Summary: <p>How do we think and talk about Israel now as its <a href="https://files.constantcontact.com/d3875897501/611b216a-403a-462d-ab79-45ec0be13e84.pdf?rdr=true" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">new government</a> <em>(In Israel, a Hard-Right Agenda Gains Steam. </em>Patrick Kingsley, NY Times, 1/11/23) takes power? Here are five options.</p> <p><strong>Do not think and talk about Israel. It is too upsetting. It is too much.</strong></p> <p>We have our hands full. There are synagogues and rabbis who do not talk about Israel because it is too divisive.</p> <p><strong>Protest and/or boycott members of the governing coalition whose words and policies are anti-democratic and anti-pluralistic.</strong> More than 330 American rabbis <a href="https://files.constantcontact.com/d3875897501/571a044f-49a3-4def-9047-21cdf7e4bc2a.pdf?rdr=true" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">signed a letter</a> doing just that.</p> <p><strong>Improve your Hebrew so that you can follow contemporary Israeli discourse in Hebrew. </strong>As <a href="https://files.constantcontact.com/d3875897501/efe9fd28-79bb-4fff-b127-9b0f6272746f.pdf?rdr=true" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Danny Gordis</a> points out, there is far more nuance, complexity, and movement within Israel than is reported in English newspapers, and we should have humility before giving up on an eternal homeland whose language we do not speak and read fluently.</p> <p><strong>Words matter. Sound the alarm, eschew complacency, for the many red lines that violent words from newly empowered Israeli officials cross.</strong> And yet, as <a href="https://files.constantcontact.com/d3875897501/925f235c-3db0-4e63-b602-42f76f852610.pdf?rdr=true" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yossi Klein Halevi</a> notes in this thoughtful piece in reflecting on his 40 years in Israel, making Aliyah during the nadir of 1982, one can believe in Israel's capacity to renew and heal.</p> <p><strong>Be always supportive of Israel our eternal homeland, and sharply and loudly critical of this Israeli government when it pursues policies that are antithetical to our values. </strong>This week's statement of the <a href="https://files.constantcontact.com/d3875897501/6e0b757e-5b6e-4404-bfe2-a67cd208b965.pdf?rdr=true" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rabbinical Assembly</a> attempts to walk that line. The RA attempts to be humble and convicted at the same time:</p> <p>----<em>Despite our ongoing and unconditional strong support for the State of Israel, the rhetoric and initial proposals coming from this new government are of concern due to the unusual and extraordinary potential to weaken democracy and religious pluralism. Our need to publicly oppose Israeli government policies in ways that are unprecedented is of concern to us and is not a step we embrace easily. We will be in close consultation with our partners and members.</em></p> <p><strong>What is your voice on Israel now? </strong>That is a complicated question, and it requires a nuanced conversation.</p>
