A Causeless Love

(Note: This post was written in two parts. The first on Friday July 24th and the second on Sunday July 26th)

This Sunday is Tisha B’av, a day of fasting that marks the destruction of the Temples and other disasters that have faced the Jewish community.  This Sunday, there will also be a rally in front of the Federal Building in Los Angeles opposing the Iran nuclear deal.

Here is why I feel the rally is important.

• The survival of the Jewish people is of critical importance to me, and I am commanded as a Jew to save lives
• The current deal on the table is complicated – so complicated that six world powers have been negotiating the terms for two years
• This “deal” has splintered the Jewish community and set off an ugly war of words
• More than ever the Jewish community must rally and come together in solidarity
• While the deal might not be the best deal, I don’t believe the nuclear deal is an anti-Jewish or anti-Israel deal. It’s a world issue and we cannot stand apart from the world

Here is what I will be doing Sunday.

• I will be sitting Shiva in honor of Theodore Bikel, a Jewish hero and civil rights activist – a courageous man who dared to speak to truth even when his truth was not a popular one
•  I will be at the Pico Union Project, sitting with people from varied religions, cultures, and political perspectives, discussing what we can do to bring our diverse community together in cooperation, greater understanding and collaboration
•  I will read from the book of Eicha – Lamentations, a book about a man struggling with the evil and suffering in the world.  I will mediate on verses such as “Adonai, you have seen my wrong: judge me by my cause” and “It is good for a person to bear the yoke in their youth

It takes a lot of hard work to do the right thing and to defend what you believe in. But that’s is our calling as Jews and as human beings.  We are obligated to be more human, to act on behalf of humanity, to dare to be different in the face of indifference.

Whatever you do on Sunday, wherever you are doing it, it is imperative that we approach the day with truth and integrity and do something. For if not now, when and if not us, who?

Shabbat Shalom.

Craig

(This is the follow up to my post from Friday, and reflect my feelings about the true challenges confronting our community. I hesitated to post this on Friday for two reasons.   1. My desire not to tell people what they should or shouldn't do vis-à-vis the rally. 2. My fear at being labeled a traitor for not towing a particular party line.)

In my last post on Friday, I practiced restraint and decided not to express my concern and challenges with yesterday’s “Stop Iran” rally. I am not a politician or nuclear expert, and felt it was not my place to suggest whether or not people should attend or not attend. I chose instead to accentuate the importance of making a good choice – and hope you did so.

Now that the rally is over I feel compelled to share my deep concern at the polarizing nature of the rally invitations. There is something very wrong when The Jewish Federation and numerous other Jewish organizations send out “Urgent Action” emails calling on all Los Angeles Jews to oppose the Iran deal when even their own local Jewish paper, the Jewish Journal, published a poll a few days earlier showing that 49% percent of American Jews support the deal and only 31% oppose it! Surely there are better ways to build a “big tent” or possibly even consensus.

What if I don’t agree – am I not a concerned American?  What if I don’t feel like you – am I not a good Jew? And if I speak out, will I be isolated or made to wear a scarlet Jewish star on my sleeve? Forced to resign from your board?  If I am a supporter of JStreet will I be branded as a traitor? If I  am an Orthodox Jew should I be evicted from the community for being too tradiitonal? Will we be soon need to live in silence like ‘Marranos’ hiding from my own people?

How is it that our Congress is entitled to debate, conversation and opinion, and we as a Jewish community are not? To be strident, absolute and completely assured that there is only one way to support the safety of Israel and America is not only wrong, it is dangerous and frankly un-Jewish. We must judge the agreement based on its merits and facts, not on hyperbole, scare tactics, premature judgment, or naïve optimism.

The Jewish community is deeply divided on this issue, and one thing is perfectly clear to me, as family we cannot afford to become more polarized and our own worst enemies.

Today on the 9th of Av, we commemorate the destruction of the Temples, and are reminded that Santa Chinam – baseless hatred amongst the Jewish people – led to our downfall. It is time to embrace the words of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Palestine, “If the Second Temple was destroyed and the people scattered through Sinat Chinam, then the Temple will be rebuilt and the people gathered together again though Ahavat Chinam, causeless love.”

We cannot expect to make peace with our enemies when we are unable to talk civilly with our own families. It’s time to lay down the war of words and embrace nuance and causeless love.