Calendars for Past and Future

Notwithstanding the Raptors playoff chances, the Canadiens against the Bruins, Mayor Ford stepping aside, the proposed June election for Ontario, the Russian destabilization of Ukraine, and the terrible massive deaths in the Afghani landslide, Israel remains in the news.

As the State of Israel approaches its 66^th birthday, only the embers remain from the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The culture struggle between Haredim and moderate elements of Israeli society sharpens. How to bring Arab citizens into the mainstream of a civic society while still maintaining the Jewish identity of the State remains a question. The gap between haves and have-nots continues to grow and threatens the country’s historic sense of unity. Iran remains the greatest strategic threat to Israel.

Still, the country’s population has grown to over 8 million, with over 6 million Jews and almost 1.2 million Arabs. Super-highways and high-speed trains are in process. Over 3.5 million tourists arrived last year. Natural gas and oil are being resourced. Israel has 12 Nobel Prize laureates—more than India and China. Its inventive society leads the world in patents for medical equipment. Intel just announced a $6 billion investment in new facilities. Israel is thriving despite challenges, because it does not allow its vision and vitality to be limited by nay-sayers and doubters. 

I believe that this prospective and positive push forward is draws deeply  from our parashah, which includes mitzvot related to the calendar. While the holy days repeat and recur each year, the thrust of the calendar is seen in the counting of the 49 days of the Omer, (today is the 18^th day) which drives us from Passover to Shavu’ot. The sacred days recall the past, but direct us to the future.

Passover recalls the liberation from Egypt and points toward the messianic redemption. Shavuot celebrates the giving of Torah at Sinai while looking toward a world where all people will share a commitment to morality and ethical living. Sukkot tells of time in the Wilderness and anticipates a messianic time when all will come to worship one God.

During the Days of Awe, the Torah tradition directs attention to mortality, while urging us to choose life- in this world and for eternity. And Shabbat is a double reminder—of Creation and Exodus—anticipating a universal day of restoration, renewal and rebirth. The calendar of Torah draws on the past and looks toward a messianic moment.

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg has written: “The subjects of the Torah are the stuff of infinity and eternity: a God beyond measurement or dimension, beyond human grasp or ken, a destiny that will outlast history. Such concepts are not commensurate with the limited, fragmented, imperfect world we inhabit. But through the mechanism of the covenant, infinity and eternity are converted into finite, temporal, usable forms without losing their ground in the absolute. … Judaism proposes to achieve its infinite goals in finite steps. The covenant makes it possible to move toward ultimate perfection, one step at a time.” (http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Shavuot/Themes_and_Theology/Covenant_as_Process.shtml). The words of my teacher, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, still reverberate from 1950: “In doing the finite, we may perceive the infinite” (“The Meaning of Jewish Existence" in The Torch,1950).

The Jewish focus on the future was accompanied by an oscillating narrative that takes us from Creation to Slavery, Exodus to Sinai, Wilderness Rebellion to Entry into the Land, Exile to Return. There are ups and downs, but the last sentences of the Hebrew Bible direct us forward:

²² וּבִשְׁנַ֣ת אַחַ֗ת לְכֹ֙ורֶשׁ֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ פָּרַ֔ס לִכְלֹ֥ות דְּבַר־יְהוָ֖ה בְּפִ֣י יִרְמְיָ֑הוּ הֵעִ֣יר ה אֶת־ר֙וּחַ֙ כֹּ֣ורֶשׁ מֶֽלֶךְ־פָּרַ֔ס וַיַּֽעֲבֶר־קֹול֙ בְּכָל־מַלְכוּתֹ֔ו וְגַם־בְּמִכְתָּ֖ב לֵאמֹֽר׃

²³ כֹּה־אָמַ֞ר כֹּ֣ורֶשׁ ׀ מֶ֣לֶךְ פָּרַ֗ס כָּל־מַמְלְכֹ֤ות הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ נָ֣תַן לִ֗י ה֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וְהֽוּא־פָקַ֤ד עָלַי֙ לִבְנֹֽות־לֹ֣ו בַ֔יִת בִּירוּשָׁלִַ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֣ר בִּֽיהוּדָ֑ה מִֽי־בָכֶ֣ם מִכָּל־עַמֹּ֗ו ה אֱלֹהָ֛יו עִמֹּ֖ו וְיָֽעַל׃

²² To fulfill the word of the Eternal One spoken by Jeremiah, the Eternal One moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: ²³ “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “‘The Eternal One, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of [God’s] people among you- may the Eternal One their God be with you and may you go up.’”

My concern, on this Shabbat marking 66 years of Atz’ma’ut, is that Israelis have blurred the central narrative that brought together Judaism, Zionism and Democracy. On the right of Israeli politics, instead of the spirit of Menachem Begin, a strong believer in democracy, we hear echoes of Meir Kahane, who sought to divide Judaism and democracy. On the left of Israeli society, in place of the bond that David Ben-Gurion forged between the Bible and Zionism, we find a weak connection between past covenantal promises and present political realities.

The two books which best describe contemporary Israel are Yossi Klein Halevi’s Like Dreamers and Ari Shavit’s My Promised Land. Halevi follows seven paratroopers who were involved in the liberation of Jerusalem in 1967. He shows the breakdown of shared commitment and the divergence of contemporary visions for the future of Israel. Halevi describes discordant  narratives, exposing the Israeli soul and the crevices of contemporary civic culture. We end up with a cacophony, not a symphony. At the same time, Halevi recognizes the significance of religious belief as a motivator for political action.

Shavit’s book is more controversial. He tells the story of his family and emphasizes the practical decisions that drove early Zionists and later Israeli leaders to create a thriving, dynamic state. Shavit describes the Zionist purchase of land and the cultivation of orange groves, the development of the Masada myth and the upheaval of the war of 1948, the Holocaust survivors whose children became leaders in the new State, the religious Zionists who became part of the settler movement, the Tel Aviv clubbers, the high tech entrepreneurs, and the military and security personnel responsible for their safety.

Along with his celebration of the facticity and accomplishments of Israel, Shavit also recognizes its precarious fragility and the counter-narrative of Palestinian Arabs. This darker chronicle exists with the celebratory one, but Shavit’s secular response to those who want to claim the land for Palestine is simply that the Jews have succeeded and are now here to stay. I fear that there is no strength or staying power to this narrative. It lacks the conviction of the calendar.

On the multi-faith Path of Abraham study mission in March, we listened to dueling narratives. The Palestinian perspective was given a compelling case, while many of the Israeli Zionists we heard were not as poignant or powerful. As the memory of Holocaust fades, secular Jews often lack the covenantal awareness to draw upon the historic dreams of the Jewish people. Religious Jews, seeking to hold onto hallowed land, often lack a perspective that is inclusive of all elements of Israeli society.

At one point, the three days that are the most significant on the calendar of Israeli civic life represented the Jewish narrative of the 20^th century. Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom Hazikaron (Israeli Memorial Day), and Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) linked horrible sacrifice and heroic success. This narrative is necessary, but insufficient. As one person challenged our group: why should the Palestinians have to bear the consequences of European anti-Semitism?

I have spoken before about the imperative to reclaim a Zionist, Jewish and democratic narrative that roots our people in the Biblical ideal of a new society, one that was dormant for a long winter of expulsion and exile, and that experienced a rebirth at the end of the 19th century and a full resurrection after the Holocaust. It must include appreciation for Diaspora history and achievement, as well as the values of religious pluralism and toleration for minorities that were nurtured during our sojourn in Europe. It must reflect the mitzvot and morality of Judaism that we maintained over the centuries of exile. It must be built on the sacred aspirations of our prayers and poetry, as much as on the efforts of the pioneers.

This narrative should display empathy for the saga of the Palestinians, without relinquishing our core claim. We are an aboriginal people returning to our aboriginal land, reviving our aboriginal language, and reclaiming our aboriginal heritage (This idea comes from Hon. Irwin Cotler, MP.). This is what moledet, homeland means.

The holy times and sacred seasons, our Torah and prophets, are a reservoir of confidence and courage, challenging us to grow our bodies and souls to be worthy of our messianic aspirations. As we celebrate 66 years, let’s not simply content ourselves with the present. Let us use the past as a way to build a future full of hope. Please join me in singing the anthem of our people and of the State of Israel, Hatikvah.