May 2005 VOL. XXXII No 3
ljtoday
Fascinating, inspirational and challenging During our trip in February, our group of 13 ministers and lay members came face to face with some of the most painful realities of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. But we also had some very refreshing experiences. At Congregation Or Chadash in Haifa, we looked around the building following the Shabbat morning service. It was a large, beautiful well-equipped synagogue with a staff of 25, including kindergarten and youth club facilities. Rabbi Edgar Nof, an energetic fundraiser for his congregation, which has just celebrated its 40th anniversary, took us on a tour between barmitzvahs. He conducts four individual b’nei mitzvah services every Shabbat – that’s how popular Progressive Judaism has become amongst ‘secular’ Israelis. There are so many Israels to visit when you go to Israel. In just under a week, we glimpsed several fragments: progressive Jewish Israel; orthodox Jewish Israel; the Israel of Jewish-Arab co-existence; the Israel of a new Arab-Jewish shared existence; the Israel that occupies the West Bank; the Israel that challenges the harassment of Palestinians; the Israel that works together with Palestinians to reach a just settlement. As well as visiting progressive synagogues in Tel Aviv and Haifa, our group – which included an imam from south London – went to the Leo Baeck Education Centre in Haifa and saw projects it supports. One of these is the Clore
We encountered so many different Israels on our Liberal Judaism-Rabbis for Human Rights visit, writes Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah Neighbourhood Centre in Ein Ha’yam, one of the few areas of Haifa where Arabs and Jews live in the same neighbourhood. A lovely building refurbished by the Vivien Duffield Foundation, it includes a games room, an internet café, a dance studio and a football area. The Jewish Israeli coordinator, a woman in her thirties, and a younger Muslim social worker talked about the activities at the centre – in particular, those for young people. Because the Arab children are already fluent in Hebrew as well as Arabic, the organisers are planning a programme in street Arabic for Jewish Israeli youngsters, for whom Arabic is only compulsory up to the 7th or 8th grade. It wasn’t all as uplifting as this, though. We visited Palestinian areas in East Jerusalem, and saw where houses had been demolished by the army because the owners did not have the necessary building permits that are virtually impossible to obtain. We listened to the director of Rabbis for Human Rights, orthodox rabbi Arik Ascherman, relating the many instances of army harassment he had witnessed. But then we met Saab Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, at his
headquarters in Jericho, and heard him speak about his unshakable commitment to the peace process; and Yasser Abed Rabbo, head of the Palestinian Peace Coalition, in Ramallah, speak about the ongoing Palestinian effort to achieve an independent Palestinian state by peaceful means. Our visit was fascinating, inspirational and challenging. From an external vantage point, all you see when you look at Israel is the conflict between two peoples, Israelis and Palestinians. But when you visit, it becomes clear just how diverse Israeli society is – and not just Jewish diversity: 1.2 million Palestinians live in Israel – the Palestinians who remained in their villages and towns in 1948. These Palestinian Israelis – who until recently have been called ‘Arabs’ – have no intention of going to live in the state of Palestine when it is established. Their attachment is to the place where they have lived for generations. What they want is to receive equal treatment as Israeli citizens within Israeli society. It makes sense. It sounds simple. But ensuring full equality for Israel’s Palestinian citizens will be far more difficult to achieve than creating a Palestinian state. This article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered by Rabbi Sarah at Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue, and which can be read in full on the Liberal Judaism website.
INSIDE: Liberal Judaism and Israel • Zika – our new action group • Frustration at the checkpoint • Netzer Veidah in Jerusalem