The eternal connection between the people and the land of Israel ... but what does that mean for us as (American) Jews?

Rosh HaShanah Evening 5775 (Sept. 24, 2014)

Ein li eretz acheret ~ I have no other land (Lyrics: Ehud Manor; Music by Corinne El-Al)

I have no other country

even if my land is aflame

Just a word in Hebrew

pierces my veins and my soul -

With a painful body, with a hungry heart...

Here is my home.

I will not be silent though my land has changed her face.

I will not give up on her; I will remind her and

I will sing in her ears until she will open her eyes.

I have no other country

Until she will renew her days

Until she opens her eyes.

To be a Jew is to associate with the land and people of Israel. Our people’s story takes that as a given and an absolute. The two are inseparable – us as a people and as a land – because that is so clearly how we got started. We were a people in a land, formed by shared values, stories, histories, intentions, goals. Land and people go together in the Bible. Land and people go together in most ancient societies. And I dare say: MOST that exist to this day. As humans, we are tied to the land from which we come. We are bound to land. But what happens when for some of us … the land is not so central to our identity … and when the sovereign nation, in which many of us do not reside, exhibits behavior that causes us to question our identity or loyalty to that land?

Israel has been Jewish for 3000 years. Not uniquely but definitely. But to zoom to the modern era, in 1948, just 66 years ago, Israel became a sovereign nation. After a process of roughly 50 years, a state in formation was formed under the approval of the nations of the world through the transfer of possession from the former British Mandate, through the United Nations, to a Jewish Palestine to be called ‘Israel’. And her neighbor on nearly all sides was to be an Arab Palestine, a Palestinian state rejected by the Arab world in defiance of the UN vote and sadly to this day, yet to take its final shape and form.

Tragically, 66 years of fighting has ensued. Sometimes louder than others. Israel has flourished mightily. But never with complete peace. Never with full acceptance. Never without tragedy. On both sides of the seemingly endless divide. For Palestinians and Israelis.

When the war with Gaza broke out this past summer, I felt numb. I moved about my days – even vacationing – and the news kept coming in about the troop deployments, the reservists activated, the air raid sirens, the constancy of attacks, the discovery of tunnels, the success of the Iron Dome missiles, the loss of life in Gaza, the Israeli Defense Forces going door to door, dropping leaflets, accusations of war crimes, use of terms like ‘genocide’ by ignorant, hateful, anti-semitic groups, world leaders and of course news outlets. Israelis began to feel isolated. Palestinians lay literally dying in the streets. Amidst rubble, Palestinians were having to figure out where to find shelter and within bomb shelters Israelis had to hide for days on end or find refuge somewhere in the northern most reaches of the country.

2,000 Palestinians died this summer. Roughly half were fighters on behalf of Hamas – the other half innocents caught in a tragic crossfire between those who want to annihilate Israel and those who want to defend Israel.

4,000 missiles were launched from Gaza. Each one with a death sentence. Each one shot with its sole goal: to terrorize and eliminate the souls dwelling in Israel – regardless of religious or ethnic background.    

Hamas wants the elimination of Israel. Israel wants the elimination of Hamas.

The difference: For Hamas, it is a battle against Jews and Zionists occupying any space within that region. For Israel, it is a battle to respect sovereign borders and maintain security for its citizens.  

Ideology aside: The conflict itself is brutal. There is loss of life, loss of safety and loss of security, which all disrupt the future outlook for peace. On. Both. Sides.

However, when the brutality of the conflict is misrepresented, misunderstood, or taken out of context, Israel becomes the demon and the Palestinians the helpless. Israel becomes the aggressor and the Palestinians the freedom fighters. The left oppose Israel. The right oppose the Palestinians – to such an extreme that no one wins – anywhere – neither in Israel, in Gaza or across the globe. Sadly, supporters of Israel abroad – particularly on college campuses in the US – have been verbally and physically assaulted resulting in chilling displays of anti-Semitism and language not only reminiscent of the 1930s in Germany but taken directly from the 1930s in Germany. From boycotts to actions for divestment and sanctions, Israel’s legitimacy is called into question and the morality of war becomes justifiable when missiles are fired from Gaza but not from Israeli tanks.

We can all rally around peace. But how do we understand war? If women and children are dying as a result of the war – even if Israel did not cause the death DIRECTLY – is Israel not complicit to some level and should we not question the war?

Listen to the words of Amos Oz, a contemporary leading Israeli novelist and champion of the left, who came out during the middle of the Operation in an interview and said: If a sniper takes his child and holds him on his balcony while taking shots at the preschool across the street, what are you supposed to do? Let him? Sit with that moral dilemma that Israel has found itself repeatedly this summer and for many years prior. A sniper with a child on his lap is firing at your child’s preschool. What do you do?

This from an artist, a champion of the left.

We have long heard the expression: If the Palestinians lay down their arms, there would be peace tomorrow. If Israel lay down her arms, there would be no Israel tomorrow. When a crisis like this summer erupts, we drag out that statement. A bold statement, the truth of which has never been tested. But did Israel go into Gaza this summer solely as a result of Hamas’ murder of three Israeli teens and the initial missiles coming in from Gaza? No. Israel went in to Gaza to “clean house.” The murder of three Israeli teens was the trigger and the discovery of the tunnels the justification to fight so hard. But can we try to understand the Palestinians using missiles against Israel? Yes. Because as it turns out, the very land of which we say we have no other … they consider theirs as well. And their narrative is important to listen to and try to work with to understand from where they are fighting. We need not agree. And given Hamas’ charter, we cannot agree. But we have to listen. The Palestinians have no other means to threaten Israel other than violence. Their circumstances cause desperate acts and so Palestinians in Gaza support leadership who lash out against their enemy which makes them feel like they have some control over their lives. We need not agree. And given Hamas’ charter, we cannot agree. But we have to listen. As for Israel’s actions to self-defense? Entirely justifiable. Where children are involved, it is difficult – but as with the sniper holding his child on the balcony in Amos Oz’ example, we admit that war forces us into morally deep and difficult waters.

Our discussion and our humanity demands of us to explore why the Palestinians do not lay down their arms. Conditions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are not ideal for Palestinians. The Israeli blockade of Gaza is necessary on the Israeli side to keep armaments out of Gaza. But it concurrently prevents Gaza from developing its economic strength with easy access to open markets. How true it is that it really is the economy, stupid, that could solve part of the woes of the Palestinians. Where the Palestinians in the West Bank have wealth – to whatever measure – there is far less likelihood toward instability. In fact, this summer’s attacks were with Gaza: not the West Bank, which tells part of the story. And where Israel has worked to help Palestinians gain a foothold economically, there have only been better relations. Look in any major city in our country and the same story is told. Crime and violence are far more present in or from lower income neighborhoods than from those places where people are working, taking home a pay check, creating a society with homes of which they can be proud.

Gaza needs to be built and rebuilt beyond what it is. It is not without infrastructure. It has far more than we realize and it is not the barren wasteland many perceive it to be. And it is not the densest populated spot on earth as is often stated. Have a look at Nairobi, Manhattan, or Hong Kong. The Gaza Strip is thirty miles of Mediterranean coastland with cities and former kibbutzim. Israel maintains border-crossings, constantly allowing, under Israeli supervision on the Israel border and Egyptian supervision on their border, the flow of goods and products. Even during this most recent operation, as well as previous ones, Israel provided humanitarian resources, fuel, electricity to the residents of Gaza. Electricity, by the way, that provided lighting for the terror tunnels, which Hamas planned to use for tonight to unleash horrors on Israel for a New Year. Imagine if the 800,000 tons of concrete Hamas used to build the tunnels was used for schools, roads, social service institutions and commerce. It took 110,000 tons of concrete for Dubai to build the world’s tallest tower. It seems Hamas would rather use its efforts and resources elsewhere – namely attack Israel rather than create seven of what Dubai made.

Israel has its own internal issues to address. What has come out of this conflict is the clear racism by parts of the Israeli population, particularly the religious settlers, against Arabs. Israel suffers with poverty, environmental abuses, discrimination on many fronts – including of women, Bedouin, and the poor. But in a democracy, these issues are being worked on and addressed with legal recourse. In Gaza, the people live under fascist control. Their government is an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization that is nearly the antithesis of the western style of living and government which we know in the United States and found in Israel.

As American Jews, we have much to consider as well. As significant as the moral questions about warfare are … the questions within the American Jewish community and our connection to Israel are massively deep and difficult as well. How do we process our relationship with Israel … let alone create our own connections and understanding of the situation in Israel? How and what do we teach our children? Where do we leave room for debate and discussion and what points are absolutes? Support of Israel is not a given in the American Jewish community and I know all too well some among us who feel no need to even try to understand the complexity of the situation. To speak in broad strokes, the older generation asks: Why does the world not support Israel and when will the world stop hating Jews? The younger generation asks: Why are Israelis killing Palestinians and can we blame the Palestinians for using the only means they have at their disposal which is to murder in order to be heard (or understood)?

The whole situation makes my head spin and while I used to be far more optimistic in the past than I am today, I realize why the Israeli left has gravitated to the center. Because we have no other land AND because despite constant efforts for peace, war seems to be the only constant. Our younger generation has only known a world with Israel and the Israel they have known is strong militarily and economically – fighting a people that is neither.

And we are shaped by what we learn and hear. I was listening to the BBC one day in July or August. The anchor was very sympathetic in voice, tone, and questioning to the Palestinian being interviewed from Gaza and his perspective. When the anchor went to interview a Knesset member from one of Israel’s left-wing parties, the anchor’s voice, tone and questioning became entirely belligerent and combative. As if she was no longer a BBC reporter interviewing a member of a foreign government but a defender of the Hamas. And it was at that moment, for me, during this Operation, that I realized: Yes, the situation is horrible. It is at times morally awful. But the world simply sees Israel as the aggressor and 4,000 missiles launched at Jews is justifiable. And this week, when NPR interviewed a Palestinian mother in Gaza who bemoaned her fourth grader who is now wetting her bed and sucking her thumb after the summer’s events – her fourth grader who attends a school with incredible therapy sessions and camps paid for by the United Nations to help the school children cope with the recent war (therapeutic efforts which I applaud entirely) … NPR did not bother finding school children in Sderot, Ashkelon, or Tel Aviv who have PTSD and have for years based on the missiles from Gaza, the bus bombings, and recurring terror attacks.  

We don’t know the whole story. The world is not taught the whole story. Both sides are suffering. Both sides need to be heard. Peace will only come if we all engage safely with one another. Not with bombs. Not with assumptions. Not with mistrust. Not with hatred.

As Jews, we are tied to this land. Since the days of the Bible to the modern era, our history, our writings, our prayers, our theology are tied to eretz yisrael. We have no other land.

From the shores of America, we can support our brothers and sisters in Israel through organizations like ARZA and AIPAC – or other groups with which we identify. We can travel to Israel. We can send our children to Israel. We can support our local Winston-Salem United Jewish Appeal or Hadassah chapter that both help mightily in Israel. Whatever we do – it is for us to engage and help define and participate in how Israel defines herself. Since we, as a people, are tied to that land. Israel has always been fighting for its soul and its body. From the outside, there are those who want to destroy the very breath of Israel and remove its existence from the world map. From the inside, Israel remains the incredible success and shining star that it is: A vibrant, alive (albeit frustrating at times) democracy – the only successful one in the entire region; an open and competitive marketplace with technological innovations that literally improve the nature of the world: from solar technology to surgical devices. Israel is open to gays and lesbians unlike nearly any other country in the world and remains a leader in the world in arts, culture, sustainability design, cuisine, and even coming to the aid of other countries suffering from disaster. But Israel needs our presence to work through its struggles and imperfections as well – either on the ground there or from our ground here.

The situation in the Middle East is changing daily and the activities of Hamas are indicative of what is happening elsewhere (see: Hizbollah in southern Lebanon, ISIS in Iraq, and al-Quieda affiliates in Syria and Afghanistan) and a reminder that this battle will not end any time soon. Tonight, we pray, will remain quiet. But we, as a Jewish people, must remain on alert and in support whether or not we are in agreement with all we see in Israel. To support and to agree are two separate words, ideas, concepts. Where we disagree, we are allowed to question and work for change. To love Zion does not mean always to love what happens in Zion. Tziyyon derives from the root in Hebrew Tziyyein – to mark or indicate. Tziyyon is the spot on the map indicated and marked for our Holy Temple as the heart of our people’s land, from which we derive. We live across the globe as Jews but we remain a part of Am Yisrael – ever attached to and praying for the peace of Eretz Yisrael – for all who dwell within her borders. And all who dwell around her borders.

For we have no other land. Even when she is burning - It is our home. Not exclusively, but most definitely. And it is ours to protect, to enjoy, to develop and to grow. And from our homes here in these United States, aleinu litmoch v’lismoch – to support and to trust u’l’hitaseik – and it is imperative that we occupy ourselves with understanding and teaching our friends and neighbors, our parents, our children why this land matters to us and to the world, how it is a part of our past and future, and that we will never give up on her. It is our duty as Jews to determine how to support our home, even when it challenges us … for if we fail to engage, we know that no one else will, and the State of Israel could fall as a result … We must never be silent to the necessity and the legitimacy of Israel. For that silence can be misconstrued as a lack of caring or commitment and for Judaism (and thus for me), that just is not the case. For our people has had no other land. Ever.