This is Not a Test – On Fulfilling Our Destiny
Friday January 20, 2023 – כ״ז טֵבֵת תשפ”ג
וְלָקַחְתִּי אֶתְכֶם לִי לְעָם וְהָיִיתִי לָכֶם לֵאלֹהִים וִידַעְתֶּם כִּי אֲנִי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם הַמּוֹצִיא אֶתְכֶם מִתַּחַת סִבְלוֹת מִצְרָיִם׃ (שמות ו:ז)
“And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I, יהוה, am your God who freed you from the labors of the Egyptians.” (Exodus 6:7)
It must have been an exciting moment to finally seal the deal, sign the contract, and affirm the bond that we would be God’s people and that God would free us from slavery – and then be our God. We were to be the treasured nation, chosen, if you will, to have this covenantal relationship. It lasted for ages throughout our sojourn in the desert, inheriting our own land, not one exile, but two, and throughout our eventual return to the Land after nearly two thousand years of exile.
We reimagined our story, recreated the narrative, and refashioned ourselves as a People in keeping with the trends of modern nationalism and ethno-national Statism. However, our covenant was about more than just “being.”
It was about upholding the moral character of the State as mandated to us not only by our formative collective experience of being slaves in Egypt, but from the moral imperative to establish just societies outlined in the Torah that we received upon leaving Egypt.
This is why it is so critical to emphasize the fact that Moses demands of Pharoah: שַׁלַּח אֶת־עַמִּי וְיַעַבְדֻנִי׃ (שמות ז:כו) – “Let My People Go, so that they May Worship Me!” (Exodus 7:26). This serves as a reminder that our purpose is not only to be free but that we have a positive mission to fulfill beyond the value of our own survival, a collective destiny, a purpose and meaning to our lives.
As a Jewish people, we have been forced to justify our Zionism since its inception. “Why do the Jews need a State?” We were challenged: “How do we justify our existence and right to self-determination?”
For so long we were so focused on justifying our Zionism that we paid insufficient attention to whether or not our Zionism was Just.
What is needed now is a Just Zionism.
Despite the excitement around our adopting a collective national identity, the current political climate in Israel – which includes a rise of ultra-nationalism, an attack on Israel’s democratic institutions, open hostility towards LGBTQ+ people, Reform and Conservative Jews, and a clear prioritization of Jews over non-Jews in Israel – is causing several predictable and disturbing outcomes:
- A sweeping apathy and alienation from Israel among those who, as Rabbi Donniel Hartman put it, are troubled but not necessarily committed.
- Growing anger and resentment towards the Jewish State stemming from a perception that it is behaving in contrast to liberal democratic and universalistic Jewish values.
- A growing emboldening among those who agree with this government’s anti-democratic and illiberal proposals and reforms and who are very committed but not at all troubled.
In the face of this deteriorating situation, what we need now is “Just Zionism.”
The Just Zionism Initiative is a new, progressive Israel initiative from the North American Reform Movement’s collective organizations (URJ/ARZA/RAC) in partnership with the Israeli Reform Movement’s parallel organizations (IMPJ/IRAC). The Just Zionism Initiative will build a community of activists and like-minded individuals around Israel as a Jewish and democratic State, emphasizing social justice, equality, pluralism, Jewish peoplehood, security, and Jewish culture, all of which are at the heart of our approach to Zionism. We hope that our community of Just Zionists will feel deep connection with and belonging to the State of Israel and a sense of renewed responsibility and accountability for the preservation of Jewish people’s body and soul.
A Just Zionism is committed to (but not limited to) the following principles:
- Security in the Region: The pursuit of peace, security, and stability for Israel, the Palestinians, and the surrounding region.
- Religious Equality and Pluralism: We envision and will work for an Israeli society in which all Jewish denominations are treated fairly and with respect – a society in which all of us are seen as Jews, regardless of our diverse interpretation of Jewish texts and traditions. We seek an Israel in which people of all genders can pray, work, and live together as equals.
- Combatting Racism, Discrimination, and Hatred: Religious and ethnic minorities, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, those seeking political asylum, and all other members of Israeli society deserve to be treated with full equality under the law.
- Two States for Two Peoples: Although the road seems long, we are committed to building and supporting a path to peace based on two states for two peoples because justice requires it and it is essential for the security and stability of both Israelis and Palestinians.
In his posthumously published work This People Israel, Rabbi Leo Baeck posed the question of Israel’s raison d’être this way:
“Which voice will finally be decisive in the State, that of the enduring covenant, the pledge, the commandment? Or that of the coming and going day which promises something of utility? The people can never be permitted to look only at itself. It has life only when it looks outward, when it sees itself within humanity, when it holds to itself for the sake of humanity and to humanity for the sake of itself.”[1]
It is clear which voice was decisive in this past November’s election. It is the voice of rage, fear, vengeance, racism, of sectoral superiority, and derisive demagoguery. It is the voice that seeks to deconstruct Israel’s democracy.
In his book, A Brief History of Israeliness [Hebrew only], Israeli author Netanel Elinson, reminds us that each of the subsequent sovereign [ancient] Jewish kingdoms lasted only a shockingly brief 73 years. So now, as we celebrate the modern miracle of a third Jewish sovereign entity in our people’s long history, are we on what soccer fans call “injury time?” Have we played past our expiration date? Of course, this is an absurd question but could explain why Israeli society is unraveling at the seams.
With this extremist government coalition, we are witnessing the fragility of Israel’s democracy. The government [Executive branch] controls the Knesset, and the only checks and balances on the power of the government (which controls the Knesset) is the Supreme Court.
Recently, the new government – represented by the Minister of Justice Yariv Levin and the Chairman of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee Simcha Rothman, proposed bills that will dramatically weaken the Supreme Court and thus present a radical, unprecedented, and dangerous change in the system of government in Israel.
The new coalition agreement, which includes amending anti-discrimination laws to allow businesses to refuse service on the basis of religious beliefs, is not yet a government program.
Towards the end of his book, Elinson succinctly expresses the embrace of pluralism that he hopes can characterize Israel:
“Without other streams [of Judaism], the questions that they pose to me and the ways in which they force me to sharpen my views, attributes of mine are likely to become both extreme and destructive. Healthy nationalism can become chauvinist nationalism; universalism can morph into the loss of identity; unpretentiousness can turn into fanaticism; lives of Torah can become lives of disconnection; bravery can become violence; success can lead to an excess of pride; and unity can become a matter of erasing the other.”
Our Just Zionism champions a non-chauvinist democratic Jewish nationalism and works to stymie the loss of identity Our emergence as a People was one of the most formative and important moments in our history. It was about us building on our covenantal relationship and forging our destiny and purpose taking fate into our own hands.
Why should today be any different? Why should we acquiesce to the current deleterious policies? Even if you are not an Israeli citizen (which is a remediable challenge) and can’t vote in the elections, as Zionists we can join with those on the ground in Israel to protest, organize, and mobilize for change that emphasizes Israel’s democratic character and commitment to justice for all its citizens and residents both inside Israel and beyond the Green Line.
Today we call on all those in our Movement who are concerned, worried, angry, and troubled, to double down on your commitment to Reform Zionism. Join our Movement’s efforts to advocate for our liberal Jewish and democratic values through the courts and the Knesset. Here, in North America we Reform Zionists have to work to change the narrative, to attract those ready to give up on Israel, and to bring them into our collective efforts to show that the State of Israel is the project of the entire Jewish people and that it will be the Jewish people who work hard for, invest in, and stay the course on behalf of the greatest accomplishment of the Jewish people in two thousand years. Our birth as a nation and as a people is inextricably linked to our freedom and identity, and embracing our connection to each other, to the Jewish people and the State of Israel is the only way we can move forward and fulfill our destiny as a people.
To receive more information about Just Zionism click here!
Shabbat Shalom.
[1] Baeck, Leo, This People Israel: The Meaning of Jewish Existence, Jewish Publication Society of America (Philadelphia), 1965, p. 387.
[2] The idea of identity and the potential loss or preservation of identity is a larger and complex concept which I plan to develop further in a future column.