“Oseh Shalom bimromav hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu v’al kol Yisrael – May the One who makes peace in the heavens, make peace for us and for all Israel.”

I have been thinking and singing these words from our prayers for the past few days. It has served as a kind of a meditation, a much needed meditation from the complex, informative, frustrating, sad, disturbing and otherwise enlightening conversations and information sessions I was privileged to participate in during the AIPAC/American Israel Education Foundation Rabbinic Mission 2015.

I need to express my profound gratitude and appreciation to AIPAC for including me in this first class experience of Israel. I have had the blessing of traveling to Israel before; this trip was a first for me in many ways and the staff and Mark Waldman, Director of the AIPAC Synagogue Initiative, in particular, were fantastic.

I know that it will take me many more hours, if not days and weeks to fully process the information we were given. The intensity of the meetings and the stakes in which Israel, the US and the world find themselves in are incredibly high and complex. What was so thrilling was to experience the diversity of perspectives, and some directly counter to those of AIPAC, which was even more impressive.

To describe the week as a rollercoaster is more than trite but right on target. The emotionality of every day was a combination of peaks and valleys, sometimes more valleys than peaks, but always worthwhile.

I always knew Israel was complex. I always sensed that the issues around peace and security, religion and state, secular and observant, among many other opposites, bubble nervously near the surface of Israeli society. But this past week, I saw them up close. A few examples…

I spent most of my 3 weeks in Jerusalem, Israel’s most populous city. The city is alive with activity; the cafes are bustling, the stores are full, people seem to be buying. But no one looks you in the eye on the street. No one smiles. No one shares a shekel with the numerous homeless people asking for help. It seems that there is life but a careful circle of who is engaged in dialogue. Maybe its a Texas thing, but a smile doesn’t cost anyone anything.

I loved my walks in Jerusalem, even though I complained at every hill. The flowers and vegetation is absolutely stunning. I always loved the hanging baskets, the purples and the reds of some variety or another. The Jerusalem stone buildings seemed a perfect match against the blue sky. But then there was the trash. Jerusalem streets and alleyways, parks and public spaces are strewn with trash. While there are large metal containers for trash, recycling and the like, it feels like no one really cares. And unfortunately, its not just in Jerusalem, it is all over Israel, in every town I visited, the reckless display of careless consideration for Israel’s natural beauty was heartbreaking.

And then there is the politics. Our group met with the chair of the United List, 4 Arab political parties who joined together to form an Arab coalition, so to speak, in the Knesset. He explained the difficulty of being a minority in a minority coalition, whose principle aims are to fight for the rights of Israeli Arabs and the fight against settlements. While he did mention some legislative victories around economic development for some Arab communities, its a tough fight every single day.

We met with Dr. Saeb Erekat, Chief Negotiator for the PLO and now on the Executive Committee, who explained his frustration and years of trying in the peace process. While his presentation was a skilled lesson in what to say and what not to say, I couldn’t get past the emotion he genuinely felt at the prospects of running out of time for peace.

There is the issue of security and crossing borders and who is allowed where at what time for what purpose with what vehicle. There is the issue of voting privileges. There is the issue of Palestinian self determination. There is the issue of borders. There is the issue of refugees. There is the issue of religious pluralism and the hijacking of access to religious holy sites, regional councils, funding for non-orthodox institutions, conversion laws, wedding officiation, and kashrut certification. Each of these demand a further explanation, but, you get the point.

Then of course, is the Iran issue. This will take more time to think through and while the Knesset seems to be in agreement that this is bad for Israel, and 47% of Israelis think a pre-emptive strike on Iran is necessary, not everyone is convinced the sky is falling. All this constant pulling and pushing and confrontation and opposites, leaves my head spinning. Solutions are aplenty…cooperation is minimal…success is incremental, and yet, hope still abounds.

I saw this in the multi-billion dollar private building enterprise of the town of Rawabi in the West Bank, a town built by Palestinians for Palestinians. To say it was spectacularly beautiful is an understatement. In a time when we see only Palestinian suffering, this place couldn’t be more opposite.

I saw this in the fight of leaders in the LGBT community who are fighting an incredible battle for all kinds of rights they re denied.

I saw this at the Ziv Medical Center in Tzfat, where the hospital has been treating Syrian casualties of many different kinds for a couple of years without formal policy to do so. The Israeli doctors and Army officials saw a need, saw human beings in need and acted righteously, never mind the cost; somewhere to the tune of 3 million dollars.

I saw this most profoundly in the Beit Elazraki Children’s home in Netanya, where a true tzaddik, Yehuda Cohen, saves Israeli children from the perils of abandonment, neglect and abuse. It was amazing.

So I left Israel, loving her more deeply, appreciating much more than I ever have how difficult it is to move forward and to make progress on any number of fronts. I understand now more than ever how nuanced Israel really is; how many layers there are to each and every issue, how hungry all its citizens are for peace and quiet and for the dignity that comes in valuing each other as a gift from God. I left Israel knowing that every day there are good and decent people fighting for Israel to be the highest example of holiness and goodness in the world; for her to really be a light to the nations who refuse to give up hope even in the face of not just overwhelming odds, but odds that would crush the spirit of anyone else.

What I know now, more than ever, is that any solution to any one of the current difficulties will come, not by the sheer force or domination of one answer over another, but from the creativity that lies in the varied interplay of both sides somewhere in between. When she is ready for compromise and creativity, then amazing things will most definitely happen.

I for one, because of these 3 weeks am, and will always remain, optimistic and hopeful.

Oseh shalom bimromav….

In the great discussions and debates in the Talmud, the archetype argumentation is found on the pages where the great sages Hillel and his colleague Shammai work through the issues of the Law to the solutions for the people. Invariably, Hillel’s position is determined to be the law as his answers contain the truths found in both his reasonings and those of Shammai’s. Therefore the rabbis maintain that, “Eilu v’eilu divrei Elohim chaim – These and these are the living words of God.” Amazing. It wasn’t that Hillel’s was MORE right than Shammai; it was that he was willing to hear, listen to and acknowledge the reasoning, the history, the narrative that Shammai was putting forth and without denigrating Shammai, allowed the rightness of his case to be made.
This thinking in the Talmud is so countercultural. In a society and time that seems to demand that there always be a winner and a loser, a right way and a wrong way, the words of “These and these are the words of the living God” seems almost too impossible to embrace. How can it be that they can both be the living words of God? Because they were both right; again Hillel was accepted because he was willing to hear the other side. This insight was the guiding image in my mind as I completed my first full (and it was very full) day of the AIPAC Rabbinic Mission.
We began the day with a presentation from Professor Sam Lehman-Wilzig of Bar Ilan University who is a professor of journalism and mass media. Dr. Lehman-Wilzig spoke about the Israeli election, Israeli politics and what 61 seat coalition government that is currently in place can and cannot accomplish. In a nutshell, Dr. Lehman-Wilzig presented a terribly complex scenario of compromise/blackmail, disproportionate political power in some of the political parties in the coalition and the chasm between the Israeli electorate and the elected officials. He described a scene so opposite to “These and These…” that it seems miraculous that any laws in the Knesset get passed at all.
We followed that with a trip to the Knesset where we had the opportunity to meet with three members of three different parties. The first meeting was with Dr. Ahmed Tibi, the leader off the newly formed Joint List – four Israeli Arab parties who joined together to make sure the Arab parties exceeded the percentile threshold of votes necessary to enter the Knesset which was raised to 3.25%. Dr. Tibi expressed his party’s line which is a party of economic and social equality for Israeli Arabs and opposition to the settlements. I have read about these positions many times, but hearing it in person, was a jarring reality that there are those in the Knesset, who are working to fundamentally undue the Knesset. How this tension is managed by the Israeli Arab parties remains a mystery to me. He and his comrades are working towards the creation of a 2 state solution. What remains to be seen is if it actually happens, would he remain in the Knesset or would he join the new country’s government?
We then heard from Dr. Roi Folkman from the Kulanu party, which is a center-left party, recently created and not sure where it is going or how much longer it can stay a political viability. It has been a long time since a center party won an election and only ha done so 1 time in the past 8 elections. They are the party of social change, equality, egalitarianism and of economic development.
We heard from Miki Zohar last, a member of the largest party in the coalition, Likud. Unfortunately, Mr. Zohar was unrefined, unsophisticated and frankly disappointing. He expressed the hard line, politically far right of center policies that we have heard recently from Jerusalem; 1 state solution, religious adherence to Jewish tradition, strong security and maintaining a strategic advantage over everyone in the region. After hearing from only 3 of the 9 political parties currently represented in the Knesset, I wondered as did all my colleagues, how can they get anything done? How can they fundamentally appreciate that “these and these are words of the living God?” It seems impossible.
We then traveled rom the Knesset to the Israel Democracy Institute, the largest and most prestigious Israeli think-tank and polling organizations where we heard from the President of the Institute, Yochanan Plesner who described what we heard from Dr. Lehman-Wilzig, of the growing difference between Israeli government institutions and the Israeli electorate. As if that wasn’t enough, we then heard from Mohammad Darwashe, an Arab activist, who is the Director of Planning, Equality and Shared Living of the Givat Havivah Educational Institute, the national education center of the Kibbutz Federation. Mr. Darwashe described his 30 year efforts and helping Arabs and Jews live and socialize together. It is a study in the frustration and incremental steps that are taken in a time and place where every step needs to be measured and carefully calculated.
After a much-needed break and a wonderful dinner, we concluded the day with a presentation from Dr. Einat Wilf of the Jewish People’s Policy Institute who made a fantastic case for the need to reinvigorate the Zionism and Feminism movements in Israel in order to create the Israel we desire. She made the case that the argument being put forth lately bout whether Israel can be a democracy and a Jewish state is inherently a flawed argument. Since we, as Jews and as Israelis have no choice but to debate and argue, that democracy is the only methodology for the Jewish state. The better question is whether or not Judaism and values of inclusivity, equality and egalitarianism are compatible. As far as the issues relative to the Palestinians, unless and until such time as the Palestinians acknowledge the reality of Israel’s right to exist and their narrative, there can be no peace. She was fantastic.
It left me spinning…”These and these are the words of the living God.” It seems monumentally difficult to achieve a balance when both sides refuse to believe in the validity of the other. In spite of the value of acknowledging the story of the other in our texts, it seems an elusive goal for some in Israel and impossible for the Palestinians. Currently there is no hope for Arab majority country embracing liberal values where a Jewish minority would be protected. Unless and until all sides hear the story of the other will peace really be achieved. As the speakers showed us today, steps in that direction are quite small, indeed, but are being made. Amazing…

Yesterday we took a break from our studies and ventured into Israel on field trips to explore different aspects of Israel and Israeli society. After spending a week inside, I chose to explore Israel outside, on a day long hike through Mt. Gilboa.
Mt. Gilboa is located in the northern part of Israel, about an hour or so north of Jerusalem, southwest of the ancient and now modern city of Beit She’an. It is mentioned in the book of 1 Samuel 31 and the story of the death of King Saul and his sons. Starting at the top, Mt. Gilboa affords a vista of the Jordan valley to the east, and the Jezreel valley to the west; a glimpse of the vitality of the land in all directions. Its breathtaking views allows you to capture the growth of modernity as you peer into the haze of history – “Now the Philisitnes fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the philistines and fell down slain on Mt. Gilboa.” (1 Samuel 31:1) It was so moving to walk the steps of our ancestors. The hike down the mountain began with the images of the besieged Israel and the thoughts in my head of how something so beautiful could be one day redeemed.
I won’t kid you, it was hot, steep, jagged and you couldn’t buy a slice of shade for any amount of shekels. The 3 kilometer descent gave me the chance to consider the difficulties of building a nation, protecting the dreams of a people and what it might mean for this special place to experience the redemption it so desperately needs. When we got to the end of the trail and the air-conditioned bus was waiting for us to take us to lunch, I definitely thought the messiah had arrived via motorcoach. I was tired hot and dirty. Thank goodness for the next part of the hike – a water walk through a lazy river near a natural spring, called Gan Hashelosha. Awesome! After lunch in Beit She’an, a and a brief visit to an eduction partner of the Hartman Institute and the Ministry of Education, we drove back to Jerusalem where I was so glad to get back to my hotel. As I hung up my wet clothes in the bathroom to dry, that’s when Yehuda Amichai came for a visit…
Yehuda Amichai (1924 – 2000) was an Israeli poet, considered by many, both in Israel and internationally, as Israel’s greatest modern poet. He wrote one of my favorite poems entitled, “Tourists”.

Visits of condolence is all we get from them.
They squat at the Holocaust Memorial,
They put on grave faces at the Wailing Wall
And they laugh behind heavy curtains
In their hotels.
They have their pictures taken
Together with our famous dead
At Rachel’s Tomb and Herzl’s Tomb
And on Ammunition Hill.
They weep over our sweet boys
And lust after our tough girls
And hang up their underwear
To dry quickly
In cool, blue bathrooms.

Once I sat on the steps by agate at David’s Tower,
I placed my two heavy baskets at my side. A group of tourists
was standing around their guide and I became their target marker. “You see that man with the baskets? Just right of his head there’s an arch from the Roman period. Just right of his head.” “But he’s moving, he’s moving!”

I said to myself: redemption will come only if their guide tells them, “You see that arch from the Roman period? It’s not important: but next to it, left and down a bit, there sits a man who’s bought fruit and vegetables for his family.”

And then it hit me, again. Israel’s real moment of redemption will not come because of the volume of tourists who admire the ancient artifacts, walk the old city streets or climb ancient mountains. Redemption will come for Israel when, in spite of the antiquity and wonder of the artifacts, we choose instead to see the newness and the wonder of the people right in front of us and the efforts they go through to survive, day in, and day out. But this is not relegated only to Israel. The same holds true for us, wherever we are. When we finally decide that people and their stories are more important than the principled stands we feel we must make, and the buildings we must build, we will then move quickly to usher in the time of the Messiah. All we have to do is notice the more important sights. I wonder if we can do it.

Everyone seems to have a grandparent who would bemoan the ” good old days” when hard work and effort were a daily exhibit of the virtues of well lived life; when technology meant doing things by hand, like changing the channel on the tv and when walking to school meant walking uphill in both directions. I know we may roll our eyes at the quaintness of the sentiments, but I couldn’t help myself from laughing as I reflect on this past week in Jerusalem.
I began my week studying at the Shalom Hartman Institute, a non-demoninational, high level Beit Midrash, a place of serious Jewish learning, in a program specifically for rabbis. I joined colleagues from all over the world, about 150 or so, for 10 days of study around the topic of justice and personal and national identity. My first day I walked from hotel near the corner of Ben Yehuda street and King George street to Hartman, which is located just south west of the Jerusalem theater. What I didn’t realize, was that walk is literally uphill in both directions. And a gradual incline it is not. What I would discover both in the classroom and on my daily walks is that uphill in both directions is really one of many metaphors for Jerusalem, it’s people, and in many respects, the state of Israel and the Jewish people.
The week began, (after getting lost twice) with Rabbi Donniel Hartman teaching and by examining the idea of justice and righteousness and the difficulty in determining a precise translation and definition. The exploration of Jewish sources was, predictably, vague. Struggling to understand what our tradition is trying to say to us as a people and as individuals when it comes to acting with justice and righteousness was nothing if not an uphill battle. The day concluded with the first of three sessions with Tal Becker, an advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dealing with the U.S. – Israel relationship, another point of walking uphill, at least lately. The following days, former Member of the Knesset Ruth Calderon taught about personal righteousness in interpersonal relationships, Melillah Hellner, a Professor at Hebrew University taught about the all consuming nature of doing justice and righteousness, Dr. Moshe Halbertal spoke about concepts of tikkun olam, and Dr. Rachel Korazim taught about 3 trails that shaped the state of Israel. What a week of learning!
On the long walks back to my hotel (uphill), I was able to ponder the learning and try to frame it in some meaningful way. I realized that justice and righteousness are terms with fluid definitions, often in the hands of the beholder. I realized that Judaism is so deeply concerned with doing justice and righteousness, but never seems to be made manifest in a linear, clear or decisive manner. I realized that the State of Israel struggles with its own definition of justice and righteousness, often at odds with itself, with Jewish tradition, with its neighbors and with history. Is it enough to struggle? I wonder. Can we be righteous and not do justice? I don’t know. Can we execute justice without being righteous? Definitely. What do we need more of? If we are broken, personally in our configurations of justice and righteousness, can we possibly make it happen for others?
As the days went on, and my average number of daily steps nearing 17,000, the weight of the uphill battle seemed heavier. What a responsibility we have as Jews, commanded to do justice and righteousness. How poorly we seem to be doing, and yet how incredible we seem to be doing as well. Uphill in both directions. So much work to do. So much wrong to right. So much pain to salve. And then, it was Shabbat….not a day off, but a day up; a day to renew and refresh and then right back to the work!
I look forward to this week and the uphill walks I will encounter.