On Meeting Shimon Peres, Natan Sharansky and other Vignettes

President Shimon Peres and Rabbi Weinblatt

Natan Sharansky and Rabbi Weinblatt

    

I have just returned from Israel where I co-chaired with Rabbi Mauricio Balter of Beer Sheva the Rabbinical Assembly Annual Convention in Jerusalem.  Having served in 2008 as the Chairman of the convention in Washington, I felt privileged to be the only rabbi asked to chair two RA conventions.  

Approximately 200 Conservative rabbis primarily from the United States, as well as from Israel and elsewhere around the world gathered in Jerusalem for the convention.  All of the speeches and sessions were conducted entirely in Hebrew, which made quite an impact on the Israeli officials with whom we met.

Our program opened on Tuesday evening with a shiur, a lesson taught by Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum, an extremely talented young Israeli rabbi.  

Wednesday was a high point, as we went to the home of the President of the State of Israel.  Shimon Peres, alert as ever, greeted us warmly and spoke eloquently.  He was introduced by RA President Rabbi Jerry Skolnik with an extremely moving and gracious introduction.  I sat next to Peres and after he spoke, asked him a question on behalf of the rabbis about the opening of Israeli society to non-Orthodox expressions of Judaism.  (You will hear more about the story he told about Ben Gurion on the High Holidays.)  I was honored to then present to the President the RA resolution in honor of the 65^th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel.  

From the President's home we traveled to the Knesset where I introduced Yuli Edelstein, Speaker of the Knesset.  I became friendly with the famous former Soviet Refusenik in his previous position as Minister of Diaspora Affairs.  He spoke about the importance of being accepting of diverse opinions in the Jewish community.  His talk was followed by a historic address.  The head of the party known as Bayit Yehudi (Jewish home), Naftali Bennett, spoke to us.  His appearance was significant because it was the first time an Israeli Minister of Religion spoke to the organization of Conservative rabbis.  He was extremely warm and went out of his way to express his belief in the importance of all branches of Judaism working together.  On several occasions he referred to us as, "my brothers and my sisters."  He also said how important it is for us to sit together at a round table where we can all speak together about solving the problems which confront the Jewish people together.  His message of inclusiveness and recognition that there are multiple ways to live a committed Jewish life was received like a breath of fresh air.  

This new, refreshingly enlightened approach continued with another unprecedented gesture.  We were recognized and officially welcomed by the presiding officer of the Knesset while we were in the gallery.  This also was unprecedented.

We then divided into groups to meet with members of the Israeli Parliament about religious pluralism, Israel and its Arab minority, and security.  I attended the session on religious pluralism, where three members of Knesset spoke about the importance of including and accepting all Jews and all streams of Judaism.    Rabbi Dov Lipman of Yesh Atid echoed this message as did an extremely impressive MK I had never heard before, Elazar Stern.  Stern, a practicing Orthodox Jew who wears a kippah, from the Tnuah Party of Tzipi Livni said he had no problem with women davening at the Wall and wearing tallitot and tefillin.  His only concern is that the prayer services at this most sacred site be worship and not a political demonstration.  

Over 40 of the 120 members of Knesset are new members of the Knesset, many of them new to politics.  One of the members told us that when the current Knesset was sworn in, they ran out of seats in the gallery since so many invited their grandparents to attend the ceremony.

The extremely exciting day concluded with tours of the under-visited but fascinating Israel Bible Lands Museum and a beautiful outdoor reception honoring rabbis who were ordained 50 years ago.

On Thursday after a study session the rabbis divided into groups to tour the country and explore and delve into four important issues.  The theme of our convention was "Israel Today:  Confronting the Challenges of Tomorrow."  I was especially pleased at the way this all went, as it was my idea to work with four national agencies to sponsor the trips.  Those interested in Hi-Tech went to Google headquarters in Tel Aviv for a program sponsored by Israel Bonds.  The environment and ecology tour sponsored by the Jewish National Fund went to Sderot and Beer Sheva where they saw the amazing water reclamation work that Israel is doing, making it a world leader in this field, as well as the indoor playground built in Sderot.  Another group sponsored by the Friends of the IDF traveled to Nablus in a double reinforced bus to meet with members of the Israel Defense Force who do surveillance of suspected Palestinian terrorists.  The fourth group explored issues of social integration, and was sponsored by JAFI (The Jewish Agency for Israel) and the Joint Distribution Committee.  We visited an employment center which helps members of the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community acquire the necessary skills so they can enter the workforce, as well as a program sponsored by the Army known as, "Nativ," where members of all streams teach Judaism to soldiers who may not be halachically Jewish to help facilitate their conversion.

After the groups returned to the Fuchsberg Center in Jerusalem for dinner, I interviewed Natan Sharansky in front of over 200 people.  I asked him about a wide variety of issues including the proposal he is working on to expand the Kotel to provide for non-traditional modes of worship, as well as his personal journey and how he and his wife navigate their religious differences.  I asked about his vision for The Jewish Agency and the role it plays in strengthening Jewish identity.  I concluded the session with Sharansky by quoting a verse from the Torah portion, "Moses asked God to appoint a leader, and said, 'May God of the wind and the spirits of all flesh appoint a leader over the community.' "Rashi explains that Moses understood that the leader God would appoint needed to be tolerant.  Kedushat Levi expands on Rashi's comments that a leader of the Jewish people must be someone who loves all, regardless of whether they are God fearing or not, and must love each and every Jew just as he is.

After davening Friday at the Robinson's Arch area of the Kotel, the rabbis went either on a walking tour of the Old City or a trip to Herodion, the city built by Herod, and then to the exhibit at the Israel Museum about Herodion and Herod.  

The convention concluded on another high note with a speech by Ruth Calderon, a new member of the Knesset, who is electrifying many with her embrace of Talmudic text study.  Although she is a secular Jew, she spoke about the place that Jewish wisdom and sources can play in enriching the appreciation of our Jewish heritage in the State of Israel.  

Upon my suggestion, we rose and concluded the convention by singing Hatikvah, Israel's national anthem.  

Meeting with Israel's President Shimon Peres, introducing Yuli Edelstein, the Speaker of the Knesset, interviewing Natan Sharansky, organizing highly successful excursions around the country, and doing all of this in Hebrew - all and all an extremely thrilling, exhilarating and inspiring week!

A Rabbinic Call for Unity

A Rabbinic Call for Communal Unity

July 5, 2013

Below is a statement issued by the Rabbinic Cabinet of JFNA (Jewish Federations of North America) that I drafted.

The month of Av 5773 begins on July 8, 2013.  Traditionally Rosh Hodesh Av is recognized as ushering in a period of reflection on the calamities that led to the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, as it marks the beginning of the period on the Jewish calendar known as “The Nine Days,” culminating in Tisha B’Av.  Tisha B’Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples.

Our sages tell us that senseless hatred, sinat hinam, was the cause of the cataclysms that befell the Jewish nation, resulting in the destruction of the Temple, the loss of our independence, and the people of Israel being scattered to the four corners of the world (Yoma 9b). 

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, among others, taught that the response to sinat hinam is ahavat hinam, love of our fellow Jews.

In the spirit of tikun (correcting past sins) we, leaders of the major streams of contemporary Jewish life, unite to call for a deepened commitment to the principle of Clal Yisrael, communal cohesiveness. 

Informed by the teachings of our sages and the lessons of history as well as our conviction that we share more than what divides us, we call upon all segments of our community to display Ahavat Ysrael, love of the Jewish people in deeds and words.

In the spirit of Jewish unity we call for respect for our fellow Jews, even for those with whom we have differences. 

With the approach of Rosh Hodesh Av, we ask that our actions and utterances, public and private, be guided by sensitivity to the needs of the other and by appreciation for the sincerity of the motives of those with whom we disagree.   

We pray that the month of Av will bring the blessing of Jewish unity, harmony and peace to our people.  May the message of Tisha B’av remind us that the antidote to Hurban ha-Bayit, the destruction of the Temple, is Shalom Bayit, peace in the (Jewish) home.  We pledge to do what we can so that peace and good will shall prevail in the House of Israel.

Journey to Jewish Heritage Report (March 5-14, 2013)

After a restful Shabbat in Prague and a briefing by the head of the local Jewish community we travelled to Terezin, the "model" concentration camp established by the Nazis to show the Red Cross and world how "humanely" the Jews imprisoned there were treated.  As Elie Wiesel has pointed out, what the Red Cross failed to ask was why were Jews even sent and confined there?  What "crime" had they committed?  Seeing the stark barracks gave us a glimpse of the appalling conditions they had to endure and how they created art and put on plays and music as acts of defiance of the Nazi effort to humiliate and dehumanize them.  

Prior to the war the Jewish population of Poland was an astounding 10%.  In a number of large cities, such as Warsaw, it was 30% or higher. 

Before leaving Poland for our final stop in Germany, we met an energetic young rabbi from the US, Tyson Herberger, who presented an overview of Jewish life in Poland today, and of the efforts to keep Judaism alive.  A meeting at the office of a program that helps young non-Jewish Poles understand that their towns which are now Judenrein were once teeming with Jewish life gave us hope that the Jews taken away would not be forgotten.  

One of the first places we saw in Berlin was at the powerful outdoor memorial to the Jews who perished in the Holocaust where you walk through roughly sculpted stones of varying heights in uniform rows.  Each stone was different and unique, reminding us that each victim was an individual, trapped in the cruel regimented rigidity of the Nazi death machine. 

While in Berlin we also visited the Jewish museum as well as the restored Central synagogue, a massive, beautiful grand structure destroyed during the war.  Although it once had 3200 seats for worshipers, it now is a shell, a museum, a testament to a world destroyed.  In fact, a painting of Moses Mendelsohn, the father of the Jewish Enlightenment showed him with his granddaughters, all of whom had crosses, for they had converted to Christianity. 

Two individuals from the Foreign Ministry in Germany spoke to us at breakfast about their areas of expertise.  One spoke about Jewish organizations and Jewish life in Germany, while the other who was responsible for Middle East affairs briefed us on Germany's policies towards Israel, Iran and its neighbors. 

Our tour of Berlin included a visit to a neighborhood with innocuous signs that could easily be overlooked.  They told the story in personal terms of the impact of the discriminatory Nuremberg Laws on the Jews who once were the primary residents of the area. 

We went to Wansee, on a beautiful lake outside of Berlin, the site of the infamous conference coordinating the deportation and extermination of European Jewry by the heads of various bureaucratic departments, a chilling reminder of the detached way in which genocide of the Jewish people was planned and executed.   We also stopped in nearby Potsdam, where Natan Scharansky was released, and I told the story of his courageous battle on behalf of Soviet Jewry.  Our last stop was to the train station where German Jews were deported from Berlin and sent at first to ghettoes and then directly to concentration camps.  Our guide, Yael, a young energetic German Jew who is completing a Masters in Jewish studies explained the significance of the markings and the meaning of the numbers we saw on the railroad tracks. 

Throughout our visit we shed tears, hugged and embraced. 

But it is important to know we also laughed, drank vodka, and found moments of joy, hope and inspiration.  We held memorial services at some of the sacred grounds where we stood and read poems by Herman Taube and other readings I prepared and brought with me to capture and express the power of what we were feeling.  We return home with a new appreciation of our obligation to keep alive the memory of what happened, of those who died and of the world the Nazis attempted to obliterate, determined not to give Hitler a posthumous victory. 

Trip Participants:

Annette and Frank Broner

Ron and Lori Bubes

Bruce and Lisa Cort

Norman and Susan Oblon

Cherry Goldblatt

Alison Greenhouse

Irv and Barbara Guterman

Henry Guterman

Robin and Jay Hammer

Jeffrey and Anna Norman

Natalie and Beth Spickler

Rabbi Stuart and Symcha Weinblatt

David Hartman's Most Important Lesson

Tributes are pouring in from many quarters and segments of the Jewish and non-Jewish world about Rabbi David Hartman who passed away earlier this week.  I had the privilege of being selected to participate in the first contingent of an intensive three year program of studies for 30 rabbis from across the US and across the ideological perspective. 

We met in Israel for one month each summer for three years, for a week in February and a three hour weekly study session when we were in our home communities.  The program was typical Hartman in that it reflected some of the best of his thinking.  First of all, it was text based.  We read, studied and grappled with the meaning of traditional sources from the Bible, rabbinic literature and medieval writings.  We also studied the writings of modern Jewish and Zionist thinkers.   The second aspect was that we were exposed, like the collection of rabbis in the group, to a broad potpourri of different ideas and approaches that were placed in conflict with each other.  Finally, it was significant that the seminars emanated from Israel.  It was the encapsulation of the prophetic vision, "For out of Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of The Lord from Jerusalem."

The first time I heard David speak was to a small group at the JCC in Baltimore.  He was simultaneously brilliant, provocative, animated, inspiring, and entertaining.  One particularly memorable lecture in our program was late one afternoon about the philosophy of Moses Maimonides.  After a fascinating exposition on his understanding of the Rambam, as he ruminated about some of the contradictions in his work, David closed his fist and proclaimed with profound joy, "I've got you.  I finally have figured you out!"  It was almost as if we had witnessed that exciting "Aha moment" experienced by a scientist making a great discovery or breakthrough.

When David invited me to be a part of the program, he told me he was looking for rabbis like me who were serious about Judaism and who were grappling with the ideas of our tradition.  I recall that he told me that he had done his best thinking and formulated much of his outlook and perspective about Judaism when he was a congregational rabbi in Canada, and encouraged me to continue to do so while serving my congregation. 

From him and the outstanding collection of teachers in the program I learned much Torah and even more, a way to study Torah.  Among other things I came to understand that Talmudic arguments and disputes between rabbis were not just picayune or trivial, but often reflect profound philosophical differences in approach. 

But the most important thing I learned from Rabbi Hartman was something that has stayed with me and has affected me as a rabbi and in my personal life as well.  It was amazingly simple.  He said that he made Aliyah to Israel for one simple reason:  because he listened to his sermons.  This message has stayed with me ever since and has influenced how I write my sermons and more importantly, how I try to live my life.  

May his memory be for a blessing.

Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt

Chairman, Rabbinic Cabinet

Jewish Federations of North America