The Rabbi's Column

The Rabbi’s Desk: Not Quite as Easy as A, B, C

“Home is where they have to let you in simply because you’re you,” wrote Rabbi Lawrence Kushner. The statement applies well to the Land of Israel. Some of us refer to her as our second home, but by this definition, she is our one and only true home. We call her Artzeinu, our land, whether or not we have lived there or even visited there. She belongs to our collective past and our collective memory. She plays a major—if not the major—role in our shared destiny. In the present, especially given  recent headlines, we struggle with deciding how we are to relate to this strange, familiar, frustrating, inspiring, old and new place we call home.

I recently learned of the A-B-C’s of teaching engagement with Artzeinu Yisrael. The “A” stands for the affective method: the emotional attachment we feel to Israel when we experience what she offers; when we are affected by the smells, sights and sounds of her vibrant culture; when we taste her food, climb her mountains, or dance to her music. The “B” stands for the behavioral method: the actions we perform when we want to show our support for Israel; when we advocate or lobby; when we march in a parade; when we invest in a bond. The “C” stands for the cognitive method, this last one being the most difficult to teach and the hardest to learn: the appreciation we must have for Israel rationally, intellectually, and perhaps even spiritually when we consider what she represents in the context of a complex world. While we want Artzeinu to live up to every Jewish ideal, she struggles to climb out of a web of social, political and religious entanglements that are anything but black and white.

Having just returned from a 10-day family experience in Israel, the A-B-C’s of Artzeinu still have me spinning. The sense of family and home was as strong as I have ever felt it, and yet I am so disillusioned that a fanatic ultra-orthodox element represents as great a threat to Israeli society as the threat of a nuclear Iran. Extremist attitudes, sadly, hold too much sway over the decisions Israel must make as it strives to fulfill the ideals we expect of Artzeinu. Learning my A-B-C’s, however, has empowered me to know how I can continue to engage with Our Land in a constructive and honest way. I know that individually and communally we can continue to love, support and appreciate Israel even as we nudge her in the directions we want to see her take.

Our OJC community has been blessed with people who are similarly committed to Israel. In particular, one of our families has decided to endow an effort to make these A-B-C’s of Israel accessible to any of our congregants who wish to so engage. “The Artzeinu Project” will supplement our efforts to enable people at various stages of life to visit Israel; it will enable people to advocate and lobby for Israel by attending events and conferences where they might not have afforded the opportunity otherwise; it will fund opportunities to enable us individually and communally to appreciate the nuanced, fragile and unique place that Israel, Artzeinu, occupies in the world today. In return, The Artzeinu Project expects that its beneficiaries will share the excitement of their experiences in a meaningful way with our community.

More information about The Artzeinu Project will follow in the weeks and months ahead. If you are seeking a connection with Israel and you need help, reach out to your rabbis and we will work to make the experience possible. We hope that, with the help of this new program, feeling at home in Artzeinu will be as easy as A-B-C.

L’hitra’ot, 
Rabbi Craig Scheff