Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Rabbis must go beyond cheerleading on Israel

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.617500
 
 
Rabbis must go beyond cheerleading on Israel
 
Rabbis are different from pundits and politicians, and it’s their moral 
voice that must be heard. Too many young U.S. Jews despair of hearing in 
synagogue a less one-sided view of Israel, one that reflects their 
discomfort with the occupation.
 
By Rabbi Jill Jacobs | Sep. 23, 2014 | 8:26 PM
 
The last few days have seen the publication of four articles on the 
difficulties and pitfalls for rabbis in talking about Israel. In the New 
York Times, Laurie Goodstein reports now on rabbis afraid of losing 
congregants or their jobs if they bring up Israel. In Religion 
Dispatches, Sarah Posner observes  much the same phenomenon. And in 
Haaretz, Peter Beinart advises rabbis not to speak about Israel at all; 
Eric Yoffie enjoinders rabbis to address the subject of Israel, despite 
its fractious status amongst their congregants.
 
It’s true that speaking about Israel is difficult. In the lead up to 
Rosh Hashanah, I have heard from many anxious rabbis, worried about 
angering one segment of the community or the other, or wondering whether 
to address Israel at all.
 
This situation is especially pronounced for rabbis who move beyond the 
one-sided pro-Israel cheerleading and offer the experiences and stories 
of Palestinians along with those of Israelis.
 
Thankfully, courageous rabbis do engage their communities on this most 
difficult of issues. Some have shared with me draft sermons that draw on 
Jewish text and history to promote a relationship with Israel that 
includes deep commitment, loving critique, and the ability to hold 
multiple narratives at the same time.
 
The job of a rabbi is to be a moral leader. And there is nowhere in the 
Jewish community more in need of moral leadership than the Israel debate.
 
Our conversations about Israel tend to stick to the political. We wage 
wars of factoids, lobbing bits of data back and forth: The latest 
polling on who does and doesn’t support peace; evidence of one side’s 
bad (or good) behavior during the war; “proof” of whom to blame for the 
latest flare-up or for a long ago war.
 
These boxing matches lead nowhere. Each side digs deeper and deeper into 
its own position, and seeks out more and more data points to support 
pre-existing beliefs.
 
Rabbis hold the power to break through this standstill by helping their 
communities to cultivate deep empathy for all sides. Rabbis can bring 
the wisdom of Jewish text and tradition to deep questions about the 
Israel we want to create. We can look to rabbinic laws concerning the 
establishment of a just society for insight into creating a country that 
reflects Jewish values. This year, the laws of shemita, including the 
release of land, might prompt us to consider when and how we would be 
willing to let go of some land in order to achieve peace. Biblical 
stories of pacts between our ancestors and foreign rulers offer models 
for peace agreements even in times of fear.
 
This January, I spent a few days with participants in T’ruah’s year-long 
program for rabbinical students spending the academic year in Israel. 
Together, we planted olive trees on a Palestinian farm in the West Bank, 
wrestled with legal texts about the possession of land, and reflected on 
how these students might bring the stories of their year in Israel home 
to their student pulpits and teaching positions.
 
One lesson stood out: Rabbis must be different from pundits and 
political analysts. Instead, rabbis speak with a moral authority, and 
from the depths of Jewish tradition.
 
According to an old adage, the job of the clergy is to comfort the 
afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. This especially rings true 
when it comes to Israel. Rabbis need to simultaneously address the very 
real fears of those of us with loved ones in Israel, and to push Israel 
to be a place that lives up to the best of Jewish text, values, and 
tradition.
 
Some fear that speaking honestly about Israel will deter young Jews, or 
the marginally affiliated from engaging with Israel or with the Jewish 
community. In fact, the opposite is the case. Too many young Jews 
complain that they hear nothing in synagogue that speaks to their own 
experiences with Israel or their discomfort with the occupation. If 
instead, they hear rabbis moving beyond platitudes and speaking about 
Israel in a way that takes multiple truths into account, these sporadic 
synagogue goers may get excited about being part of a tradition that 
speaks powerfully to today’s moral quandaries.
 
Over the summer I have witnessed dozens of rabbis listened to and shared 
best practices for speaking about Israel honestly and in such a way as 
to be heard. In listening to these rabbis, I was struck by their 
courage. Many of these rabbis have taken risks by offering loving 
critique of Israel, by inviting speakers representing a range of views, 
and by organizing facilitated conversation among congregants with 
diverse views.
 
To be a rabbi is to be a moral leader. Moral leadership requires us to 
move beyond cheerleading to drawing on our tradition acknowledge fear, 
address ethical questions, offer loving critique, and inspire the hope 
that will move our communities toward supporting peace.
 
Rabbi Jill Jacobs is the Executive Director of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call 
for Human Rights, which mobilizes 1,800 rabbis and cantors and tens of 
thousands of North American Jews to protect human rights in Israel and 
North America. Follow T’ruah on Twitter: @TruahRabbis
-- 
Namib
.....
There's a blaze of light in every word (Leonard Cohen)

 Rabbis must 
 
nulla eccita di piu' i comunisti che poter ordinare agli ebrei cosa fare.

 nulla eccita di piu' i comunisti 
 
di una rabbina comunista così
http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/halakhah/teshuvot/20052010/jacobs-living-wage.pdf
 
che ti piscia in testa a livello di autorevolezza (ancora tu dovevi entrare in seminario che lei era già una top 50 dei rabbini più cool della patria degli ebrei più ricchi e intelligenti).

 di una rabbina comunista
 
veramente, il comunista in questione e' Namib.


ma è lei che scrive "rabbis must ecc.ecc.".


e questo secondo te la rende comunista?

 e questo secondo te la rende comunista?
 
quello che la rende comunista è quello che c'è nel link che ho messo nel primo post. 
Oltre ovviamente al fatto che dice che i rabbini non devono sostenere sempre e comunque Israele :D

  i rabbini non devono sostenere sempre e comunque Israele :D
 
a dire il vero questa faccenda che, parlando di Israele in maniera critica, si attirerebbero masse di giovani nelle sinagoghe, e' una teoria che manca di prove sperimentali. 
 
 

 per tua informazione, non e' Marx. Si cita anzi la letteratura rabbinica. 
 
quella del nonno di Marx. :D


no, fesso, qualche generazione piu' indietro. E comunque roba che ha molto piu' da insegnare. 
 


oste, è buono il vino?