From the Rabbi's Desk

I’m on a plane from DC to Atlanta while I’m writing this article. I was in DC for a conference for a relatively new organization called Zionist Rabbinic Coalition. I’ve attended many conferences in DC over the years including AIPAC, and never has one felt so urgent and so difficult. I chose to attend this year because this is a most important and urgent time for the American Jewish Community and for Israel. I was in DC when the UN stood for a moment of silence for the Butcher of Tehran. I was in DC when the ICC prosecutor requested arrest warrants for the Prime Minister of Israel and the Defense Minister. We listened to so many speakers and so many teachers and spent so much time learning and developing. Today we were on Capitol Hill and we met with members of the House of Representatives from both parties. There can be no denying we’re living in extraordinary times and that we must, we must, be filled with resolve to stand by our community and by the State of Israel.

Parshat Behar, read this week, has a very famous and important statement in it, "proclaim liberty throughout the land", which many will recognize as the quote on the Liberty Bell. This quote was chosen because America's foundation is rooted in religion, in this case Judaism and Christianity. It wasn’t an accident that the founders and early Americans would want such a quote. It’s decontextualized, but at its core is a deep belief in the foundational values of America being those of freedom.

Something that seems to have been forgotten since October 7 is that one nation in the Middle East shares such values and is allied with the US through thick and thin. The reality is that the opposite is also true. Though the relationship can be strained from time to time, there’s an ironclad commitment to Israel from the US that’s been in place from Harry Truman through Joe Biden and every president in between. The reason is because there’s a commonality of values shared by the US and by Israel.

Today we met with members of congress: Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Michael Lawler, Max Miller, Brad Sherman, Brad Schneider, Kathy Manning and Steny Hoyer. Each of them was clear and resolute in their commitments to Israel and to fighting anti-Semitism. Most wore yellow ribbons and bracelets for October 7. Representatives Wasserman Schultz and Manning both told us they’d been at the Capitol the night before for a screening of Sheryl Sandberg’s new documentary, Screams Before Silence. I cried through it in my home office and request that we all watch it and bare witness. The documentary can be seen at https://screamsbeforesilence.com.

I’ve made a concerted effort for some months now to write and speak about topics other than Israel and anti-Semitism. I’ve done so because I believe there are numerous issues facing the Jewish world today and that Israel and anti-Semitism are only two of them. The reality is, from time to time we need to be reminded that the time is not tomorrow, but rather the time is now. We need to recommit ourselves now to learning and to speaking out. The essence of Zionism was, and still is, Jewish sovereignty and sovereignty needs to be understood as taking care of ourselves and not relying on others to do so for us. As a worldwide Jewish community, we each need to step forward and recognize our obligation to be informed and outspoken.