March 2023

Friday March 31, 2023 – ט׳ נִיסָן תשפ”ג

Why is this year different?

Because this year many of us who live in Israel, feel close to and invested in Israel, and champion the Jewish values of freedom – חופש, equality – שיוון, and justice – צדק, see the reality possibility that those values are threatened by the coalition’s legislative agenda.

Every year many of us sit around our Pesach tables and talk about spiritual and physical affliction – slavery, human rights, and the commandment to see ourselves as if – כאילו we actually came out of Egypt.

Most of us (and I apologize for the broad generalization) live comfortable lives and have not actually experienced slavery or real oppression. We may know people who are survivors of the Holocaust, experience antisemitism, and are connected to those who remember when we as a people were in dire straits. However, by and large, the elements of our Seder Pesach – welcoming all those who are hungry, recalling that ‘last year we were slaves but now we are free’, the hope to go/return to Jerusalem next year, and many more – are themes that largely reside in the realm of the theoretical and symbolic.

However, this year is different as for the past three months we have witnessed a very real threat to the protection of human rights and the attempt to dismantle the democratic institutions of the State of Israel. For many hundreds of thousands of Israelis, these threats became a tangible reality.  Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in protest to express their fears and concerns over what might happen to the democratic and Jewish State of Israel that they call home, and many more around the world expressed their concern and angst over this crisis.

The following are 4 thoughts on this current moment which you can incorporate into your Pesach seder as a way to bring more discussion on Israel as a Jewish and democratic State:

Please make sure to add this “Prayer for Democracy”, and see what you can do now! Please make sure to donate to the IMPJ/IRAC Emergency Campaign and renew your ARZA Membership!

1. As if.

The quintessential two words “as if” we ourselves have left Egypt is at the essence of the Seder. Tradition calls upon us to put ourselves in the place of those who were once oppressed even though we ourselves live comfortably and do not experience threats to our freedom and our human rights. At the risk of stating the obvious, it is our responsibility as Jews to ensure the rights of those who cannot speak for themselves – women, LGBTQ+, Palestinians (both Israeli citizens and non), non-Orthodox Jews, asylum seekers, immigrants, and anyone who does not conform to the ideology of the ruling coalition.

2. By a Mighty Hand and an Outstretched Arm

We are told that God took us out of Egypt with a “Mighty Hand and an Outstretched Arm – בְּיָד חֲזָקָה וּבִזְרוֹעַ נְטוּיָה.” (Exodus 6:6)  This generally refers to God’s overwhelming strength and power and that it was through the prowess of the Almighty that our ancestors were saved from the evils of the Pharaoh. Now that we have power in a democratic and Jewish state, we need to use our ‘mighty hand’ to ‘stretch out our arms’ to those who see themselves as underdogs, second-class citizens, and insignificant in the eyes of the ruling class. This moment in the 75-year history of the State of Israel is about more than passing a legislative agenda and judicial reforms. It is about more than establishing and codifying an Israeli constitution. This moment is about battling for the identity of a large swath of the Israeli population, most likely a majority of the population, that feels marginalized and underprivileged. In addition to the street protests that included many segments of Israel’s population and the attempt to halt and reverse the legislation that would unravel Israel’s democratic system of checks and balances, what is needed now is outreach to bridge the deep divisions in Israeli society before there is violence.

3. Our Savior:

“וְהִיא שֶׁעָמְדָה לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ וְלָנוּ שֶׁלֹּא אֶחָד בִּלְבָד עָמַד עָלֵינוּ לְכַלּוֹתֵנוּ אֶלָּא שֶׁבְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר עוֹמְדִים עָלֵינוּ לְכַלּוֹתֵנוּ וְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַצִּילֵנוּ מִיָּדָם.”

“And it is this (the Torah) that has stood by our ancestors and for us. For not only one (enemy) has risen up against us to destroy us, but in every generation, they rise up to destroy us. But the Holy Blessed One, delivers us from their hands.”

The Haggadah reminds us that in every generation we have enemies who seek our destruction and that we also must be strong and able to defend ourselves. Though the Haggadah text reminds us to rely on God for protection and salvation, we know that we cannot leave our fate in God’s hands alone.

In his book On Prayer, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel outlines the importance of prayer in having a real impact on our lives:

“Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehoods. The liturgical movement must become a revolutionary movement, seeking to overthrow the forces that continue to destroy the promise, the hope, and the vision. The world is aflame with evil and atrocity; the scandal of perpetual desecration of the world cries to high heaven.”[1]

In a modern democracy, we are called upon to be wary of those who claim to be the arbiters of the Holy Blessed One, and who use that argument and justification as an impetus to impose their understanding of the law on all of society.

4. Next Year in Jerusalem.

Israelis are in a fateful moment today, and when we pray to be in Jerusalem next year, ours is a prayer for a Jerusalem that has restored balance between all elements of the State of Israel and maintained a balance between the different branches of government that reside in Israel’s capital. Next Year in Jerusalem is a prayer for an ancient city, and by extension, for the people of Israel, to reflect the diversity of all its inhabitants, and to not resort to ancient times when it was ruled by a monarch or tyrant, whose power was unchecked and lacked balance. Ahad Ha’am proclaimed that the Jewish State

“will send forth from this center the spirit of Judaism that will radiate to the great circumference, to all the communities of the Diaspora, to inspire them with new life and to preserve the overall unity of our people.”

That is a prayer sorely needed today.

I urge all of us not only to speak of these greater themes of the Pesach season together around our Seder tables, but to emphasize the importance of the unity of the Jewish people – Klal Yisrael – and that we are all part of an historic people that needs every one of us to remain whole, and that we, as North American Reform Jews and Zionist have a critical role to play.

Shabbat Shalom v’Chag Pesach Sameach.

[1] “On Prayer,” by Abraham Joshua Heschel, Conservative Judaism, vol.25, no.1 (Fall 1970), pp.1-12

Friday March 25, 2023 – ב׳ נִיסָן תשפ”ג

אֲשֶׁר נָשִׂיא יֶחֱטָא וְעָשָׂה אַחַת מִכׇּל־מִצְוֺת יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהָיו אֲשֶׁר לֹא־תֵעָשֶׂינָה בִּשְׁגָגָה וְאָשֵׁם׃ (ויקרא ד:כב)

“In case it is a chieftain who incurs guilt by doing unwittingly any of the things which by the commandment of his God יהוה ought not to be done, and he realizes guilt:” (Leviticus 4:22)

Just like in the movie, where many parallel universes exist because every life choice creates a new alternative universe, so too in the Israeli political arena every political and diplomatic choice creates a previously unthinkable new alternative universe. One could say that the attempted judicial coup by the current coalition government is like an “everything bagel” topped with everything and appears as a singularity – a condition in which gravity is predicted to be so intense that spacetime itself would break down catastrophically – that could destroy the multiverse.

As if his protest-filled reception in Washington DC wasn’t enough, Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich made an appearance in France to honor the memory of rabidly right-wing French Zionist leader Jacques Kupfer z”l (who once threatened ARZENU Chair Rabbi Lea Muehlstein with his cane) where he  claimed the Palestinian people are an “invention” while standing behind a map of “Greater Israel” that includes modern-day Jordan. He employed a tired and anachronistic slogan explaining that there is “no such thing as Palestinians because there’s no such thing as the Palestinian people.” Yawn. We’ve heard it all before. However, when it is said in the context of this moment after his previous unfiltered remarks about wiping out Huwara and his additional position in the Defense Ministry, his words are dangerous and a clear sign of his paving the way for de facto annexation of the West Bank (if not de jure).

It’s been a tough week for Israel’s Foreign Ministry and diplomatic corps. In what seemed like a first step in a national attempt to ruin the relationships Israel has so painstakingly built with the Arab world, the Jordanians summoned the Israeli envoy for a stern talking to.

Meanwhile, Transportation Minister Miri Regev decided to publicly bemoan the fact that she “really didn’t like Dubai, and won’t be returning (though they have some nice roads there),” and Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog was summoned to the State Department for a dressing down over this week’s legislation to reverse the 2005 Disengagement Law that allows Israelis to return to four settlement areas in the northern West Bank that were evacuated 2005 and to rebuild the settlement of Homesh – which contradicts the agreement Israel has had with the United States.

In an effort to recreate the חיפזון (”haste” – see Exodus 12:11) in which the Israelites left Egypt, the ruling extremist coalition has been trying to cram through as much legislation as possible before the Knesset recess which begins with the encroaching spring holiday. Because of the time crunch, the Knesset approved an extra two days of plenaries and voting. So far the Knesset has passed several bills through their first of three readings including:

• preventing the attorney general from declaring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unfit for office (חוק הנבצרות) – an amendment to a Basic Law;
• a bill requiring a special majority of Supreme Court judges to intervene in the Knesset’s legislation;
• the override clause which would allow Knesset members to enact laws previously overruled by the court. This proposed amendment to the Basic Law on the Judiciary would also make any law passed by a slim majority (61 out of 120 lawmakers) immune to judicial review by the court;
• repeal of the 2005 Disengagement Law (as mentioned above).

In addition this week, we saw a steady yet dramatic increase in the numbers of Israelis taking to the streets in the nationwide protest movement including yesterday’s “National Day of Paralysis.” The protests combined with the international pressure coming from everywhere may chip away at the coalition’s unyielding attempt to push through its legislative agenda. A small number of Likud MKs have begun to whisper their discomfort with some of the proposals, and we are now seeing that it is unlikely that they will be able to push everything through before Pesach.

Minister Smotrich delivered a smug gaslighting speech placing the blame for this crisis squarely on the opposition, claiming that they have not been willing to negotiate and discuss the proposals. To use Yuval Noah’s Harari’s analogy, this is like asking a tiger who is attacking you to negotiate while being eaten saying, “Ok, maybe you can only eat half of my body?” Smotrich blatantly contradicted the analysis of his top Finance Ministry advisors when he absurdly claimed that these reforms would bring in more business to Israel, not less.

As we are witnessing this week, the “business as usual” in Israel is anything but. With characters like the racist head of police Itamar Ben Gvir in his influential position, the Knesset turned riotous over his refusal to extend a law that requires violent men to wear electronic trackers to prevent them from further domestic abuse – especially after two women were murdered by their husbands this week.

With all that transpired this week, our universes are colliding.

North American Jews and our Reform Movement are deeply affected and invested in the outcome of this crisis. The more PM Netanyahu prolongs a resolution and allows the situation to spin out of control, the more the special US-Israel relationship is threatened, and the more we risk losing an entire generation of people who, sadly, rather than coming out to protest, feel resigned to walking away and wanting nothing to do with Israel.

The message from this week’s parasha could not be clearer. When a leader sins – אֲשֶׁר נָשִׂיא יֶחֱטָא, it carries greater weight than when one of the people sins. Netanyahu’s sins – those for which he is on trial and those which have led to his fanning the flames of extremist and dangerous leaders to rise to significant power – are sending the country into the abyss. While the protests are getting stronger and beginning to wreak havoc on Israeli society, Netanyahu seems to regard this all as a distraction to the real issues of the world economy, the Iranian nuclear threat, and getting the Saudis to join the Gulf States in the Abraham Accords despite, or even because of the recent geo-political developments between China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.

This moment is about saving both democracy and Zionism in the State of Israel and for the Jewish people.

That is a task for more than just Israelis.

That is for all of us and it is time for us to step up in a major way.

We need every North American Jew to

1. Come out to raise your voice at a protest near you,
2. Support the critical efforts of our Movement in Israel with significant funds,
3. And make sure that your elected congressional representatives and local Israeli diplomats hear your concerns as people who love and care deeply about Israel and that we are deeply concerned about its future.

You are important, and each of you matters. So please do not wring your hands, we need you to roll up your sleeves.

Shabbat Shalom.

Friday March 17, 2023 –  כ״ד אַדָר תשפ”ג

Have you ever asked someone a question about Israel, made a point, expressed an opinion, or tried to challenge someone else’s claim, and received the following response: “Well, you see…it’s complicated…”

“It’s complicated” is likely the most unhelpful, knee-jerk, and overused two-word response, and here’s why we should stop using it.

Reason #1:

Ok, it is complicated, but we’re pretty smart people and we’re able to understand complicated things. Beginning a session by saying “it’s complicated by way of an explanation of the current political situation in Israel and/or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a kernel of condescension because it presumes that one’s conversation partner or student isn’t sophisticated enough to comprehend and internalize the so-called ‘complexities’ of the material at hand. So, let’s avoid saying “it’s complicated” and instead be honest and straightforward in our conversations with one another.

Reason #2:  It’s Actually NOT That Complicated…

Here’s the thing. The current proposals being bulldozed through the Knesset in a blitzkrieg of legislation are hard to follow and challenging to keep track of (which is why I recommend this Judicial Legislation Tracker as a helpful tool). However, the issue is not actually complicated.

First, let’s establish what people are protesting and what they aren’t. Those of us who have turned up at protests over the past ten weeks are NOT protesting the election results. The current Israeli government coalition won the democratic elections fair and square. They were able to assemble a coalition of four political parties landing them a majority of 64 mandates out of the total of 120 Members in the Knesset – a relatively luxurious majority compared to the narrow 61 or 60 majorities of the past few coalitions. The left-wing parties can be upset, lick their wounds, protest, and analyze their status in being relegated to the back benches of the opposition. They can bemoan the fact that the protesters are coming out of the woodwork now when it’s too little and too late to make a difference in the make-up of the government, that the Likud never so much as mentioned comprehensive judicial reform in its platform, but the left has no grounds to challenge the election. That’s not what these protests are about despite some people’s claims.

As professor and bestselling author Yuval Noah Harari explained on Channel 12’s main Friday night news magazine last week:

“We need not focus on the details of this reform or that. The essence is not about the process for appointing judges or how many Members of Knesset can override a Supreme Court ruling, but one simple question:

What will limit the government’s power?

If, for instance, the Knesset, by way of its elected majority wants to pass a law to prevent Arab citizens from voting, or cancel the right of workers to strike – what will prevent them from doing so?”

That is the essence of the protests here.

Much ink has been spilled about the social cohesion of Israeli society coming undone, and the protest movement and that the proponents of the judicial overhaul see it as the chickens proverbially coming home to roost in unseating the  “elites” from power and curbing the Supreme Court’s undemocratic activism and overstepping its boundaries by imposing universalist and progressive values. However, the protest movement comes down to the simple fact that if this judicial overturn goes through, the majority will have unchecked power over the minority. As greater sages than me have said, that is the whole issue, the rest is commentary.

It isn’t complicated, therefore, and I believe that most North American Jews understand this and can find the right vocabulary to speak out against what amounts to radical change in the role of the Department of Justice and the High Court as a check-and-balance vis a vis the Knesset’s unilateral legislative/executive power.

We would be against this proposed tyranny of the majority even if we were the ones in the majority.

As of Wednesday evening, in a prime-time speech, President Isaac Herzog offered a compromise proposal, which many Israelis across the political spectrum believed they could live with.

The ink hadn’t yet dried on the paper before the ruling coalition under Prime Minister Netanyahu’s leadership rejected the proposal claiming that the “central elements of the proposal he [Herzog] made just perpetuate the existing situation.” The leaders of all coalition factions then issued a joint statement denouncing the President’s plan as “one-sided, biased, and unacceptable.”

This nay-saying coalition, despite polls that indicate that the vast majority of Israelis oppose the radical legislation being rushed through the Knesset, reinforces the perception that the current government – because it has the democratically elected majority – will not agree to or be willing to compromise on anything that falls short of complete dominance over the judiciary.

Some see cracks in the system in that the prominent MK David Bitan has advised slowing things down. They don’t need a big group of MKs to slow the process, and hopefully, this will inspire others to come forward and express their concern about the implications for Israel in how this is playing out with the Palestinians, vis a vis the region, Diaspora Jewry, and the international community, and at the least push for a compromise.

Former Minister and Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky expressed his feelings for the President’s framework:

“I support President Herzog’s initiative because it offers a way out of this dangerous situation. Do I agree with all of his proposal’s particulars? No. Do I think it needs to be altered? Yes. But this compromise doesn’t have to be accepted or rejected wholesale. Nor does it usurp the Knesset’s role in approving whatever is ultimately agreed upon, or the judiciary’s role in commenting on its legal ramifications. Rather, the president’s proposal offers us the opportunity to come together again and sit around the negotiation table. Simply saying “no” with the sort of ferocity that was appropriate when facing the KGB is a tragic mistake when we face one another.”

“When we face one another.” That overlooked detail at the end of Sharansky’s critical memory-evoking thought says it all. It’s not complicated, but it does require people on opposite sides to face one another and renew the spirit of amity and commonality of purpose among all Jews in the State of Israel. Think about this image from this week’s Torah portion Vayekhel-Pekudei:

“וַיִּהְי֣וּ הַכְּרֻבִים֩ פֹּרְשֵׂ֨י כְנָפַ֜יִם לְמַ֗עְלָה סֹֽכְכִ֤ים בְּכַנְפֵיהֶם֙ עַל־הַכַּפֹּ֔רֶת וּפְנֵיהֶ֖ם אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־אָחִ֑יו אֶ֨ל־הַכַּפֹּ֔רֶת הָי֖וּ פְּנֵ֥י הַכְּרֻבִֽים׃” (שמות לז:ט)

“The cherubim had their wings spread out above, shielding the cover with their wings. With their faces toward one another (each to their sibling); [turned] toward the ark-cover were the faces of the cherubim.” (Exodus 37:9)

The Tabernacle (i.e. the central institution the Israelites created in the desert) offers a perfect example of how we ought to see ourselves. We are like the cherubim here, hesitant to face each other. Now that we understand what this is about – it is NOT complicated – let’s turn towards one another, our siblings, families, friends, and those with whom we disagree and stress unity over division and address the matter at hand in a spirit of reaching common ground.

That, sadly, in

the current politically charged and polarized climate in Israel, may be more complicated than anything else.

Shabbat Shalom.

By Rabbi Loren Sykes

Mr. Prime Minister, 

 I am a Zionist. I love Israel. I love what it is, what it represents, and that to which it aspires to be – a light unto the nations. 

 I love Israel so much that I uprooted my family nine years ago and made Aliyah from Chicago to Jerusalem. Like so many American Jews, I did so not because I was running away from something but because I was running toward something: the highest fulfillment of Zionism, to “throw our fate” in with that of the modern State and People of Israel.  

 I made Aliyah to be part of the greatest Jewish creation of the modern period: a Jewish and democratic/democratic and Jewish State that strives to embody the values of our Torah, our Prophets, and our Declaration of Independence. The country to which I moved is and must remain one that “will be based on freedom, justice, and peace…;” and “will ensure the complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race, or sex;” and “will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education, and culture.” 

 As I write, Mr. Prime Minister, I feel the torment in my heart. These words come from the depths of my neshama (soul): 

 Prime Minister Netanyahu, you are wrecking this beautiful, miraculous country! 

 You, and the members of your party and coalition who have embraced a combination of extremism, messianism, racism, and fascism, are causing the greatest rift among the Jewish People since the Second Temple period. 

 One need not be an attorney to understand that the combination of: 

• Emasculating the Supreme Court and the judicial branch of their role as a check and balance to the executive and legislative branches;

• Giving the coalition government the unbridled ability to nominate only their judges to the Supreme Court;

• Creating a coalition mechanism for investigating prosecutors, especially those investigating and trying Knesset members of the coalition and Government Ministers;

• Changing the law so a convicted criminal can be a Minister in the government (the Deri law);

• Permitting civil servants, from the Knesset down, to raise funds for “defense” and family “medical” issues.

Along with other misguided measures being advanced by and rushed to final approval in the Knesset by the Justice Minister and by the chair of the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee creates the real possibility of a dictatorship. One only needs a little common sense to understand that a judiciary branch devoid of power, a police force, and the office of the prosecutor are fearful for their jobs if they dare investigate or try members of the Knesset, not to mention a Prime Minister, means that the Prime Minister and his government have absolute power and, as you well know, “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” 

The time has come to cease listening to the extremists in your government and begin listening to the over 500,000 Israeli citizens: 

Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Druze; 

Religious and Secular; 

Right, Center, and Left; 

Tzabarim and Olim; 

Ashkenazim, Sefardim, and Mizrahim; 

Seniors and teens; 

Tzfonim and Daromim (Northerners and Southerners), Tel Avivim and Yerushalmim; 

Peacefully protesting and engaging in peaceful, non-destructive acts of civil disobedience who are sending you the message that we will NOT live under a dictatorship. I, and I am certain that most citizens, will not permit our sacred country to be soiled by those who seek to reduce it to a puppet, weak “democracy” rather than the robust, Western, liberal democracy it is today.   

There are those who claim that we are protesting because we do not accept the outcome of the election. This is false! True, I do not like the outcome of the election. I am not happy that you, on trial for three serious corruption charges, are the Prime Minister. Nonetheless, I refer to you as Prime Minister, an act which many Knesset members from your party refused to do regarding the previous two Prime Ministers. While I speak only for myself, I suspect that there are millions of others who feel the same way.  

There are those who claim that the coalition is acting in a democratic fashion and that those of us who oppose this legislation are anti-democratic. Either they do not understand, or they choose to twist the meanings of and the differences between democracy, majority rule, and dictatorship.  

Only you can stop this madness, Mr. Prime Minister. Only you can tell the Justice Minister and the Chair of the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee, to immediately and fully halt all judicial “reform” legislation.  

The Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, has prohibited you from any involvement in this legislation due to your personal conflict of interest. It is the case that instructing your ministers and committee chairs to advance your judicial “revolution” IS a conflict of interests because it can lead to your ending your own trial. However, requiring them to freeze all related legislation, something that is not in your best interests, is clearly not a conflict.  

Mr. Prime Minister, you are fighting the wrong fights and for the wrong reasons. You should be fighting: 

• To neuter Iran’s ongoing efforts to create nuclear weapons;

• To reduce the cost of living for all citizens;

• To eliminate spousal abuse and murder;
•   To make the country safer for all citizens, especially those Israeli Jews and Arabs alike, living in crime-ridden regions under the daily threat of gangs, protection payments, and murder, not to mention everyone from terror attacks, violent civil disobedience by Israeli Citizens living in the West Bank, and rocket attacks from Gaza; and

• To gain greater normalization for and treaties with Israel throughout the region.

Instead, due to the obsessive focus on the judicial revolution, the economy is faltering, people are suffering, and Israel is becoming a liability to our allies who stand with us if we hold shared Western liberal democratic values. While Amir Ohana and others think our allies will stand with us no matter what, they are wrong. Ambassador Nides, Secretary Austin, and I suspect that many others have told you as much. The frosty relationship that will develop with the US administration will rest solely on your shoulders, as will the collapse of our economy because you chose a judicial “revolution” and dictatorship over shared, Western liberal values.  

You are the only one who can call for real negotiations without “any pre-conditions.” This requires that legislation be stopped in its tracks first. Anyone with basic strategic and tactical understanding recognizes that inviting people to negotiate while the legislation proceeds through the Knesset at lightning speed is a pre-condition in and of itself. It is the legislative equivalent of a shotgun wedding, a trojan horse. Stop the legislation. Come to the table to negotiate in an open, honest, free, and equal fashion and I am certain the opposition will answer your call.  

Mr. Prime Minister, the time has come to act. It is upon you to stop this legislation fully and immediately. Only you can do so and only then can there be real negotiations. At this moment, you must choose:  

Will Israel, under your watch, continue being the greatest modern creation of the Jewish People or will you be responsible for nothing short of the fall of Bayit HaShlishi?

 “עֵ֭ת לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת לַיהוָ֑ה הֵ֝פֵ֗רוּ תּוֹרָתֶֽךָ׃”
(תהילים קי״ט:קכ״ו)

“It is a time to act for יהוָ֑ה, for they have violated Your Torah.”  (Psalm 119:126)

Respectfully,  

Rabbi Loren Sykes 

Rabbi Loren Sykes is the Director of Teen Immersive Israel Programs and Principal of URJ Heller High. A native Chicagoan, he made Aliyah in August 2013 and lives in Jerusalem.