By Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg, Beth Tfiloh Congregation
On Monday, I am leaving for Israel and I can’t wait to get there tosee how much has changed since I was last there in January. In recent years, ithas become a pattern for me to visit Israel twice a year; once usually inJanuary – pure vacation — and the other in late May or early June – primarilyfor meetings of Bar Ilan University’s Board of Directors.
But no matter how frequently I go, I am always amazed how much thingschange from my last visit. I can go there in January and order at a falafelstore, and then in June it has turned over into a French restaurant! In Tel Aviv one January, they were ridingskateboards down the promenade. In May, it had turned into electric scooters.In May, I walked into the Makolet, thesmall grocery store on the corner of my hotel, and I came back in January andit’s a 20-story, five-star deluxe condo!
One day, I walk down Allenby Street and there’s a strip joint! Thenext day, it’s a Chabad House! What acountry! Wherever you look, there are big cranes and construction going on,with new views, venues rising overnight!
And yet, amidst all this, one thing never seems to change: Benjamin“Bibi” Netanyahu.
You come to Israel in 2009 – he’s the Prime Minister. You comeagain in 2019 – he’s the Prime Minister. You come when there are battles in thenorth – he’s the Prime Minister. You come when there are battles in the south –he’s the Prime Minister. You come in January of this year – and he’s the PrimeMinister, but he is under investigation and so is his wife. And there is talk –a lot of talk – that it’s time for a change.
That’s what I thought! But now I’m going back … and nothing seemsto have changed! Bibi Netanyahu is on the verge of becoming the longest servingPrime Minister in the history of the state of Israel.
And many American Jews just can’t stand the thought of it! Thereare plenty of Israelis who didn’t want him as Prime Minister again. Theopposition parties got a fair share of the vote. But the next day, the Jews ofIsrael went back to business as usual.
But not American Jews! According to one survey, 70% of AmericanJews disapprove of Netanyahu being Prime Minister.
I can understand where many of them are coming from. Large segmentsof non-Orthodox and secular American Jews resent his having backed out of a Kotel compromise that would have givenwomen a place at that sacred shrine. They disapprove of his playing favorites to the ultra-Orthodox rabbinicestablishment and empowering them at the expense of non-Orthodox rabbis.
They are appalled at Netanyahu’s connection with the extreme rightwhen they feel more connected to the American left. They are uncomfortable howsome of Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians make them look bad to theirliberal friends living on the West Side of New York or in Berkeley, California.
So they don’t like Netanyahu. And I, for these and my own reasons,don’t like him as well.
But this recent reelection of Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Ministerbrought out a side of his American Jewish critics that I have not seen beforeand is extremely dangerous. It is one thing to criticize Israel … it’s quiteanother to undermine Israel.
And that’s what many American Jews are trying to do! AfterNetanyahu’s reelection, Peter Beinart, a popular Jewish liberal critic ofIsrael, wrote an article entitled, “The Lesson of Netanyahu’s Victory: Israel willnot change without pressure,” calling on American Jews to pressure the Americangovernment against Israel. The leadersof the Conservative and Reform movements here in the U.S., along with theAnti-Defamation League, didn’t simply disagree with the Israeli Prime Minister’selectioneering pronouncement that he was in favor in annexing West Bankterritory.
That would have been their right to do. And they have the right totell him so! But they didn’t have the right to write to the President of theU.S. pleading with the President to stop Israel’s Prime Minister. The attitudeof these American Jewish leaders was best encapsulated by the words a rabbi ofa Reform congregation in Washington, D.C., who proclaimed to his congregation lastyear, “It’s time for us to save Israel from itself.”
So,I ask you: what does he know about Israel’s security situation in hissynagogue in Washington that the members of Israel’s Knesset don’t know inJerusalem?
How does he know how Israelis feel – how he would feel – if he wasliving in Petach Tikvah and not Bethesda? Is it not possible that the people ofIsrael see things differently from their perspective; that the people in Israelare not as concerned as American Jews are on how their liberal friends on theWest Side of New York feel about Israel’s decisions? Israel is more concernedabout how the people in Lebanon and Syria and Iraq and Gaza see it. And thatcan make all the difference in the world!
I can prove it to you. What if I told you that in Caesarea, thewealthy seaside town where the Netanyahus have a home, most of the people votedfor the opposition, Gen. Gantz? And in Rosh Ha’ayin, the working-class, smalltown where Gantz lives, most people voted for Netanyahu.
Can you understand that from here? And what if I told you that theIsraeli town that is most vulnerable to attack, the town where childrenconstantly have to run to shelters in their schools because of incoming rocketsfrom Gaza — the town of Sderot — which constantly calls for harsher responsesthan Netanyahu has given to Hamas rockets over the years … what if I were totell you that 85% of the people in that town voted for Netanyahu’s Likud Partyand his more right-wing partners?
American Jews are so knowledgeable that from here they thinkthey can save Israel over there? That attitude flies in the face of thehistory of the state of Israel.
When the state of Israel was reborn in 1948, things were a littlerocky in its relationship with Jews living in the U.S. Of course, American Jews felt good about theidea that refugees from the Holocaust would have a place that would take themin. But a large segment of American Jews didn’t think of themselves as beingrefugees living in Diaspora. They didn’tthink they needed a state of Israel to guarantee their survival. They were happy and successful right here …and they were very concerned when they heard Israeli leaders speaking of thestate of Israel becoming the voice of world Jewry, and wanting to tell AmericanJews how they should conduct themselves.
In 1950, the division between Jews in the Diaspora and Jews inIsrael was considered so critical that it brought together the leader of Israeland the leader of American Jewry to find common ground. The leader of Israelwas its Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion. The leader representing AmericanJewry was the president of the American Jewish Committee, which was then lookedupon as being the most powerful force and spokesman for American Jewry. Itsrepresentative who met with Ben-Gurion was a man by the name of JacobBlaustein.
I would like to believe that Jacob Blaustein is looking down uponus today, as his great-grandson has become a Bar Mitzvah here at BethTfiloh.
I do know that the accord he negotiated with Ben-Gurion impactedJewish history. But I think he would be shocked at what has happened! He and Ben-Gurion agreed that the state ofIsrael, its government and its people, would not tell American Jews how to livetheir lives, would not impose their will on them. For the most part, Israel haslived up to that agreement.
But who would have ever imagined that the reverse would happen …that American Jews would tell Israel how to conduct its affairs … that AmericanJews would turn to the President of the U.S. to pressure Israel to give up itsbargaining chips; American rabbis who every couple of years lead groups toIsrael think that they can save Israel from Israel? I wonder how many of thoserabbis and how many of their congregants even know that when they exit Ben-GurionAirport, the hills they see in the distance are in what is called the WestBank, which they are so anxious to return. And that one terrorist missile fromthose hills could cut off Israel from the rest of the world! That will go a longway in saving Israel from itself!
These rabbis would be wise to follow the advice of a rabbi much smarter than them – my teacher, the late, great Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. After the Six Day War, when Israel captured and returned to the Western Wall and to Chevron and to Judea and Samaria, a group of rabbis asked Rabbi Soloveitchik whether it would be permissible to return these sacred sites to the Arabs if they would be willing to make peace.
Rabbi Soloveitchik responded, “Why do you ask me thesequestions? We have to negotiate withcommon sense, as the security of the Yeshuvrequires. What specifically these security requirements are, I don’t know,I don’t understand these things. These decisions require a military perspectivewhich one must research assiduously. The borders that must be establishedshould be based upon that which will provide more security.”
And then Rabbi Soloveitchik concluded, “It is not a topicappropriate for which rabbis should release statements, or for rabbinicalconferences.”
These words explain why, to some degree, Rabbi Soloveitchik wasconsidered brilliant by all. He understood that Israel’s security decisionsshould be made by people who know what they’re talking about, and not by rabbisin suburban America.
Let me tell you one more thing Rabbi Soloveitchik said aboutIsrael. He took note of the fact that inthis morning’s Torah portion, the Torah speaks of Israel as a land that is“defiled” and a land “resting,” and “observing its sabbatical years.” FromRabbi Soloveitchik’s way of thinking, God is telling the Jewish people thatIsrael takes on a human personality; the Jews rest every seven days, Israelrests every seven years.
Israel may be “defiled,” so, too, a human can be defiled at somepoint and sanctified at another. We Jews have to remember: the state of Israelis not perfect. It’s only human! Some of its decisions are flawed, and othersare sacred. Not every Jew living in Israel is a saint, and not every decisionmade by its government can be sanctified.
And, just as a human is to be judged by looking at all itsqualities, so, too, the state of Israel. Its decisions are made by all of itspeople, and the majority does rule. Some may not like that but we dare not takethat for granted.
In the current issue of ForeignAffairs magazine, there is an article entitled, “A Good Democracy is Hardto Find.” Just ask the people of Turkey, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Venezuela andthe Philippines and so many others! All of whom see their democracies underassault.
And then, there is Israel. Do you know how many parties ran for theKnesset in Israel’s recent election? 40! And yet, with all its diversity,Israel has made the dessert bloom, has given an ancient language new life, hasbecome a giant in technology and a nuclear power … all without the advice ofAmerican rabbis.
No, Israel is not perfect, it’s only human! But it doesn’t need usto help save it from itself.
Israel is doing quite a job all by itself!
Today’s Haftorah findsthe prophet Jeremiah imprisoned with Jerusalem under siege by the Babylonians.Destruction and exile is on the horizon … and yet, God tells Jeremiah topurchase a parcel of property in the land of Israel. He tells Jeremiah to havehope; that even in the darkest of times, “Od yishama b’orei Yehuda uv’chutzotYerushalayim – there will yet be heard in the cities of Juda and outskirtsof Jerusalem,” “kol sasson v’kol simcha kol chatan v’kol kalla –the sound of rejoicing and joy, the sound of bridegroom and bride.”
We are that generation privileged to see this prophecy come true. Soinstead of criticizing, let’s rejoice. Instead of pressuring, let’s begrateful.
I leave for Israel once again, grateful to be part of thatgeneration that can go to Israel … and when I get there, whether it’s Bibi ornot Bibi … that is not the question. In fact, there are no questions!
With Israel, our prayers of 2,000 years have been answered. Thisyear and every year until the end of time in Jerusalem!
The publication of this sermon, delivered by Rabbi Wohlberg on May 25, 2019, was sponsored by a pair of Beth Tfiloh congregants.
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