Rabbi Diana's Weekly Message

Dear Hevre,

It’s extraordinary what has been happening in Israel lately. Frightening, and inspiring. Yesterday I heard that 20% of Israelis have been protesting for seven months. Imagine over 60 million Americans out on the streets for seven months protesting! But what happened this week, during the week of Tisha B’Av, has really scared Israelis, many of whom are worried not only about their country but what it would mean for world Jewry if this extremist government has its way.

[For one Israeli perspective, please read Dr. Shulamit Magnus, a historian from Oberlin who made Aliyah and directed RRC’s Modern Jewish history program for 8 years: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-07-26/ty-article-opinion/.premium/the-catastrophe-of-tisha-bav-is-much-too-real-in-israel-this-year/00000189-8d63-d430-a59b-ad6b40a60000?fbclid=IwAR3z9G2vr_j6S8BZU5bRn6LvIo6txhpWletrFA7Nk3FmxohTh0cinDPZ12A]

I’ve been staying in close touch with friends in Israel this week. One of my closest friends there is part of a listening-circle community. On Tisha B’Av left-wing and right-wing Jewish Israelis came together in small groups around the country to hear each other in hopes of connecting during these times of chaos and crisis. This are self-selected small groups, but it is a start.

Yesterday I attended a T’ruah event with featured speaker Shany Granot-Lubaton of the group Unxeptable [https://www.unxeptable.org/about], a grassroots movement launched by Israel expats in support of a democratic Israel. This group calls on world Jewry to come together and preserve the democratic identity of Israel. KHN will be host local speakers from this organization in the near future.

For a better understanding of what happened this week from the perspective of the Progressive Israel Network, this is the statement put forth yesterday by Reconstructing Judaism and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association along with ten other Jewish organizations:

On Monday, Israel’s governing coalition passed a law that would allow the government and its agencies to take steps that would otherwise be deemed by the Supreme Court as unreasonable and therefore illegal. The law would prohibit the Court from challenging executive branch measures on the grounds of reasonability.

The so-called “Reasonability Law,” is not only repugnant on its merits, but is also alarming because it is the first in a series of laws planned by the government, which are designed to eliminate checks on its power and pave the path for policies that would transform the very character of the State of Israel. Among these policies is a plan, anchored in coalition agreements signed by Netanyahu’s Likud Party, to officially annex the West Bank to Israel. The ongoing process of annexation is catastrophic for Israelis and Palestinians.

We welcome the expressions of deep concern coming from US elected officials – in the White House, on Capitol Hill and throughout the nation – as well as similar reactions by US Jewish organizations, including ones that seldom publicly criticize the government of Israel. We urge the Biden administration, Congress, other elected officials and opinion leaders, as well as fellow US Jewish organizations, to help protect Israel from the irresponsible actions of its current government. Not doing so would make a mockery of America’s commitment to the shared values that we cherish as the foundation for the US-Israel “special relationship.”

We salute, applaud, and stand in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have taken to the streets in protest. At the same time, we recognize that the persistent instability in Israel‘s political life is rooted in the ongoing occupation. Without a society-wide movement to address that, Israel’s democracy remains deeply flawed.

Ameinu
Americans for Peace Now
Habonim Dror North America
Jewish Labor Committee
J Street
National Council of Jewish Women
New Israel Fund
New York Jewish Agenda
Partners for Progressive Israel
Reconstructing Judaism
Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
T’ruah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

I look forward to seeing you this evening in person at KHN at 7:00 pm or on Zoom at:

(Address removed from blog for security)

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Diana - if you want to reply to this email please email me at: rabbidianamiller@gmail.com