Introductory Note:

I signed onto this important letter as a proud American Jew and Reform Rabbi, liberal Zionist and supporter of the people and State of Israel, despite my strong criticism of the most extreme right-wing messianic and anti-democratic government in the history of the State of Israel. As I discussed in detail in my Kol Nidre sermon at Temple Israel of Hollywood (for those interested, you can view it on YouTube here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28uW3QLeE28), I believe that this is the time for the American Jewish community and especially young liberal and progressive American Jews who feel alienated from Israel and the organized American Jewish community, to stay engaged with Judaism, the Jewish people and the State of Israel at this most horrific inflection moment in modern Jewish history and in the context of the dramatic increase of antisemitism in the United States and around the world in decades. To date, hundreds of American Rabbis have signed onto the following letter and more are signing on every day. It will be released soon. No letter of this kind has been written or signed before by so many American rabbis.

“As rabbis from across the United States committed to the security and prosperity of the Jewish people, we are writing in our personal capacities to declare that we cannot remain silent in the face of rising anti-Zionism and its political normalization throughout our nation. When public figures like New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani refuse to condemn violent slogans, deny Israel’s legitimacy, and accuse the Jewish state of genocide, they, in the words of New York Board of Rabbis president Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, “Delegitimize the Jewish community and encourage and exacerbate hostility toward Judaism and Jews.”

As prominent New York City Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove stated in a recent sermon, “Zionism, Israel, Jewish self-determination—these are not political preferences or partisan talking points. They are constituent building blocks and inseparable strands of my Jewish identity. To accept me as a Jew but to ask me to check my concern for the people and state of Israel at the door is a nonsensical proposition and an offensive one, no different than asking me to reject God, Torah, mitzvot, or any other pillar of my faith.”

We will not accept a culture that treats Jewish self-determination as a negotiable ideal or Jewish inclusion as something to be “granted.” The safety and dignity of Jews in every city depend on rejecting that false choice.

Therefore, we call on all Americans who value peace and equality to participate fully in the democratic process in order to stand up for candidates who reject antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric, and who affirm Israel’s right to exist in peace and security.

We also call on our interfaith and communal partners to stand with the Jewish community in rejecting this dangerous rhetoric and to affirm the rights of Jews to live securely and with dignity.

Now is the time for everyone to unite across political and moral divides, and to reject the language that seeks to delegitimize our Jewish identity and our community.”