From the Rabbi's Desk

This past Tuesday, we began the period of time known as the “Three Weeks”. Each summer, the Jewish people observe a three-week period of semi-mourning through which we mourn something that, for our ancestors, once existed, and for us was never a reality. To mourn the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem is to be a Jew and is to be a part of our community that recognizes communal grief matters. In 70 CE, we lost our national identity and our self-determination. When the Second Temple was destroyed, we lost much more than our central religious locale. We lost our heartbeat and our home. There’s no arguing about how the Temple was destroyed as it’s well documented in the historical records. It’s documented in the תנ''ך/TaNaKh/Jewish Bible, in the historical works of Flavius Josephus and in the Roman records as well. The Arch of Titus that was built in the year 81 CE honors the Roman conquest of our Jewish Kingdom and the destruction of our holy sites. It goes so far as to depict the disposition of the spoils, our holy objects. There should be no argument about the facts: the Jews had a semi-autonomous land in the land of Israel, the Jews worshipped in a central place called The Temple, and the Romans destroyed all of this and dispersed the Jews throughout the empire and the world. Nevertheless, there are those who negate this history and we must set the historical record straight whenever possible. One of the most quintessentially Jewish concepts about the destruction however is that we, the Jewish People, had culpability in the disaster.

Throughout rabbinic literature, we find time and again that the rabbis turned the magnifying glass inwardly rather than looking outwardly. This might seem strange but the reality is we cannot grow and improve if we don’t seize the opportunities to do so. We often point our fingers at others for our pain and suffering. We often point to the wrongs of others rather than looking for what we could have done better and, in fact, can do better now and in the future. The rabbis in the תלמוד/Talmud explain that the Second Temple was destroyed because of something called “שנאת חנם/Sinat Chinam/Baseless Hatred” (Yoma 9b). The rabbis explained that the First Temple had idolatry, lude sexual relationships and murder and thus שנאת חנם is equal to all those sins. Rather than pointing to the fact that the Second (and First) Temples were destroyed by the evil and vileness of the Romans, they look to us to self-improve and find our piece in the trouble. This is very important and something we must do in every generation.

This year, the Three Weeks feel a bit more necessary than in the past. This year we are more intimately aware of, and familiar with, pain and tragedy. After October 7^th many people made comments that we, the Jewish people in general and the Israeli people specifically, were far too divided and thus we were susceptible to such a disaster. There’s something to this line of reasoning that needs to be acknowledged and addressed. The problem was some took this line way too far and asserted that God allowed or caused this to happen as a punishment for this behavior. The problem is also that only one side of the divided people seems to believe this was a problem and that it was caused by the other side. If we really look in the mirror and examine our behavior, we’ll see each of us has a level of culpability in the divided nature of the Jewish people and community.

We were divided into groups since our early days. In the Temple days we had Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. Those groups would morph into the rabbinic Jews and non-rabbinic ones. Over time, we would divide ourselves into Sephardic and Ashkenazic and into Hasidic and non-Hasidic Jews. We would divide ourselves into Reform, Conservative and Orthodox. We have divided into secular and religious and into so many other groups. We need to find our sense of unity. We need unity of faith and unity of purpose. One example of this today is the strange phenomenon of anti-Zionist Jews. These are not to be confused with those who have beef with the government of Israel or disagree with certain decisions. The group being addressed here is the group that feels the Jewish people are not entitled to self-determination in their ancestral homeland, Israel. This week in Washington DC a group who calls themselves “Jewish Voice for Peace” violently occupied parts of the Capitol Complex and protested against Israel along with fellow supporters of Hamas. Nobody can argue these people are, in fact, Jews, but they’re not part of the Jewish community when they behave in such a way. They’re not a part of the Jewish people who value Jewish unity and Jewish self-determination. They’re not part of our community when they value the lives of the terrorists over those of our people.

There are 100% legitimate Jewish groups that advocate and work for a two-state solution to the conflict. There are 100% legitimate critiques of the Israeli government and their policies and their handling of this war. All of these things are true. What’s not true is that it’s possible to be a part of the Jewish community if you reject the central tenant of Jewish self-determination in our ancestral homeland… if you identify as an anti-Zionist. When you use a name like “Jewish Voice for Peace” you are being deceptive and misleading. Peace is something the vast majority of Jews around the world crave. Using the word “Jewish” carries great weight and we as a community must call out those who claim to speak in our name when they simply do not.

Our strength is in our unity. Our strength is in our determination and not in our military capabilities. Our strength comes from our convictions that we’re entitled to the same rights as all other nations in the world. We’re entitled to our piece of the pie as much as the next people are. Few of us would argue the Palestinians are not likewise entitled to self-determination and a future. Few of us would argue against a fair and just resolution to the conflict. We are a Jewish community that must look to strengthen our unity rather than do anything to drive a wedge in this unity in the future.