Earlier this week, I attended an international conference of Rabbis sponsored by Tzohar, an organization seeking to develop a true Religious Zionist Rabbinate. The conference was an amazing opportunity to meet and share ideas with my Israeli colleagues as we explored the challenges facing religious zionism and modern orthodoxy both here in Israel and outside. We even explored the similarities and differences of those 2 philosophies: religious zionism and mod. orthodoxy. While I won't go into specifics of what was said, we brushed on important topics such as women in communal roles, issues of Jewish identity, attitudes toward kiruv/outreach, the concept of community, abuse and the Jewish future --- and yes that was all in a day and a half.
We then spent an afternoon at the Knesset meeting with various ministers and knesset members about the current and future state of religion in Israel. This included Minister of Science and Chairman of Bayit Hayehudi (the religious Zionist party) Daniel Hershkowitz (Minister Hershkowitz is also the father in law of one of my dear Israeli colleagues Rabbi Ronen Neuwirth in Raanana -- Rav Ronen visited my shul last year with Rav Yuval Cherlow and is the Overseas Director of Tzohar), Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Public Relations Yuli Edelstein, and MKs Anastasia Michaeli and Zevulun Orlev. MK Michaeli has a fascinating history having been born in St. Petersberg and hadn't met a Jew until meeting her husband an unaffiliated Latvian Jew. They decided to come to Israel in 1999 and she worked as an anchorwoman for an Israeli television station. She decided to eventually convert along with her children (they now have 8) and finally converted 3.5 years ago and is now a member of the Knesset.
Yesterday, I spent the day with my colleague Rabbi Barry Gelman, who is also my boss as he is the president of the IRF. We spent the day in the old city visiting Rav Shlomo Aviner at Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim, davening at the Kotel, and learning together at the newly reopened Hurva Synagogue which had been destroyed in 1948. The Hurva had been once before in the 18th century and the Vilna Gaon had said that its reconstruction would come just before the reconstruction of the Temple -- hopefully signs of things to come. I even got to practice my Arabic with a vendor in the Shuk as Rav Barry bought a chess set for his son.
Today was a sad but somewhat inspirational day as well. I attended the funeral of HaRav Yehuda Amital, z"l. Rav Amital was the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion (affectionately known as Gush) where many of my own Rebbeim had studied. He was also the Chairman of the Rabbinic Advisory committee of my own Yeshiva, Chovevei Torah.
Rav Amital survived the Shoah losing both his parents and all his siblings in Auschwitz and then came to Israel and fought with the Hagannah in the War of Independence. Rav Amital taught at Yeshivat Darom alongside his colleague Rav Shach, who went on to be the Rosh Yeshiva of Ponovitch and the head of Hareidi Judaism. But Rav Amital took a different path -- he was pained at seeing the friction in klal yisrael caused by yeshiva students being exempted from the army and therefore worked to start the hesder movement where students would split time between yeshiva and the army. He founded in his own yeshiva just after the 6 Day War and a few years later brought Rav Aharon Lichtenstein from the US to be his co-Rosh Yeshiva.
Rav Amital took some unpopular positions for his world -- particularly aligning with Labor and the peace process in the 80s and 90s but always tolerated and respected those who disagreed with him and they were even present in his own yeshiva -- many of his political opponents were the funeral today.
Two aspects of the funeral I would like to share -- one of the eulogizers commented that Rav Amital used to teach that every Jew was like a sefer Torah and when a Jew dies it's like seeing a sefer Torah burned. Rav Amital meant this in part reflecting on the lives lost in the Shoah as seeing Torah scrolls burned, but in life he also greeted and treated every Jew -- no matter who they here as if they possessed the sanctity of a Torah scroll.
Rav Amital was actually born Yehuda Klein and took the name Amital when coming to Israel. His son Rav Yoel Amital hypothesized in his eulogy that the reason was as follows: the name means My nation of dew. Rav Yoel said this was a reference to the dew that would fall and regrow a nation, also the dew that would cause the resurrection of dead. Rav Amital saw his nation come back alive after the horrors of the holocaust and even had the pain of seeing many of his own students fall in battle. I like to think that Rav Amital himself was also that dew bringing a nation back to life.
I think my own teacher Rabbi Avi Weiss summed it up best as we were walking behind Rav Amital's hearse and he turned to me and said, "I need a new Rebbe."
After the funeral, I went with Rabbi Weiss to visit his father, Rabbi Moshe Weiss) who is now 91 and a half. His father is in remarkable health for his age and offered very insightful wisdom -- a thought on the parsha and on soccer (who apparently in his youth was a professional soccer player). On the parsha he said that Moshe asks the tribes of Gad and Reuven would it be fair that their brothers fight while they remain on the east side of the Jordan. They answered that they would go and fight and wouldn't return till Israel is conquered. But Moshe is upset with that answer and then seems to repeat their condition -- but Moshe adds one thing -- that God would go and fight. Having an army and the ability to fight is important, but we must also remember that is with God on our side we do the fighting.
The second thought the elder Rabbi Weiss offered was on soccer. I personally always found soccer boring. Rabbi Avi Weiss asked his father if it was boring to watch World Cup when there is so little scoring (compared to the games we Americans we typically watch). His father replied -- no it is all the more exciting to watch how much they can hang on and hold off the other team's goals. I couldn't help but thinking that's a great metaphor for Jewish history.
Finally, we went to the tent outside the Prime Minister's house, where Noam and Aviva Shalit are holding vigil for their son Gilad, who is still held captive by Hamas. The Shalits come from the left of Israeli politics and seemed suspicious of people with kippot coming to visit them, especially with those on the right protesting across the street that they want Gilad home but not at any price (the Shalit's have been lobbying for Israel to acquiesce to Hamas's demands and free all prisoners so their son can come home. Many of those Hamas want released are killers and could very easily kill again. But Gilad is still alive and as parents they want their son home -- it is no easy decision). Nevertheless, they seemed grateful for our support and our brief words of blessing.
I'll close with this -- we are coming up on Rosh Chodesh Av on Sunday night -- beginning the saddest month of the Jewish year. As we begin the month with reduced simcha -- especially after the loss of a giant like Rav Amital and seeing Gilad still in captivity -- we hope and pray that the dew of Torah will bring about our own regrowth where parents no longer have to bargain for their children's lives, where Israel shall dwell securely, and where we like Rav Amital see human being with the same sanctity of the Torah itself.
Shabbat Shalom
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