Earlier this week, as Israel marked Yom HaZikaron, Israeli Memorial Day, one of our Israeli Reform synagogues, Beit Samueli in Ra’anana was violently attacked. The congregation had hosted a screening of the Joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Ceremony, the ceremony that creates space to remember lives lost on both sides of the conflict which I spoke about on Shabbat. By creating space for Israelis and Palestinians to grieve side-by-side, to acknowledge and bear witness to each other’s losses, the ceremony offers a glimmer of hope for what the future might hold – a time when the lists of those we’ve lost don’t grow longer from year to year.
However, the notion of acknowledging shared humanity this year led to violence. The congregation received threats throughout the day on Tuesday, and hundreds of rightwing Israeli Jewish activists surrounded the building, screaming slurs and threats, throwing stones, and eventually forced their way into the building. As the event attendees finally left the building with police escort after hours under siege, the extremists continued to throw stones at their cars, resulting in Orly Erez-Livhovski, the director of the Israel Religious Action Center, needing hospitalisation and medical treatment.
The photos and video of the event are a horrifying reminder that hate and extremism are embedded within our own Jewish tent as well. That there are those in our tent who do not want to imagine a future where we can see each other’s shared humanity, where Reform Judaism and its value of equality and justice for all can flourish in Israel and throughout the Diaspora.
If, on this Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, you want to put your stake in the ground for democracy, pluralism, and peace, stay tuned for information in the coming days and weeks about voting for ARZA Canada, our Reform Zionist voice, in this year’s World Zionist Organization elections. Your vote ensures that Reform values are represented in the allocation of over $1 billion annually to Israeli and Diaspora institutions, the support of the Reform movement in Israel, and protecting Israeli democracy. Check out arzacanada.org/vote-reform/ for more information, and watch your emails for more from Temple Shalom about this important opportunity.
