The Mideast Situation - Masorti Response

What does the Masorti Movement have to say today?
Rabbi Tzvi Graetz
graetz@netvision.net.il

RESOURCES IN SUPPORT OF ISRAEL Leadership Council of Conservative Judaism Statement on Israel, Self-Defense, and Peace A Masorti Response (Rabbi Tzvi Graetz) Prayer for Israel (Rabbi Simcha Roth) Prayer for the State of Israel (Siddur Sim Shalom)

My wife called me a few minutes ago in a panic. Missiles had fallen in Haifa, and her Mother, who lives in Haifa, was not answering the phone. I did not know what to do. I called their home a few times, and finally my mother-in- law answered the phone with a very calm voice. She had been in the shower, and did not hear the phone ringing. I told her that missiles were falling throughout the north, and in Haifa too. She began to become a bit agitated.

This all took place through the phone, because I spent the day in the place where I grew up, Omer. There I saw signs announcing the funeral of Eyal Benin, a soldier who was among those killed during the capture of the two soldiers in Lebanon. I began to think, what can I, as a Masorti Rabbi, do today? Are these events connected to the Masorti Movement and to its role in Israeli society? What will I say in the synagogue this Shabbat? Is there any angle of this story connected to us?

Slowly the awful facts of the incidents became clearer, and details of names and people began to appear, including pictures of the casualties. Eyal Benin, z"l, and his family were members in Magen Avraham congregation in Omer. Eyal had studied and had his bar mitzvah in Magen Avraham, in August 1996. Later on, another name was released of those killed. It was of the soldier Yaniv Bar- On from Maccabim. His family is an active member of the Masorti congregation Shalhevet ha-Maccabim. Previously, Gilad Shalit was take prisoner of war in Gaza, and his family was a member of the Masorti congregation in Kfar Vradim.

In Haifa, Ashkelon, Carmiel, and Tzfat and near Kiryat Bialik missiles were falling, and in these very places are found some of the strongest and most influential of our congregations for many years.

I thought to myself, what is happening here? Is this all just coincidence, a figment of my imagination that somehow these events are connected to me and to the Masorti Movement? Then my colleague in Omer, Rabbi Tamar Elad Applebaum, said to me: "your analysis just shows how deeply we are engaged within Israeli society. Who are those people who come and have their bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies in our congregations? Who are the families who become members in our congregations?" It was then that I understood the message that I wanted to deliver.

The Masorti Movement does not need to ask itself anymore if and how it is relevant to Israeli society. For these facts prove how much we are involved in Israeli society. Now we need to ask ourselves another question: how do we continue and cultivate this relevance which already exists? We can be very proud about the fact that we have transmitted the values of Zionism coupled with sound Judaism to thousands of bar and bat mitzvah children and their families, thousands who are true partners in the building of the state and truly guardians of its safety. When these brave soldiers fell or were captured while defending the state of the Jewish people they did it with full knowledge that they were guarding not just land, but also important ethical and religious values, and it is this knowledge that we were able to impart to them.

We always afflict ourselves with feelings of inferiority, that is, perhaps we are not relevant to Israeli society. We are merely a copy of American congregations that some English speaking immigrants created when they made Aliyah to Israel. To say this today is to mock not only ourselves and our contribution to Israeli society in the more than 30 years we have been active here, but even worse, it is truly mocking those to whom we have taught our values while they have been in our congregations. If our congregations had not been there, something precious and significant would have been missing in them. Our privilege is that we were in the right place at the right time so that we were able to influence them and to enlist them as partners with us in creating a vision of a state with a Jewish face that is worthwhile fighting for, even to the point of paying the greatest price of all.

Friends and colleagues of mine from abroad often ask me, what can we do to support Israel in its most difficult hours? My answer is simple, even though it has two parts: first aid and meaningful aid. Give first aid now in any way possible to all of those who were injured in these latest attacks, those whose houses were ruined, or those who need moral support because their loved ones were injured, captured or killed; to children in the north who will be living for some time with fear. But, do not neglect the most meaningful help of all, fortifying the foundation upon which the State of Israel rests, and that is the spiritual Jewish foundation. Strengthen this foundation by every means you have at your disposal, and know that we here in the Masorti congregations in Israel are dedicated day and night to educate and to be active partners in the rearing of the next generation of Israel who will have not only intelligent Jewish minds, but also wise, tolerant and strong Jewish hearts.

Translated by: Rabbi Michael Graetz

[Posted 7/17/06]