A Moment in History

When I was in 10th grade in high school in London, the events of the 6 day war unfolded and as many will recall it was a very scary time for the existence of the State of Israel and for all Jews around the world. Many people really believed that the Jews in Israel would be pushed into the sea (as the Arab propaganda posters were showing at the time). In school we made pro-Israel rallies and listened to the news updates on the first broadcasts of ‘news radio’ which began in London at that time. I also remember the tremendous sense of unity/Achdut which existed in the Jewish community at the time. Even the more right wing religious groups realized that a new ‘holocaust’ might happen and the unity was palpable. Thankfully events turned out to be not so and as things settled down, the old disagreements in the community began to crop up all over again.

In 1973 with the Yom Kippur war it was the same story, and especially during that Sukkot many Jews felt very close to Israel and to each other and blood donations along with many fund raising campaigns took place bringing Jews together from all parts of the Jewish spectrum.

This description repeats itself over and over again in the last 40 years at times of crisis for Israel, and particularly now, the sense of unity in the community is very tangible once again. In Israel my relatives inform me that neighbors from all shades of the Israeli spectrum are discovering and speaking to each other in the shelters, waiting for the sirens to end. Even the Israeli PR is doing so much better this time and with spokesmen like the new Israeli ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer , being such an eloquent and strong advocate for Israel’s right of self-defense, we are all feeling that maybe there are many other people in the world who finally ‘get it’ and not just Jews.

My question on all this is a simple one. Why does it have to take a crisis to bring us together and remind us who we are? Our most unified moments seem to be those born out of crisis, and I wonder why we have lost this sense of togetherness at other times when a ‘clear and present danger’ to the Jewish people is not facing us. Furthermore, why is it always the anti-Semite who reminds us who we are? When the SS came knocking at the door in Europe, he didn’t ask if you were ‘Charedi, Dati ,Chiloni, Chabad, YU , JTS or any of the other categories into which we have compartmentalized ourselves in the past few years, particularly in Israel. The Hamas terrorist is also an equal opportunity hater of Jews and doesn’t send his rockets only against religious or secular Jews-everyone is a target.

One of the really unusual quirks about the law of vows which we recently read in the Torah(Parshat Matot) is that these laws were said by Moshe to the ‘heads of the tribes’. This is a strange format as most commandments are said by ‘G-d to Moshe’. Why is this different? Some Rabbis point out that this is the challenge for our leaders, to create a sense of awareness in the community that personal verbal commitments are to be taken seriously. It is the leader who must take responsibility if the Jew does not honor his/her promise and it is the leader who must generate the sense of responsibility in this area. I would like to argue by extension that it is our leaders who must remind us constantly of our connection to one another as Jews. Our commitment to each other must be constantly mentioned and where argument and dissension takes place it is the leader who should be calming the scene and not adding ‘fuel to the fire’. How many times do we read of religious leaders who are trying to score points against other sectors of the Jewish community. Instead of explaining that we may disagree on fundamentals, out of a sense of tolerance and respect, the more common expression is one of…”I’m right, you are wrong and that is the final word on the matter”. In the Knesset the level of vitriol of Jew against Jew, especially within the religious community, is very frightening. The sense of talking about the government of Israel as if they are enemies of the Jewish religion (in the recent debate and law changes over Yeshiva students and army exemptions) is totally unacceptable. The Israeli government supports Yeshiva students for almost no expectation in return, and the concept of taking and not giving is really anathema to traditional Jewish thought and practice. It is our leaders who set the tone and we must demand more from them as we do from our political leaders in Washington or other leaders in many spheres of our everyday lives.

During these coming few weeks when we face the common danger in Israel, and we are praying for our soldiers and the success of their endeavors, let us think about why we seem to wait for the enemy to remind us who we are. “A Jew is a Jew ‘and although we may disagree on a host of things, let us remember our sense of unity and preserve it in the more quiet moments. Let us be ahead of the anti-Semite and let our leaders remind us of who we are and what unites us as a nation. The alternative is too disturbing to contemplate .

Rabbi Ian Shaffer  Fair Lawn NJ/Camp Emanuel  in the Berkshires-July 2014