Josh Weinberg

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.

Friday March 10, 2023 – י״ז אַדָר תשפ”ג

    שִׂמְחָה רַבָּה, שִׂמְחָה רַבָּה, אָבִיב הִגִּיעַ, פֶּסַח בָּא!
(יפה בלהה)

“Great happiness, Great happiness, Spring has arrived, and Pesach is coming!”
~ Yaffah Bilha

In December 2010, Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest outside a government office in the little-known town of Sidi Bouzid. In a matter of days, his act of defiance set off a revolutionary movement that rippled across the Middle East and North Africa, toppling some long-standing authoritarian regimes. This became known to many in the Western world as the “Arab Spring.”

Protesters across the Arab world were motivated to rebel against their governments by many factors, but analysts agree that a common theme was a push for basic dignity and human rights in the face of dictatorships and authoritarian rule. In many countries, religious tensions also played a significant role.

But what came out of the “Arab Spring?” What was accomplished?

In some cases, Islamist parties gained power (e.g. in formerly secular Tunisia and Egypt – although only temporarily in the latter). Meanwhile, deep sectarian divisions helped give rise to the anti-government movements in Bahrain, Syria, and Yemen. So far, only Tunisia made a lasting shift to democracy. Egypt backslid, while Libya, Syria, and Yemen spiraled into protracted civil wars resulting in hundreds of thousands of people killed and many more displaced.

Journalist Maytha Alhassen, writing in the Huffington Post over ten years ago, commented:

“…that term ‘Arab Spring’ has its extreme limitations, ones bordering on being offensive. I have begun referring to these movements as the Dignity Revolutions. Although any kind of naming has its limitations, I have found a focus on “karama,” [the Arabic word for] dignity, as the most unifying demand present in these uprisings and resistance movements. What is truly remarkable and distinctly ’revolutionary’ about these movements is the almost consistent focus all the movements have on karama.”

Purim is now behind us, and springtime is right around the corner. This moment is not just about the winter passing, “the rain is over and gone, and the blossoms have appeared in the land.” (Song of Songs 2:11-12)  

Are we now witnessing the Israeli Spring?

We are now amidst the most severe crisis in the history of Israel. With little else in common with the uprisings and protest movements of a decade ago among Israel’s neighbors – or the tent protests of Tel Aviv in the summer of 2011 –  this Israeli revolution could also be considered a revolution over dignity and freedom.

Ostensibly, this is a crisis over two visions of government and two conflicting sets of values. One vision privileges supervision and limitation over the parliament and the government – what we commonly refer to as basic checks and balances; while the other prefers a pure rule of the people – where the majority of elected representatives of the people (the Knesset or the legislative branch) should have full, unencumbered power to decide how the country is run and what laws should exist.

That is what we call the pshat, or the surface-level understanding.

But below the surface, as my friend and teacher Reuven Kalifon commented, “it is about real evil.” The Haredim (ultra-Orthodox) and the Hardalim (ultra-Orthodox and ultra-Nationalist) wish to end the role and authority of the high court because they don’t believe in equality (time after time the high court strikes down their initiatives). The Religious Zionists know that the high court stands in the way of their “vision” for the West Bank/Judea and Samaria. The Likud and the other members of the coalition want to be in power, and this is their chance to be in power permanently.

This moment in history is a “perfect storm” created by dangerous people who feel that the rules of fair play, themselves, are the problem at hand.  As journalist and pollster, Dahlia Scheindlin commented:

“The three major ideological goals of the coalition partners are annexation, theocracy, and inequality. Combine that with Netanyahu’s expedient need to legitimize corruption, which requires weakening the judiciary. It’s a perfect storm.”

So, in what way is this also about dignity?

In 1992 the Knesset passed the Basic Law: Human Rights and Dignity, and the Supreme Court elevated this law – which included the values of equality, freedom of employment, and freedom of speech – to a position of normative supremacy thereby granting the courts the ability to strike down legislation which is inconsistent with the rights embodied in the Basic Laws. In a governmental system that lacks a constitution, the court took it upon itself to use this as an opportunity to establish a judicial review of laws (the ability of the Court to declare a Legislative or Executive act in violation of the Constitution – think Marbury vs. Madison in the United States of 1803).

Many on the National Religious Right see this as the source of the problem and find it as an imposition of Western values over Jewish values, a quasi-oppression of the ‘elites’ over the salt of the earth.

A friend who lives in a small Settlement deep in the West Bank/Judea commented to me that this crisis is an uprising of the “Jewish majority” who resents the country being run by “Western liberal progressive interpretations of human rights implemented by universalists with disproportionate power who have been imposing their values on the ‘Jewish majority,’ and now are upset that their power is waning so they take to the streets.”  That this was about the elites losing to the majority. This smells of a similar sentiment that we heard in the U.S. around the election of former President Trump in 2016. Where the Clintons were perceived to be the elitists, and Trump, literally living in a golden tower, who owns multiple properties, etc… was not perceived as being an elitist, as he came from outside the previous political establishment.

While I’m all for a healthy exchange of ideas in the marketplace of thought, I could not disagree more with my friend’s interpretation. We, who generally hold universalist and Western views that the government should be responsible for safeguarding its citizens’ freedom and equality, should be sensitive to those who have been harboring a reservoir of anger and resentment.

But, now this is about right and wrong. Much of society accepts the critique that the Israeli judicial system is in need of some reform. The Supreme Court could stand to have more ideological and ethnic diversity, and, over the past three decades, it has acted as an ‘activist court.’ But reform should be about process and change, about the question of how to (and who can) interpret the law. It should not be an excuse for the evisceration of all judicial authority.

The proposed program for change (what former Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch referred to as the coup d’etat) will be shot down by the high court. It’s all illegal, and the bad guys know it. That’s why they are suddenly willing to talk about “compromise,” (through the efforts of President Isaac Herzog) even though they hold all the cards and have all the votes. They want to present themselves as “reasonable,” but, in reality, they won’t back down. Backing down means the government would fall (the ultra-Orthodox insist on veto power or override over the high court). Bad actors, indeed! There isn’t even one ‘righteous person in Sodom’ (not a single Minister in the government has raised even a little whisper of protest, despite hearing a murmur from a few moderate Likud MKs).

The parliamentary coalition system in Israel brings fringe groups to the front and center, and only the high court can force the ruling party (in this case the Likud) to “explain” to the fringe partners that their ideas (annexation, theocracy, and inequality) are off the scales and unacceptable in a democracy. Only the High Court can utter the magic word: “equality” or “fair play.” The Knesset can’t. Israel desperately needs a constitution, which would unequivocally establish the supremacy of civil law. But in its absence, there is only the high court that is capable of maintaining normalcy, freedom, equality, and yes, dignity.

As this week’s protesters took to the streets, blocking Ben Gurion airport, Haifa port, and more, they do so not out of an intellectual disagreement about governance structure, but out of an attempt to preserve Israel as a State that upholds dignity and freedom (more on that next week).

To Prime Minister Netanyahu: if the pilots of your own national airline refuse to fly you abroad, you know you have a problem.

Happy Spring and Shabbat Shalom.

Friday March 3, 2023 –  י׳ אַדָר תשפ”ג

כׇּל מִי שֶׁאֶפְשָׁר לִמְחוֹת לְאַנְשֵׁי בֵיתוֹ וְלֹא מִיחָה — נִתְפָּס עַל אַנְשֵׁי בֵיתוֹ. בְּאַנְשֵׁי עִירוֹ — נִתְפָּס עַל אַנְשֵׁי עִירוֹ. בְּכָל הָעוֹלָם כּוּלּוֹ — נִתְפָּס עַל כָּל הָעוֹלָם כּוּלּוֹ. (שבת נד ע”ב)

 “All who can protest against something wrong that one of their family is doing and does not is accountable together with their family. All who can protest against something wrong that a citizen of their city is doing and does not protest is accountable together with all citizens of the city. All who can protest against something wrong that is being done in the whole world is accountable together with all citizens of the world.”
(Shabbat 54a)

Last Saturday night I stood shoulder to shoulder with my rabbinic colleagues, Reform Movement leaders, and the multitudes of Israelis who poured into the streets of Tel Aviv to protest for a sixth week in a row against the judicial overhaul proposed by the government.

Cries from the crowd resounded in a rhythmic chant: “De-mo-kratiah, De-mo-kratiah, De-mo-kratiah,” and were echoed by the monosyllabic accusation of “בושה, בושה, בושה” (busha = shame). To the podium came speaker after speaker, including URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs – as the first non-Israeli to speak at the protests, former PM and Israel’s most decorated soldier Ehud Barak, an ultra-Orthodox feminist, and the former Chief of Police Roni El-Shiekh.

Protest movements strive to convey a message effectively exerting influence over states and other forces and bringing about positive change. This protest movement understands a simple yet fundamental principle: Democracy is not just majority rule; it is also about tolerance, acceptance, and mutual respect.

Rabbi Menahem HaMeiri, a great 13^th and 14^th centuries sage who lived in Provence, wrote that just as the government is obligated to protest injustices amongst the people, so are the people obligated to protest injustices in the government:

“The king is punished for the sin of the nation because he did not protest against them, and the nation as a whole is punished for the sin of the king because they did not protest against him.”

Are the protests working, and how far are they prepared to go?

It is one thing to go out on a Saturday night and join the throngs of mainstream protesters at a rally. It is quite another to disrupt daily life in order to send a message and effect change.

Last Monday protesters blocked the road of the Settlement Pnei Kedem, home to MK Simcha Rothman, and barricaded the door of MK Tali Gottlieb’s apartment, not allowing her and her special needs daughter to leave the house. This, I would say, is crossing the line of legitimate protests.

Not all is fair in love, war, and protest.

Protest itself is an action, of course, and one we know sometimes provokes change. Merely verbal protest, however, is not as effective as the public’s mass physical protest and organized political action. We should all look for ways not just to speak about injustice, but to change the conditions which give rise to it.

Do protests abroad matter?

It’s hard to make the argument that such protests will somehow influence the Netanyahu government. However, as it says in Pirkei Avot  (4:2), “שֶׁמִּצְוָה גּוֹרֶרֶת מִצְוָה – One mitzvah leads to another.” Each of these elements standing on their own likely does not have an effect, but each form of protest taken in the context of a larger mass of protests that builds a movement and attracts a coalition of allies speaking out against what we all perceive to be a grave danger can, indeed, lead to change..

The last thing I want is for Israel to become a pariah nation on the world stage. However, when we see the possibility of a legacy organization like Israel Bonds purportedly inviting Israeli Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich to address their leadership conference, we cannot remain silent.

Let us be clear: NO ORGANIZATION OR GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL SHOULD INVITE MINISTER SMOTRICH or MINISTER BEN GVIR to participate in any meeting or event whatsoever. Not the U.S. Government, not AIPAC, not any middle-left Zionist organization, and certainly not State of Israel Bonds. This we must protest in advance using all the connections and means available to us, and should such meetings actually defy the will of Diaspora Jewish organizations and go forward with such meetings, there should be massive protests outside the event because Smotrich and Gvir are racist and homophobic who are pushing unilateral and de facto annexation of the West Bank. Smotrich recently called for the State of Israel to “wipe out” the Palestinian village of Huwara[1] after two Israeli brothers Hallel and Yagel Yaniv z”l were murdered by a Palestinian resident of Huwara (and a third victim, Israeli-American Elan Ganeles was murdered by a terrorist in the Jordan Valley on the way to a friend’s wedding), and a mob of angry Jewish Settlers set out on a pogrom in the village burning two hundred homes, multiple numbers of cars, murdering one Palestinian and injuring many others, and essentially taking the law into their own hands. Smotrich’s call for ethnic cleansing no longer comes from some random individual on the “extremist fringe,” but from a Government Minister.

Protests and Political Responsibility.

The Talmud preaches the language of protest and as we approach the holiday of Purim, the Megillat Esther presents us with at least two models of resistance against the rise of evil and ultra-nationalism. The first is enacted by Esther’s uncle Mordecai, a Jew who works as a guard in the King’s palace. Mordecai’s mode of resistance is protest. When the King promotes the anti-Jewish Haman the Agagite to be his second in command, Mordecai refuses to bow down to him (3:1-2).

Mordecai’s refusal sets into motion a tragic sequence of events in which Haman conspires with King Ahasuerus to order genocide against all the Jews living in the Persian Empire. Mordecai’s act of protest calls out into the open the ethnic hatred seething beneath the surface of the Empire. However, as an outsider to the palace, he ultimately finds himself powerless to do anything about it. That task ultimately falls to Esther, the Queen of the Empire who has, until now, kept her ethnic identity a secret.

Esther couches her request to the King to stop the genocide not in emotional terms, but in economic ones. She continues:

“We have been sold—I and my people—to be wiped out, killed, and destroyed. If we simply had been sold as male and female slaves, I would have said nothing. But no enemy can compensate the King for this kind of damage.” (7:4)

There’s no question; Esther is a hero. Through charm, patience, and politics, she saves her people. She is also a hero of this moment. Her model shows that we need women (and other oppressed folks) who are loud,  impolite, angry, strategic, and tactically astute to use their proximity to power to effect change.

“The Gemara asks: What did Mordecai say when he cried out? Rav said: He said that Haman has risen above Ahasuerus, for he saw that Haman had become even stronger than Ahasuerus himself, and that he controlled all affairs of the empire.” (Megillah 15a)

Just as in this rabbinic interpretation, the agendas of Ben Gvir & Smotrich, Levin & Rothman, Deri & Gafni, rise above PM Netanyahu and become even stronger than the PM himself. It seems clear that Netanyahu is no longer the leader that can rein in the fanatics and staunch ideologues in his coalition. Rather, he is being controlled by them but is seemingly willing enough to let the country burn down as protesters continue to disrupt daily life in the country now confronting riot police who use stun grenades, fire hoses, and stink liquids to violently disperse the protesters. This is dangerous territory, and Netanyahu – not the protesters – has proven that he is no longer the responsible adult in the room who has the interest of the State uppermost in his thoughts and above all else.

As we are about seven weeks from Israel’s 75^th birthday, these words of rebuke against the Israeli government are the last things I want to be writing. I would much rather write about the miracle that is the modern State of Israel, to sing its praises and bask in its numerous achievements.

As we are about to celebrate Purim, I want to share the wonder, as written in Megillat Esther  עַם־אֶחָד מְפֻזָּר וּמְפֹרָד בֵּין הָעַמִּים  – “certain people, scattered and dispersed among the other peoples” (Esther 3:8) has now come home and is a bastion of achievement and a bastion of morality and ethical behavior and a shining light unto the nations.

But this moment, sadly, calls for protest. To share, as my colleagues from Rabbis for Human Rights recently wrote:

“This is not the way of our forefathers, of Abraham – the father of our nation, who fought to prevent innocents from being harmed in Sodom. This is not the way of Jacob, who rebelled against the massacre committed by his sons in Shechem and denounced them for their acts of violence and revenge. This is not the way of the majority of the leaders and sages of Israel throughout the ages. We are living in a difficult and dangerous time. With no vision, a nation will riot…”

The majority of Israelis have a vision and an understanding of what Israel should be. Those who show up to the protests wearing stickers saying “נאמנים למגילת העצמאות” – “Faithful to Israel’s Declaration of Independence” understand the State of Israel’s purpose and mission.  That is the vision, and until we can agree on that and turn it into a constitution, bring on the protests.

Shabbat Shalom and Purim Sameach!

[1] Minister Smotrich later walked back his statement after intense pressure explaining that he was calling for Israel to focus on eradicating terrorism in the area.