Thanksgiving in Israel
Today is Thanksgiving, and I was thinking about the connection between a American Jews living in Israel and this American holiday. My wife has already bought Turkey legs in the Shuk and she is planning a Middle-East-style turkey day. No, we will not be watching the football game here in Beit-El, but hopefully we will host a friend of mine who is a chayal boded (a lonely soldier) in Nachal Charedi.

Many Zionist-types will do away with Thanksgiving on the premise that the holiday has nothing to do with us here in Israel. I respectfully disagree and I proffer a new meaning to Thanksgiving in Israel.

For one thing, we can thank America for being a great exile. Great exile - how's that for an oxymoron. Yet America has treated its Jews better than any other Galut in recent memory. So by eating Turkey in Israel, I will still remember the kindness that the US has shown me and my family, I will give homage to the great ideals on which America was founded, and I will be thankful for my American passport.

The other reason that I will celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving is to give thanks to G-d that, ironically, I no longer live in the United States. With all my warm feelings towards the US, and my fond memories of New York, I am glad and thankful to be here in Israel, the Jewish Homeland and the future of the Jewish people. I am here, and here, with G-d's help, I will stay.

But still, I'm a Jew from America, I have been shaped by many of America's values, and in many ways I am an American.

Maybe I eat Turkey here because I proud. American's in Israel should be proud that they chose The Spiritual Superpower over the economic and military superpower. American Aliyah is a great Kiddush Hashem, a sanctification of G-d's name. As my wife has said, American Aliyah is truly the spirit of Kommemiyut, an upright march to our Land. Aliyah for us is a pro-active positive choice and not the result of persecution or a poor living standard in America. And so... I'm proud to eat Turkey in Israel, and I'm proud to have chosen Israel over America.

Yet, though I choose Israel over America, I do not forget the kindness the America has shown me and I will stay true to the good values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

One problem though, we can't find any cranberries around here!

- posted by Yishai @ 2:59 PM Permalink Home

 
The Ideology Matrix - Politics and Political Goals
With most issues of public policy, you can predict people's stances based on their general political leanings. This is certainly true of the left and right in Israel, where their positions, especially on the "peace process," can be entirely predictable.

Therefore, it is fascinating when there is an issue that somehow falls in between the sides, and you get to see people wrestle with the issue, and often have people of wildly opposite politics reach the same policy conclusion.

The best example is the security fence. Let's look at the arguments:

Left: Let's build a fence on the Green Line, to unilaterally establish a Palestinian state.
Right: No fence - we don't want a Palestinian state.
Left: We aren't establishing a border - it's just for security.
Right: OK, if it's for security, we agree to build it, but let's include all the settlements.
Left: No, we don't want settlements - we oppose this apartheid fence!
Right: OK, no fence. Just one big Israel.
US: No fence - it pre-determines a border.
Right: Who is the US to tell us not to build a fence? We want a fence!
Left: No fence - the US is right, it's a racist fence!

It's never really clear the exact goal of the fence - everyone has a different goal, and tries to use the fence to accomplish it.

Now, there comes along a parallel issue - the "one-state solution." The UN originially suggested a two-state solution (two states west of the Jordan). Jews accepted, Arabs rejected. The Arabs continued to pursue the one-state solution (one Arab state) via terrorism and war. After 1967, Israel started to pursue a one-state solution of their own (a Jewish state). Then Oslo came, and took us back to the two-state solution. Now that everyone realizes that the Oslo process was a terrible failure, the one-state solution is coming back into vogue.

There are three forms that the one-state solution takes: the right-wing Israeli one, which involves Israeli sovergeinty over all the land. One such proposal is Benny Elon's proposal. (It's actually a two-state solution, but one of the states is Jordan.) Arabs have always been pursuing a one-state solution - an Arab state.

Lately, there has been a third proposal: a bi-national state, shared by Jews and Arabs. This idea can take two forms: The first the Canaan plan (the Jewish Week had an article about this in their last issue). They hope for a return to a multi-national population in Israel, where I suppose they hope that nationalistic Jews will be like grasshoppers in the eyes of giants. The goal of the plan is to eliminate the Jewish state and any bias towards Jews in the land. This is an easy sell to the leftists of the world, since it can be phrased in terms of democracy, equal rights, and racism.

The other plan, I just heard about yesterday, in the Jerusalem Post. The plan is a right-wing Israeli plan for the same thing - a bi-national state, but with a constitution guaranteeing that the state will remain Jewish. They use Lebanon as a model, which they say guarantees Christian, Sunni, and Shiite representation at the top of the government. I think that if I were looking for a model nation, I would not start with Lebanon. But that's just me. Obviously, the goals of those presenting the plan is to keep the state Jewish - it's just hard to imagine how they think it would work.

What's the point of this long post? That the right and left in Israel, as well as the Arabs, have a clear goal in mind. For the right, it seems like the goal is to get or keep as much land as possible. For the left, it seems like the goal is to jettison as much historically significant land as possible. For the Arabs, it seems like the goal is to expel and/or kill as many Jews as possible. No one says these goals outloud, but they try to make them come to fruition by wrangling with these hot issues, trying to somehow frame them in their favor. The right wants a fence if it will help them keep land, but not if it will prevent that. The left wants a fence if it will help them jettison land, but not if it prevents that. The Arabs want a fence if it will help them kill Jews, but not if it will prevent that.

All the above-mentioned goals are stupid and short-sighted. To have a more reasonable dialogue, and a reasonable progress, we need to be forthright about our goals. What is Sharon's goal? No one really knows. He certainly never says. What is the goal of the Left? It can't just be peace, or they would stop pursuing policies that lead to more bloodshed. THe Arabs are the ones who are clearest about their goals, but somehow, we don't listen.

First we need to state our goals clearly. When we do, I think people will realize that they are silly. Then, we need to start stating better goals. One organization that is trying to do this is Manhigut Yehudit, with their Jewish Road Map. Whether or not the details of their plan are the best details, the overall goal there is the best (and clearest) goal: for Jews to build an exemplary state, an or lagoyim, in our land, as discussed by our prophets (see, for example, Yeshayahu chapter 2).

This goal is a consistent message throughout Tanach, and it is in fact the goal of many Jews to be an or lagoyim. We can be a light to individual people by living a moral life on our own, in exile. But we can only be a light to the nations if we, as a nation, build a moral society in our land. Jews can be part of this light by moving to Israel, and helping to build our young state. When a million Jews go komemiyut to our land - optionally, not running away but running forwards, then we won't argue about whether the fence goes here or there. We will argue about a lot, but no one will argue the best survivalist tactic to preserve our hold on the land. It will be clear to everyone - Jew and Gentile - that Jews have returned to their land to fulfill their historical role: "Ki mitzion tetzei Torah, udvar Hashem m'Yerushalayim."
- posted by Ben @ 6:24 PM Permalink Home

 
The Holocaust, anti-Semitism, and Israel
I heard a speech by Daniel Goldhagen, author of Hitler's Willing Executioners, about two weeks ago (I've been slow to blog). He spoke about the topic of his book, that is, the complicity of millions of ordinary Germans in perpetrating the Holocaust. He concludes that they did so not because they were forced, or feared for their lives, but because they, like Hitler himself, truly believed that what they were doing was the right thing.

I spoke to the author afterwards, and asked him about the current threat of anti-Semitism. His perspective is very historical - in other words, he looks back, not forwards. But he did have some interesting things to say about what is going on now. He saw contemporary Islamic anti-Semitism as genocidal in nature, and very similar to that of the Nazis. He said that most of the other anti-Semitism in the world is of a more mild form, not the kind that could lead to another Holocaust.

But what about Islamic anti-Semitism? This could lead to another Holocaust, but Dr. Goldhagen felt that this could not happen now, due to the relative weakness of the Islamic world. He contrasted this to the relative strength of Israel, saying that this was the main difference in the world between 1939 and now.

I think it is important not to use scare tactics to convince people that another Holocaust is about to happen - it probably is not. But it is very important and instructive to look at the potential for genocide building in the Islamic world, and to recognize Israel's role in this. When we think about peace and the strategic future of Israel, we need to keep in mind the balance of power that Dr. Goldhagen mentioned, and make sure we keep it that way. In this way, strengthening Israel in any way is really the most effective means to combat global anti-Semitism.
- posted by Ben @ 7:05 PM Permalink Home

 
Hebron
This last week, we read the parsha (Chayei Sarah) about the passing of our mother, Sarah. As is the custom in Israel, thousands of Jews from all over migrate to Hebron to pray at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, where Sarah is buried. Not being ones who like to miss out on holy, nationally significant and moving occasions, Yishai and I once again buckled on our sandals and hit the road to join our brothers and sisters (and our dear departed Mother) in Hebron, the Holy City.

I'll spare you the pain of our busrides - let's just say that we took 4 buses, there was a lot of shoving, I got elbowed somewhere I won't elaborate on, and we made it 10 minutes before shabbat. We peeled off our travel gear, threw on our shabbat clothes, and were down the road to Maarat ha Machpelah (the Tomb of the Patriarchs) before you could say Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaacov.

There were thousands and thousands of people. It was such a beautiful, colorful congregation of people, a veritable fashion show of hippie/biblical clothing (I collected a few store names that evening) and we were really psyched to be there. Davening (praying) was outside in the evening. With the night time energy and the lit-up Maarah, I got flash backs from my wedding night and I was really very moved.

Yishai ended up finding a Chabad minyan, which made him very happy, as we are huge Chabad/Rebbe lovers. I couldn't find a minyan which suited me, so I davened by myself - it was holy, holy, holy. There is something about Hebron. You feel as if your feet are rooted like trees, like you are part of the dusty dirt, like a pilgrim, an earthy princess of your people. But it feels like your energy, your soul, projects straight out of the center of your head and out of your eyes. You can feel in your skull the vibrations of the direct line between your forebears and you and your G-d. I know I sound like a flower child, but if you've been there, you know what I mean.

Here's a little Jewish trivia for you: According to the Jewish tradition, there are 4 holy cities in the world (we'll exclude Crown Heights, Uman, etc. for the time being, for the purposes of clarity and the common denominator), and they are all found in Israel.
The first and best known is Jerusalem. It has a sister element, fire. Jerusalem is a place of energy, of heatedness, the place where the whole land sort of ignites from. G-d used to send down fire from the sky to take our sacrifices from the Temple (be on the lookout for that again, soon).
Another holy city is Tiberias (Tiveria). Its corresponding element is water, as it is on the shores of the Kinneret. Rabbi Akiva is buried, there, as is the Rambam, and several other holy rabbis.
Tzfat (where Josh, Yishai's bro, is in Yeshiva), in the north of Israel, corresponds to air. The Kabbalah came out of Tzfat, and it is the world headquarters of mysticism. If you want to get transcendental and dip in the holiest mikvah in the entire world (the Ari's mikvah), head up there. The air is cool and clean.
Last, but definitely not least, is Hebron, holy city, city of Earth. There is so much to say about the religious and cosmic significance of Hebron, I'll narrow it down greatly to give you an idea: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah are all buried in the Tomb of the Patriarchs, as is the head of Esau. Great rabbis say that Adam and Eve are also buried in the Cave (the Tomb was built over the Cave of Machpelah), and I heard this weekend that a secret couple is also buried in the cave - none other than Moses and his wife, Tzipporah. Whoa. As if that weren't enough, Yishai, father of king David is buried there, and there is controversy over whether HIS mother, Ruth, is buried along beside him. David was king for 7 years in Hebron before his kingship in Jerusalem, and during the time of the Holy Temple, the Cohanim (priests) would wait to begin their work until the sun had risen in Hebron. It is said that all souls born into this world make their entrance through Hebron.

Now that you have the background, I'll move ahead with the story. Yishai and I went back to Maarat Hamachpelah on Saturday morning, and finally made it through the line to go into the building. We also made it into the Room of Isaac and Rebecca, a room which is only open to Jews 11 days a year thanks to a deal done between the Israeli government and the Waqf in response to an attack on the Arabs of Hebron by Baruch Goldstein. Yishai davened in the courtyard in the center of the building, and I davened in this room of Yitchak and Rivkah. I had a spot right by this hole in the floor which leads RIGHT DOWN INTO THE CAVE. After praying, I got down on the floor by this hole, put my face over it, and asked for a blessing from the great souls down below.

Later that day, we mingled with the people, went to the grave of Yishai and Ruth, and ate Shalosh Seudot at Baruch Marzel's house (he hosts approximately 300 people outside his small apartment every Chayei Sarah). Yishai met a man named Meyer, a citizen of Hebron, whose Singaporian mother and Indian father met and married here in Israel. Meyer took Yishai to this secret deep well in Hebron called the Well of Abraham, where Yishai took a mikvah dunk. The sun set, havdalah was said, and the glorious, whirlwind festivity had come to a close. Yishai did several interviews which will show up on Arutz Sheva's English website (be on the lookout). We ended up getting a ride back to Jerusalem from a man who served two years in Israeli prison for throwing tea in the face of a Knesset member who was protesting Jewish settlement in Hebron. Par for the course for me and the Yish.

Visit Hebron. You won't regret it.

- posted by Malkah @ 6:16 PM Permalink Home