Talmud Class: What Does Stephen Sondheim Mentoring a Young Singer Teach Us about Our Relationship With Israel?
Summary: <p>For my money, the best, simplest, shortest expression of the complexity of Israel remains the opening chapter of Ari Shavit’s classic <a href="https://us-west-2.protection.sophos.com/?d=rs6.net&u=aHR0cHM6Ly9yMjAucnM2Lm5ldC90bi5qc3A_Zj0wMDFSZThKNjJhcUY4MHNkZlBSTnBobGRoMHVSeHh6UTg5ZHRjclpaNXE2LS1IVVpydFREQ0paR0lsekJWcTY4VGtIWjZTTE9YSmdtSk9mODdlM0UxRFRpUDNvMVpSTjFhRDU4SW14S0xQUmJaWlBnb3ZTMVlLRGYwUF9VSThZM3FVUTNucUd4alVvS1Exd1R1U09uUm93QUxTdzZHbXFxM2txd1QycnVPcWNrZXBoRml6cFc4Rno3MXd5a2p6VDkwNm9wc1lfR3BZU1AtTTljWGNQX0Vwdjk3cnl3WUtKQmF2dTAwb2ZvSFAxMnBVNFpUYjJaa1NRdnc9PSZjPTFJeWRhMUZJZWxRSHQwUUVLdHl1ZWRwSlZ5bmo2VzlPcE1Kb3NURkpRcmNZbjBkS2U5R1ZLdz09JmNoPWhVdmp2LWdpRmtIQUNMR0tFczB4eW8xZWk3V2V6ZG8tZVVvcE1SZy14NGZlNWtYcXJNNmc5UT09&i=NWQzYjQ1ODFjMDRhMGIxMTcyMWEyYmNl&t=S1ZXdWRZalNObnNMTTVjdCtld1VNL3ZjRWdpNUdJTGhoVkxCVnFSbjMvaz0=&h=dbb5b02baa4f4c7e954e8799a40ff182" target="_blank"><em><strong>My Promised Land.</strong></em></a> Shavit’s grandfather was among the first Zionists who settled Eretz Yisrael. Shavit himself served in the Israeli army as a paratrooper. The book opens: “For as long as I can remember, I remember fear. Existential fear.” Two pages later: “For as long as I can remember, I remember occupation. Only a week after I asked my father whether the Arab nations were going to conquer Israel, Israel conquered the Arab-populated regions of the West Bank and Gaza.”</p> <p>How do we, and our children and grandchildren, respond to this complexity?</p> <p>One response is, it’s exhausting. We have enough problems here in America. Disconnection.</p> <p>Another response is indictment. Using words like Apartheid. Hostility.</p> <p>That is where a lot of American Jews (especially young American Jews) are, somewhere between disconnected and hostile.</p> <p>Tomorrow we are going to consider a model of wisdom from an unlikely source: Stephen Sondheim mentoring a young singer in singing <em>Send in the Clowns</em> . Could this model a different move to keep American Jews in loving dialogue with Israel? </p> <p>This clip of Sondheim working with a young singer embodies a classic source, Maimonides’ teaching on repentance, which is about a directional energy of moving towards in love rather than away from in anger. <a href="https://us-west-2.protection.sophos.com/?d=rs6.net&u=aHR0cHM6Ly9yMjAucnM2Lm5ldC90bi5qc3A_Zj0wMDFSZThKNjJhcUY4MHNkZlBSTnBobGRoMHVSeHh6UTg5ZHRjclpaNXE2LS1IVVpydFREQ0paR0lsekJWcTY4VGtIZ3lEcEZ0SUwyc3ZZWW1BcGdDbUhrRG5VOXdHVzYzOXVKUTRYZTI5eHhRaHhIMGRaeU9laHUzNUs3WWp2Zi1qN2hjUzJPcjQ0dGlEUWpSWnNKVUNQRXZLSTZEVWtybWgycW9Fc1Awd21rYjZJX3VVWGxBRzkwLVlFa044bVMxenJiWHRlUjI4V1cwakMyVlJhVlNRRFU2T2dQNWdySlhlNTVrU0R3RUx5TkU0U1BUZ1QzT25oMnc9PSZjPTFJeWRhMUZJZWxRSHQwUUVLdHl1ZWRwSlZ5bmo2VzlPcE1Kb3NURkpRcmNZbjBkS2U5R1ZLdz09JmNoPWhVdmp2LWdpRmtIQUNMR0tFczB4eW8xZWk3V2V6ZG8tZVVvcE1SZy14NGZlNWtYcXJNNmc5UT09&i=NWQzYjQ1ODFjMDRhMGIxMTcyMWEyYmNl&t=N1prbXRoRlRWenQ0ZXhrTlJBUENPUTR0V3NVZ2V2M3hzMVI1Z2JtNThPUT0=&h=dbb5b02baa4f4c7e954e8799a40ff182" target="_blank"><strong>Maimonides</strong></a> offers: “Repentance brings near those who are far away.” What does this text about directional energy have to say about bringing our disconnected or hostile generations closer to Israel?</p>
