By David Issacharoff, Noar Telem madricha

Two weeks ago, I was at the Knesset, Israel’s legislative parliament, wearing Noar Telem’s uniform, and I couldn’t feel any prouder that we are making our voice abundantly clear in front of our elected representatives.

We had the privilege of taking part in the Lobby for Equality and Pluralism, established by Knesset member Nitzan Horwitz. In the Knesset, its members have the right to open up lobbies regarding any issues concerning the state of Israel. Members of the Knesset and a few organizations that deal with the specific issue attend these various meetings.

The first meeting of the Equality and Pluralism Lobby regarded the issue of marriage equality. This is a huge issue within Israel. Today in Israel, you only can get married through the Rabbanut, the rabbinical council of Israel that only allows marriage between two Jews of completely Jewish descent, one man and one woman. They will not allow, under any circumstances, to marry a person who is half-Jewish, gay, or lesbian. Only Israeli officials perform these weddings following ultra-religious Halakha, or strict Jewish religious law. Some people do not want to take part in those weddings, so there are many Israelis who marry in places like Greece and Cyprus.

Meeting with Knesset member Nitzan Horowitz

I am sure people in the room alongside Knesset members asked themselves what do high school students have to do with such issues like civil marriage. When I spoke in front of the members of the Knesset, I told them that this issue is relevant and will stay relevant for the next ten years, when we will want to marry. If the change won’t be made soon, we will keep being under the control of the Rabbanut, who does not allow us to marry the people we love.

It was important that day – when the youth of Noar Telem marched and voiced their concerns in the Knesset. It is not only our right, but also our solemn duty for our own future in our country.

—–
David Issacharoff is an active member and madricha (group leader) in Noar Telem, the Netzer Olami snif (branch) throughout the state of Israel. In addition to social justice activities, Noar Telem provides Progressive Jewish experiences for youth in Israel through summer camps and monthly activities and events. 

By Yael Farber, NFTY-NAR Religious & Cultural Vice-President

“Am Yisrael Chai” The People of Israel Live

These words rang true down 5th Avenue in NYC last Sunday as thousands of Israel’s supporters marched together to celebrate. Among the thousands of people and more than 200 groups, NFTY-NAR stood in support. Under the banner of ARZA, NAR was loud and proud as we marched together.

My favorite day in June isn’t the last day of classes or the end of finals week, and it’s not the day I leave for camp– it’s the Celebrate Israel Parade. An entire day dedicated to the celebration of our homeland. Outside of Israel, this parade is the largest event in the entire world in support of Israel. For me, that’s just crazy to think about: that this huge celebration takes place a mere 30 minute train ride from my house. All the different marching groups have their own views, but we all gather on 5th Avenue for the same reason: to celebrate the place that we love. On Twitter, @CelebrateIsrael used #TogetherOnFifth to link all of the tweets about the parade. This hashtag says something much greater than people are simply tweeting about the parade; it says that we all stood together for something that’s important to us. Roughly 35,000 marchers from all denominations of Judaism, with different views on American politics and different Jewish customs, all stood together. We all represented Am Yisrael Chai.

The theme of the parade was Israel Branches Out, highlighting Israel’s fruitfulness, finding her roots and growing flowers and other crops. This theme immediately reminded me of the Tree of Life, our Torah. My Judaism is rooted in the Torah and in my connection to Israel. This parade theme connected two things that I love, and brought together 3 major elements of Judaism: Am (people), Eretz (land of Israel) and Torah. These 3 elements create a balanced Judaism that was reflected in the ruach of the thousands of marchers on 5th Avenue.

However, we were met with some opposition. As with every year, there is a group of protesters with signs standing on the side of the parade protesting the existence of Israel, actions that the Israeli government has taken and many other issues. But we don’t let them bring us down. As we walked past, we sang Oseh Shalom (Make Peace) at the top of our lungs.

Our second opposition didn’t challenge our vocal chords, it challenged our clothing choices.  Even the wind, rain and clouds didn’t stop us from marching. While it might have physically rained on our parade, it didn’t rain on our ruach and our love for Israel.

What bring a person to act violently against another person? Does it derive from rationalized thinking that brutality allows one to impose his will on others or change a certain situation to his favor, or is it just an uncontrollable emotional outburst? Inspired by the NFTY-BBYO anti-bullying-campaign, I thought about this question after watching the documentary “Bully” the other day. And it came up again for me when some troubling news from Israel came to my attention.

The incident that first caught my eye occurred during a protest bike ride when a group of activists, including Palestinians from the West Bank and foreign activists, rode their bikes along the Jordan Valley’s main route to protest Israel’s policy in the West Bank. Video images from the event show a high ranking Israeli army officer landing a blow on the face of a demonstrator with the butt of his M-16 rifle–seemingly without provocation. It was shocking, embarrassing and shameful to watch this video, especially as an Israeli who served as a combat soldier in the IDF. The round of condemnations by politicians and military generals came almost immediately after the release of the video. The officer was quickly dismissed from his command post, with a statement by army officials that he showed professional and command failures and that such behavior does not characterize IDF soldiers and officers.

This section of the video was broadcast in symbolic proximity to another report on a violent incident, coming this time from Israel’s sports arena when a bunch of players and fans of two rival teams exchanged blows during a brawl following a soccer game. Violence has been festering in Israeli soccer for quite some time, but this incident was the straw that broke the camel’s back– following the disturbances on the soccer pitch, the Israeli Supreme League canceled games for the entire weekend. It indicated a serious flaw in Israel’s soccer system, but it would be all too easy to dismiss soccer’s problem as a bubble inside Israeli society rather than a symptom of society as a whole.

In the end, the behavior of the hooligans and players in the stadiums was not much different than that of the officer discussed before. It’s true that friction with demonstrators and sports games are situations that carry greater potential for violence than daily life. However, I consider those as our warning signs, a moment before this plague will spread further to our schools, neighborhoods, and homes. It calls for more effective punitive measures and better enforcement against the outbreak of violence, and above all it requires educational procedures that will make it crystal clear that mindless violence has no place in the State of Israel.

Rega Shel Ivrit

Kavash Et Yetzro כבש את יצרו (conquered his urges)

Personally, I think the main reason people behave violently is because they try to subdue someone else’s actions or opinions. They might think it makes them stronger, but it’s actually the opposite. Our Sages said, “Eizehu gibor? Hakovesh et yitzro” (Pirke Avot 4:1). This idiom is still in use today and means that a hero is one who conquers his own urges (controlling his temper, for instance) and not one who conquers another.

Shabbat Shalom,
Roey

________________________________________

About the Author

Roey Schiff is the NFTY Shaliach. Roey grew up in Ein Vered, Israel and has experience working with teens and leadership development. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Business Management from Ben Gurion University. In September 2010, Roey moved to NYC to act as the NFTY and Israel Programs Shaliach as part of the URJ Youth Division.

By Hope Chernak, MARE, RJE, Director of Youth and Informal Education at Temple Shaaray Tefila, New York, NY.

Originally posted on the Reform Judaism Blog

Temple Shaaray Tefila has taken another step toward strengthening our congregation’s ties to the land and people of Israel. We have a new partnership with Kehilat Ohel Avraham, a Reform congregation in Haifa that is closely associated with the Leo Baeck Education Center.

So, what is a partnership? According to Wikipedia, a partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. If you asked our two teen leaders who were part of our delegation that went to Haifa this past December about it, they would respond with, “our partnership is like going home.” Instantly, they felt part of the community in Haifa, and next month when our friends from Haifa come to visit us, we hope they will feel the same way. This new relationship is not just an arrangement; rather, we have created a connection that has brought two families together.The December delegation from Shaaray Tefila included staff members Rabbi Josh Strom, Mindy Davids, and me.  Our lay leadership was represented by Paula Dwoskin-Sitzer and Ted Greenwood, as well as TaSTY youth leaders Talia Bornstein and Benjamin Bass. Ohel Avraham’s group was led by their rabbi, Gabby Dagan, and included lay leaders and professional staff. This planning trip (and the return visit this May with a delegation from Ohel Avraham/Leo Baeck staff and lay leaders) was funded by the Global Jewish Connection Initiative of the UJA-Federation of New York and Shaaray Tefila’s Sesquicentennial Fund.

During our visit, our planning teams outlined ideas about how to formally launch our partnership with Ohel Avraham and the Leo Baeck Education Center. Our joint effort, “Gateways and Tents,” will enable our two congregations to connect through ongoing programs and activities. Here are some of the connection points we plan to create for our communities:

• Through study and worship, we will share and learn together
• An adult Beit Midrash will provide video conference study opportunities several times per year
• Our clergy will exchange music and sermons
• Congregants will be invited to learn new songs from the other congregation during worship
• We plan to use technology to bridge our connections, including multiple online communication channels, exchanges of newsletter materials, and blogs
• We will encourage visits and hospitality between the two communities
• Joint tikkun olam projects
• Future plans to connect the women’s programs in each congregation
• Religious school students and students in the Leo Baeck elementary school will share holiday celebrations, exchange cards and small gifts, connect by Skype, and perhaps share other educational and social opportunities. We hope that our teachers and educational staff also will deepen their relationship through professional-to-professional connections.
• For older students, we plan to set up a program called B’nei Mitzvah Connections, which will pair interested b’nei mitzvah students and their families with those in the partner congregation who share the same parashah or close celebration dates. This initiative also could have students share d’var Torah and mitzvah project ideas as they prepare for their b’nei mitzvah.
• We will continue to implement youth group connections through interactions between our senior youth group, TaSTY, and Ohel Avraham’s youth group, using technology to link these teens.

One of our most exciting partnerships will be a youth exchange between our high school students. We applied for a grant that will allow our students to experience a mifgash(encounter) providing student-to-student connections both in Israel and here in our community. The curriculum will include formal and informal educational methodologies to bring our students together and to foster an ongoing connection between the students in both congregations.

The initiative to build a relationship with Ohel Avraham and the Leo Baeck Education Center originated with our Israel Engagement Committee at Shaaray Tefila more than a year ago, and now the entire synagogue is part of the process. We are enthusiastic about how this relationship is working and the connection points planned for the near future. This partnership has brought two communities together to form one large, amazing family!

View a short video that shows how our teen leaders experienced this special connection after their week in Haifa this past winter.

By Bradley Solmsen

Originally published on the Reform Judaism Blog

I am four-fifths of the way through a 10-month sabbatical in Israel with my family. We have been living in Modi’in, a growing young city half-way between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, for the past eight months. Two more months to go, that is eight weeks or 56 days if you are counting.

As the Passover seder ended (we only celebrate one in Israel) we, the Jewish people, began counting. We count the Omer (a measure of wheat) which helps us appreciate the transition between Passover and Shavuot.Between Passover and Shavuot, we commemorate three of the newest holidays in our calendar: Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day for fallen soldiers) and Yom HaAtzma-ut (Israel’s Independence Day).

Shavuot, our harvest holiday is when we celebrate God giving us the Torah. Shavuot is all about giving and receiving. In the narrative of the Torah, we are on a journey toward the land that we have been promised, perhaps our greatest gift.

In a very short amount of time (some seven weeks), we remember what it means to be enslaved and subsequently a free people, we reflect on the Holocaust, we honor Israel’s fallen soldiers and we celebrate the creation of the State of Israel. We pack in a lot, it’s very intense, it’s a taste of Israel. During these days, we remember so much of what the Jewish people have given and received. We remember relatives and heroes who have died, we remind ourselves of what it means to have nothing and then what it means to be given so much.

Living in Israel with my family for this intense period of time, I often find myself thinking about the challenges of maintaining a Jewish state and maintaining a democratic state.

Hebrew is the language of the country and holidays have their origins in this land. They make sense here. In Israel, you feel Shabbat. It surrounds you.

How do we reconcile these rich elements within a modern day democracy? How do we make sense of the gaps between rich and poor, men and women, different approaches to religious practice and belief, Jews and Arabs?

In theory it feels possible. So much of our texts and our history are devoted to pursuing justice, struggling to forge relationships, remembering what it means to give and to receive.

But the reality of this country can be jarring. The gaps between people here are wide and feel as though they are getting wider and wider. Instead of pursuing opportunities to dialog or build relationships across these divides people are shouting, building walls, throwing stones, launching rockets.

I think individually and collectively we may be underestimating how hard it is to give and receive. Real giving entails a sacrifice, it demands thinking of what the other person needs – not necessarily what you want to give or what might be easiest to give. Receiving requires humility, to acknowledge that do not have everything we need, to admit what we are missing – sometimes publicly. This is never easy. Receiving needs to be acknowledged, often with a thank you.  This can be hard as well.

All of us need to give and receive. It’s human nature. It’s easiest to give and receive with those closest to us, those most like us. Israel – the people Israel and the people living in Israel – need help, need to practice more giving and receiving.

It still feels possible to me. I think people here, deep, deep down inside feel it’s possible too. Maybe during these days of counting our gifts – the gifts we have received and the gifts we are giving -we will consider some small ways of bridging the gaps.

We read the Aleinu at the conclusion of every prayer service. This t’filah ends with words from the book of Zechariah 14:9:

  וְנֶאֱמַר, וְהָיָה יְיָ לְמֶלֶךְ עַל כָּל הָאָרֶץ, בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה יְיָ אֶחָד, וּשְמוֹ אֶחָד:

And it is said: God will be Sovereign over all the earth – on that day, God will be One and God’s Name will be One.

The words we read are in the future tense, as if to remind us that this is something we still are working toward. With God’s help, we can reach across the wide divides, we can give a little bit and receive a little bit and take a small step toward “That Day.”

Rabbi Bradley Solmsen was recently appointed to serve as the director of youth engagement for the Union for Reform Judaism. For the past 11 years he served as the director of high school programs at Brandeis University. He will begin his new position in September, four months and one week from now. That is 17 weeks or 119 days, if you are counting.

Holocaust Remembrance Day is usually a time to reflect on the darkest tragedy of the Jewish people in the modern age (and some would say in all of history). The importance of having such a day is indisputable, but personally, I must say I find myself pondering the events of the Holocaust quite frequently. Whenever the temperature is freezing outside and, despite my multiple layers and warm clothing, I still feel cold, I can’t help but wonder how in the name of God people could survive the harsh European winter with only a thin piece of cloth covering their bodies. Or when feeling hungry after not eating for a few hours, I wonder how one can endure this distressing sensation for weeks, months, or even years.

These experiences that were so common in the concentration camps are so hard for us to grasp that it’s understandable (though still not acceptable) why in its early years Israel did not exhibit a receptive attitude toward Holocaust victims or even the historiography of the events of the Holocaust. Survivors’ stories sounded so horrifying that their audience thought they were exaggerated. Hearing a survivor’s testimony, I remember him saying that in the beginning, even his family didn’t believe him, and thought his suffering caused him to confuse reality and imagination. This kind of reception generated reluctance among survivors to tell what they had been through. Many felt ashamed and guilty of “being led like sheep for slaughter” instead of resisting more forcefully. Therefore, they refused to talk about their experiences and preferred to leave the past behind them, as if it belonged to another life; a life that had no place in their present circumstances in Israel.

The turning point occurred fifty years ago and one of its more recognizable milestones was the Eichmann trial. Adolf Eichmann was a senior Nazi officer who fled to Argentina and lived there under a fake identity until May 1960, when the Israeli Mossad captured him and took him to Jerusalem to face trial in an Israeli court. The charges against him were numerous, including crimes against humanity, such as his coordination of many deportations of Jews to ghettos and extermination camps. For those and other charges, he was found guilty and sentenced to death (the first and only time a death sentence was enacted in Israel). However, it wasn’t the verdict, but the trial itself that changed Israel’s (and the entire Jewish world’s) approach toward the Holocaust. The trial aroused international interest, bringing Nazi atrocities to the forefront of world news, and it was the first time the survivors were given such a public stage. One survivor after another testified in court, and the nation listened to the voices of the witnesses, feeling their agony. It prompted a new openness in Israel, as the country confronted this traumatic chapter in Jewish history.

The impact of Eichmann’s trial is felt to this day in the way Israel promotes Holocaust education and encourages survivors – who are aging – to share their experiences with others. Holocaust Remembrance Day is the culmination of our efforts to honor survivors and remember the fallen. In Israel, at one point during the day, a siren sounds, traffic stops, and the entire country observes two minutes of silent memorial. There is no public entertainment, as theaters, cinemas, pubs, and other public venues are closed. Radio, television, and even music programs are all adapted to recognize the serious atmosphere of this special day.

Rega Shel Ivrit

Yom HaShoah V’Hag’vurah –יום השואה והגבורה  (Day of the Holocaust and Heroism)

The rationale for this name arises from Israel’s past approach that preferred to focus on how Jews heroically resisted their Nazi tormentors through fighting them in the ghettos and joining underground partisans who fought the Third Reich in its occupied countries. For the same reason, the original proposal was to hold Yom HaShoah on 14 Nisan, the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (though due to its proximity to Passover it was postponed for after the holiday, still within the time span of the ghetto uprising).

Today, the name and the date of this day remain with a broader understanding, I believe, that a hero is not just someone who bears arms and fights in the name of a higher purpose; a hero is also someone chooses to live and retain his human dignity in the most unbearable conditions. I’m proud to call all those who experienced the Holocaust my heroes, as they prove to the entire world that the human spirit is stronger than can ever be imagined. Let us always remember this message together with the memory of those who perished and the heroism of the survivors.

Shabbat Shalom,
Roey

________________________________________

About the Author

Roey Schiff is the NFTY Shaliach. Roey grew up in Ein Vered, Israel and has experience working with teens and leadership development. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Business Management from Ben Gurion University. In September 2010, Roey moved to NYC to act as the NFTY and Israel Programs Shaliach as part of the URJ Youth Division.

By Jonathan Brody, NFTY-CWR

Last summer I went on NFTY in Israel L’Dor V’Dor. On this trip we went to Prague, Poland and finally Israel. Before I went on this trip I never thought that sitting here today Israel would be so important to my life. The whole five weeks I spent there was pretty much a giant NFTY event with people from all around the country. It was by far the best summer I have ever had – solely because of NFTY in Israel. I made some of the best friends on this trip and if you ever have the opportunity to go on it, do it, it is the experience of a life time.

Every year around this season in Israel, there is an awareness that our lives shift during the holiday of Passover. The changing surroundings of spring’s arrival are the first indication of the holiday, as we’re directed to celebrate Passover during the spring. Then, there is also a sense of folk participation in the holiday spirit: you can smell the detergent fumes in the air as households thoroughly clean their homes; the stores are filled with kosher le’Pesach foodstuffs (and products you wouldn’t even dare putting in your mouth, such as bleach!) for the many shoppers of the season; and the most common question people asked each other is “where are you having the Seder this year?”

Indeed, an absolute majority of Israelis (even the most secular Jews among them) celebrate the holiday by attending Passover Seders, and with so many people driving on the same night to feast with their families, the roads are more packed than ever. Though it takes us twice as long to get to our relatives, I utterly enjoy seeing the collective life of the community giving expression to this Jewish tradition. It embedded itself in me so much that I never allow myself to miss a Passover Seder, even when I am far away from home and family. A few years ago I backpacked (like many young Israelis who take time for traveling after they’re done with their military service) through Southeast Asia and stayed in Cambodia during Passover. With no Jewish Chabad Center nearby, I knew that if I wanted to keep my lifelong habit I had to do something proactive about it. Within days I hooked up with some other Westerners who were living or traveling in the area and together we celebrated a Passover Seder. Each one was responsible for some aspect or other of the organizing and, though the food wasn’t truly kosher le’Pesach, we prepared and ate some traditional Passover dishes, read the Haggadah and sang Passover songs throughout the night.

I’m not an observant Jew. I admit to skipping some major Jewish holidays and Shabbat services without having a guilty conscience. So I ask myself what it is about Passover and the Seder in particular that I so devoutly follow.  Our rabbis teach that all Jews must see themselves as if they themselves had come out of Egypt. The story of the liberation granted to the Israelites as they escaped slavery in Egypt conveys a universal message that has inspired generations of people throughout history. It served us well in the darkest moments of exile as we waited for our next liberation and its living memory continues to shape our present lives and identities as Jews. Even today – when we are a free people with the huge privilege of having a sovereign state in our own historic homeland – in recalling Egypt, we are exhorted to remember that we were once slaves. It obligates us to have regard for the poor and stranger because we too were once servants and outcasts, to care for the oppressed because we too were once persecuted, and to be cautious with power because we too have suffered the perversions of another’s might.

So this year as well, I’ll sit around the table and read the same old story which is not going to be much different than last year or the year before then. The thing is, it isn’t supposed to be. The reason the tradition of retelling events from the distant past survives to this day is because these memories are still meaningful and relevant to our present lives as a collective and as individuals alike.

Rega Shel Ivrit

Seder – סדר (Order)

The term Seder of Passover originates from the Order of sacrifices that were made in the ancient Temple. With the Temple’s destruction and sacrifice no longer part of Judaism, it refers today to the prescribed order of the Passover ritual feast. And with so many customs to follow on one night, especially when drinking wine is involved, having a set order of traditions is not such a bad idea. 

Chag Pesach Sameach,

Roey
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About the Author

Roey Schiff is the NFTY Shaliach. Roey grew up in Ein Vered, Israel and has experience working with teens and leadership development. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Business Management from Ben Gurion University. In September 2010, Roey moved to NYC to act as the NFTY and Israel Programs Shaliach as part of the URJ Youth Division.

“וַאֲפִילוּ כֻּלָּנוּ חֲכָמִים כֻּלָּנוּ נְבוֹנִים / כֻּלָּנוּ יוֹדְעִים אֶת הַתּוֹרָה / מִצְוָה עָלֵינוּ לְסַפֵּר בִּיצִיאַת מִצְרָיִם”

“Even though all of us are wise, understanding and knowing of the Torah,
we are still obligated to tell the story of our Exodus from Egypt.”

My Haggadah is a musical one. The themes of Pesach inspire so many of my favorite Israeli musicians, and every year another musical Midrash is added to my Pesach collection. This music is one of the most precious gifts that Israeli life and culture contribute to the Jewish tradition.

Israeli rock guitarist, songwriter and singer Berry Sakharof reminds us that although we are all smart and wise, and most important, free—or at least have the possibility of enjoying the freedom that living in democratic modern societies grants us—many of us still are enslaved and/or enslave others. To each her own addiction.  Whether materialistic or emotional, Pesach invites us to reenact the night of the Exodus and to take a leap of faith choosing the redeeming lightness of the matzah over the unbearable lightness of the enslavement of the chametz in our lives.

“Because we are all slaves
We are all someone’s addiction
What now asks you to feel

So what do we do with this anger?
What about the envy?
Everyone wants to be free
But from what, Lord, from what?”

Israeli singer-songwriter Eti Ankri in Yetziat Mitzrayim takes us to the days that followed the night our people left Egypt, singing about the challenges of the journey in the desert and the fear that makes us nostalgic, weakening our spirit and faith.  “Sometimes I feel that we are still there, walking towards the mountain, begging for water”

Our journey from Egypt to Israel is more than a moment in our history or our memory. It is an ever evolving journey—from slavery to sovereignty, from powerlessness to powerful.  The Haggadah is an invitation to an open, cross generational conversation about Jewish values, faith, resilience and justice.  Eti Ankri’s words and melody take us back to that journey, inviting us to think about how we can overcome the challenges of our life’s journey.  What calms us? What are our sources of strength?  Hopefully, these thoughts will inspire us to renew our faith.

Surviving Mitzrayim also makes us responsible. Becoming powerful demands that we be cautious about how we use our power. It makes us responsible for protecting those who still are fighting for their freedom. Telling the story of our Exodus from Egypt should empower us—as Alma Zohar’s “Egypt” does—to look for modern “Mitzrayim” and fight against slavery and injustice wherever it exists.

Don’t you know that each day and age,
One and all must see himself,
As though having escaped Egypt,
So he won’t forget how he fled,
How he was beaten, bled, left dead,
How he called out to the heavens.
Don’t say “what do I have to do with those?!”

Yehudit Werchow is the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Central Shlicha for the Union for Reform Judaism.   

The Acceptable Parameters of Power

For centuries, the high ethical and moral standards of the Jewish people were a given. Yet, since we regained sovereignty in Israel and significantly increased the political and military power in our hands, holding this high standard has become a much more complex and challenging objective. In recent years, the state of Israel has repeatedly been accused of employing “a disproportionate response” when it comes to its military conflicts. However, the question of what are the acceptable parameters of power is trickier than it seems.

For six straight days last week, over 15% of the Israeli population lived under conditions of terror and fear, but this time no one is denying that the mass terror was expected. It is accepted that these new attacks are a direct response to a violent Israeli action. The attacks began after the Israeli Air Force targeted and killed two members of the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC), a terror organization based in Gaza. The PRC was thought to be planning a terror attack that was to take place in the coming days, similar to a previous terror attack it perpetrated that took place near the road to Eilat last August, killing eight Israelis.

In response to the assassination, hundreds of rockets, mortars and artillery shells were fired from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip at civilian population centers in southern Israel. Israel’s new Iron Dome anti-missile defense system intercepted a large portion of the rockets, preventing some crucial hits in populated areas. Despite its high success rate, the system doesn’t provide full protection and so some Israelis were injured in the missile attacks while a million more lives were disrupted (mainly as schools in the area were closed and parents missed work to stay home with their kids). Israel responded with more attacks on rocket-launching sites and weapons facilities, in which at least 20 Palestinians, including four civilians, were killed until a ceasefire was reached through Egyptian mediation.

Once again, it was a targeted killing, retaliation and retaliation to the retaliation, in what is often coined “a cycle of violence,” and the question remains whether we should engage in pre-emptive targeted assassinations, knowing the probable consequences. One may doubt the defense establishment’s suggestion that the targeted killing really did head off a planned terrorist attack, but I believe that as a sovereign state, Israel is committed to act proactively to give its citizens the security that they deserve. This requires courageous moves of diplomacy, but when left with no other choice it also requires audacity on the battlefield. In this case, the geographical setting of the foiled terrorist attack settles the matter. Sinai, although Egyptian territory, is not under control of the Egyptian authorities by practical standards, and as long as the fence on the Egyptian border is still under construction, it will remain an ideal operating ground for terrorist organizations from the Gaza Strip. Therefore, the Israeli military decided to act preemptively before these terrorists could take advantage of the holes in Egyptian security.

As we have found out, even sovereignty has its difficulties. A normal country – let alone one like Israel that is continually threatened – will not survive if it ties its hands with absolute moral strictures and does not adjust to the pressures of power and threats posed by its enemies. That being said, it’s clear that Israel shouldn’t get carried away with the use of pro-active force in its continual struggle for security. For a very timely example, striking preemptively in Iran would not have the same ramifications it has in Gaza. Obviously, when so much is in stake, the right decision is harder to make and the balance between restraint and aggression is much more delicate.

Rega Shel Ivrit 

Haba l’horg’cha hashkem l’horgo – הבא להרגך השכם להרגו (When someone arises to kill you, preempt them, and kill them first)

The above quote is taken from the Babylonian Talmud (Berakhot 62b). While the Jewish tradition elevates the sanctity of life as one of its highest values and sees all of humanity as equal in value, for we were all created in the image of God, it does not merely allow but obligates acts of self-defense. Hence, if you think about it, even pre-emptive acts of self-defense have in their way a moral legitimacy. Then again it is the actor’s moral obligation to justify the act as self-defense and also taking all the possible results to his act into account. 

Shabbat shalom,

Roey

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About the Author

Roey Schiff is the NFTY Shaliach. Roey grew up in Ein Vered, Israel and has experience working with teens and leadership development. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Business Management from Ben Gurion University. In September 2010, Roey moved to NYC to act as the NFTY and Israel Programs Shaliach as part of the URJ Youth Division.