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Mourning For Israel's Seeming Dash Toward Self-Destruction

By Rabbi Michael Lerner

18 July, 2010
Countercurrents.org

I do not wish for the destruction of Israel, so on Tisha B'av this year (starting this Monday evening, July 19 at 9 p.m. and continuing till dark on Tuesday July 20th) I'll be mourning for Israel's path toward self-destruction and on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur I'll be atoning for the way that the Israeli majority seems to be violating the Torah's commands to "love your neighbor," "love the stranger," "pursue justice, justice" and the Mishnah's addition of "love peace and chase after it." As God says through Isaiah in the selection Jews read this past Sabbath, "who asked you to trample on My couryard" and "I detest your offerings" when you are not doing acts of lovingkindness and generosity, caring for the weakest elements in your society (which in today's Israel translates to immigrants, the poor, Oriental Jews, and Palestinians). A few days ago I sent you a note about the way that a leader of Women at the Wall was arrested for carrying a Torah (under suspicion that she might read it near the Wall in Jerusalem). Even American Jews who are tone-deaf to the suffering of Palestinians can see that the Israeli government's refusal to recognize the Reform and Conservative movement (much less those of us in the Reconstrucitonist or Jewish Renewal movements) is alienating many American Jews. In short, even the idol worshippers who have replaced service to God with service to the nation state of Israel are shocked at some of what Israel is doing to itself to delegitimate itself in the eyes not only of the world but also of the Jewish people around the world.

If you happen to be in the Bay Area, come to read the book of Lamentations with me Monday night at 9 p.m. at 951 Cragmont Ave, Berkeley (cross street a few doors south of where Cragmont crosses Marin Ave. Or come to our High Holiday services, which will take place in Berkeley at the Pacific School of Religion, a block north of UC Berkeley campus, (Rosh Hashanah eve: September 8th and 1st day of Rosh Hashanah Sept. 9, Yom Kippur eve Sept. 17, and Yom Kippur day Sept 18th)--people have come to our High Holiday services from as far away as Miami, NY, Boston, Toronto, Sydney, and Jerusalem. So if you plan now, you could do it! More info and to register click here. For the Tisha B'av ceremony, just come--no cost, and no pre-registration necessary (it's a fast, so we won't be serving food).

By the way, one of the things that made me fall in love with Judaism when I was 11 years old was the fact that Judaism has Tisha B'av as part of its yearly ritual--a time in which we focus on the ways that we ourselves contributed to the destruction of the 1st and 2nd Temple by not living up to God's commandments. Building into Judasm a self-critique of the Jewish people seemed to me an approach to humility that is overwhelmingly brilliant and spiritually insightful--a religion that self-critiques deserves a lot of respect.

Yes, there are things to do besides mourning--for exmaple supporting Tikkun magazine and our educational arm the Network of Spiritual Progressives as we do our best to educate Americans about these issues and do not subordinate our views to those of the Obama Administration (which last week embraced Netanyahu and de facto gave him the go-ahead to demolish more Palestinian homes as you can read below in the article by ICAHD-- the Israel Committee Against House Demolitions). You can support the New Israel Fund, J Street, B'tselem, the ICAHD, and other groups doing important peace work. You could take half an hour each day to write a letter on these topics to an elected official or a media outlet demanding that they support the Israeli peace movement Gush Shalom and let their voice be heard in America. But sometimes, it's appropriate to just let go of the activism and the righteous indignation, and get into the sorrow and mourning that underlies that activism and righteous indignation--to allow yourself to really feel the tragedy that is unfolding at ever more rapidly rate for the Jewish people and for the Palestinian people and for world peace.