Membership and Bulletin Information

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Rabbi´s Message, from May 2006 bulletin:

     As May approaches, so does a season of civic holidays from the Israeli calendar, especially the dual holiday of Yom ha-Zikaron and Yom ha-Atzma-ut – the Israeli version of Memorial Day and Independence Day.

     Israelis, when thinking of how to celebrate and commemorate, understood the intrinsic link between honoring those who have fallen in their struggle for independence, and the celebration of that independence. So on two consecutive days, the second of which corresponds to the day on the Hebrew calendar when, in 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared Israel an independent country, Israelis mourn and celebrate in close proximity.

     After a day of sad music on the radio, addresses by politicians lamenting losses, and celebrating victories, Israelis switch gears as if throwing a switch. As evening falls on Israeli Independence Day, the party starts – people take to the streets, start up their barbecues, and kids go around banging each other on their heads with toy hammers that squeak with each impact, spray canned string at each other, underneath fireworks over the skies of most Israeli cities.

     As American Jews, we celebrate another independence day, on July 4^th, where such revelry can be found – we have a more difficult time connecting our Israeli families’ version of this celebration. And now, as many Americans, and in fact the world, continue to be ambivalent about Israel and its politics, feeling totally enthusiastic about Israel doesn’t come naturally to everyone.

     So, here are a couple of thoughts about our history with Israel, and how history impacts our present.

     First, many of us over-estimate Israel’s dependence on support from the United States. In 1948, while President Truman was the first national leader to officially recognize the existence of Israel, Americans, Jewish or otherwise, were not 100% behind the Israeli project. Israel’s socialist roots meant that the American government did not support Israel in any way of substance until 1973, when President Nixon airlifted both military and humanitarian supplies to Israel to help their cause during the Yom Kippur war, when Israel suffered surprise attacks from its neighbors. Nixon’s help began the first pragmatic ties of any significance between Israel and the US.

     Meanwhile, American Jews also refrained from jumping on the Israeli bandwagon at first. While there was significant financial support to Israel through the United Jewish Appeal, and organizations like Hadassah, American Jewish movements were not fully enthusiastic. Only with the stellar success of the Six Day War in 1967 did American Jews begin to feel a true connection to the patriotic spirit of Israel.

     Today, Americans make up a very small number of Jews who have made “aliyah,” or immigrated to Israel, in comparison to Jews from all other parts of the world, in no small part due to how well we have done here.

     As we enter this season of focus on Israel, let us work to learn a little bit more about its history, its people, and our connection to the land that plays such a central role in our people’s consciousness. To connect to a place that feels truly like home, to find a sense of family as is so palpably present in Israel for us – these things are at the core of what it means to be Jewish.