Editorial

A Communal Rosh Hashanah Resolution

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A well-known greeting used in the days preceding Rosh Hashanah is “Tichleh shannah v’killeloteha, tachel shannah uvirchoteha.” It means, “Bring an end to the year and all its curses, and begin the New Year and all its blessings.”


The words come from a Hebrew poem written in 13th century Spain, but the sentiment is most applicable to the end of 5774 and our hopes for 5775.

5774 was a difficult year, one we’d rather forget. It opened with the controversial findings of the Pew Report, “A Portrait of American Jews,” in early October and the U.S.-sponsored negotiations between Israel and Palestinians that took many from cautious hope to despair. Next came the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens and the calls for and acts of revenge for those murders. The growth of anti-Semitism around the globe has everyone on edge.

Hamas missiles fell on Israeli towns while Jews in our own communities were divided about Israel and Zionism. “Operation Protective Edge” and the death and destruction in its wake have left us with much uncertainty. Bring an end to the year and all its curses, indeed!

The High Holidays traditionally mark a period of 10 days during which we engage in heshbon hanefesh (deep introspection), mostly as individuals. But soul-searching is something that is incumbent upon us as a community as well. Could we have done anything to make the past year a better one? Can we do anything to make a difference in the year ahead?

The Jewish world faces many challenges that can have an impact on both Jewish life and Jewish lives (as well as the lives of others). Too often our community is unable to engage in meaningful conversation about perilous issues. The Jewish world has become averse to internal conflict, often preferring the anodyne voices of the echo chamber. One must ask: if we cannot talk among our own people, how can we ever expect to come to a peaceful resolution with others?

We should consider a communal Rosh Hashanah resolution: to learn to listen to those with whom we may disagree with open minds and hearts, and to learn to disagree agreeably.

This originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on September 25, 2014.

Sowing A Master Seed

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The recent release of the documentary, “The Green Prince,” came at the perfect time. After a summer of Operation Protective Edge, we could use a breath of hope and optimism. On its surface, the film tells the story of Mosab Hassan Yousef, a Hamas informant, and his Shin Bet enlister and handler, Gonen ben Yitzhak. Digging a bit deeper, however, reveals an inspiring story of friendship, loyalty and admiration between two individuals who had every reason to hate and mistrust each other.


For ten years, the two collaborated to foil Hamas’s terrorist activities. Both were creative and unorthodox; both were courageous and both took paths that transcended the constraints of their ingrained politics and ideologies. They found and followed their own moral compasses, taking on the responsibility of acting on those convictions.

In the present context of fragile, temporary cease-fires and fierce armed conflict, one has to ask oneself, “How did this Palestinian and this Israeli, each entrenched on opposite sides of a decades long conflict, overcome those external barriers to develop this kind of selfless bond? What was their secret?”

This is one small story about just two people, but it is a story with a very big message.

This film serves as a reminder and inspiration that it is through individual people that both peace and war are waged, and that tolerance, understanding and acceptance are flip sides of intolerance, revenge and hatred. Each of us is capable of forming relationships with anyone; it is a mental barrier that tells us otherwise.

At some point, that seed of hope at the core of “The Green Prince” must take root.

This originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on September 18, 2014.

Peace of Mind

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September 11, 2001 marked a day of fear, disorientation and profound sadness for all Americans. Life as we knew it was suddenly altered. Since then, we have learned to live with its aftermath: color-coded terror alerts, heightened airport security and increased surveillance camera presence. We have become accustomed to the new post-9/11 “normal.” We may not be our pre-9/11 complacent selves but neither are we perpetually on the brink of panic. We take precautions, but we carry on.


September 11, 2014 presents similar challenges for Jews everywhere in the world. A wave of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel demonstrations has swept across every European country, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States since the start of Operation Protective Edge on July 8. Daily reports of violence and defamation against Jews and Jewish property are impossible to ignore. The head of the Israeli-Jewish Congress, Vladimir Sloutzer, warned, “Never before since the Holocaust have we seen such a situation as today.” Such pronouncements are unnerving.

World Jewry is on edge, with good reason. This is not paranoia; to be anxious about the scope of this toxic hostility makes sense. There is a real and present danger in this anti-Semitic trend, and the relentless media coverage only increases our unease. Furthermore, there is the added complication of Israeli policies, politics and tactics with which not all Jews agree. However, disagreements with the policies of the Israeli government does not make us any more or less vulnerable to anti-Semitic attacks.

How can we American Jews avoid being consumed by feelings of helplessness and victimization? How do we maintain inner calm and peace of mind in this turbulent time of vandalism and desecration?

The answers are as different as the individuals asking the questions. For some, engagement, action and protest lighten the weight. Many seek the support of community and discussion and the outlet of action. For others, turning a hopeful eye inward works.

We must find ways to cope as individuals and as a global community with this new fear, disorientation and sadness. If we let the enemy destroy our peace of mind, then they will have truly won.

This originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on September 11, 2014.

The Gift of Elul

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Elul, the lunar month that precedes Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, marks a distinctive time in the Jewish calendar. By tradition, we begin the monthlong process of reflection and introspection that will culminate in the High Holy Days. We sound the shofar almost daily to awaken our souls and remind us of the special tasks that lie ahead. Much as we clean our earthly homes to prepare for Passover, we use this month to prepare our spiritual homes to welcome a new year.


We take stock of our relationships with ourselves, with others and with God, with the goal of making better choices to make the world a better place. It is a private, internal and personal task.

The process of looking inward is always challenging, but this year it is especially so. External events demand our attention. With Israel at risk and global anti-Semitism surging, self-reflection may feel self-indulgent. Too much danger looms, and too many need our support, to sit idly thinking about ourselves.

And yet, heeding the call of the shofar may be exactly what we need. Hearing the sound is meant to encourage us to search our souls and acknowledge our weaknesses, with the goal of becoming more compassionate towards each other and more reverent towards God. It is a time to celebrate life, an opportunity to resensitize ourselves and to renew our commitments. We are reminded that our individual choices matter and that every day we are given the opportunity to choose anew.

These times of large-scale political upheaval can make us feel frustrated and hopeless about our ability to improve the world. After all, others, much more politically powerful than us, are the decisionmakers. The month of Elul reminds us that each individual matters, that “tikkun olam” (repairing the world) depends on each of us doing our best. Quiet self-assessment and reflection may be a great place to start.

This originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on August 28, 2014.

Gaza’s Real Enemy

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On August 4, Nobel Peace Laureate Eli Wiesel published a full-page Op-ed ad rebuking Hamas for using children in Gaza as human shields against Israeli rockets. Titled “Jews rejected child sacrifices 3,500 years ago. Now it’s Hamas’ turn,” it ran in major U.S. newspapers including The New York Times and The Washington Post, and was paid for by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s This World: The Values Network.


In the ad, Wiesel contended that the world must shift its criticism away from Israeli soldiers for the suffering of those in Gaza and instead hold the real culprit, Hamas, solely to blame. He used these points to build his case.

First, although Hamas and the Palestinians both live in Gaza, they are not alike. Hamas is a recognized terrorist death cult that uses children as suicide bombers and human shields. The Palestinian citizens of Gaza want a hopeful future of peace for their families. Instead, Hamas has imposed its murderous regime on them.

Second, Palestinian parents have more in common with Israeli parents than they do with Hamas. Parents in Gaza and parents in Israel are united by their love for their children and by the fact that neither would voluntarily put a child in danger. Hamas deliberately puts children and other civilians in harm’s way.

Third, both Israelis and Palestinians suffer at the hands of Hamas. Israel struggles for its survival as a nation. Those people of Gaza who reject Hamas’ credo of terror are disenfranchised and alienated by the very people they elected and entrusted to protect and defend them. Instead of the peace and hope they desire and deserve, Hamas gives them war and despair.

Last, both Muslim and Jewish cultures share a love of life and learning while Hamas promotes a barbaric cult of death.

Some have criticized Wiesel’s language as unduly provocative and forceful. The London Times even refused to run the paid ad. Stylistic affinities notwithstanding, he undeniably makes a powerful and rational argument for why Arabs and Jews and “all moderate men and women of faith” must view the war differently.

According to Wiesel, this is not a battle between Arab and Jew or Israeli and Palestinian as much as it is a battle between Hamas and Israel and Hamas and the people of Gaza. Israel’s fight with Hamas, a force determined to annihilate it, is for its right to exist. The true Muslims among the Gaza Palestinians, the ones held hostage and occupied by their own people, are unable to fight back against their Hamas oppressors.

Wiesel’s plea to the world to recognize that Hamas, and not Israel, is the real enemy of the Gaza Palestinians deserves to be heard.

This originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on August 14, 2014.

In Their Own Words

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Every summer, hundreds of American teenagers travel to Israel under the auspices of programs such as the Lappin Foundation’s Youth to Israel. Y2I, a “rite de passage” for many North Shore Jewish teens, is intended as a life-changing Israel experience. 2014’s trip was uniquely so.

As their plane landed at Ben Gurion Airport, news broke that the fate of three kidnapped boys was clear: their murdered bodies had been found. Within days, Hamas rockets sequestered the Y2I group in northern Israel, precluding visits to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and Masada. It was simply unsafe to proceed with the trip “as usual.”

The teens wrote post-trip essays about their experience and, with the permission of the Lappin Foundation, we share passages from many of them, joined together into a single voice.

“This trip taught me the true definition of being Jewish. It was not until I was actually in Israel, with the rockets and fighting, that I understood how strong we are. Israel is an amazing and resilient country and we were lucky enough to witness it firsthand.

The Israeli kids told me how important it was to just go through your day with a smile, and make the best of a dim situation. I will take that piece of advice with me and use it for the rest of my life. I never thought one trip could teach me such a big lesson.

What I admire most about Israel is her strength and heart. Israel and the Jewish people have always faced adversity. But even when times get tough, even when other people and other countries knock us down and try to belittle us or hurt us or say we are not good enough, we always get up.

I feel it is part of my responsibility to let people know about the real struggles in Israel, not the fake rumors. This is extremely important to me, and Y21 gave me the ability to understand it better.”

During this wrenching time for Israel and Jews everywhere, it is easy to get caught in the web of relentless media coverage, political polemics and sharp-tongued rhetoric. How fortunate we are that we can also tune into the voices of those with the most at stake: our children, who will live in a future we will not see.

This originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on July 31, 2014.

Time to Restore Peace and Security

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Israel has reluctantly launched a military offensive against Hamas in response to repeated attacks against its citizenry. Fortunately most of the world agrees that Israel has an unconditional right to protect its people; some believe it should have happened sooner, while others fear that this operation could turn into a broader and more extensive war.


The fact is that war has broken out in Israel once again, and we in the diaspora must stand as one in support of Israel’s efforts to eliminate the danger terrorists pose. What options are there when people want to kill you simply because you exist, not because of anything you do or don’t do? How do you make peace with people whose mandate is your destruction?

As CJP President Barry Shrage said at a recent memorial for the three slain Israeli teens, “We don’t believe that tragedy is inevitable, we don’t believe that we’re trapped in endless cycles of violence. We just can’t afford to mourn any longer. Now is the time for action.”

We must look at the reality of what is on the ground today — not what could have been, not what should have been, but what is. As we go to press, Israel has expressed willingness to consider cease-fire terms proposed by the Egyptians. Hamas has refused. One million Israelis have spent time in a bomb shelter this past week. No country in the world would or should tolerate terror attacks on their civilian population.

We support and echo the statement of Combined Jewish Philanthropies/ Jewish Community Relations Council by urging decent people everywhere to be especially firm, vocal and unequivocal in expressing not only their support for Israel, but also an absolute intolerance for Hamas’s assaults.

On this we must stand united.

This originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on July 17, 2014.

Pikuach Nefesh — Saving a Life

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Pikuach Nefesh, the obligation to save a life in jeopardy, is as old as the Torah from which it comes. Valuing human life over all else is a basic tenet of Judaism. Its purpose, according to Maimonides, is to encourage compassion, loving-kindness and peace in the world.


Israel showed the world that this moral obligation is constant, as applicable in times of war as in times of peace, when it traded POW Gilad Shalit for 1,027 imprisoned terrorists in 2011. Israelis supported their government’s action by a 6 to 1 margin, according to a Jerusalem Post poll published the next day.

Contrast that to recent events at home. When the Taliban exchanged U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl for five prisoners held in the U.S. Guantanamo prison, a Pew Research Center and USA Today poll indicated that only 34% of those questioned thought it was the right thing to do. The cover of Time magazine ran a picture of Bergdahl with the oversized caption, “Was He Worth It?”

Israel and the United States both have their share of political infighting and finger pointing. Polarization of right and left, ultra-this and ultra-that, are equally prevalent. Yet the way each country responded to its government’s deal to bring home its citizen prisoners of war couldn’t be more different. Or more revealing.

Both soldiers faced criticism of their conduct after they were freed. Both governments came under fire for negotiating with terrorists. In the U.S., the conversation about whether the swap was “worth it” focuses on public examination and criticism of Bergdahl’s character. Allegations and political jockeying have been swift, eclipsing all else.

In Israel, although there was an undercurrent questioning whether Shalit could have avoided captivity, his homecoming was celebrated. Despite the lopsided nature of the exchange, the public did not attack Shalit or his family personally. In Israel, a Jewish life is unconditionally sacred. Gilad Shalit needed to be brought home. Period.

Politics aside, the plurality of U.S. citizens could learn a valuable lesson from Israel and reconsider their reaction to Bowe Bergdahl’s release. Jews everywhere should look in our collective Jewish mirror, remember that which binds us as a unique people, and celebrate what we see.

This editorial originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on June 19, 2014.

Pope Francis Visits Israel With a Message for All

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Pope Francis Visits Israel With a Message for All


Although Pope Francis came to the Middle East as an emissary of the Vatican and representative of the world’s Catholics, his message stressing inclusion and cooperation was more global than partisan. By the end of his three-day tour, he left an impression of himself as a world leader of humanity because he acted like one.

Pope Francis’ point was that only through interfaith respect, dialogue and friendship can we hope to build a better world, and that each individual can make a difference. His message was clear, consistent and powerful, and he reinforced it repeatedly in word and deed. Rather than just making heartfelt but abstract speeches, he went one step further. He invited Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Sheik Omar Abboud, two friends with whom he regularly collaborated when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, to join his papal delegation. These three friends showed the world what it could look like when Muslim, Jew and Christian lead by example.

He met with Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders. With all three, he stressed common ground and shared monotheistic theological heritage. He spoke of the significance of Christianity’s Jewish roots and the role of Abraham in Christianity and Islam. He spoke of the importance of free access to Jerusalem’s holy sites and condemned religious intolerance, persecution and violence. To an audience that included the grand mufti of Jerusalem, he declared, “May no one abuse the name of God through violence!” Again and again, he stressed universal themes common to all.

We are not so nave to think a papal visit would make everyone in Israel happy, nor could it replace top-down policy negotiations. Nonetheless, a bottom-up approach that emphasizes redefining personal relations on the basis of empathy and communication may just have a better chance at creating the basic infrastructure for a culture of peace. As John F. Kennedy said, “Let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper, let us strive to build peace, a willingness to work for peace in the hearts and minds of all of our people.”

Pope Francis’ words and actions were a step in this constructive direction.

This editorial was originally published in the Jewish Journal on June 5, 2014.

A Lesson From St. Louis

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On June 17, Metropolitan Opera’s General Manager Peter Gelb announced that it would not be simulcasting John Adams’s “The Death of Klinghoffer” to cinemas around the world this fall. ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman praised the decision, expressing fear of how the opera might be received in a time of rising anti-Semitism abroad. Adams and others condemned the cancellation, maintaining that it promoted the same kind of intolerance the opera’s detractors claimed to be preventing.


The disagreement over the simulcast was settled after familiar players took familiar entrenched positions. A better approach might have been to recognize the conflict as a chance to promote dialogue and education. We wish someone had thought to adopt the Opera Theatre of St. Louis’s approach.

When Opera Theatre announced its intention to perform the piece in 2011, the city embraced the work’s controversial history as an opportunity to generate conversation on interfaith subjects, and the relevance and role of art in the world. Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders in the community formed a steering committee and created a guide to help study groups begin structured and constructive discussions of the themes raised in the provocative work. The packet included background materials, libretto excerpts and a chronology of events; the Opera Theatre’s website promoted it.

By contrast, the reactions in New York have been polarized and polarizing. The opera has been condemned as a rationalization of terrorism and false moral equivalencies between Palestinian and Jewish suffering. The Met’s action has been condemned as shocking, shortsighted and indefensible, a concession to certain donors and a violation of artistic free expression.

It takes vision, commitment and courage to welcome new ways of approaching the same disagreements. We could all learn a lesson from St. Louis. Maybe the next time such an opportunity arises, we’ll recognize its potential.

This originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on July 3, 2014