Defending Israel: Sermon for Yom Kippur 5780
By Rabbi Boaz D. Heilman
One of my favorite political cartoons comes from Israel. Drawn by Yaakov Kirschen for the Jerusalem Post, it’s called Dry Bones, a reference to the prophet Ezekiel’s famous Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones. A couple of years ago, this strip featured a husband and wife talking about the current situation in Israel and relating it to Yom Kippur. The wife opens the conversation: “Yom Kippur is the day we use to list our sins and shortcomings. The whole world needs a day like that.” Looking up from his newspaper, the husband replies: “No they don’t! They use the entire year… to list our sins and shortcomings.”
It’s an amusing observation, but it’s also true. In the last few years, it’s become fashionable to criticize Israel, to find fault with any number of its policies, both foreign and domestic. Israel bashing is now common not only among terrorist groups, but also in polite, sophisticated and enlightened societies. In the United Nations alone, more resolutions condemning Israel were passed than against all other nations of the world combined. This includes countries well-known for their “humanitarian” policies, countries such as Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, China and Venezuela.
And so, since for much of the world, every day is Yom Kippur, since critiquing Israel and delegitimizing its very existence has led even many of us to question our loyalty to the Jewish State, I decided that today I am going to give myself and my home country a break. Today, instead of pointing out Israel’s faults and sins, I am going to point out some of the things she actually does right. Tomorrow it’s back to business as usual. Today, we count our blessings instead, as we take a look at the values that Israel prizes and strives to achieve.
Let’s start with Israel’s wars, among the most maligned and misunderstood of all of Israel’s endeavors. No other country in the world has faced ongoing and continuous threats against its existence as Israel has. Acts of violence and terror began long before 1948, when Israel declared its independence—only to be invaded one day later by seven armies from neighboring Arab countries. Resistance to Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel began when Turkey still controlled the Middle East as part of its Ottoman Empire. The violence increased steadily through the 1920’s and 30’s and hasn’t stopped yet.
Israel has lost a huge number of its young men and women to these murderous acts. During the Intifadas of 2000-2004, hardly a day passed without deadly attacks on busses, restaurants and marketplaces. In the weeks and months prior to the 2014 Gaza War, Israel was the target of over 7000 rocket and mortar rounds launched by Hamas, the terrorist organization that governs its Arab population with an iron fist and which has never renounced its oath to destroy Israel.
Throughout this conflict, Israel has defended itself in the most ethical way possible. Despite almost daily confrontations with Hamas, despite ongoing rocket, mortar and IED attacks, Israel continues to supply Gaza with electricity, water and literally tons of humanitarian aid every day.
Despite the way Israel is portrayed by the news media, no other country in the world takes the kind of extraordinary measures to avoid civilian casualties as does the Jewish nation. Leaflets dropped from the air, cell phone calls and “roof knocking” tactics are used to warn civilians of impending attacks. Israel trains all its soldiers in ethical fighting and often places them in deadly danger rather than attack civilian targets—despite the fact that Hamas headquarters are located on purpose in the most populated areas of the Gaza Strip, and despite the fact that most often the rockets are launched from crowded apartment buildings, mosques, schools and even kindergartens.
In war and peace, Israel struggles to define and maintain its Jewish identity. To be Jewish doesn’t just mean to recite prayers several times a day. You must also strive to live by the highest Jewish ideals, even if on occasion you fall short.
One example of this is how Israel deals with the plight of refugees and illegal immigrants, which in recent years has become a huge challenge for the entire world.
In its 71 years of existence, Israel has had to take in more refugees, from more places around the world, than any other country since World War II. While there are many problems—such as what to do with the thousands of Sudanese who fled persecution in their own country, made the dangerous journey across the Sinai Desert and finally arrived in Israel—only to find that they were unwanted there. Yet many others, such as the 100,000 Ethiopian Jews who arrived in Israel in the 1980’s and 90’s, and despite many social, political and religious challenges, have managed to integrate and create new, productive lives for themselves in their new homeland.
I admit that when I first saw people of color—I was probably 8 or 9 years old—I must have gawked and stared shamelessly. I hope I can be forgiven for that, though I still cringe at the memory. What I knew then was that they came to Israel from Ghana to learn about farming and agriculture. What I didn’t know is that the program that sponsored them was called Mashav. Initiated in 1957 by David Ben Gurion and Golda Meir, Mashav is Israel’s agency for international development and cooperation. Since its launching, Mashav has trained more than 300,000 men and women from 150 countries. In addition to teaching modern farming technology, Mashav sets up water and soil conservation projects in developing countries. (By the way, it isn’t only third-world countries that benefit from Israel’s experience. Even as we speak, Israeli water experts are helping the states of Arizona, California, Nevada and Colorado deal with one of the worst droughts in recorded history).
Fifteen years ago, Mashav sent a dairy farmer named Lior Yaron to China. His job? To bring modern technology to China’s failing dairy farms. Israeli dairy cows, as it turns out, are the most productive in the world, yielding almost twice as much milk as their American counterparts. China, on the other hand, has had to ration the milk that its cows produced. That is, until Farmer Lior arrived. Within four years, cows in China doubled their production of milk; they have become the wonder of China and actually attract a huge number of visitors from all over Asia.
Poverty and hunger are among the greatest challenges that the developing world is facing today. All over the world, global warming has caused famines and disease. Guess who is leading the world in the field of food production in drought conditions? You guessed it: Israel, fulfilling the mitzvah of feeding the hungry.
In Africa, for decades now Israel has been teaching and enabling farmers to turn from subsistence to commercial farming. In Kenya, Israel is helping to protect the water of Lake Victoria and is currently expanding its work to water treatment and management. In Ethiopia, the focus is on drought resilience and dryland agriculture. And in Ghana, Israel’s help is in the field of citrus production.
Another huge problem that Israel tackles is domestic violence, particularly violence against women. How big is this problem? It’s estimated that in the US alone, domestic violence is the third leading cause of family homelessness.
In some cultures, the murder of women who are perceived as bringing shame to their families is considered acceptable and even honorable. Their crimes? Refusing to enter an arranged marriage, seeking divorce from an abusive partner, or venturing out on the street unchaperoned by a male relative.
Here is where Mashav, Israel’s agency for international development and cooperation, does some of its most important work. A couple of bus stops from where my parents’ old apartment was, in Haifa, Mashav runs an international education center named after Golda Meir. This center assists in the training of women engaged in community work, a beautiful phrase that basically means women’s rights and empowerment. Since its founding in 1961, the Golda Meir Mount Carmel International Training Center has helped train nearly 20,000 women from 150 countries and regions, including—are you ready for this? —the Palestinian Authority and Gaza.
Healing the sick is yet another commandment Israel observes diligently. You may know already about Teva Pharmaceuticals, about CT scanners, MRI’s, surgical lasers and the pillcam, all developed in Israel. But did you know that Israel is one of the world’s leaders in stem-cell research? Or that Israeli scientists are currently working on treatments for MS, Alzheimer’s, and pancreatic cancer? Did you know that there are about one thousand companies in Israel that are involved in healthcare or life-science products?
In the field of cannabis research, whereas the use of recreational marijuana has not yet been legalized, Israel has definitely become the go-to place for research and advanced information on medical marijuana. Not long ago, US News And World Report referred to Israel as “The Holy Land of medical marijuana.”
It’s well known that in the last few decades, hi-tech has become one of Israel’s chief exports. What isn’t so well known is that a large part of this work is actually dispensed for free—in the form of aid that Israel sends to victims of earthquakes, wars, floods, fires, and other natural disasters around the world. Some of the countries that have benefited from Israel’s aid include Nepal, Japan, the Philippines, Haiti, Turkey, and even the United States.
Helping the weak, the poor and the disenfranchised; feeding the hungry, and healing the sick are some of the values that help define Israel’s existence and purpose today. And the most amazing thing is that Israel does all that while facing constant challenges to her security and even to her very right to exist. Yet this important humanitarian work rarely makes the evening news. It’s so much more interesting, after all, to show full-color pictures of atrocities supposedly committed by the Jewish State.
Still, Israel’s sacred service to the world does not go completely unrecognized. The work of Lior Yarn, the dairy farmer, won him the “Great Wall Friendship Award,” a prestigious prize conferred by the mayor of Beijing. Perhaps more significantly, in 2014 Israel was appointed to serve as vice-chair on an important UN panel dealing with refugees and human rights. More than 140 countries overrode a coordinated effort by Arab states to prevent this appointment. The selection of Israel to serve on this committee demonstrates both gratitude and acknowledgment of the Jewish state’s many contributions to humanity and the world.
In the past, it was customary on Yom Kippur to ask for contributions for impoverished Jews living in Israel and elsewhere around the world.
In my parents’ generation, it was the Israel Bonds campaign. The 1948 War of Independence had taken a terrible toll on Israel’s population and economy. On top of this came the complexities of absorbing hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors and 750,000 refugees from Arab countries. Israel needed these generous contributions in order to survive.
Today, however, I’m not going to ask you to buy Israel Bonds or that you invest in Israeli stocks.
But I am going to ask that you invest something else in our Jewish homeland. More than ever, Israel needs your support: At home or at work; on college and high school campuses; in the daily papers and on all the social media; and not least, in Congress, the Senate and the State Department, we need to support Israel. Particularly today, with a nuclearized Iran threatening daily to destroy Israel, pouring greater sums of money and more powerful arms to its proxy militias in Lebanon, Gaza and Syria, Israel needs our support. Not because Israel is pure and blameless; it does have its faults, and it does makes mistakes, and we don’t even have to agree with all of its policies.
But Israel deserves our support for three basic reasons: First, because Israel is probably America’s best and most trusted ally, if not in the whole world, then certainly in its region of the world. Second, because we, as Americans and as Jews, share Israel’s values and, like most Israelis, try to live by the highest standards of ethics and principles. And third, we must support Israel because criticism of Israel does not stop with Israel. Anti-Israel protests in Europe and elsewhere—including the United States—are clearly financed and supported by anti-Semitic organizations, with demonstrators of various parties, from right to left, screaming out, “Death to the Jews,” “Gas the Jews,” “Jews Back to Birkenau” and “Hitler was right.”
By defending Israel’s right to defend herself, we stand up not only for Israel’s right to exist, but also for our own right to live free of violence and persecution. By supporting Israel’s vital work around the world, we become partners with its cause and mission. And by being there for Israel, we ensure that Israel continues to be there for us too, as Jews and as Americans.
Thousands of years ago, when we stood at the foot of Mt. Sinai, we affirmed our unity. From rich to poor; men, women and children, we declared ourselves one people under one God, ready to accept our mission and role in history. Today, I call on each one of us to reaffirm our solidarity with our people, to be there for one another, to find within ourselves new strength and new hope for the future, as we stand firm together, arms linked, shoulder to shoulder and heart to heart.
Am Yisrael chai! United, the People of Israel lives!
G’mar chatimah tova, may we all be inscribed and sealed for a good year of strength and peace.
Kein y’hi ratzon, may this be God’s will.
© 2019 by Boaz D. Heilman
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