Once again I find myself in my favorite city in the world just a few hours before shabbat and am reflecting on an extremely intense and powerful week here. The convention of the Rabbinical Assembly, the global association of Conservative/Masorti rabbis, was here at the Dan Jerusalem Hotel on Mount Scopus close to Hebrew University. 250 rabbis from Israel, North and South America and Europe gathered together in this complicated and painful time, engaging in different ways with the theme ‘Bridging Dreams and Reality.’ We studied, we witnessed, we prayed, we sang, we hoped and we dreamed together in traditional and creative ways with text, art, music, poetry, political discussion and more. I feel very full and more hopeful than before I left the US. As I write this, I sit in the lounge of the Scot’s Hotel in St. Andrews Church overlooking the city, where we are spending Shabbat. This charming guest house is run by Christian Arabs and is brightly decorated for Christmas. All around me, I hear the sounds of Arabic spoken by the very friendly staff on a bright, chilly day with the ancient, sacred sites of Judaism, Christianity and Islam piercing the blue sky, as I wonder and dream if this can ever be a real City of Peace.
The very first session of convention on Monday was with Rachel Korazin, the most exquisite teacher of Israeli poetry, guiding us through some of the devastating and powerful poems written since October 7th. She taught that when there are no words (ayn milim), sometimes the language of poetry can speak in a way that other words cannot, giving voice to the trauma, articulating the pain with evocative tropes.
Tuesday began with a musical shacharit service led by a circle of incredible Israeli musicians and prayer leaders opening us to presence on the different tracks for this first full day. Mine was ‘Reimagining Israel Engagement for the Day After’ in different sites with different organizations around Jerusalem. Our guide kept emphasizing that it is still October 7th and we are waiting for October 8th to come and preparing for it. Guided by the work of WZO (World Zionist Organization), Mercaz (The Conservative/Masorti representatives of WZO) and KKL (Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael, sister organization of JNF), we learned about the vital importance of democratic and pluralistic voices in this country as the extreme voices try to drown us all out. As American Jews, we can all vote in the elections beginning in March 2025 to help the voices of reason be heard in policy decisions that will impact the whole region. More on that will follow. We visited Muslala, an amazing rooftop terrace that through art, ecology and activism is driving the transformation of Jerusalem into an open, creative society. One of the signs reads “Gag Eden,” meaning the roof of Eden, which is a pun on Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden. We heard about the work of KKL to address climate change and met some inspiring activists.
We went from there to the Knesset where we met Avodah MK (Knesset Member) Rabbi Gilad Kariv, a reform rabbi and progressive activist, who gave us his analysis of the political realities, the right wing push for judicial reform, the war, the continuing fate of the hostages and, again, the importance of pluralism to preserve the democracy. We ended the day at Machon Schechter, the Seminary that trains Masorti Rabbis, for a tour, dinner, speeches and music.
Wednesday’s track was ‘War, Judaism and Ecology’ in the Gaza Envelope and we spent the whole day right by the Gaza border with the constant sounds of shelling and gunfire in the background. Our first stop was Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where at least 62 of the 700 residents were killed and 19 taken as hostages on October 7th. We saw firsthand the horrific destruction and were guided by Ayelet, a survivor of that day and one of the 20 or so residents who have moved back to the kibbutz. We heard some gruesome and sad stories of what unfolded there and heard of the extraordinary resilience, rebuilding and reimagining. Our next stop was the site of the Nova Music Festival near Re’im, where 364 people, mostly young, were brutally murdered in the atrocities that started at 6.29am as the sun was rising, and 40 were taken hostage. The memorial site is mostly a grassroots initiative that honors the memories of all of the victims with very moving images that tell the stories of these people in powerful ways. Seeing groups of young soldiers walking through row after row of pictures of people mostly their age and weeping, really impacted me the most.
This long and intense day continued at Kibbutz Sa’ad where we heard unbelievable stories from a Kibbutz member who organized the collaborative efforts, Jewish and non-Jewish, to recover agriculture across all the impacted communities. We ended the day back outside the Knesset where we joined some families of hostages and heard testimonies then joined in prayer and song.
The final day of this gathering began with a morning prayer service at the egalitarian part of the Western Wall in the southern excavation of the Temple. This space is managed by Israel’s Masorti movement and there are dozens of services held there every week. The sounds of 100s of rabbis from across the world joining together in prayer in that sacred space, wearing tallit and tefillin and reading from the Torah the continuing story of Jacob, was so poignant and moved many of us to tears. Our program ended with some more beautiful music and lighting candles as we reflected on light and hope and how we bring it all out into the world. There are so many images that will stay with me forever from this experience and I still have much to process. After Shabbat, we are hoping to get to Tel Aviv to join the protests demanding the release of the 100 hostages still in Gaza. There is so much darkness and suffering in all sides of this conflict and, for many of us, hearing the loud sounds of continuing violence inside Gaza, while listening to a survivor retell the horrors of October 7th, was so troubling. When will it be October 8th?
In this week’s parsha, we read the iconic story of Jacob’s all night wrestling match with an angel “ad alot hashachar, until the breaking of dawn.” This wrestling has been interpreted in so many ways throughout time and means something different for each of us. In being victorious, Jacob gets his new identity as Yisrael and, in a sense, the whole Jewish people are his descendants and we are still wrestling in so many ways. Ayelet, the amazing survivor from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, introduced us to her husband, whose name is Shachar, meaning the dawn. ‘Ayelet haShachar’ is a phrase at the opening of Psalm 22 that means the gazelle of the dawn. Seeing and hearing this couple take groups around the kibbutz and sharing their stories and their determination to rebuild brings us closer to the dawn of October 8th, when perhaps the eternal fighting between humans and between humans and angels or God, will cease and we will receive new names, new identities, new hope, new possibilities beyond this dark night of the soul.
I feel immensely privileged to be here and to get ready to spend another Shabbat in Jerusalem, holy time meeting holy space, and I do not take it for granted. May Shabbat, wherever, we are give us a taste of a redeemed world, bridging our dreams with reality. All the stores and market stalls are filled with Hanukkiot, candles and sufganiot (doughnuts) as Hanukkah approaches with its invitation to bring light into these dark days,
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Marc
PS - While the hostages still remain in Gaza, a group continues to walk every Sunday at 1pm meeting at Pearl and 8th in Boulder. Bring them home now.
