As I sit here at the Newark airport awaiting the boarding call for my flight to Tel Aviv, I am wondering about the Israel that awaits me. I was last in Israel in 2019, when I attended a ten-day rabbinic seminar held at Yad Va’shem, the Israeli Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. That trip was well before COVID shut down the world in 2020, well before Hamas invaded Israel on October 7th and well before the ensuing war in Gaza.
I am leaving for Israel in the aftermath of a speech made by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer on the floor of the United States Senate which lambasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and encouraged Israelis to call for elections. Schumer’s speech was inspired by his friendship with my colleague Rabbi Rachel Timoner, the senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope. Both Rabbi Timoner and Senator Schumer are part of a rising choir of voices on the left who are expressing concern about Israel’s responsibility for Palestinian suffering.
I am also leaving for Israel in the aftermath of a United Nations Security Council vote (backed by a U.S. abstention) that demanded an immediate Cease-Fire. After that vote, the Security Council erupted into a standing ovation.
My goal on this trip is to help our congregation and community understand from an Israeli perspective what is happening. I want to ensure that we all feel connected to the people who actually live in Israel and deal with the threats that October 7th delivered. I want us not to base our understanding of Israel solely on U.S. news, but also on our knowledge of what real Israelis deal with on a daily level.
My goal is also to remind our congregation and community that there is so much more to Israel than this conflict. Israel is a place where Judaism has a public face. There is no other place in the world where you can feel Judaism alive and vibrant in the public square, no other place in the world where strangers will wish you Shabbat Shalom, no other place in the world where Jewish holidays and values are infused into popular culture.
Yes, I’m headed to an Israel that is quite different from the one I last visited in 2019. But my goal in visiting is not simply to see differences but also to help us remember one basic truth that has not changed – Israel then and now remains the heart of the Jewish people.
Over the course of the next week, I will be posting on a new blogsite that I’ve created at https://brianleiken.substack.com/subscribe. Please visit the blog and sign up to follow my posts.
On Shabbat morning at 10:30AM E.S.T, I will be speaking to the congregation live from Jerusalem. A link will be sent out later in the week. I want to thank again our Kavod group of patrons for making this trip possible.
B’shalom!
Rabbi Leiken
