Rabbi's Message

Shalom from Jerusalem!  I write this after just returning from a concert featuring Tzachi HaLevy, the star of Netflix’s Fauda. I can say that not only is he a good actor, his stories and songs were pretty good too! This concert was part of the Rabbinic Torah Seminar I have been participating in at the Hartman Institute these past 10 days. The topic this year is “The Choosing People,” and together with excellent teachers and more than 150 rabbis from around the world we have been thinking about the choices that modern Jews make about their religious lives. The learning and conversations have been timely and insightful, and I look forward to sharing the Torah I’ve learned here with all of you back at TBS over the coming weeks and months. As exciting as it has been in the Hartman beit midrash, what has been happening outside of the beit midrash has really captured our attention. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis are gathering in cities across Israel each week, and sometimes multiple times a week, to protest the government’s plan for a judicial overhaul. The truth is that the fight over the judicial overhaul legislation really represents a broader tension in Israeli society about how to balance Israel’s Jewish and democratic values.

Rachel and I have participated in two protests in Jerusalem during our time here. The first was after Shabbat at the President’s house. As I wrote on Facebook, it was moving to see all of the Israeli flags and to hear former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and journalist and author Matti Friedman, who has visited TBS, speak about the importance of this moment for Israel. Though the topic was serious, the protest had lighthearted moments, like when the crowd sang Yom Huledet Samaeh to Livni since it was her birthday. Despite moments like these, it was clear that the cause is becoming more urgent, and constituencies of the coalition are becoming more emboldened. This came through in the second protest we attended on Tuesday night that marched to the Knesset. These protests are an incredible eruption of Israeli patriotism. 
On the Israeli news, I heard an interview with one protester that sums up what is at stake. When asked why he was participating in the protests, he said, “My grandparents helped build this country, and now it’s my turn.” In April we celebrated Israel’s 75^th year, and all of the miracles and blessings that this represents. Like this person’s grandparents helped to build the dream of the Israel we have today, his responsibility, and ours, is to do this for Israel’s next 75 years. And since Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people how this question is answered matters to all of us. It matters for the future of Israel, its democracy, and for Judaism itself. As Rachel and I marched, we brought with us the love for Israel that is such an essential part of our TBS and KBA communities. Even after we leave Israel, we will continue, with all of you, to do what we can to help Israel to live up its values. Because only then can we fulfill the words of HaTikvah that adorn many of the flags we saw at the protests: hofshi b’artzeinu – free in our land. So may it be for our beloved country.