are touching, their faces show infinite sadness and each of them has a hand on Ehud Goldwasser’s coffin.
In the other photo, a smiling Samir Kuntar, one of the five Lebanese men who were released, is standing in uniform next to Hezbollah’s leader, Hasan Nasrallah, who is also smiling. Kuntar, who received a hero’s welcome, took an Israeli family hostage in 1979, shot and killed the father, crushed the skull of his 4-year old daughter and indirectly caused the death of the family’s 2-year old daughter when her mother accidentally suffocated her while trying to keep her quiet. An Israeli policeman was also killed in the incident. Some of us have seen photos of a banner in southern Lebanon which said “Israel is shedding tears of pain. Lebanon is shedding tears of joy.”
Many of us remember the Achille Lauro incident in 1985. Bret Stephens wrote, in The Wall Street Journal, that the Palestinian terrorists, who killed Leon Klinghoffer, by pushing him overboard in his wheelchair, seized the ship intending to trade for Kuntar’s release. I've heard, on Fox News, that Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, congratulated Kuntar on his release.
Many people, inside and outside Israel, have criticized the Israeli government for making this exchange. They say that the government should have known that the two soldiers were dead and that Israel gave up too much for their bodies. They say that a terrorist like Kuntar shouldn’t have been released to kill again. They say that Hezbollah, Hamas and other enemies will be emboldened by Israel’s appearance of weakness. They say that Corporal Gilad Shalit, still held by Hamas, might not be released alive and that the price that Israel will have to pay for his return, dead or alive, has now gone up.
Rabbi Donniel Hartman replied that Israel must do whatever it can to bring its children home, dead or alive. He has written that this exchange and the future exchange for Corporal Shalit are not only necessary but critically important for Israel. Our tradition teaches that one human life has infinite value. Therefore, Rabbi Hartman says, there is no such thing as a disproportionate payment. He says that Israel should welcome the opportunity to express the value that it places on one human life, that the infinite value of every life makes every prisoner exchange, regardless of the numerical ratio, a bargain from a Jewish perspective.
Rabbi Daniel Gordis, an American who now lives in Israel, has written that if this exchange was a mistake, it was a mistake worth making. It gave the soldiers a decent burial and their families some closure and the opportunity to move on, no matter how painful that will be. He likens the exchange to the withdrawal from Gaza, which he also calls a mistake that Israel needed to make. Rabbi Gordis says that the withdrawal from Gaza proved, once and for all, that Israel’s enemies have no interest in a state of their own, that they only want to destroy Israel. He says that Israel needs to recognize that peace with its enemies isn’t possible in the foreseeable future. He says that Israel’s war with the Palestinians can’t be won and that Israel needs to learn how to live and even to flourish in a state of perpetual war.
Is Rabbi Gordis being unduly pessimistic? I wish that I could think so. Please see my next entry for some further thoughts and suggestions about what we in America can do to help.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Preview of Israel from a Rabbinic Colleague
My AJR colleague, Irwin Huberman, who serves as the spiritual leader of a conservative synagogue in Glen Cove, NY (Long Island), has been in Israel for several weeks and will be joining our seminary group for the tour itinerary in my pervious post below. He gave me permission to quote parts of a "letter" to his grandfather, z"l, which was distributed to his congregants and friends. His comments are a taste of what I hope to experience in Israel on my first trip there. I hope that my Orthodox Zaidie knows, somehow, about my Jewish journey.
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL: Friday, July 11, 2008
Dear Zaidie Duddie,
It's been a while since we've seen each other in person, but from to time, on my rabbinical journey, I think about you, and how you’d sit quietly at the dining room table with your hearing aid turned off, immersed in Hebrew books which I never really understood....As your hearing began to fade, I never really knew what to say. You, navigating ancient paths of the Talmud, and me, with my head swirling in the sights, sounds and colors of the 1960's. But here I am today Zaidie, in Israel, with my congregation, family, and friends from Canada....
We have spent Shabbat in Safed where within the solitude of the mountains overlooking the Galilee, we danced with the mystics. We've experienced both the joy, and the pain of its people at a hospital in Nahariya, where amidst flower beds which circle the parking lot, retractable showers are buried, ready to spring up to wash wounds in the event of war. We've sat in the living room of Ethiopian Jews who walked weeks in the desert to taste freedom in Eretz Yisrael. We've picked food directly from Israel's holy earth. And Zaidie there are thousands of people here who are hungry, and yesterday we met and fed some of them.
There have been so many highlights which together form a chain between your life in the schtetl and this fast paced modern country....We have walked the paths of the Torah and we have heard both the echoes and the new voices of a Biblical people. We have danced, laughed, cried, and even kvetched a little. For we are Jews.
Zaidie, you always told me that there is a great God who lives among us, and sometimes things happen which are difficult to understand. As a working rabbi, I have seen tragedies which I cannot explain. I have seen people hurting. But I always believe there is a plan and purpose, which is sometimes beyond us....
I also just wanted to tell you Zaidie that in spite of its problems, God is still in this place. This is a holy land, and I believe that each member of our group, Jew or Christian, is returning home with [his or her] own Israel moment....What you dreamed of for your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, [is] alive in this land of possibilities....
Please give my regards to Bubbie. I hope you are both at peace. Shabbat shalom from Israel.
Your grandson Irwin
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL: Friday, July 11, 2008
Dear Zaidie Duddie,
It's been a while since we've seen each other in person, but from to time, on my rabbinical journey, I think about you, and how you’d sit quietly at the dining room table with your hearing aid turned off, immersed in Hebrew books which I never really understood....As your hearing began to fade, I never really knew what to say. You, navigating ancient paths of the Talmud, and me, with my head swirling in the sights, sounds and colors of the 1960's. But here I am today Zaidie, in Israel, with my congregation, family, and friends from Canada....
We have spent Shabbat in Safed where within the solitude of the mountains overlooking the Galilee, we danced with the mystics. We've experienced both the joy, and the pain of its people at a hospital in Nahariya, where amidst flower beds which circle the parking lot, retractable showers are buried, ready to spring up to wash wounds in the event of war. We've sat in the living room of Ethiopian Jews who walked weeks in the desert to taste freedom in Eretz Yisrael. We've picked food directly from Israel's holy earth. And Zaidie there are thousands of people here who are hungry, and yesterday we met and fed some of them.
There have been so many highlights which together form a chain between your life in the schtetl and this fast paced modern country....We have walked the paths of the Torah and we have heard both the echoes and the new voices of a Biblical people. We have danced, laughed, cried, and even kvetched a little. For we are Jews.
Zaidie, you always told me that there is a great God who lives among us, and sometimes things happen which are difficult to understand. As a working rabbi, I have seen tragedies which I cannot explain. I have seen people hurting. But I always believe there is a plan and purpose, which is sometimes beyond us....
I also just wanted to tell you Zaidie that in spite of its problems, God is still in this place. This is a holy land, and I believe that each member of our group, Jew or Christian, is returning home with [his or her] own Israel moment....What you dreamed of for your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, [is] alive in this land of possibilities....
Please give my regards to Bubbie. I hope you are both at peace. Shabbat shalom from Israel.
Your grandson Irwin
Educational and Mitzvah Experiences in Israel
As mentioned in my first post below, I'm leaving in about two weeks for my first trip to Israel, together with some of my fellow seminary students and their "significant others". We're going to be guided by Keshet (rainbow): The Center for Educational Tourism in Israel.
Because we're seminary students, we'll be seeing and doing some things that wouldn't be on a typical tourist itinerary. Many of our stops wouldn't have been on any itinerary in 1963, when I wrote the speech below or even 1993, 30 years later. I'd like to share the highlights with you:
Day 1
Tel Aviv -- hear Ben Gurion's voice declaring independence
Machon Avyalon -- see ammunition plant from 1945-48
Tel Aviv -- distribute food packages to needy Israelis
Day 2
Casesarea -- see largest man-made port of ancient world
Isufia -- meet with Druze Israelis for lunch
Haifa -- visit Museum of Clandestine Immigration
Haifa -- meet Haganah veteran and former British prisoner
Day 3
Tzfat (Safed) -- learn about mysticism from Kabbala artist
Manara Cliffs -- view Hula Valley across from Golan Heights
Golan Heights-- see discoveries from 2nd Temple period
Day 4
Kibbutz Lavi -- learn how collectives are adapting to modernity
Zippori -- Roman era discoveries where Mishna was completed
Galilee -- harvest food donated by farmers for poor Israelis
Jerusalem -- Shabbat services, walking tour
Mt. Scopus -- read Aicha (Lamentations) for Tisha B'Av
Day 7
Jerusalem -- visit Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial
Ma'aleh Adumin -- meet Ethiopian Jewish immigrants
Jerusalem -- afternoon prayers at Western Wall
Day 8
Jerusalem -- make lunch for poor Israelis at free restaurant
Jerusalem -- meet mother of soldier killed in Gaza in 2004
Jerusalem -- hear speaker from Rabbis for Human Rights
Day 9
Jerusalem -- meet S. Shulman, advisor to 4 prime ministers
Gush Etzion -- meet pioneers who are building city of Efrat
Kfar Etzion -- volunteer at canteen for Israeli soldiers
Neve Shalom -- visit joint Jewish - Palestinian community
Day 10
Masada -- see artifacts of rebels' last stand against Rome
Masada -- float in Dead Sea
Jerusalem -- tour Western Wall Rabbinic Tunnels
I intend to post photos from these sites, except those visited on Shabbat, along with comments on what we've seen and experienced, throughout the trip. I'll be glad to respond to questions.
Because we're seminary students, we'll be seeing and doing some things that wouldn't be on a typical tourist itinerary. Many of our stops wouldn't have been on any itinerary in 1963, when I wrote the speech below or even 1993, 30 years later. I'd like to share the highlights with you:
Day 1
Tel Aviv -- hear Ben Gurion's voice declaring independence
Machon Avyalon -- see ammunition plant from 1945-48
Tel Aviv -- distribute food packages to needy Israelis
Day 2
Casesarea -- see largest man-made port of ancient world
Isufia -- meet with Druze Israelis for lunch
Haifa -- visit Museum of Clandestine Immigration
Haifa -- meet Haganah veteran and former British prisoner
Day 3
Tzfat (Safed) -- learn about mysticism from Kabbala artist
Manara Cliffs -- view Hula Valley across from Golan Heights
Golan Heights-- see discoveries from 2nd Temple period
Day 4
Kibbutz Lavi -- learn how collectives are adapting to modernity
Zippori -- Roman era discoveries where Mishna was completed
Galilee -- harvest food donated by farmers for poor Israelis
Day 5
Jerusalem -- study binding of Isaac, look at traditional site
Jerusalem -- tour newly discovered City of David
Jerusalem -- Shabbat services, walking tour
Mt. Scopus -- read Aicha (Lamentations) for Tisha B'Av
Day 7
Jerusalem -- visit Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial
Ma'aleh Adumin -- meet Ethiopian Jewish immigrants
Jerusalem -- afternoon prayers at Western Wall
Day 8
Jerusalem -- make lunch for poor Israelis at free restaurant
Jerusalem -- meet mother of soldier killed in Gaza in 2004
Jerusalem -- hear speaker from Rabbis for Human Rights
Day 9
Jerusalem -- meet S. Shulman, advisor to 4 prime ministers
Gush Etzion -- meet pioneers who are building city of Efrat
Kfar Etzion -- volunteer at canteen for Israeli soldiers
Neve Shalom -- visit joint Jewish - Palestinian community
Day 10
Masada -- see artifacts of rebels' last stand against Rome
Masada -- float in Dead Sea
Jerusalem -- tour Western Wall Rabbinic Tunnels
I intend to post photos from these sites, except those visited on Shabbat, along with comments on what we've seen and experienced, throughout the trip. I'll be glad to respond to questions.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
From 1963 -- How Little Has Changed
In June 1963, I was one of the student speakers at the annual commencement of the United Hebrew Schools of Metropolitan Detroit, an afternoon/supplementary school system associated with most of the Conservative synagogues in that area. Below is an English translation of the Hebrew speech I gave on that occasion. I'm stunned by how little has changed in 45 years.
I'm leaving on my first trip to Israel in a couple of weeks. I took out the original index cards, from which I delivered the speech, to show to my current Hebrew teacher, who is in Israel during her summer vacation. It occurred to me that this would be a good way to start my blog, on which I intend to post daily entries leading up to and during my trip.
Translation of Hebrew Commencement Speech
By Sanford Olshansky
United Hebrew Schools of Metropolitan Detroit
June 1963
This year marks 15 years since the restoration of the State of Israel. Although her years are few, her accomplishments are great. The position of Israel in world politics, in the Jewish world and in the world of science is making great progress. The State of Israel has absorbed almost a million and a half Jews and her gates are open wide to every Jew in every place.
The State of Israel awakens in the hearts of all the Jews of the world a feeling of pride and self-respect. The tiny State of Israel is mighty in spirit and serves as a great light to us in the Diaspora and to all of the world. She extends her hand to us and we extend our hands to her. Let us strengthen the connection between us, by the study of Hebrew language and culture.
On this evening of graduation, we haven’t gathered here only to receive diplomas, rather to promise to complete our studies so that we will be able to speak Hebrew and at some time to visit the land. And who knows, perhaps to remain there to help in her building.
I would like to end with the words of the great poet Shimoni:
And although, in spite of everything, that the land of Israel is surrounded by enemies that want to destroy the only democratic stronghold in the Middle East, the wonderful vision of the great prophet Isaiah will be realized there:
“And many nations will go and say: ‘Come let us go up to the mountain of Adonai and to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us of his ways and we will walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of Adonai from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:3)
I'm leaving on my first trip to Israel in a couple of weeks. I took out the original index cards, from which I delivered the speech, to show to my current Hebrew teacher, who is in Israel during her summer vacation. It occurred to me that this would be a good way to start my blog, on which I intend to post daily entries leading up to and during my trip.
Translation of Hebrew Commencement Speech
By Sanford Olshansky
United Hebrew Schools of Metropolitan Detroit
June 1963
This year marks 15 years since the restoration of the State of Israel. Although her years are few, her accomplishments are great. The position of Israel in world politics, in the Jewish world and in the world of science is making great progress. The State of Israel has absorbed almost a million and a half Jews and her gates are open wide to every Jew in every place.
The State of Israel awakens in the hearts of all the Jews of the world a feeling of pride and self-respect. The tiny State of Israel is mighty in spirit and serves as a great light to us in the Diaspora and to all of the world. She extends her hand to us and we extend our hands to her. Let us strengthen the connection between us, by the study of Hebrew language and culture.
On this evening of graduation, we haven’t gathered here only to receive diplomas, rather to promise to complete our studies so that we will be able to speak Hebrew and at some time to visit the land. And who knows, perhaps to remain there to help in her building.
I would like to end with the words of the great poet Shimoni:
And although, in spite of everything, that the land of Israel is surrounded by enemies that want to destroy the only democratic stronghold in the Middle East, the wonderful vision of the great prophet Isaiah will be realized there:
“And many nations will go and say: ‘Come let us go up to the mountain of Adonai and to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us of his ways and we will walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of Adonai from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:3)
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