Jerusalem and the Jews...

There is little to add to the pain, sorrow and horror in the face of the deaths at the Mercaz Harav in Jerusalem. This Shabbat at Temple Emanu-El we added the list of the victims to our kaddish list:

Yohai Livshitz, 18, from Jerusalem; Yonatan Yitzhak Eldar, 16, from Shilo; Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, from Kohav Hashahar; and Neria Cohen, 15, also from the capital, Segev Peniel Avihail, 15, from Neve Daniel, Avraham David Moses, 16, from Efrat, Roee Roth, 18, from Elkana and Doron Meherete, 26, from Ashdod.

Zichronam Livracha

Now more than ever it behooves us to enter a debate that has started in the Diaspora over whether Jews in the Diaspora have a "voice" in the fate of Jerusalem ("One Jerusalem", as the slogan goes, or two?).  As someone acutely conscious of the fact that my children are safely in bed as I type, I say quite clearly: no - for those of us who have chosen to live chutz la'aretz, we forfeit the right to determine the borders of the State of Israel, whatever our fears, hopes and politics.

Please read this article Slate and--for sense of where the leadership of the North American Reform movement is--read this article from December 2007.