Category Archives: Uncategorized

Register to Vote in the World Zionist Congress Elections and Vote ARZA Slate

14 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by in American Jewish Life, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Social Justice, Uncategorized, Women's Rights

≈ 2 Comments

One of the most important steps that Diaspora Jews can take to support Israel’s democracy, pluralism and bond with world Jewry and the state of Israel is to vote in this year’s World Zionist Congress election that is now open for registration and voting through April 15, 2015.

The only requirements for voting are that you must be Jewish and at least 18 years of age.

I ask you to click now onto the link below, register and vote for the ARZA Slate (i.e. the Association of Reform Zionists of America). Please do not delay.

I ask for your vote as a delegate on the ARZA Slate (I am #25) that includes many distinguished America rabbis and leaders of the Union for Reform Judaism representing 1.3 million American Jews.

All the information you need to know about ARZA’s platform can be found on this website. You can also register to vote and actually vote at the same time here: https://www.reformjews4israel.org.

The Slate of ARZA Delegates can be found at this site: https://www.reformjews4israel.org/slate/.

Important note: There is a one-time only administrative charge of $5 for young Jews between the ages of 18 and 30, and $10 for Jews over 30. This is required by the World Zionist Organization to administer this election.

Questions:

1. What is the World Zionist Congress?

The Parliament of the Jewish People representing all of world Jewry.

2. What is the ARZA Platform?

• Support for gender equality in the State of Israel

• Support for religious equality in the State of Israel

• Support for peace through commitment to a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

3. Why does it matter that you vote for ARZA?

ARZA currently holds 39% of the US representation in the World Zionist Congress based on the results of the last election for the WZC. Consequently, over the past five years $20 million has been given to the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) to support its programs, congregations, rabbis, outreach, and social justice work. The Israeli government has also provided 4 new buildings for Reform communities around Israel because of our large American Reform Zionist representation.

The government of the state of Israel does not give any money directly to the Reform movement except through special programs. However, the government does fund generously orthodox schools and synagogues. This is not only unfair, it is a violation of the spirit of Israel’s own Declaration of Independence. We American Reform Zionists support our movement and others in Israel who are struggling through the courts to be treated equally under the law.

In the meantime, we must raise money to support our Israeli Reform movement, and our success in this WZC election is one sure way to do that.

Note that the Israeli Reform movement is a significant leader in support of the Israel Religious Action Center in Jerusalem and our 45 congregations, 2 kibbutzim, strong youth programs, nursery schools, Tali schools, and pre-military programs all over the country.

Our movement supports civil marriage unions in Israel without having to involve the Chief Rabbinate, egalitarianism at the Western Wall, anti-Racism laws, anti-Poverty activism, and many other social justice causes.

ARZA needs your vote and I am asking that you and every Jewish individual in your household register today at the above site, pay the $5 or $10 administrative fee depending on your age, and then vote for the ARZA Slate. Thank you in advance!

Rabbi John Rosove, delegate – ARZA Slate in WZC Election

PS – If you have trouble voting, please call 844-413-2929 or email AZM@election-america.com

“The Pew Survey Reanalyzed: More Bad News, but a Glimmer of Hope” – A Must- Read for Liberal Jews

04 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by in American Jewish Life, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

In the next few blogs I will reflect on my recent travels with 30 of my congregants to Budapest, Prague, Terezin, Bratislava, and Berlin.

In a word, this was a trip of memory. The Nazis succeeded in wiping from the face of Central and Eastern Europe not only the Jewish people but Jewish life itself. Though some Jews remain in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Germany, and these three countries, to varying degrees, are honoring the memory of the murdered victims, there is meager evidence of vibrant Jewish life there, and it is questionable whether there is a meaningful Jewish future for those Hungarian, Czech and German Jews who are struggling valiantly to recreate Jewish communities.

Lest we think, however, that we here in the liberal American Jewish community have it made, a new analysis was published this week in the monthly on-line journal of Jewish thought “Mosaic” by demographers Jack Wertheimer and Steven M. Cohen who reanalyze last year’s Pew survey of the American Jewish community especially with regards to the state of the liberal Reform and Conservative movements  and the increasingly large portions of the unaffiliated.

Wertheimer’s and Cohen’s reanalysis is must-read for all rabbis, educators, Jewish leaders and synagogue boards, as well as the affiliated, non-affiliated, and intermarried families as a veritable wake-up call concerning Jewish identity and Jewish continuity in America, if the trends uncovered in this Pew Survey are to be believed and taken seriously.

Intermarriage, falling Jewish birthrates, large numbers of Jews remaining single, growing Jewish illiteracy, and dwindling congregations are facts that are dramatically affecting liberal American Jewish self-identification.

That being said, there are still effective responses that can reverse these trends including deeper adult and child education, Day School and family education programs, Jewish summer camp experiences, youth and college programming, and trips to Israel.

The article “The Pew Survey Reanalyzed: More Bad News, but a Glimmer of Hope” can be accessed at http://mosaicmagazine.com/essay/2014/11/the-pew-survey-reanalyzed/

I suggest passing this article around to your rabbis, educators, and synagogue boards, as well as to your friends, children, grandchildren, and those who are intermarried but feel strongly about Jewish continuity in their families.

Three Questions for PM Netanyahu – Naomi Chazan

13 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

I have been waiting for an articulate, strong, compassionate, and wise voice coming out of Israel that asks all the right questions about Israel’s future in the wake of this ceasefire – and this is that voice.

Naomi Chazan’s open letter in The Times of Israel to Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government is a must-read not only for the Prime Minister, but all of Israel and the American Jewish community. http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/three-questions-for-the-prime-minister/

Naomi Chazan is a long-time beloved and respected Israeli leader and peace activist. She headed the Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University where she earned her doctorate, is a former member of the Knesset on the Meretz list and served as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, among many other important posts. Most recently she served as the president of the New Israel Fund.

When Naomi speaks I always listen because she is as clear thinking, wise and visionary as there is in Israel and the Jewish world. I told her once that I wished that she would be Prime Minister of Israel. She laughed and said that she had tried but failed.

Now that the ceasefire seems to be holding, Israel has an opportunity to strive to assure security in a demilitarized Gaza and move forward negotiations for a two-state solution in alliance with other Middle Eastern nations.

Naomi’s questions to PM Netanyahu are the right questions, and as the days and weeks pass, they will likely be asked by more and more Israelis.

I look forward to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s responses, if he offers them.

Martin Indyk on Failed Peace Negotiations, Egyptian Cease-Fire Agreement, & J Street’s Statement on Current Crisis

15 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Two days after Martin Indyk resigned as the Obama Administration’s chief negotiator in the American Israeli-Palestinian peace effort, and one day after 16 year-old Palestinian Mohammed Abu Kder was found murdered in a Jerusalem forest, Ambassador Martin Indyk spoke with the Atlantic Magazine’s Jeffrey Goldberg at the Aspen Ideas Festival – http://www.aspenideas.org/session/conversation-us-special-envoy-israeli%E2%80%93palestinian-negotiations-0

The Indyk conversation was reported widely after it took place, but listening to Ambassador Indyk reveals far more about the internal dynamics between the American, Israeli and Palestinian leaders than any third-person account, and so it is worth our listening to the hour-long conversation in its entirety.

Jeffrey Goldberg was an able, direct and aggressive questioner. The following were among the issues that Ambassador Indyk addressed:

• Why the Kerry Initiative really broke down
• What were Kerry’s broader foreign policy priorities
• What were the foundational demands of both Israel and the Palestinians
• How the relationship between Bibi and Abu Mazen undermined the talks
• What the PA and Israeli security forces cooperation suggests
• What Bibi’s statement means for peace when he said that Israel will not give up control of territory west of the Jordan River for 30 to 40 years
• What Abu Mazen really believes about Israel’s right to exist, non-violence, refugees, Jerusalem, a demilitarized West Bank, and an end-of-conflict agreement
• How the education of Palestinian children to hate Jews and Israelis is a problem, but not an insurmountable one
• What we might expect of the Palestinians’ attitude towards Israel when the occupation ends
• What the young generation of Palestinians really wants
• Why ideological settlements are a serious obstacle in negotiations
• Whether these negotiations were the last chance for peace

On the Egyptian Cease-Fire Proposal and J Street’s Statement on the Current Crisis

Following the Egyptian cease-fire proposal, accepted by the Israeli Cabinet, the United States and the Palestinian Authority, and rejected by Hamas, Isaac Herzog, the head of Israel’s Labor Party and leader of the opposition in Parliament, said:

“If the cease-fire doesn’t lead to forward movement in the peace process it is useless.”

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said:

“This initiative means kneeling and submissiveness and so we completely refuse it and to us, it’s not worth the ink used in writing it.”

American Jewish Organizations and J Street

Given the black and white reaction of many American Jewish organizations to the current Israeli-Hamas crisis (i.e. ‘you are either with us or against us’), J Street issued a statement condemning unconditionally Hamas’ terrorism and targeting of Israeli civilian population centers adding a series of “ands” in order to reflect a more nuanced and complete response to this crisis and the events leading up to it.

Note: I serve as a national co-chair of the J Street Rabbinic Cabinet representing 800 rabbis and cantors from across the American Jewish religious streams. I was consulted on the statement before it was released, and I supported it without hesitation.

J Street Statement on the Current Crisis
http://jstreet.org/blog/post/j-street-statement-on-the-current-crisis_1

Speak Tenderly to Jerusalem

10 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

I have written four separate divrei Torah this week because events in the Middle East have shifted so quickly that the theme of one drash was eclipsed almost as soon I had concluded writing it.

The first was about Pinchas, based on this week’s Parashah. Pinchas was a righteous zealot who accused, judged, condemned, and executed with one thrust of his sword an Israelite man and Midianite woman locked in amorous embrace in the camp.

The second d’var Torah focused on our people’s sympathy and love for the mourning families of the three Israeli teens murdered by Hamas terrorists a few weeks ago.

The third dvar Torah was a reflection on Israel’s sins in the wake of the vicious murder of a Palestinian Arab boy by Jewish terrorists. Despite the hate that motivated this crime, hate that went unchecked in large segments of Israeli society for many years, I intended to shine a light on the extraordinary compassion and decency of Rachel Fraenkl, the mother of Naftaly, one of the Israeli murdered teens, who offered heartfelt words of condolence to the family of 16-year-old murdered Palestinian Muhammed Abu Khdeir, saying:

Even in the abyss of mourning for Gilad, Eyal and Naftali, it is difficult for me to describe how distressed we are by the outrage committed in Jerusalem – the shedding of innocent blood in defiance of all morality, of the Torah, of the foundation of the lives of our boys and of all of us in this country.

And the fourth sermon was about my own dread and fear concerning what was to come next in light of the deteriorating relationship between Israel and the Palestinians following the collapse of the Kerry peace initiative and the murders of the four Jewish and Palestinian teens.

Then, Hamas began firing rockets and missiles from Gaza against the Israeli civilian populations in S’derot, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Tel Aviv, Haifa, and for the first time, Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Netanyahu did what he had to do. He ordered up 40,000 reserves and began pummeling Hamas missile launch sites and military targets in Gaza with remarkable accuracy, thus successfully destroying hundreds of them with, to date remarkably few civilian causalities.

Israelis are sleeping terrified in shelters just as the bombs falling in Gaza are terrifying the Palestinians living there.

What sermon should I offer today? I am admittedly heart-sick and frightened, enraged and and confused about what to think and what to say.

A friend offered me a way forward. He said, imagine that you have a beloved brother who for the past forty-seven years has been an alcoholic. He’s done some good things, but mostly he’s been self-destructive. His health is bad. You tell him to get sober, but he’s in denial and says he has a right to do with his life whatever he wants.

His life was noble and virtuous in his youth, and his family was proud of him. But now, his addiction has drained his resources and he has been forced to borrow heavily from everyone in the family to support his habit. They love him because he’s family, but so many are furious at him, and he’s lost friends, and his neighbors don’t trust him at all.

One night he’s driving home after drinking heavily and blacks out at the wheel. He runs head-on into a family van and hurts everyone, himself most of all.

You rush to the hospital and see that he is fighting for his life.

What do you do?

Do you support him and say nothing about the cause of it all, his 47-year addiction? Or do you criticize him, walk away and turn your back in disgust?

That is essentially the situation of the Jewish people today. Our brother Israel is fighting for its life, and despite the 47-year occupation of another people, when Israel is under attack, we Jews support her because she is our family and Israel is our national home.

The Biblical prophet had two primary functions when speaking on behalf of God to the people; to preach the moral truth, especially when they had committed sins of injustice, hard-heartedness, and corruption, or to offer comfort in times of suffering and distress.

Now is not the time to rebuke. Now is the time to offer our love and support.

Nachamu nachamu ami yomer Eloheichem,
Dabru al lev Yerushalayim –
“Comfort, oh comfort My People, Says your God –
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem…” (Isaiah 40:1-2)

We stand in solidarity with the people and state of Israel as it endures missile attacks by Hamas, and we pray for strength, courage and safety for the Israel Defense Forces as it responds to Hamas’ escalation of hostilities against our people.

We pray for the safety of all our Israeli brothers and sisters and for all innocent Palestinians living in this wretched theater of violence.

And we pray the Psalmist’s prayer:

“Shaalu shalom Yerushalayim – Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” (Psalm 122:6)

J Street’s Response to Presbyterian Church (USA) Divestment, Kidnapping of 3 Israeli Teens and Middle East Tensions

23 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Those who understand the Middle East know that to approach events there aggressively and in a black-white, good-evil context alone will likely result in an escalation of conflict. Though good people differ about what recent events mean (i.e. the unification of Fatah with Hamas, the collapse of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace talks, the Presbyterian Church (USA) Divestment vote, the Kidnapping of 3 Israeli Teens, and the escalation of violence in Iraq and Syria), those who care deeply about maintaining Israeli security, its democracy and Jewish character, must consider all elements of these conflicts before reacting defensively and aggressively.

The two following articles express J Street’s position on much of what is transpiring. As a co-chair of J Street’s national Rabbinic Cabinet including 800 rabbis and cantors, I agree with the sentiments expressed in both.

J Street is a pro-Israel, pro-peace political organization in Washington, D.C. and is the largest pro-Israel PAC in the United States. It continues to affirm that a two-states for two peoples resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through negotiations is the only alternative that can preserve both Israel’s identity as a democratic society and as the homeland of the Jewish people. A one-state solution will destroy Israel as we know it.

  1. J Street repudiates Presbyterian divestment decision, sees no victory for BDS Movement – J Street said that it does not believe that boycotts or divestment will bring Israelis and Palestinians closer to a two-state solution to their conflict, nor are they appropriate tools in pushing toward resolution of the conflict. We do not support the decision of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to divest from three North American companies doing business in the Palestinian territory. http://jstreet.org/blog/post/j-street-repudiates-presbyterian-divestment-decision-sees-no-victory-for-bds-movement_1
  1. Kidnapping of 3 Israeli teens could trigger more violence, Houston Chronicle –  Warning that “the Kerry effort’s failure has left a dangerous vacuum,” J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami argued that “the Obama administration must not step away and leave the parties to their own devices, which will only allow the situation to deteriorate. On the contrary, the time has come for some plain speaking and more forceful leadership.”  http://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/Ben-Ami-Kidnapping-of-3-Israeli-teens-could-5568239.php

 

 

Bring Back Our Boys!

19 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

We send our prayers for the safety, health, courage, strength, and quick return home and to their families of three young Israeli teens, Gilad Shaar (age 16), Eyal Tifrach (age 19) and Naftali Frankel (age 16) who were kidnapped a week ago (all indications suggest by Hamas) in the Gush Etzion region of Israel.

May their captors free them. Na hashiveinu et bachureinu u-vaneinu habaita!

The following UTube expresses what is in the heart of the Jewish people and all peoples who cherish peace.

http://youtu.be/iWnEjwLGh6k

 

The Unification of Fatah with Hamas Shows Hamas as the Big Loser

06 Friday Jun 2014

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

The Israeli journalist Bernard Avishai explains what the “unification” deal between Fatah and Hamas means in the current political reality of Palestinian and Middle East politics, why the deal itself is a reflection of the weakness and unpopularity of Hamas among Palestinians (Hamas has a 25% approval rating in the West Bank and Gaza), why this deal is not only a victory for Mahmoud Abbas over Hamas, but why it offers the Palestinians and Israelis an opportunity to move forward in negotiations for a two states for two peoples resolution of the conflict.

Of course, this presumes that both sides are really interested in a two-state solution and willing to make the hard choices and sacrifices necessary to get a deal.

Despite PM Netanyahu’s speech at Bar Ilan University in 2009 calling for two-states, 40 members of his ruling government coalition are adamantly opposed to that very principle though the majority of Israeli citizens are in favor as is the majority of the American Jewish community.

Israel’s strong negative reaction to the PA unification agreement contrasts sharply not only with the United States and the Quartet, but with India, China, and Russia thereby isolating Israel internationally even further than it already was.

It may be that we will have to wait until the next Israeli election in two years when a new Israeli government coalition is formed and led by someone other than PM Netanyahu and his current extremist coalition partners. Such an Israeli government that is supportive of a two-state solution will then be in a position to work in conjunction with a unified Palestinian Authority in negotiating an end-of-conflict agreement.

It remains to be seen, as well, that given unification and assuming that negotiations would begin again in two years, whether the Palestinians are capable of accepting less than their current maximum demands which include an agreement on a limited number of refugees returning to Israel, and whether Israel would not only remove settlements but accept a division of Jerusalem using some formula that assures security and that the holy city can be both the capital of Israel and the Palestinian state.

In the meantime while we wait, I would hope that Israel stops building any settlements beyond the Green Line, the US Congress continues to provide funding to the Palestinian Authority so that it can survive, business and development opportunities in the Palestinian areas grow, and the security arrangement between Israel and the PA remains strong. It is in everyone’s interests that this happens except, of course, Israel’s right-wing settler movement and Hamas.

Bernard Avishai’s New Yorker article, “Mahmoud Abbas Winning on Points,” is a must-read piece of journalism – http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2014/06/mahmoud-abbas-winning-on-points.html

After reading it, despite the distrust and animus that Israel, the west and so many of us have towards Hamas, its cruelty and its vicious terrorist past, I hope you will come to the same conclusion that I have, that the decision taken by the United States, the Quartet and other countries to support the unified Palestinian Authority (which still professes acceptance of the state of Israel, rejection of violence and support for all past signed treaties) while watching and evaluating what Hamas does, makes rational sense and is worthy of our support.

 

The Debilitation of Chronic Pain

05 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

The most intense physical pain I have ever known came following my cancer surgery five years ago. The operation was huge and it was followed by an endless series of infections that debilitated me for six weeks. Since then I have developed a new sensitivity for, appreciation of, and empathy with those who suffer pain chronically.

Before my surgery, the hospital conducted a complete bone scan and I learned that I had the beginnings of arthritis in my right foot. It did not bother me so I forgot about it until four years later when suddenly, my foot began to ache intensely. I walk four miles at a time four or five times weekly at a fairly strong pace, and I first assumed that the pain was the consequence of getting older and over-use of my foot.

My foot hurt, however, not only while I was walking. I could be sitting still, driving my car, or sleeping soundly when suddenly, without warning, I would feel a sharp pain in my foot as if someone was sticking needles in it.

The pain came and went at first, and soon it was there all the time. My wife kept telling me to call a doctor.

I didn’t, and tried treating it with Tylenol; didn’t help. Advil; didn’t help either. Aleve; it helped a little. I used three kinds of creams that promised to reduce inflammation; one or two helped temporarily. I soaked my foot nightly in warm Epson salt baths; it sort of helped reduce the swelling.

I took my shoe off whenever I could, in my office, at meetings, in movie theaters, in restaurants, in the car, and at home to relieve the pressure.

At last, I called a doctor. She took X-rays of both my right and left feet because the left also was sore now and again. The X-ray showed that I had no cartilage left between my big toe and the connecting bone and that I had two bone spurs as well in my right foot and the beginnings of arthritis in my left, similar to what the X-ray showed in the other foot five years ago. The only treatment possibilities were shots of cortisone to give me with each treatment three to six months of relief, or surgery to fuse the bone and remove the spurs.

I took the shot, and within hours I felt dramatically better. I know that surgery is in my future.

Chronic pain is a debilitating experience, and my heart goes out to everyone who so suffers. What I learned from this experience is how negative the impact of chronic pain is upon us physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. It impacts our mood, memory, and overall quality of life. The negative emotions can make the pain feel worse and stimulate an onset of depression. It can diminish our job performance, lower our motivation to exercise, cause us to eat more and gain wait. It can affect how we manage our household and finances, whether we are able to run errands, and take care properly of our children and pets.

Chronic pain affects our relationships. It can impact our sexuality and the frequency of emotional intimacy with family and friends. It makes us feel more vulnerable to anger, resentment, irritation, impatience, and hard-heartedness. It exhausts us and leaves us without  pleasure.

If you are chronically in pain or someone dear to you is suffering, I advise that you get professional help. First, see a doctor and learn what you can do medically and/or behaviorally to help yourself.

Meditation, therapeutic massage, and positive thinking are proven to lower stress, reduce anxiety and depression, and help us to feel less victimized, less demoralized and more hopeful.

Do not try and bear up under the pain alone. There are people who can help you.

I wish I had acted earlier as I now realize how much wasted time and energy I expended unsuccessfully trying to help myself.