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Advocate for Israel to Be its Best
To me, being a Zionist means pushing for Israel to be the best conceivable version of itself, wrestling—and struggling—with the task of ensuring that happens.
The Talmud has a certain euphemism that it likes sometimes to use: soneihem shel yisrael, which translates literally to “those who hate Jews.” Often enough, when discussing bad things that could happen to the Jews, the Talmud refers to us, the Jews, as “those who hate Jews.” It’s quite a strange feature of the Talmud that this happens – and, according to many scholars, it’s a sort of protective linguistic talisman – a way to avoid speaking directly about Jewish suffering. But, yes, in the Talmud, we use the phrase “those who hate Jews” as a euphemism to refer to ourselves.
Let me give you a different interpretation of why I think the Talmud might do this: We might refer to ourselves as soneiheim shel yisrael to acknowledge that the most difficult communities are usually those that are most involved. When a people is deeply engaged in shaping its own future, its harshest critics generally come from within.
Meanwhile, when people don’t engage, a community may be unhealthy, but – trust me – it’s easier to work in and lead! If none of y’all cared about the decisions we made – if you weren’t passionate about Temple Sholom or Judaism – I, the staff, and the board could just make all the decisions ourselves without consulting with others, and things would be much simpler. But, I assure you, that wouldn’t be a sign of vitality–it would be an omen of dark days to come.
That is why I say this, lovingly and without even a hint of condemnation: If you are not struggling in some way right now with what is happening in Israel and Gaza, it is time to engage more deeply. That’s not because I think struggle is a sign of disengagement, but the opposite. Struggling comes with maturity in love. And if we truly love Israel – if we claim it as part of our identity – we must recognize how complicated everything going on there now really is.
The closer we look, the more we see that complexity, as suffering abounds. Israelis are still traumatized by October 7; they have children who continue to be dispatched into a war that they largely oppose; and they are desperate to get the remaining hostages home. Gazans, meanwhile, have been under the control of a terrorist, fascist government for two decades; they have had their lives uprooted more than imaginable over the last two years; and they have seen more death and destruction than any person should have to in their lifetime. All around, hurt people are hurting people–among two peoples who feel further from peace than ever before.
So go ahead and struggle, because your struggle isn’t a sign of weakness or disloyalty. It’s a sign of moral courage. Struggle happens both when we see things in the world we believe to be wrong and when things in the world we believe to be right entail tragedy. So, please, I encourage you: Struggle with this. And thank God that we have our Jewish community, so we can be here to struggle together.
Struggling With and Amongst Zionists is Key
And as we struggle, we must elevate our commitment to Zionism in order to confront those who would, without our voices, turn Israel into a place unrepresentative of our values.
Amid all the pain of this moment, I hardly think backing away from Israel can be the answer. I’ve preached before about how we have a duty to our fellow Jews in Israel, regardless of how we feel about Israel’s government. That’s still true, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. Instead, this is what I mean:
The clearest way for us to ensure our vision about Israel doesn’t materialize is to remove ourselves from the roundtable of Jews who care about its destiny. If you don’t visit Israel–if you don’t give to Israel-related causes–if you don’t engage in discourse on Israel and make your voice heard…there is no reason to expect the Israeli government or Israelis to care about your opinion.
For many of us, that may be tough to accept. It means that we have to endure in spaces that we think are wrong or even going off the rails, because the moment we leave, we lose our influence within them. And, though it’s exhausting to stay in such conversations, leaving them does not change anything. Staying in and speaking up does.
This is part 2 of a 3-part series that expands on a sermon delivered at Temple Sholom on 8/1/2025
