On May 1, 1921, exactly 100 years ago this week, massive Arab rioting broke out in Jaffa against the Jews of Palestine. Many were murdered including Yosef Chaim Brenner, a pioneer of Hebrew literature known as a moral conscience of the Yishuv. New immigrants, who had recently disembarked from a ship in the harbor, were killed by Arab rioters who raged unhindered under the eyes of the British mandatory authority. From Jaffa, Arab unrest spread throughout the region including the small agricultural settlement of Petach Tikvah that was first established by a group of religious Jewish families from Jerusalem in 1878.

Word came to the leadership of Petach Tikvah that it was about to be attacked, and Abraham Shapira (1870-1965), the head of the town’s Jewish guards (shomrim), organized the settlement’s defense. He tried to keep the peace first by meeting with Arab leadership in the region with whom he had shared friendship and who respected him as a man of honor and dignity, but these Arab leaders stood aside and allowed the storm to rage.

First, K’far Saba and Ein Hai, two small villages fell. Their Jewish residents were evacuated to the larger town of Petach Tikvah.

Then, on May 5 thousands of rioters marched towards Petach Tikvah, attacked from the north, and set fire to the Moshav. The front, approximately two kilometers long, was guarded by a handful of Jewish defenders. The campaign intensified, a number of young Jews were killed, and replaced by their elders who with sticks and pitchforks fought ferociously. In the end, miraculously, Petach Tikvah’s Jews were victorious in the defense of the settlement.

Word circulated throughout the Land of Israel that the courageous few defending Petach Tikvah had held the rioters at bay, and news of their heroism spread throughout the greater Jewish world.

When British soldiers met with Shapira after the battle, they expressed their amazement that he, as the commander of the shomrim, had never been formally trained in tactical warfare. That aside, the British arrested him, allegedly due to his carrying a weapon, but in fact as leverage to justify their imprisonment of the head of the rioters against Petach Tikvah, the Sheikh of the Bedouin village of Abu Kishk, two kilometers from Petach Tikvah. It was not, according to the British, possible to imprison an Arab without also imprisoning a Jew, and so that fate fell upon Shapira. After interrogation, he was released. However, Shapira then led a second front in the battle against the release of the Sheikh until he paid a penalty for the damage he inflicted on the Moshavah. He was sentenced to more than fifteen years in prison. He was released on condition that he forge a peace treaty with Petach Tikvah.

Despite the heavy causalities and deep resentments, over time Shapira and the Sheikh stabilized their relationship and the relationship between the Arabs of Abu Kishk and the Jews of Petach Tikvah for years to come. Theirs was a relationship based upon strength and respect on the one hand and cooperation and mutuality of interest on the other. They knew one another well personally, and those relationships were critical to the maintenance of a stable peace. Shapira was so well respected that Arabs and Bedouin came to him to settle disputes between themselves.

Shapira is known in Israeli history as “The shomer of Petach Tikvah.” He came to be respected throughout the Land of Israel by Jew and Arab alike. As the foremost guard of the Yishuv, he guided Lord Edmond Baron de Rothschild (the great benefactor of the early Jewish settlements in the country), Chaim Weizmann (the first president of the State of Israel), and many dignitaries from around the world whenever they visited Palestine. Chaim Weizmann wrote of Abraham Shapira in his autobiography Trial and Error (New York: Schocken, 1949, pages 252-253):

“Abraham Shapira was in himself a symbol of the whole process of Jewish readaptation. He accompanied me on most of my trips up and down Palestine, partly as guide, partly as guard, and all the while I listened to his epic stories of the old-time colonists. He was a primitive person, spoke better Arabic than Hebrew, and seemed so much a part of the rocks and stony hillsides of the country that it was difficult to believe that he had been born in Lithuania. Here was a man who in his own lifetime had bridged a gap of thousands of years; who, once in Palestine, had shed his Galuth environment like an old coat.”

Abraham Shapira was my great-grand-uncle. My maternal grandmother was his niece. He and his family left Lithuania in 1878 for Palestine, lived in Jerusalem for two years and then joined the few families in Petach Tikvah. My branch of the family left for North America twenty years later, entered the new world through Nova Scotia, journeyed to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and then, in 1932, moved to Los Angeles.

My maternal aunt and uncle visited Israel in 1953, and for the first time in 75 years the two branches of our family reunited. Uncle Avram (as we all called him because that was how my grandmother called him) visited our family in Los Angeles in 1956 when I was six years old. My mother told me on our way to the gathering to welcome him: “Uncle Avram is a very great Israeli.”

Though I was only six years old, I remember Uncle Avram clearly. He was a large man who sat quietly in my aunt’s family room and spoke Yiddish and Russian to my grandmother who translated for the rest of us. I sensed his dignity and simple nobility, and then when I lived in Israel from 1973 to 1974 as a young rabbinic student, I visited his niece and nephew in Petach Tikvah over numerous weekends. They told me many stories about him.

When my aunt died in the mid-1990s, she left me a two-volume Hebrew biography of Uncle Avram written by Yehuda Eidelshtein in 1939 as well as a smaller Hebrew volume written by Gezel Kressel in 1955. These volumes sat on my bookshelf for all these years and at last, after I retired as a congregational rabbi in 2019, I read them. I was stunned by the dramatic significance of his life as the founding shomer of one of the first settlements established by early Zionists at the end of the 19^th century. I realized that though many Israelis over a certain age know about him, non-Hebrew speaking Jews in the Diaspora likely have never heard of Abraham Shapira. It was then, for the sake of my family most of all, that I decided to translate the smaller volume.

As I read the story of the Arab attack on Petach Tikvah on May 5, 1921, I realized that we are fast approaching the 100^th anniversary of that fateful battle – hence, this blog.

Many Petach Tikvah Jews were lost on that day, among them Avshalom Gisin, Chaim Tzvi Greenshtein, Natan Rapaport, and Ze’ev Orlov. They were young, and they gave their lives for the safety and well-being of others. For many decades Abraham Shapira and the people of Petach Tikvah mourned them on the 27^th of Nisan – Zichronam livracha.

Israeli, Palestinian and U.S. figures virtually addressed about 5,000 activists, signaling a new willingness from mainstream figures to apply pressure to influence Israeli policy

WASHINGTON – J Street concluded their 12th annual conference on Monday, virtually hosting nearly 5,000 activists who listened to lawmakers, experts and activists discuss the current respective political moments in Israel and the United States, as well as the current state of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Note: For those of my readers who do not follow closely the ins and outs of politics in DC vis a vis Israel, this piece in Haaretz by Ben Samuels (April 20, 2021) offers a fine review of what happened at the just-completed J Street National Conference.

In addition to what is noted here, the Jerusalem Youth Choir including Israeli Jewish and Palestinian singers were highlighted. Their music, spirit, and efforts to join together above the fray of politics was inspirational, and their music was uplifting and beautiful. Also, there was presented a fine medley of work by Israel Jewish and Palestinian artists. One artist said that the way for Israeli Jews and Palestinians to understand each other is through the arts.

As I have noted many times over the years, to understand what is happening in Israel and Palestine, a subscription to Haaretz is most helpful. It is the NY Times of Israel. Why not take this opportunity to take out a subscription? I get no kick-back except the knowledge that more people are reading what’s important in Israel.

https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-j-street-conference-marks-a-new-day-in-washington-for-u-s-israel-relations-1.9730515?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=daily-brief&utm_content=0d3e7a03b2

Israel News | Israel Election 2021

[Note: The Reform movement in Israel, the United States, and around the world is thrilled that our Israeli leader, Rabbi Gilad Kariv, is now a Member of the Israeli Knesset from the Labor Party. Gilad represents and advocates – as this article by Judy Maltz in Haaretz indicates – the best values and policies of progressive Reform Judaism that advances the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. I wish Gilad and Labor success that will mean growth and prosperity for Israel and Israelis as a whole and will stand as a source of continuing pride of the vast majority of the American Jewish community that loves Israel.]

In an interview with Haaretz, Kariv, past leader of the Israeli Reform movement, talks about relations with ultra-Orthodox lawmakers, what he aims to achieve as a lawmaker, and Israel’s relations with the U.S.

Judy Maltz

Apr. 11, 2021 10:13 PM

Israel Eichler, a veteran parliamentarian for the Haredi party United Torah Judaism, wasn’t going to waste any time. He chose the day the Knesset was sworn in last week to issue a frantic warning about the dangers posed by one of the legislature’s newest members.

When asked in an interview with a Haredi news site if he would greet Gilad Kariv, the first Reform rabbi ever to serve in the Knesset, when they crossed paths in the building, Eichler responded: “God forbid. You don’t greet wicked people.”

Reform Jews, Eichler went on to explain, “falsify Judaism like Christians.” In fact, he said, they are even worse than Christians “because they lie and don’t observe any of the mitzvahs.”

With these remarks, Kariv received a taste of what he can expect in his new career as a lawmaker. But they came as no surprise. After all, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox allies have already let it be known they would prefer a coalition with an Islamist party – if that’s what it takes to keep the religious right in power – to a government that includes a proud representative of the Reform movement.

The campaign to delegitimize Kariv did not begin with his recent election to the Knesset. The new Labor Party lawmaker spent the past 12 years serving as executive director of the Reform movement in Israel. Whenever he showed up to a Knesset committee session – and that happened quite regularly – the Haredi lawmakers in attendance would, as a matter of practice, walk out in protest.

In an interview last week in his new Knesset office, Kariv said he would not stoop to their level. “Orthodoxy is definitely not my Jewish choice, but I don’t delegitimize it,” he told Haaretz. “Boycotting someone because of their religious practices and beliefs is just not something I do. In fact, I hope that through our joint work in the Knesset, through the public debates and the small talk in the corridors, perhaps these Haredi lawmakers will come to realize that we have many things in common.”

Whatever could you have in common with ultra-Orthodox lawmakers?

“Well, I hope that they’re as disturbed by the poverty rate in Israel as I am, for example, and I hope that they are as troubled by the living conditions of thousands of Holocaust survivors in this country as I am. That doesn’t mean, though, that I plan to make special efforts to reach out to them.”

Where his tolerance ends is with the far-right Religious Zionism party, known for its anti-Arab and anti-LGBTQ platform.

“That’s where I draw the red line,” says Kariv. “While I’m not going to leave the Knesset hall every time the Kahanists get up to make a speech, I will do whatever I can to block their policies and their philosophy, and I will never ever sign my name onto any bills that carry their names, even if it’s something I believe in, because I cannot fathom any cooperation with them whatsoever.”

Fifth time’s a charm

This was Kariv’s fifth try at getting elected to the Knesset – he ran four times with Labor and once with the more left-wing Meretz. Thanks to an impressive showing in the primary, he placed high enough on the slate this time to finally get in. Labor, under the new leadership of Merav Michaeli, won seven Knesset seats in the March 23 election.

Kariv’s introduction to Reform Judaism was not very typical. He grew up in Tel Aviv in a very secular family, but as a young boy in grade school he found himself drawn to the synagogue experience and began attending services on his own at the neighborhood congregation, which was Modern Orthodox. These visits sparked a broader interest in Judaism, and he began studying Jewish texts on his own. 

As a teenager, he spent a summer in Memphis, Tennessee, as a delegate of the Israeli Scouts movement, and it was there he got his first taste of non-Orthodox Judaism and learned, as he likes to put it, that “there is more than one way of being an active Jew.”

Kariv was one of the original members of Tel Aviv’s Beit Daniel — the flagship congregation of the Reform movement in Israel – when it opened in the early 1990s. He began his rabbinical studies at the Jerusalem branch of Hebrew Union College while studying law. He was eventually able to use his legal expertise when he served as director of the Israel Religious Action Center, the advocacy arm of the Reform movement in Israel.

But he certainly doesn’t see Reform Jews as his only constituents. “I’m here in order to represent a large Israeli audience that I believe is the vast majority of Israeli Jews who embrace the concept that there is more than one way to be Jewish,” he says. “That is how I see my main role.”

But it is not only the obvious issues of religion and state that will concern him in this role, he says. “The way we in the Reform movement understand and experience Judaism is relevant to many other issues, whether it be immigration policy, relations between the Jewish majority and Arab minority in this country or the question of our claim to the territories. I see my role as presenting a progressive, inclusive and egalitarian Jewish perspective to all these core issues that concern Israeli society.”

The Labor Party drew criticism in certain leftist circles in the recent election campaign for steering clear of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and avoiding the fraught issue of the settlements. “I don’t think Labor set these issues aside,” says Kariv, coming to his party’s defense. “We identify as a center-left Zionist party, and in this regard we are deeply committed both to national security and to finding a reasonable and sustainable solution to the conflict.”

While he strongly supports a two-state solution (“I think it’s a catastrophe that there haven’t been any real negotiations with the Palestinians in recent years”), Kariv doesn’t delude himself into believing that any real progress will be made in the near future. “But in the meantime, we have to avoid creating obstacles, such as expanding the settlements and recognizing illegal outposts, that could prevent a future solution,” he says.

As past leader of the Israeli Reform movement, Kariv served as the chief representative in Israel of the largest Jewish denomination in the United States. It was a denomination that increasingly found itself at odds with the governments headed by Netanyahu, especially during the Trump years. But he doesn’t believe relations will necessarily improve under the new Democratic administration. “That’s because the ultranationalists and ultra-Orthodox in Israel have Netanyahu by the throat,” he says. “He can’t move without them, and world Jewry needs to understand that if there is another Netanyahu government, things will only get worse. One of the first things that Netanyahu will do – because there won’t be anyone standing in his way now – is to pass a law that will overturn the recent [Israeli] Supreme Court decision to recognize non-Orthodox conversions. That will be a precondition of the Haredim” for joining the government.

Busy first days in office

His first days in office have been incredibly busy, he says. Kariv has already submitted formal requests to establish two new Knesset caucuses: one devoted to promoting religious freedom and Jewish pluralism and the other devoted to promoting the triangular relationship among Israel, the United States and American Jewry.

“There’s always been a tendency on the right to separate Israel’s relations with the U.S. from Israel’s relations with American Jewry,” he says. “The message of this new caucus will be that this is a trilateral, rather than a bilateral, issue. You can’t talk about cultivating relations with American Jewry but close your eyes to the fact that 70 percent of these Jews support a progressive administration that wants to see something new when it comes to relations with the Palestinians.”

Since the new Knesset was sworn in last week, the Labor Party has already submitted 17 legislative proposals. They include bills to legalize civil marriage and divorce, to permit public transportation to operate on Shabbat and to prohibit the Chief Rabbinate from invalidating conversions.

“I know that there’s little chance of passing such bills into law without a center-left coalition in power, but at the same time it’s important to put out the message that there is, indeed, an alternative Zionist vision for this country,” Kariv says.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-where-the-first-reform-rabbi-to-serve-in-the-knesset-gilad-kariv-draws-the-line-1.9702299?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=daily-brief&utm_content=31344b4a71

“Israel and the U.S. are trying to define anew what it means to be a pluralistic democracy.” April 6, 2021

Tom Friedman’s op-ed is an important read for anyone who cares about Israel, its future as a Jewish and democratic state, the nature of Judaism in the Jewish State, and the intense polarization between the “tribes” (as President Ruvi Rivlin called them).

I also recommend highly Micah Goodman’s new book that he calls The Wondering Jew – Israel and the Search for Jewish Identity published by Yale University Press in 2020 (190 pages). Goodman looks at the origins and trajectory of religious identity, secularism, Zionism, and Judaism in Israel from Theodor Herzl and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook to the present. It’s smart, deeply thoughtful, and inspiring.