Thousands rally outside PM’s house against cabinet’s Kotel action

https://jewishlouisville.org/37952-2/

(Editor’s note: This story is based on reporting by Rabbi David Ariel-Joel who was at the rally and has been meeting with Jewish leaders in the country this past week.)

Israelis rallied outside the prime minister’s home in Jerusalem Saturday night, July 1, to protest the government’s suspension of a historic agreement to open the Western Wall (Kotel) to egalitarian worship.
In addition to music, chanting and sign waving, several prominent Israelis spoke at the gathering to register their displeasure with the government’s action.

Music groups performed at the rally in addition to noted Jewish leaders who took their turns at the mic. (photo provided by Rabbi David Ariel-Joel)

“This decision is abandoning Zionism,” Michael Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States who was involved in drafting the Kotel agreement, told the Yidiot Achonot newspaper. “The Kotel belongs to all Jews. This despicable decision sends a sharp message of division and alienation to Diaspora Jews at the same time that with no shame we are leaning on their support.”

Rabbi David Ariel-Joel, a senior rabbi of The Temple in Louisville, who is in Israel, attended the rally and sent back several photos to Community, which are posted here.
“The entire road was filled with a few thousand people, Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and secular.” Ariel-Joel said.

In addition to Oren, an army general who warned of dangers to Israel’s security because of the government’s action; Anat Hoffman, leader of Women of the Wall; Rabbi Donniel Hartman, president of the Hartman Institute; and numerous Reform, Conservative and modern Orthodox leaders all took their turns at the mic.

“Many leaders of the movements I spoke to during the rally were showing mixed feelings,” Ariel-Joel said, “with the great anger, the shame in their government’s actions and the fact that the government and prime minister of Israel deceived them.

“The battle is not about the kotel,” he added, “it is about the soul of Israel.”

Rabbi David Ariel-Joel at the rally, seen here with Anat Hoffman, chair of the board of Women the Wall, and Rabbi Meir Azari (photo provided by Rabbi David Ariel-Joel)

Ariel-Joel also noted several optimistic moments at the rally: “The enormous support our movements are getting from all major Jewish organizations all over the world; the support from Israeli public and from Israeli media; the support from so many leaders and Knesset members; the public support of so many modern Orthodox rabbis and leaders is all overwhelming.”

The decision to suspend the Kotel agreement came at the same time a week ago as the cabinet decided to support a bill that would vest total control of conversions in Israel in the hands of the ultra-Orthodox Chief Rabbinate. The conversion bill has since been put on hold, according to the Union for Reform Judaism.

Two minor religious parties in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – Shas and United Torah Judaism – pushed for both measures, which would stifle the drive for religious equality in Israel.

Ironically, Ariel-Joel said people at the rally believed the government’s actions have opened a door to those pushing for change.

Young and old alike went to the rally. (photo provided by Rabbi David Ariel-Joel

“There is a strong feeling among the leaders I spoke to,” he said, “that this is actually a great opportunity for the Jewish world to unite against those who are trying to divide us, and to show and prove our commitment to Judaism and to the Jewish state by making Israel what it is meant to be – a state for all Jews.

Here in Louisville, the Jewish Community of Louisville Board of Trustees, working with feedback from the Jewish Community Relations Council, is slated to hold another special meeting this week on the situation in Israel. The board is expected to “affirm” its commitment to religious pluralism in the Jewish state.

Israel’s new existential threat

The right of Netanyahu and Bennett is corroding the two primary principles of Zionist policy. Unless there is a dramatic turnaround, Israel will slowly sink.

By Ari Shavit | Feb. 26, 2015

Most Israelis believe, justifiably, that the true existential threat facing them is the high cost of housing. A state whose young people cannot afford to buy a decent apartment is a state that has gone bankrupt.

The real question is not who is most culpable — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his predecessor Ehud Olmert, former Finance Minister Yair Lapid or Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel.

The real question is why, for nearly a decade, the government has failed to overcome a fundamental problem that everyone is aware of and that affects everyone.

The real question is why today’s rich, complacent Israel has failed where the lean and hungry Israel of the 1950s succeeded — in building hundreds of thousands of homes for its people.

Unlike the last state comptroller’s report, the latest one is very important and it addresses a critical issue. The new government that will be installed after the upcoming election must introduce a comprehensive national program that will take on the challenge of the country’s housing crisis.

Netanyahu believes, justifiably, that Iran’s nuclear program is the primary existential threat facing Israel. He was one of the first people to recognize that a nuclear Iran would cast a giant shadow over Israel’s future, and he put the issue at the top of the security and international agenda.

The military option he had promoted became a significant political success, forcing the West into an assertive stance against Iran in 2011 and 2012.

But six years after the son of Benzion Netanyahu entered the Prime Minister’s Office for the second time, the bottom line is that he has failed. Because Netanyahu was not forthcoming on the Palestinian issue and because he eroded Israel’s international legitimacy, the world is no longer listening to his truthful message on the Iranian issue.

Because Netanyahu has worked against rather than with the American administration, the American administration has tilted toward Tehran and against Jerusalem. Israel, rather than Iran, has been isolated.

The reason Netanyahu is about to give a brilliant and desperate speech to the U.S. Congress is that he knows he lost the game.

When the Shi’ite superpower, a nuclear-threshold state, is being courted by the American president, the Iranian threat is more clear, present and bloodcurdling than ever.

Now Israel faces a new existential threat, however, to which neither the Israeli public nor the prime minister is paying much attention.

Zionism has always been careful to cultivate an intimate alliance with a superpower: first Britain, then France, then the United States.

At the same time, Zionism always sought to be identified with the world’s progressive forces, who believe in democracy, social justice and human rights. These two overriding principles of Zionist policy allowed Israel to arise, establish itself and flourish.

But in recent years both principles have been eroded. The right-wing Israel of Netanyahu and Naftali Bennett is playing into the hands of our enemies and corroding the core of our existence — our alliance with the West.

Unless there is a dramatic turnaround in Israeli policy soon, we are liable to find our closest friends turning their backs on us. No, there won’t be a diplomatic tsunami. Instead, the Israeli ship of state will gradually and persistently take on increasing amounts of turbid water that could slowly sink it.

The growing “Anyone but Bibi” movement is doing everything it can to take advantage of the state comptroller’s report and to highlight the domestic existential threat.

The shrinking “Only Bibi” movement is doing everything it can to take advantage of Netanyahu’s upcoming address to Congress and to highlight the existential threat posed by Iran.

The time has come for Israelis to open their eyes and see the towering iceberg of the new existential threat. We will not have a future here if we do not immediately restore our moral and strategic alliance with the free world.

An Election of Jewish Values

An Election of Jewish Values

08.02.2015 , by Donniel Hartman     

Posted originally on Ynetnews. A Hebrew version was published byYedioth Ahronoth

By DONNIEL HARTMAN

If a peace agreement were on the agenda of our upcoming election, voter turnout would be sky-high. Everyone would have an opinion and an intense desire to have that opinion shape our future. But despite all of the chatter and propaganda, it feels as if our current policies will not change, no matter who gets elected. The common belief is that no matter who we vote for, the Palestinian side lacks the desire and courage to say yes to an agreement.

At the same time, all of the parties and candidates are talking about reducing economic inequalities, lowering housing prices, strengthening the middle class, and supporting the poor and struggling. One may mean it more, the other less, but eventually any coalition created after the elections will comprise a variety of parties that will cover, in one fashion or another - all of these positions.

So, what are these elections about?

If the members of the previous coalition had restrained their pride and arrogance just a little, it could have survived. After all, the coalition did not collapse over any fundamental issue - neither diplomatic nor economic. It was all personal.

So, what are these elections about?

It's true that no crucial diplomatic issue is at stake. But I can't remember an election campaign more significant for the future of our country. What is at stake is our identity as a nation and a state.

An army marches on its stomach, but the Jewish people march on our values. We were never the strongest, richest, or most numerous people, but thanks to our moral and spiritual creations we were not only able to survive, but also shape our own world.

We won't be voting on a peace agreement in the upcoming elections, but we will be voting on whether peace among equals is considered a fundamental value in our society.

We’ll be voting on whether we believe there's a zero-sum game between democracy and Judaism, or whether we believe a country that is less democratic is also less Jewish.

We'll be voting on whether we believe the Jewish identity of the State of Israel will grow stronger when we exclude the value of equality from our Basic Law, or whether we believe quite the opposite - that a country which belongs to all of its people is the highest expression of our Judaism.

We'll be voting on whether we want to barricade ourselves against a world that only seeks our destruction - because Esau will forever hate Jacob - or whether we want to internalize the concept of tikkun olam and be a light unto nations, and build new bridges with both old and new friends.

We'll be voting on whether we allow xenophobia, fear of strangers, and the next terror attack to dictate our agenda, or whether we want to try to build a society that aspires to social, economic, and diplomatic justice in the spirit of "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."

The choice in these elections is clear: Go out and vote.

The President of Israel Reaches Out to Palestinian Arabs of Israeli Citizenship

The President of Israel Reaches Out to Palestinian Arabs of Israeli Citizenship

Posted: 11/10/2014 9:40 am EST 

On my recent speaking tour in the United States, I gave two lectures on the theme "Can Arabs and Jews learn to live together in Israel and the region?" On both occasions, I talked about President Ruby Rivlin's recent historic speech in a Palestinian Arab village in Israel, and the rabbis in the audience were the only ones who had heard about it! And just two days ago, I met with an American government official who was in Jerusalem on a fact-finding mission, and he too had not heard of it. I quickly realized that it had not been brought to the attention of people in the West sufficiently, if at all, by the mainstream media, which all too often focus on the negative news coming out of Israel.

This is why I decided to write this blog post, so that this speech would become known around the world.

The new president of Israel, Ruby Rivlin, who was installed as president only a few months ago, comes from the Likud party, a center-right party in Israel. On some issues, he is on the extreme right (such as his persistent resistance to the establishment of a Palestinian state), but on the interrelated issues of preserving liberal democracy and ensuring the rights of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel, he is first rate!

On Sunday, October 26, 2014, President Rivlin visited the Israeli Arab town of Kafr Qasim in what is known as "the Triangle," an area of central Israel which hugs the "green line," the 1967 border between Israel and the West Bank.

Background

In this area of central Israel, all of the Palestinian Arabs are of Israeli citizenship and are Sunni Muslims (in fact, all Muslims in Israel are Sunni). This town suffered a well-known massacre on October 26th, 1956, which was carried out by Israeli Border Police, who killed 48 Arab civilians who had violated a curfew (that they had not heard about in time). The border policemen who were involved in the shooting were brought to trial and found guilty and sentenced to prison terms (but all received pardons and were released within a year).

Even though the former president of Israel, Shimon Peres, had officially apologized for this tragedy a few years ago, this visit of the current president of Israel went much further than any apology in the past, with a historic speech which was well received within Israel. Moreover, it is important to keep in mind that the president of Israel is a symbolic figurehead, who represents all the citizens of Israel, including the Palestinian Arab minority. This enables the president to speak with a clear moral voice, more so than ordinary politicians.

Gesture of Reconciliation

Why did President Rivlin go to the Israeli Arab village of Kafr Qasim at this time?

First of all, he was invited by the local Palestinian Arab mayor! This in itself is a positive sign. The fact that the mayor felt comfortable to reach out to the new president reveals that he probably felt that he would receive a positive response, which indeed he did.

Secondly, it appears that President Rivlin wants to make his mark in domestic Israeli history by focusing on Arab-Jewish Coexistence within Israel as one of the cornerstones of his presidency. This is a most welcome development, for it signals that this critical issue for the future of Israeli society will finally be addressed in a sensitive and systematic manner.

As someone who has been actively engaged with this issue in my educational and communal work for more than two decades, and as someone who has brought Jews to Kafr Qasim in the past, I applaud the president for this historic gesture of reconciliation.

What did the president of Israel say at this extraordinary visit to one of the most important Palestinian Arab villages in Israel?

First of all, he offered an apology to the Palestinian Israeli Arab citizens of this village and by extension to all Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel:

Dear friends, I have come here today, as a member of the Jewish people, and as President of the State of Israel, to stand before you, the families of the slain and injured, to mourn and remember together with you... an anomalous and sorrowful chapter in the history of the relations between Arabs and Jews living here.

The State of Israel has recognized the crime committed here. And rightly, and justly, has apologized for it. I too, am here today to say a terrible crime was done here. An illegal command, over which hangs a dark cloud, was given here...We must understand what occurred here. We must educate future generations about this difficult chapter and the lessons we learn from it.

Secondly, he expressed acute awareness of the maltreatment of Palestinian Arabs within Israel today, and pledged to address these grievances seriously and systematically:

The State of Israel is the national home of the Jewish people, who returned to their land after two millennia of exile. This was its very purpose.

However, the State of Israel will also always be the homeland of the Arab population, which numbers more than one and a half million, and make up more than 20 percent of the population of the country. The Arab population of the State of Israel is not a marginal group in Israeli society. We are talking about a population which is part and parcel of this land, a distinct population, with a shared national identity and culture, which will always be a fundamental component of Israel society. And so, even if none of us had sought it, we were destined to live side by side, together, with a shared fate. It is not only the land which we share. We share the same economy, the same welfare system, and a shared public space. We travel together on the same roads and highways, and play together in the same soccer stadiums.

And thirdly, he issued a loud and clear call for dialogue, education and action, for a shared future:

We must all be a part of the struggle against violence and extremism [earlier in the speech he called upon the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel to raise their voices against extremist violence]. This obligation falls upon each of us.

Honored friends, I believe that young men and women, Jews and Arabs, have a crucial role to play in our ability to look to the future. I believe wholeheartedly that, if we truly understand that we have no other choice; if we take joint responsibility for our future, the relationship between us can be transformed from a cause of friction, into a source of strength. A symbol of the ability of Jews and Arabs, of all of us, the children of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael, to learn to live together. Bless you all.

I commend President Rivlin for this historic speech. It was a very important first step. But, as one of my Muslim partners in dialogue told me years ago, "Dialogue or talk is not enough!"

This inspiring speech -- which is available online -- should be read, studied, discussed and applauded by leaders and citizens around the world. It is the most important call for equal rights and fair treatment of Israel's Palestinian Arab minority by an Israeli Jewish leader in recent decades, perhaps in our entire history. More importantly, it must be followed by a serious and systematic action plan in the years ahead.

What are they smoking in Jerusalem?

What are they smoking in Jerusalem?

An Israel that occupies, settles and discriminates is not an Israel that the United States or young Diaspora Jews can continue to back indefinitely.

By Ari Shavit  | Oct. 31, 2014 | Haaretz

Over the last five days I’ve visited five cities in the United States: Los Angeles, Columbus, Cincinnati, Baltimore and Miami. I didn’t meet any senior officials in the Obama administration nor was I a guest of any critic of Israel. On the contrary, I spoke to thousands of people who love Israel with all their souls. I listened to hundreds of people whose devotion to Israel is greater than that of many Israelis. But when I looked at my country through the eyes of my countrymen, without whom the country has no future, I wondered what its government was thinking. Where does it think it is leading the Jewish state and the Jewish people?

What are they smoking there in Jerusalem? What world do they live in? Don’t they have eyes to see the looming iceberg? Don’t they have ears to hear the roar of the disaster they are about to wreak on all of us?

The alliance between the United States and Israel is based on common values: democracy, liberty, human rights, the rule of law and entrepreneurship. These values are what sustains the alliance, not common interests. Americans like to believe that Israel is a Middle Eastern forward position for their worldview.

However, our common values don’t accord with the removal of Arabs from buses in Judea and Samaria, with the undermining and neutralization of the Supreme Court, or with the constant and perplexing settlement drive.

An Israel that occupies, settles and discriminates is not an Israel that the United States can continue to back indefinitely. An Israel that insists on behaving like an bull in a china shop will sooner or later lose the support of America’s younger generation. This won’t happen next week or next month, not even next year. But it will happen. If the head-trippers in Israel continue on their path, the collapse will inevitably come.

At the base of the alliance between Israel and the Jewish Diaspora stands a mutual responsibility. We guarantee their existence and they guarantee ours. We are the insurance policy for their future and they are the safety net for ours.

However, the Jewish Diaspora is currently in dire straits.  Increasing numbers of their sons and daughters find it difficult to identify with Jewish nationalism, Jewish religion or the Jewish establishment. Following meaningful, moving experiences during their Birthright trips, many feel some attraction towards Israel. They learned that Tel Aviv is exciting, Israelis are cool and Israeli high-tech is amazing. However, when they observe that the government in Jerusalem continues to settle the hilltops and the Knesset in Jerusalem advocates an outdated worldview, they are at a loss.

The head-on collision between their universal values and the tribal values espoused by the political establishment in Israel causes them to run for their lives. Instead of embracing younger Jewish people, we repel them. Instead of winning hearts, we are losing souls. In our deeds and misdeeds we are alienating the younger generation of Jews. With their own hands, the pseudo-Zionists of the right are undermining Zionism. With their own hands, the pseudo-patriots of the settlements are depleting the ranks of the Jewish people. Those stoners in Jerusalem who are jeopardizing our alliance with the United States are at the same time endangering our brothers and sisters and our communities in the Diaspora.

It’s time to stop this out-of-control party. The light drugs have long since been traded in for hard ones. The mild hallucination has become a bad trip. A Jerusalem ruled by the religious settler movement is a Jerusalem operating in a parallel universe that does not exist. The Jerusalem of the zealots is shrouded in aromatic smoke that cuts it off from reality, distances it from the Jewish people and is liable to lead it into a terrible conflagration. The time has come to shake it out of its fantasy, rehabilitate it and return this country to its senses.

The Messianic Brothers are Doing Israel In

The Messianic Brothers are Doing Israel In

The power freaks running the government are perpetuating poverty and the occupation while alienating Israel's greatest friends.

By Shaul Arieli | Oct. 7, 2014 | Haaretz

“Time is on our side” is the hollow mantra of Naftali Bennett and Uri Ariel of Habayit Hayehudi, along with their brothers in Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu and Yesh Atid. The leftists are tired Zionists, they claim, while appropriating the Zionist project for their messianic ideology. We’ll get the world used to our caprices, they tell anyone who wonders where they’re heading.

But the Jewish year 5775 is beginning and refusing to get used to anything. Some 1.5 million Israelis ushered in the new year at meals funded by donations from good people. The number of Israelis in the cycle of poverty grows each year; most of the poor work.

The gaps are increasing, but the messianic brothers have a solution: Join us in the welfare state in the West Bank. “We doubled the budgets for Judea and Samaria,” boasts the previous finance minister, the embodiment of the vision of socialist Zionism.

The frequent rounds of violence take their toll in blood and damage to the economy. They’re responsible for budget cuts in both primary and higher education, and undermine the welfare and health services. This mainly affects poorer people, of course. While the Jewish brothers are once again proposing that we occupy Gaza, the education minister is explaining that “there was a war” and it wouldn’t be right “to curtail the vision of Greater Israel.”

Nor is the international community getting used to anything. Israel’s standing continues to suffer, especially among those closest to us, the United States and Western Europe. The disgust at our continued domination of another nation is eroding cultural, economic and scientific ties with the rest of the world.

The United States is undergoing demographic changes, as well as a change in priorities. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the Americanologist doesn’t realize how U.S. support is slipping through his fingers. Others, drunk on imaginary power, promise us that the world won’t move without that Israeli app Waze. Particles won’t accelerate without Jewish genius.

The Jewish brothers who continue to put “Jewish” before “democratic” refuse to notice North American Jews’ reservations about Israel. They eschew the two-state idea, repudiate liberalism, sanctify power and practice discrimination.

Even “united” Jerusalem is not cooperating with the security hawks. In our eternal capital the nationalist and religious tensions are deepening, and violence is increasing. The city’s poverty on both sides of the Green Line puts most of its children, both Jewish and Arab, below the poverty line. Most of its residents are anti-Zionists.

Meanwhile, many young Israelis have stopped believing that time is on the side of messianic Zionism. The cost of living, reserve duty and mainly the absence of faith in government policy are pushing them to a future on the other side of the ocean. No, they aren’t tired. The residents of the western Negev near Gaza, a stronghold of genuine Zionism, aren’t spoiled, as some people accuse them of being.

They simply understand that an honest attempt at achieving peace doesn’t mean rejecting the two-state idea, ostracizing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, torpedoing any attempt to include Hamas in the diplomatic process and continuing unbridled construction in the West Bank. They understand the real price, both economic and moral, in the refusal to separate ourselves from the Palestinians.

Time remains indifferent and does not sanctify the artificial status quo. Waiting around the corner isn’t a binational state, but one state – whose characteristics are far from any divine or other promise. It’s a state that even a messiah wouldn’t be able to cleanse.

Why are Reform Jews issuing Yom Kippur messages in Arabic this year?

Why are Reform Jews issuing Yom Kippur messages in Arabic this year?

A closer look at their High Holy Day messages reveals how the various streams of Judaism in Israel are trying to brand themselves, and whom they see as target audiences.

By Judy Maltz | Oct. 1, 2014 | 

Although still relatively small, the non-Orthodox – as well as more progressive Orthodox – Jewish movements have been gaining a foothold in Israel in recent years. In large part, the trend reflects a backlash against the stranglehold of the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox establishments on many aspects of civil life in Israel.

A survey of online campaigns with a High Holy Day theme – the first of their kind – provides some insight into how the various Jewish movements are trying to brand themselves these days and whom they see as their target audiences.

Take, for example, the Reform movement, also known as the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism. This most non-Orthodox of all the non-Orthodox movements has decided to take its usual message of egalitarianism and tolerance in a new direction this year, beyond the Jewish sphere: “Israelis helping Israelis celebrate the holidays with dignity” is the title of its holiday campaign, which urges Israeli Jews to embrace Israeli Muslims, and to take advantage of the rare coincidence of the fast of Yom Kippur falling this year on the very same day as the Islamic festival of Id al-Adha (the Feast of the Sacrifice).

Led by the Reform movement’s Keren BeKavod (fund for dignity), the campaign calls on Israeli Jews to donate food to other Jews and to Muslims who don’t have anything to put on their tables during this holiday season.

On its website, where it promotes the campaign on a video in both Hebrew and Arabic, the Reform movement explains that the purpose is to “underscore our commitment to promoting coexistence and religious tolerance in Israeli society.” It urges Israelis with means to donate either a package of food or coupons for clothing to “disadvantaged Israeli families in all communities and sectors in Israeli society to help nurture a Jewish-Israeli voice that is responsible, moderate and seeks peace and interfaith understanding."

Yuli Goren, the spokeswoman of the Reform movement, explains that the decision to expand on the usual messages this year stemmed from a feeling that “we just couldn’t ignore the rising tide of racism in the country in recent months.” The High Holy Days, she says, “provided an opportunity to use the Jewish calendar to fight against racism, and we are the only Jewish movement in Israel doing something like this.”

Friendly Orthodoxy

Tzohar, an organization of progressive-minded Orthodox rabbis, doesn’t exactly qualify as a religious movement per se. Still, it’s gained prominence in recent years as a group that is bent on making Orthodoxy friendlier to secular Israelis, particularly by means of a large cadre of volunteer rabbis who officiate at wedding ceremonies around the country.

Tzohar may identify as an Orthodox organization, but a visitor to its (Hebrew) website could easily be led to understand otherwise. “We pray together on Yom Kippur” is the title of its High Holy Days campaign, which invites “men and women, parents and children, youngsters and adults, secular and religious, to a hospitable, experiential, Israeli, joint Yom Kippur prayer that includes explanation, song, discussion and shofar-blowing at the conclusion of the holiday.”

Aside from a photo of a man blowing a shofar, the page also includes a picture of what appears to be a happy family – a mother and father (incidentally, neither have their heads covered, as is typical among the Orthodox) and a daughter and son.