Rabbi Landsberg's Blog

Meeting the Ambassador

After the heated discussions of this morning’s seminar on Zionism, it was a stark contrast this afternoon to meet with the Canadian Ambassador to Israel, Jon Allen. Together with members of all the Canadian delegations, I listened to and exchanged views with Ambassador Allen for something over an hour.

The meeting kicked off with an outpouring of gratitude for the steadfast support of the Canadian government for the State of Israel. This didn’t prevent the Ambassador from being forthright articulating how he believes Israel must better ensure its own security and support from the international community. He reiterated Canada's belief in a two state solution that will address the challenges of borders, refugees, and settlements without minimizing the challenges this would entail.

Nearly as interesting as the remarks of the Ambassador were the responses of the assembled Canadian groups that seemed to span from a polite hearing to scepticism to outright dismay. The responses were not simply academic or solely matters of ideology. Many of those present are parents or grandparents (or even one great-grandfather) of citizens of the state of Israel. Even the most diplomatic discussion of the threats and challenges that Israel is facing could not disguise the personal fears and hopes that underlay the reactions.

It was delightful meeting Ambassador John Allen. He is clearly a committed Canadian public servant of the first rank and does his country and Israel a great service.

Jews come in all shapes and sizes....

Here at the World Zionist Congress you meet every type of Jew which--as much as what is said--is a statement itself about Jews as they are: in all their diversity and differing visions of how to remake the Jewish world. In every meeting there are Shomer Hatzair blue shirted youth proudly holding up the flag of Socialist Zionism, observant ladies in their hats from the world Mizrachi organization, together with representatives from every other shade of Jewish Zionist life including ourselves of course.

The difference between a meeting here and many I have attended elsewhere in the Jewish world is the fiercely clear fact that what divides the strands of Jewishness are real and passionate. For example, this morning during a talk on Zionism/Post-Zionism/Renewed Zionism by Dr Micha Goodman (of the Hebrew University and one of Debra’s teachers at the Hartman Institute), one of the moderators stood up and said that perhaps the real issue is that Reform and other liberal Jews are supporters of the Palestinian cause and not of Israel! With this as but one example of the accusations that are flying in all directions (remember that Shas is now for the first time represented here at the Congress), you can imagine that a number of the meetings are already quite heated.

I think that the interactions that happen at the WZC are of primary importance. The reality of the diverse Jewish world--the many accents, languages, and viewpoints--and the reality of Israel as the meeting place for all is palpable. As well, one point of great pride: the Canadian delegation (Mizrachi, ARZA and Mercaz) interact with great respect and friendship.

　

　

　

At the Caucus...

The Zionist Congress begins tomorrow, but nonetheless today was our first day of all day meetings.  The pre-Congress caucus met at the Hebrew Union College campus.  There is a lot to say already but is is late Jerusalem time (and even later for my jet-lagged brain), so let me just share some headlines now, which maybe I will have time to chew on later.

ARZA-Canada is part of the larger movement, ARZENU (International Federation of Reform and Progressive Religious Zionists).  We heard reports from the state of Reform Zionism around the world (struggling in Switzerland, blossoming in Australia and so forth).

Of great interest is the fact that ARZENU is now in alliance with both Israel's Labour party and Meretz (which together are the two most progressive Zionist parties in Israeli politics).  Collectively, they form the largest caucus at this World Zionist Congress.  Rabbi Gilad Kariv, the leader of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, was clear that the alliance of these three progressive Zionist forces will be a powerful combination to renew the flame of a progressive Zionism that promotes democracy,  Zionism and a state of Israel as a vital force for Jewish renewal. 

 More tomorrow....

Off to the World Zionist Congress..

Together with my wife - Rabbi Landsberg - we have arrived in israel for the World Zionist Congress. During the Congress I shall be posting reports to give a flavour of the events and convey what it means to this Canadian ARZA delegate.

A little Jargon busting: ARZA Canada is the Zionist movement of Canadian Reform Judaism. Together with its sister movements throughout the world, Reform Zionists are part of ARZEINU which is the global Zionist movement of Reform Judaism.

Thanks to Rabbi Landsberg for letting me use her blog during the Congress.

Thinking in Greenwich Mean Time

Yesterday, the New York Times ran an article on the opening of the Jewish Museum London ("The History of the Jewish Star in the Realm of the Union Jack")--Oy!  I now have yet another site to include in my imagined Europe-with-Adam-and-without-the-children travels.  But back to my point:  

A few weeks ago, I listened to a BBC podcast (one I regularly enjoy) called Start the Week with Andrew Marr, which--among other matters--also dealt with the history of Jews in England.  It is absolutely worth a listen.  One of Marr's four guests was famed lawyer Anthony Julius who spoke on his newly published work, "Trials of the Diaspora"--a history of English anti-Semitism.  What was most striking to me was Marr's apparent deep surprise (almost shock) at the fears and concerns of today's Jewish community in England.  Also of great interest was the conversation between Julius and the two other Jewish guests on the show, author Jonathan Safran Foer and economist Graciela Chichilnisky.

NB I've linked to the BBC webpage to access the program.  You can equally tune in on iTunes.  Cheers!

Evolving and Devolving and The New York Review of Books

Cutting religion down to size seems to be in vogue these days.  Robert Wright (The Evolution of God) is no Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins whose anti-religion diatribes seem decidedly venomous.  Instead, Wright explains Judaism--and, for that matter, the other great faiths--as the evolution of humanity's moral impulses. 

I just sung Adon Olam to my children as they went to sleep.  Why?  I want them to know in their soul that God is near and great.  From a surprising quarter (The New York Review of Books) I was happy to read a thoughtful take-down of Wright's thesis.  Professor of Biology H. Allen Orr's article, "Can Science Explain Religion?" can be read here. 

You will be unsurprised to hear that my answer is no.  Lots of cheap arguments are made in defence of religion usually along the lines of  "there are no atheists in the foxhole".  I am not in that camp.  I grant respect to persons of all faiths and of no faith and have always scorned the the atheist-foxhole idea as cheap to both those of faith and those of no faith. What I will not accept is the mystery of the Jews, Israel and their God reduced to moral determinism.  Thank you Professor Orr!

(But you can blame NYRB for this being such a late night post--same edition also includes Tom Segev's review of Avi Shlaim's new work, Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations.  Segev, not really known as a representative of Israel's political right, offers a full and piercing critique.)

You heard it here first...

I don't go for blowing Temple Emanu-El's trumpet, so to speak, but I cannot resist bringing your attention to David Brooks of the New York Times calling out Professor Moshe Halbertal's article in the New Republic as one of the finest magazine essays of the year. Brooks wrote in today's column:

After the Israeli incursion into Gaza, the U.N. produced the Goldstone Report, a tendentious and simple-minded account of Israeli tactics. But the report at least produced a sophisticated response, “The Goldstone Illusion,” by Moshe Halbertal in The New Republic.

Here’s a typical problem: Hamas fires rockets from apartment buildings. Israel calls the residents of the buildings to warn them a counterattack is coming. Hamas then escorts the residents to the roof, knowing Israeli drones will not fire on crowded roofs. Israel then deploys a “roof-knocking missile,” a weapon designed to scare people off roofs in preparation for an attack. Halbertal wrestles with the moral boundaries that should guide this kind of warfare.

For those who came to our scholar in residence Shabbaton this fall with Professor Halbertal, this is all old news. 

Without comment (yet), let me direct you to another recent article--different subject, different author, but also of deep relevance.  Here is Timothy Garton Ash's article on historical reckoning at Jedwabne and the deep recesses of the human soul:  As at Auschwitz, the gates of hell are built and torn down by human hearts.   This killing in Poland 1941 by Poles against their Polish Jewish neighbors during Nazi occupation has lost none of its power to shock.  It gives one pause before any easy assumptions we may make about man's essential goodness or any other trait. Reading this piece made me search for the words of the great Polish Jewish writer, intellectual and former dissident Adam Michnik whom I recalled writing something in the New York Times when the revelations of this massacre were made some eight years ago. I was gratified to find them and startled once again by their power--here is the piece.  I am a rabbi, not a moral philosopher, nor a politician, but I wholeheartedly endorse the words of Professor Ash when he remarks

what human beings are capable of when they find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. (And to be a small town in eastern Poland occupied first by the Soviets, then by the Nazis, then by a Soviet-imposed Polish communist regime, is almost a definition of wrong place, wrong time.) Anyone born in a luckier place and time must say: there, but for the grace of geography, go I.

I am also reminded that Zionism was a movement dedicated to the notion of never letting Jewish Geography be a game of chance...

It's been a long time...

It has been a while since I posted to this blog - more than a year, in truth . The reasons I stopped are  shrouded in mystery (otherwise known as preparations for the Chagim (High Holy Days) last year).   I say ashamnu.  I miss this route for contact with Temple Emanu-El folk; my days were often invigorated by a congregant's thoughtful response to a post.  I never cease to be amazed by our congregation's love of learning and the Jewish people.   So today I begin anew.   I have chosen a new design with blooming new flowers to both celebrate the relaunch and to hearten me against the snow outside.     

There is so much going on at Temple Emanu-El, and I  know not everyone can attend it all, given our busy lives.  A few weeks ago we were honoured to have Professor Moshe Halbertal of the Hebrew University, The Hartman Institute and NYU.  Professor Hartman spoke about many things:  forgiveness in Jewish tradition, and State and Religion in modern Israel.   But Professor Halbertal also spoke about the Goldstone Report and what it means for Israel.  His words are bracing and not always easy reading for those of us who hold Israel dear, but I recommend them to every Jew who wishes to posses a morally grounded but not demagogic understanding of the challenges facing the Israel Defense Forces today.   The presentation that Professor Halbertal made was a preview of a much remarked upon article he has since published in The New Republic - read it here. for an alternative view on Goldstone amongst many may I direct you to this view of Professor David Shulman also of the Hebrew university.

"The Time Has Come to Say These Things.."

Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave a much talked about interview in Yedhiot Ahronoth.   Read it here.        

Parshat Hashavua....

It is not always so easy in our hectic schedules to keep abreast of the Parshat Hashavua. I keep my pocket sized Torah by my bed for those moments of nocturnal lucidity brought on by parenting. Here is another way -  Lech Lecha (Genesis 12:1 - 17:27) brought to you by G-DCAST. It's quite entrancing.

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You can subscribe to the G-DCAST site and receive the Parsha everyweek here.