Libi b’mizrach, v’ani b’sof ma’arav
My heart is in the East, and I am at the uttermost West;
Judah haLevi
As you are reading this column, I will either still be in Jerusalem or else on my way back. The Central Conference of American Rabbis – the organization of the Reform Rabbinate – has had a long commitment to holding its annual conference in Israel every seven years. The number seven, of course, is significant. Just as the Torah commands that we rest every seventh day for Shabbat, a later commandment tells us to observe the sh’mitah year – every seventh year to let the land lie fallow and plant no crops. The idea is that the seventh year is a time for rest and renewal. We cannot demand the same productivity year after year, without taking time out for replenishment.
I am looking forward to this trip – the second time that I have returned to Israel since I lived there for my first year of Rabbinic school. The last time, I travelled with my father and found that a great deal had changed in the intervening years. The hope for peace that had existed when I left in 1994 had been ground down by the terror attacks, mostly centered in Jerusalem. There had been a respite before we arrived, but two cafes were bombed while were there. As we left, we all hoped that things would be better when we returned this year.
In some ways, things are better. Terror attacks have been dramatically reduced since Israel built its barrier fence. In many ways, things are worse. The hope that Israelis found out of desperation has been almost completely shattered. In the recent elections, most Israelis showed their disbelief in the possibility of peace anytime soon. They are more and more willing to adopt radical solutions to stop the continual bombing in the southwestern towns near Gaza.
As I prepare to leave, the Israeli President, Shimon Peres, has reached out to Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the Likud Party, to form a national unity government – an attempt to avoid a government in which Likud is the most left-leaning partner. Perhaps, as Ariel Sharon was the leader able to withdraw from Gaza, it will take a right-wing Nixon to go to this China. In any case, there is much frustration in Israel – on all sides.
How then to find renewal in a land so fraught with tension and peril? We travel to Israel to find and to live our history. There have always been difficulties in the Jewish journey – yet we have found ways not only to survive, but to thrive. Who would have imagined that a people so scarred and dispersed could find the will and energy to (re)create a nation in the desert?
The challenge of being a Jew living in the Diaspora is summed up by Judah haLevi in the poem above. Whatever happens in Israel, it tugs at our heart. We want to be inspired and uplifted by our homeland. We feel torn when pictures of terror and destruction fill the news. I travel to the East, still being from the uttermost West, to bring these two parts of my identity together – to find some comfort and healing, to return more whole. I look forward to sharing my journey when I return.
