[Special note… the Canadian WZC Election is coming up soon. The following refers to the U.S.] Let me begin this week’s message with a thank you to all who voted, got others to vote, and helped organize, mobilize, and work on our campaign for the World Zionist Congress elections. Our “Vote Reform” campaign has been a significant success for our movement in the U.S. We engaged more people than ever before, with nearly every synagogue and congregation in the U.S. taking some part in it, and it was truly a Movement-wide effort. We also succeeded in furthering our values of pluralism, equality, justice, and democracy. At a time when Zionism as a concept is more controversial for some in our communities than ever before, we successfully engaged more American Jews in liberal Zionism than we have in decades. While we will likely not hear results for a few weeks (paper ballots are still trickling in and being counted, and there is an ongoing investigation into voting irregularities and fraud), we feel confident in our efforts and the statement we made about the importance of Israel and Reform/liberal Zionism to American Jews. I am grateful to our staff, lay leaders, and teams of people who understood the significance of this moment, the challenges we face, and the need to have our voices heard. Todah. Even though the elections are over in the U.S., they are happening now around the world. Pre-registration or voting is happening NOW in the following countries with ARZA/ARZENU constituencies, with more to come: United Kingdom, Argentina, Hungary, New Zealand, Canada, France, and Italy! Make sure you see where you have contacts and connections to reach out and encourage everyone to register and vote! It is sad to say that with the end of the elections came a renewed war effort. The cabinet approved the final plans for the operation, dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots,” on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then, orders were given to the senior Southern Command officers who will be leading ground operations. General Staff officials at the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv joined the meeting remotely. The briefing began with a presentation of the operation’s goals, which were listed in the following order: David French, in his important NYT essay, succinctly laid out Israel’s predicament: “Instead of striking and leaving, the Israeli security cabinet has approved a plan to enter Gaza and stay — at least temporarily — to end Hamas’s control. According to public accounts of the plan, it includes moving civilians from zones of conflict, taking control of aid distribution, and staying in areas cleared of Hamas to maintain security and control so that Hamas doesn’t simply return and reassert its authority.” However, French further cautioned about the consequences of the opposite end of the pendulum swing: “So long as any occupation is temporary, with a return to civilian Palestinian control as soon as conditions permit, then a path to ending the war (or, at the very least, ending major combat operations) and destroying Hamas might finally exist. If, however, the occupation is intended to be permanent — including a permanent displacement of all or part of Gaza’s civilian population — then the plan would represent a crime against humanity.” Pardon the skepticism, but we should be wary of a permanent occupation for two reasons:
  1. The temporary occupation of the West Bank/Judea and Samaria, which resulted from the euphoria of the post-1967 Six-Day War, has proven to be anything but temporary and has been solidified for 58 years.
  2. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called on Israel point-blank to embrace “occupation.” At a conference of the right-wing news outlet B’Sheva, Smotrich spoke to Channel 12’s Amit Segal, saying: “We are finally going to occupy the Gaza Strip. We will stop being afraid of the word ‘occupation.’” One could rationalize that by saying that the word “conquer” and the word “occupation” are the same in Hebrew (לכבוש/כיבוש). However, in case you weren’t convinced, Smotrich went on to state unequivocally that once the new offensive in Gaza begins, there will be “no retreat from the territories we have conquered, not even in exchange for hostages.”
So, no, thank you. This plays into the deepest fears of the majority of Israeli society. What began as a legitimate and just war after October 7, with full public support and considerable international legitimacy, has turned into a politically/ideologically motivated territorially expansionist operation bordering on an unjust war, as many are skeptical that this is a war not only to ensure that Gaza will be rid of Hamas for good, but to advance a territorial agenda and to resettle Gaza with Jews and uprooting Palestinians from Gaza. Add to that the quickly deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza after weeks of withholding humanitarian aid, which is a war crime and prohibited by Jewish law, for which, like it or not, Israel is not culpable but is responsible. What should we do about it? Be Holy! We, as liberal Jews both in Israel and around the world, should take our lesson from this week’s Torah portion: דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־כׇּל־עֲדַ֧ת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל וְאָמַרְתָּ֥ אֲלֵהֶ֖ם קְדֹשִׁ֣ים תִּהְי֑וּ כִּ֣י קָד֔וֹשׁ אֲנִ֖י יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃ (ויקרא יט:ב) “Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them: You shall be holy, for I, your God יהוה, am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2) We should acknowledge that we do have a double standard. What is hateful to us, what our enemies would do to us – we should not do to others. Being Holy means separating ourselves from the Other, to be different, and answerable to a higher power. It does not necessarily mean turning the other cheek, being a pacifist, or being a martyr. It means having a higher moral standard. To provide aid to those who may wish for our destruction is not logical, but it is just, and it is holy. Those like Minister Smotrich who advocate for a complete takeover of Gaza mistakenly see the Land, and its conquering, as holy. Just like the Crusades of the Middle Ages were wrong, and Muhammad’s conquering of vast swaths of territory in the name of Allah and the Koran were wrong, so too does this moment require a reckoning for Zionism. Zionism is not about expanding our territory or conquering other people’s. We are not Crusaders, colonialists, or Jihadis. We are Jews, and we have an obligation to bring our people home. As the great author and commentator Amos Oz (1939-2018) stated: “I am a Zionist in all that concerns the redemption of the Jews, but not when it comes to the ‘redemption of the Holy Land’.  We have come here to live as a free nation, not ‘to liberate the land that groans under the desecration of a foreign yoke’, Samaria, Gilead, Aram, and Haran up to the great Euphrates River.  The word ‘liberation’ applies to people, not to dust and stone. I was not born to blow rams’ horns or ‘purge a heritage that has been defiled by strangers’.” (Amos Oz, Under This Blazing Light, p. 82-83, 1979) Oz wrote this prophetic piece nearly a half-century ago. Today, the words of journalist and influencer Sarah Tuttle-Singer resonate deeply: “So no, Minister Smotrich — you do not speak for me. I will stand against Hamas and anyone who wants to harm us. I’ll fight them myself. But I will also stand against the kind of rhetoric that desecrates our past and endangers our future. Because if we become the kind of people who break others in order to feel whole again, then we’ve already lost more than we can afford. And I won’t let that happen. Not in my name. Not in the name of my ancestors. Not in the name of my children. And not in the name of Judaism or Zionism, either.” While there’s no question that Hamas cannot continue, the simple fact that the priorities have so drastically changed and have been upended should send deep concern to all who support Israel. We cannot stay silent. We should stand up and proclaim loudly and clearly: Minister Smotrich, you do not speak for us, just as you do not speak for more than 70% of the Israeli public. We should stand up and say to the Prime Minister and the current government: This is not the way. This is not the Jewish way. This is not the Zionist way. Justice demands that the return of the hostages be top priority. Your current war of expansion and occupation is neither just nor justifiable. The majority of the Jewish people, in Israel and around the world, do not support this. We call on you to do what is right and just! Shabbat Shalom.   [1] Note that the Hebrew term used here was “בני ערובה” (literally hostages), which could connotate some sense of strategic leverage and not the term חטופים, which means “those who were kidnapped.”