A Yom HaAtzmaut Message from Rabbi Bauman
Dear Touro Synagogue Family,
This week brought the culmination of a series of holidays that are among our most recently established as a Jewish people, a week-long period referred to as the New High Holidays of Israel. Last week, we observed Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Day of Remembrance. This week, Jews around the world and particularly in Israel observed Yom HaZikaron, Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror, and Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel Independence Day.
Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut are adjacent on the calendar, so when the sun goes down on the saddest day of the year, a day when every Jewish family in Israel is mourning the loss of one of their own, it also signifies the beginning of a day of heartfelt and exuberant celebration, a day of gratitude for the revitalization of the Jewish people and a deep and humble appreciation for the immense cost it has always demanded to be a Jew. That moment of transition between Memorial Day subsumed in so much grief and Independence Day when the streets fill with people and energy reminiscent of Mardi Gras is truly amazing to witness, a pivot requiring staggering collective resilience and determination to be worthy of the precious gift of life and agency that Israel has given the Jewish people.
This week’s Memorial Day, as last year’s, includes the addition of nearly 1200 names of those who were victims of the massacre on October 7, hundreds of fallen soldiers who have valiantly defended Israel in Lebanon and Gaza and striven to redeem the hostages, the hostages murdered in captivity, the recognition of an ongoing brutal war that continues to claim the lives and maim the bodies of Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians, among them so many women and children who are ever the ones who pay the highest price for wars they do not start, and the agonizing reality of dozens still kidnapped in the tunnels. The sense of grief is perhaps deeper this year, and the sense of joy and pride in what Israel has meant for our people, the immense blessing it has been to be at home in our ancestral homeland, harder to achieve.
The Independence Day ceremonies in Israel were held amidst raging forest fires in the Jerusalem hills, a horrific and unnecessary metaphor for a country and region that is consumed by the flames of war, polarization, and trauma. Those fires are now under control, according to officials on the ground. We pray the same may one day be true for Israelis, Palestinians, and all those who belong to this land and seek to build a life there.
It goes without saying that the last 19 months have been unrelentingly difficult, so filled with fear and pain and violence, even as they have brought us so many examples of compassion, strength, and incredible moral fortitude. Emblematic of all of this – the agony and pain, the compassion and strength – is an incident that took place in the Israeli city of Ra’anana on Wednesday night. I share it as an impetus for reflection and a call to action.
Israel has a small but growing Reform Jewish population, a religious and political force that is part of a larger movement of liberal Jews that pursue religious freedom and pluralism, as well as gender egalitarianism and civil rights for all. Israeli Reform rabbis are often activists as well as scholars, the congregations they lead are beacons of light for many formerly secular and religious Jews who seek another way to connect to their tradition, and the Reform Movement’s Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) is one of the most important civil rights organizations in Israel, bringing cases to the Supreme Court with regularity on behalf of those on the margins of Jewish Israeli society, including Palestinians. All of this is important background for understanding what took place in Ra’anana this week. To explain it, I will include a message from Orly Erez-Lihkovski, Executive Director of IRAC that represents Reform Jewish values in Israel. Here is a rough translation of Orly’s words:
In recent years the Israeli Palestinian remembrance ceremony of לוחמים לשלום פורום המשפחות השכולות Parents Circle Families Forum منتدى العائلات الثكلى gives me hope that it can be [different here]. The ceremony is screened in many places in the country in collaboration with עומדים ביחד نقف معًا and among other things it was planned to be screened also on בית סמואלי – Beit Samueli, Kehilat Raanan the reform community in Ra’anana.
This morning began the organization of extreme right activists against the screening in Ra’anana. Instead of watching the ceremony at home I decided to travel to support our [Reform] community in Ra’anana and watch the ceremony there.
When I arrived, there were a few policemen and a few right-wing activists, but quickly tens and hundreds of brainwashed people gathered who for 3 hours screamed, cursed, sang incitement and racist songs, threw stones and tried to break into the synagogue and also succeeded for a short time.
Despite everything we managed, a group of about 60 people, to watch the [emotional] ceremony in its entirety.
And then there was a challenge to rescue us from the angry crowd. The cops surrounded us from the exit to the car while the [mob] was throwing rocks and spitting on us. Even when we got into the car, they continued to throw stones at the car and kick the car.
When we finally escaped with the car from the crowd and almost my soul [was] at ease, a rock was thrown at my car that broke the windshield on my side, the driver’s side, and hit my shoulder. I drove to the emergency room while being covered in hundreds of [pieces of broken glass].
In the emergency room there were Eti חן בן אור צפוני [the Reform rabbi of] the brave community that did not give in to threats, [who together with the synagogue board], and also the dear Lipaz Vinitzky who came to our rescue. Throughout the evening I was accompanied by [Reform rabbi and Knesset Member] Gilad Kariv – גלעד קריב the one and only one who somehow manages to be everywhere all the time and assisted us throughout this difficult evening.
The orthopedist that examined me at Meir Hospital was an Arab. When I told him how I got hurt, he said how much he appreciates what we do and how important it is, just maybe next time I’d better watch over myself.
…I cried again, for the hundredth time tonight.
Hatred has horrified me, [as well as] the fact that this is what hundreds of people chose to do on the eve of Memorial Day. But I know that the dangerous and racist brainwashed people who have demonstrated outside feel threatened by this ritual because it offends their whole perception of the world. Because it shows that it could be different.
And that’s what I take from this evening, [that it] could be different and will be different here.
There are many different possible takeaways from this horrific scene of extremist violence and moral fortitude. Here are a few of mine.
- Trauma begets trauma. Those gathered in the mob outside the synagogue are traumatized by months, years, and generations of violence and pain, and they are expressing it in ways that will only perpetuate the cycle, against Palestinian Arabs and against their fellow Jews. This is one of the most challenging dynamics of the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
- It takes courage to be vulnerable. On Memorial Day, when every Jewish Israeli family has members who have fallen defending its very right to exist or whose lives have been taken by terrorist violence, those who open themselves up to the pain of Arab Palestinians are brave. And when every Arab Palestinian family has members who have experienced persecution, humiliation, violence, and now likely death from the war in Gaza, those who open themselves up to the pain of Jewish Israelis are brave.
- Addressing trauma in productive ways, and cultivating courage inside one’s self are spiritual challenges as well as moral ones. The presence of religious movements in Israel that offer spiritual sustenance as well as moral aspiration is vital, and if we care about the future of Israel, of Israelis, of Palestinians, and of the Jewish, then we must care about this.
Right now, what can we do? We can vote. There are 2 more days to make our voices heard in the elections for the World Zionist Congress, an international Jewish body that oversees the distribution of billions of dollars to various agencies and causes in Israel and beyond. A vote for the Reform slate is a vote to support the work of the Orlys, the Rabbi Chens, the Rabbi Karivs, the communities like Ra’anana that are striving to being honest, vulnerable, courageous, and hopeful amidst the flames.
Please do not wait one more moment. If you’ve not yet voted and you are an American Jew who is 18 or older, click here and do it now…Today. It takes 5 minutes and costs $5. The last day to vote is Sunday, May 4.
During this week when our people remember and honor those who have died because they were Jews, this small act can make a big difference. Loving Israel and wanting Israel to be safe and strong, and longing for Israel to live up to the vision of its Declaration of Independence, are all expressed by a simple click that will be felt 6,000 miles away.
עוד יבואו ימים יפים יותר
May better days come soon.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Bauman