Don’t Give Up…On Israel
Friday December 20, 2024 – י״ט כִּסְלֵו
This week, we lost a giant in Israeli culture. On December 12, iconic Israeli singer and songwriter Corinne Allal breathed her last breath after a prolonged battle with cancer. Born in Tunisia in 1955, she immigrated to Israel at the age of 8. She began to make a name for herself in an army singing troupe, rising up with other Israeli stars like Yehudit Ravitz. Her voice was a raspy, Israeli grunge, slightly dark with a melancholy vibe. Her voice was not beautiful (in my opinion), but it was deeply soulful and so identified with Israeli culture. She began as a backup singer to amplify others’ voices and only broke through once she stopped being polite. She lived with her wife and two (now grown) sons in a Moshav and did not mince words (I once briefly shared a stage with her at a Yom Haatzmaut celebration for the Jewish community of Hong Kong, but that’s a story for another time) and always pushed boundaries (listen to a more extended and beautiful tribute to Corinne Allal in this week’s Promised Podcast).
There is one iconic song with which she is most associated. While she didn’t write the lyrics to Ein Li Eretz Acheret (“I have no other country”), her melody made this song a household Israeli standard at ceremonies and protests (listen here to one of her last performances of this song at Tel Aviv’s famous Barbie venue). The lyrics were written by the Israeli poet Ehud Manor in 1982 as a delayed reaction to his younger brother’s death during the Six-Day War. In time, it became the second and unofficial Israeli national anthem.
Those lyrics were central to the pro-democracy protest movement and took on an entirely different meaning post-October 7th.
אין לי ארץ אחרת
גם אם אדמתי בוערת
Ein li eretz acheret gam im admati bo’eret
I have no other country, even if my land is burning.
I have always felt a little uncomfortable with Diaspora Jews and Israelis living abroad championing this song because, as it turns out, they do, in fact, have another country. However, the song’s message also rings true for us, just like the biblical Joseph whose story we read over the next few weeks. Despite rising to prominence and power, Joseph never forgot his roots and used his influence to serve his family and his people, knowing that even posthumously, he would return home.
The question is, how do we raise Diaspora Jews to regard Israel as their Homeland as well? How do we help them understand the Jewish State as the project of the entire Jewish people, even if they don’t pay taxes there, serve in the army, or live there?
Since Israel is the homeland of the entirety of the Jewish people, then our role as Diaspora Jews ought to be to speak up on behalf of Israel in solidarity. Some say, however, that our support must be limited, that because we ‘have another Land,’ we should only speak out in support of Israel, in her defense, and in service of protecting her interests, and never in critique. However, one of the most piercing and powerful lines of the song boldly reminds us of the opposite:
לא אשתוק כי ארצי שינתה את פניה
Lo eshtok ki artzi shinta et paneha
I will not stay silent because my country changed her face.
How can we Diaspora Jews be silent as the country we love seems to have changed? This was the case at the beginning of 2023 when Prime Minister Netanyahu’s coalition embarked on an aggressive legislative agenda led by Minister Yariv Levin and MK Simcha Rothman to overhaul the justice system – what many felt was a serious and dangerous threat to Israel’s democratic character. And it is still the case now in the post-October 7 wartime reality in which we are living.
And, how can we be silent when it has become so very clear that what Israel does, for better and worse, directly affects us Jews around the world? The rise in antisemitism, anti-Zionism, and anti-Israel sentiment has been felt on American college and university campuses and in capitals around the world. Just as we are concerned about Israeli security, we and Israel must be concerned about our security. Though only Israelis have the right to make the decisions that will affect their lives, we Diaspora Jews have the right to share our ideas with our Israeli brothers and sisters. Thankfully, our Reform movement in Israel shares our fundamental liberal Jewish values about democracy, and we can support them. But we can never remain silent. It’s just not who we Jews are.
Over the past 14 months, it has felt necessary to speak both in defense of and in solidarity with Israel as it faces continual existential threats, has to justify its self-defense, and has experienced its unfair share of victim blaming. It has also felt necessary, in my view, to speak out in critique of Israeli government policies after a colossal intelligence failure, the seemingly increasing government reticence to prioritize the mitzvah of פדיון שבויים (Redeeming the Captives), along with a growing movement to resettle the Gaza strip, and the renewed commitment by Justice Minister Yariv Levin to resume the judicial overhaul, claiming that now, having supposedly defeated our enemies, we can safely return to the “governmental coup” – my words, but not mine alone.
The next line of the song should serve as a mantra that every Jew and every Zionist should hold as a constant before our eyes:
לא אוותר לה אזכיר לה
Lo evater la Azkir la
I will not give up on her I will remind her.
Speaking up and raising one’s voice should not be stifled even though some will claim that it is somehow a threat, or somehow seen as a threat, to the higher aspiration of a particular notion of unity. Our message as Zionists is DON’T GIVE UP ON ISRAEL; fight for her. Fight for her right to be the only Jewish nation-state in the world and for Jews to be a free people in our Land. Fight for her ability to exist, to thrive, and not to have to live by the sword. And fight for her to live up to the values of Israel’s foundational document, the Megilat Haatzamut (Israel’s Declaration of Independence). Please don’t give up in the face of those who constantly defame and delegitimize Israel, those who unfairly criticize it, and those who judge it through unreasonable double standards.
And fight against an Israeli government that spouts racism, xenophobia, and an anti-democratic agenda. But don’t just fight against; fight for what we believe! Fight for equality, for justice, for democracy. As oxymoronic as it may sound, fight for peace, even when it seems remote and unlikely.
And fight together as a Reform Movement.
As Diaspora Jews, we will have a keen opportunity this coming Spring to raise our voices and to say that we are deeply and inextricably connected to Israel. We have an opportunity to say we will not be silent in our love and our advocacy, and we will not give up on Israel or on her behalf.
This spring, our movement will look to expand our power and influence, advocate for our values, and increase our support for the Reform Movement in Israel through the elections of the World Zionist Congress. This is critically important because the WZC:
- Set policies that affect the status of Reform Jews in Israel and millions of Israelis
- Make decisions that influence hundreds of millions of dollars in spending
- Influence construction projects and, therefore the choice between settlement expansion or a path to peace, and ensuring investment in communities destroyed on October 7th
- Is a key financial supporter of the Israeli Reform Movement and enables our Movement to grow and expand its reach.
What we advocate for in Israel will also strengthen our own Diaspora communities. This is a fight not just for Israel but for our own well-being. We may have another land/country, but we are one people, and our voices impact how we move around the world.
We need everyone to join us and echo Ehud Manor’s words, perpetuate Corinne Allal’s voice, and echo the call of so many Israelis who know they have no other country and that we won’t give up.
As we prepare to light our Hanukkiyot next week, let us recall that those lights are a symbol of the Maccabees who knew that they had no other land – even if it was burning, and they had to fight for independence and be the kind of Jews that they wanted to be. If they had given up, we might not be who we are today.
Now it’s our turn.
Shabbat Shalom and Hag Urim Sameach.