fbpx A mid-Passover message during a time of pain in Israel and Palestine | Reconstructing Judaism

A mid-Passover message during a time of pain in Israel and Palestine

News

Reconstructing Judaism and Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association logos

Three sacred seasons are overlapping - Passover, Ramadan, and Easter - days of holiness that celebrate liberation, humility, compassion, and rebirth. We dearly wish that we could be marking this confluence of holy days with celebrations of steady and courageous steps forward towards peace, justice, and co-existence in Israel and Palestine. And while it is true that many brave and creative NGOs and civic movements continue to organize, teach, and grow their impacts in Israeli and Palestinian society, nevertheless the headlines of this season tell a painful story we have come to know all too well. 

It is a story of terrorist attacks against Israelis in pubs and residential neighborhoods, and of unchecked settler violence against Palestinians in their orchards and villages. It is a story of Israeli military raids that kill non-combatants caught in the crossfire or exercising their right to demonstrate, and a story of Hamas and Islamic Jihad publicly praising terrorist attacks. It is a story of Israeli evictions of longtime Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem neighborhoods, and of demolitions of Palestinian homes when impossible-to-obtain building permits are found lacking by Israeli officials. It is a story of Hezbollah building up rocket arsenals and fanning flames of hatred of Israel in religious terms. And it is a story of a 54-year-long Occupation at the heart of an asymmetrical power dynamic that maintains an unjust and unsustainable order in which Israeli authorities rule over and control the daily lives and physical movements of millions of Palestinians. 

In the last few days, the downward spiral has accelerated dangerously. Israeli extremists have staged provocative marches in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Palestinians have thrown stones and Molotov cocktails at Western Wall visitors. Israeli police have raided the Al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan, injuring hundreds of worshippers. Once again, Israel and Palestine are on the brink of the kind of war that took place last spring - a war of rockets fired on Israeli civilians and Israeli aerial bombardments of crowded Gazan neighborhoods, accompanied by street violence between Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel.

What can we do, as members of a small, creative movement of Judaism centered in the Diaspora? Facing these times is not easy. We have deep bonds of love, family, and tradition with the Israeli-Jewish community. We fear for their survival. We know the lessons of the long course of Jewish history, of what Jewish powerlessness has led to repeatedly.  

At the same time, we also reckon with the reality that Israel has far more military, economic, and political power than does Palestine. Our tradition teaches that those with greater power have greater responsibility for taking action to prevent violence, safeguard innocent life, and guarantee justice for all. It also teaches that everyone, whether powerful or not, has some moral agency - everyone has a responsibility to do what they can to act with restraint and move back from the brink. 

Knowing all of that, there are some things we can do. We can reach out to our family and friends in Israel and Palestine and ask how they are doing, and listen to them with open hearts and minds. We can call on our own political leaders to do all they can to help defuse the situation and strengthen Israeli and Palestinian groups who continue to work tirelessly for tzedek (justice) and shalom (peace), in keeping with the highest teachings of Judaism, Islam and Christianity. We can model civil discourse in our conversations and social media posts. And we can pray for peace and support the organizations we believe are working for a better future.  

Public Statements, Israel, Israel

Related Resources

Israeli-Palestinian History from a Progressive Zionist Perspective

This 3-part online class offers a comprehensive but accessible overview of how Jews came into being as a nation in the ancient Land of Israel, how their many centuries of exile affected their relationship to that land, and how modern Zionism developed into a successful state building movement culminating in the establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948. The series also unpacks the major components of the Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Arab conflicts, taking care to honor both Palestinian narratives and Israeli narratives of what happened and continues to happen. Side by side, the course attempts to describe and humanize the narrative of dispossession and resistance of the Palestinians alongside the narrative of survival, return, and state-building of Jewish Israelis.

Article
News and Blogs

The Impossible Dream? Reconstructionist Rabbi Works to Make Israeli-Palestinian Peace a Reality

Rabbi Donna Kirshbaum has never been one to shy away from a challenge. She has operated a dairy farm in the Missouri Ozarks, eked out a living as a classical cellist, enrolled in the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in her 50s and started a new life in Israel in her 60s. Now a member of Israel’s largest grassroots movement, she is pursuing a goal that’s eluded the world for a century: a negotiated political settlement between the Israelis and Palestinians.

News
News and Blogs

Pride Month, Israel, and Us

A personal message from Rabbi Deborah Waxman

News
News and Blogs

Joint Israel Commission Meets at Convention

The Joint Israel Commission gathered in person at the Reconstructing Judaism convention. Rabbi Maurice Harris reports on their activities and next steps. 

News
News and Blogs

Israel Mission Trip, March 2018: A Travelogue

When we began our Israel journey together in Tel Aviv on March 7th, we were 25 people representing 11 Reconstructionist communities who travelled there on the promise to go places and meet people that even veteran Israel travelers hadn’t visited or met. And on that promise, the Reconstructing Judaism Israel Mission Trip delivered.

News

Israel at 70: State of Hope, Conflict, and Possibilities

Reflections on Israel as it turns 70

Article
News and Blogs

Remembering How To Listen: A Reconstructionist Trip to Israel

Jennifer Ferentz recently returned from the first-ever Reconstructionist Birthright trip to Israel. She reflects on her experiences. 

News

Pregnant in Israel

During her first pregnancy, Rabbi Amy Klein shared this reflection on the experience of pregnancy in Israel.

Article
News and Blogs

The First Reconstructionist Birthright Journey

A participant on the first Reconstructionist Birthright trip reflects on her journey.

News

Lekh Lekha and the Promised Land: Text Study

This text study, prepared by Rabbi Nina Mandel, contains pairs of passages examining biblical and contemporary notions of what “Promised Land” means, and how it has been interpreted by Jewish thinkers over the millennia.

Document

A Zionism Worth Reconstructing

Klein examines how experiencing the contradictions of Israeli life can help young North American Jews feel connected to Israel.

Article

Where Next?

This 2004 report of the movement’s Israel Policies Task Force emerged from a movement-wide process that solicited thoughtful input from Reconstructionists across the country. While much has changed over the past decade-plus, most of this earlier report’s framework and recommendations are still compelling and sound.

Article

Values, Middle East Politics and the Future of Israel

Robert Prybutok critiques an idealistic approach to Israel's negotiations with its neighbors, and argues for tough-minded pragmatism in the service of ideals.

Article

Finding a New Narrative

Rabbi Toba Spitzer describes two competing narrative frames about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the need for new thinking to transcend them. 

Article

On Occupied Ground

Rabbi Rebecca Lillian reflects on the moral hazard posed by Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.

Article