The Best Defense

One year ago, in June of 2014, Park Avenue Synagogue hosted President Shimon Peres in his final farewell address to the American Jewish community. You may recall, as I do, our anxious questions as we awaited word on the fate of the three kidnapped Israeli teenagers – Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer, and Eyal Yifrach. And you, like me, can also recall our dashed hopes as their murdered bodies were found the very next day. On this, their first yahrzeits, we remember them and pray that the Fraenkel, Shaer, and Yifrach families will find comfort after an unspeakable loss.

One year later, we gather to celebrate Shabbat and welcome another great Israeli statesman, MK Yair Lapid, into our community. I cannot help but reflect on the year gone by. The kidnappings and murders, last summer’s war with Gaza, the ongoing threat of a nuclear Iran, the emergence of new threats in a radicalized and destabilized Middle East. A world Jewry on edge after the attacks last summer in Sarcelles and last January in Paris. A virulent anti-Semitism which at worst has proven violent, and more often than not is a pernicious campaign to delegitimize Israel in the world community.

The year gone by has been testing and transformative for so many reasons. Israel has emerged with a right-leaning government that has found itself at odds with the American administration. This year will not be remembered as a strong one for United States-Israel relations. And we, the American Jewish community, have at times found ourselves squirming at the pinch of seeing the Israel we love so stand at odds with our American elected leadership.

We here in this synagogue, a proud Conservative/Masorti congregation, have been watching with increasing concern the tightening grip of the Chief Rabbinate in Israel on matters of personal identity. We see an Israel that does not recognize the Judaism that is preached and practiced here. An Israel that does not recognize the marriages or conversions of a non-Haredi rabbinate. An Israel in which a special needs bar mitzvah was canceled by the mayor of Rehovot last month. Why? For the sin of being celebrated under non-Orthodox auspices. At times, at too many times, we have been left to wonder whether Israel loves us as much as we love Israel. For Israel, for the Diaspora-Israel relationship, the year has been a difficult one and we do ourselves, Israel, and our relationship a disservice if we try to sweep these difficulties under the rug.

So as we reflect on this year, as we prepare for our summers, as I introduce our guest, what is the message for this day? To you Haver Knesset Yair Lapid, Chairman of the Yesh Atid Party, it is an easy task. I have but two words for you. Thank you. Or better yet, in Hebrew: Todah rabbah. Thank you for being an advocate on behalf of Israel. Thank you for taking a stand on the internal and external threats pulling at the fabric of Israeli society. Thank you for being at the forefront of the effort to create a pluralistic vision of Jewish life in Israel. Thank you for speaking out whenever the sinister head of BDS rears itself in Europe, America, or anywhere else. Most of all, todah rabbah for being the strongest voice on record for Jewish peoplehood in the Knesset, a spokesperson for arevut, global Jewish responsibility. Though we live here, and you live in Israel, we know – because you have taught us – “I could be you and you could be me.” It is a realization that alerts us to our common past, our present mutual obligations, and our shared Jewish future. Mei-omek libi u-v’shem kulanu, from the depths of my heart and in the name of all of us: Todah rabbah.

And to you, my Park Avenue Synagogue family, when it comes to the challenges of the hour, I have but one message, as taught by a great American, Vince Lombardi: “The best defense is a great offense.” What I mean by this is that we have a choice. We can sit here and schrei gevalt, complaining about the American administration, the Israeli government, the Chief Rabbinate, and the diaspora-Israel relationship, or we can actually do something about it. We at Park Avenue Synagogue can stand as a model of what it means to love Israel, to advocate on her behalf publicly and privately, to defend her against existential threats, and to represent the “sane center” that is so desperately needed in our public discourse. We can show the world that one can advocate for Israel’s security and for a two-state solution at one and the same time. That we need not and will not yield an inch to those who would jeopardize either Israel’s democratic or Jewish character, on the right or the left. On those matters most dear to us, that sit at the heart of the promise of Israel, we can and must respond in word and in deed.

And yes, as a Conservative/Masorti congregation, we must work towards the day that the Judaism we love so has a home in Israel. But this message is made most clearly not by playing defense, not by complaining, but by living vibrant and engaged Jewish lives, by building dynamic Jewish communities that dare not be ignored. There are those in Israel who believe that American Jewry is a passing fad; why take us seriously, they say, when we won’t be here in another generation. If we want – if you want – Israel to take your Judaism seriously, we ourselves need to take our own Judaism seriously. In other words, we need to play offense. We need every member of Knesset visiting America to see dynamic non-Orthodox communities like ours, living engaged Jewish lives, committed to the Jewish people, committed to the well-being of Israel. The force of our argument will never come by way of complaining at a distance. A Jewish identity whose foundation is built on vicarious complaints about the Israeli Rabbinate is not a Judaism that will last or is worth defending in the first place. Our Torah reading recounts that when Moses was approached by Joshua regarding two men – Eldad and Medad – who claimed to speak on behalf of God, Moses reproached not the two men, but Joshua, “Would that all the people speak for God.” In other words, take your own yiddishkeit seriously, and people will take you seriously.

Haver Knesset Yair Lapid, on this visit, and on all future visits to America, please know that you have a home with us at Park Avenue Synagogue. Come in peace and return in peace. Return to Israel with the message that you saw a vibrant, pluralistic, non-Orthodox, community that loves Israel and stands by Israel. Like two strings on a violin, though separated by a distance, when touched by a bow, we have but one voice. That is my message to you, and that is my message to my community.

Please join me in welcoming Haver Knesset Yair Lapid.