sign in sign up
<<
Home , Eric Yoffie, New Israel Fund, Richard Jacobs (rabbi)

JEWISH WORLD A Split Community

US Jewish leaders are alarmed at the venom seeping in

Jan Jaben-Eilon Atlanta

N APRIL, WHEN A SMALL, BUT ly “Jewish Journal” in late May, someone who will make us clash on ?” vocal, group of US attacked the The Report has learned. This ad Expressing similar concerns about the nomination of Richard (Rick) “cites the positions of and NIF and Reform Movement, Yvonne Baehr-Robertson, Jacobs, 55, for the position of president shows they are in direct conflict with policy a member of Temple Shalom in Newton, of the Union for positions of the URJ.” Massachusetts, acknowledges that her objec- I(URJ), they made the already-strict American The ads and the ensuing debates have tion to Jacobs’s appointment has nothing to do Jewish litmus test of who is pro-Israel even reignited the smoldering, angry debate regard- with his rabbinical qualifications, but rather more demanding. ing the limits of acceptable discourse within with his connections to Israel. “I don’t know Jacobs, 55, has been the influential senior the American Jewish community. The fact that him or his background… The Reform rabbi of the prominent Westchester Reform the primary attacks against Jacobs came from Movement is moving in an unhealthy direction Temple of Scarsdale, New York, for the past members of the Reform Movement, generally for the State of Israel and the Jacobs nomina- 20 years and is involved in numerous commu- considered the most liberal stream of Judaism tion is a lightening rod.” nity efforts. A popular figure in the Reform in the US, underlines once again how deeply Indeed, a representative of J Street was and liberal communities in the US and Israel, this debate has permeated the community. And scheduled to speak at Temple Beth Avodah, he has been particularly outspoken on issues of this is raising concerns among some observers also in Newton, last November, but the pro- social justice and Jewish inclusivity. about whether the increasingly intolerant gram had to be moved to a nearby public His nomination was welcomed by many. American Jewish community will be able to school at the last minute when members of that But within weeks of the nomination, some conduct the difficult political conversations Temple expressed strong feelings against host- three dozen members of the Reform move- that are expected to be an integral part of the ing the group. ment, brought together over the Internet and upcoming 2012 presidential elections, espe- The intensity of the attacks against J Street calling themselves “Jews Against Divisive cially with regard to the US’s foreign policy and the NIF and the attempts to brand these, Leadership” (www.jadl.org), were demanding and policies towards Israel. and similar, organizations as anti-Israel and that the nomination be rescinded. even anti-Semitic, have been intensifying in In paid ads in several Jewish weeklies, the HE LOOSELY KNIT GROUP OF both Israel and the US. Yet the Reform move- group cited three reasons for their protest protesters, many of whom do not know ment was obviously caught off guard by the against Jacobs: his involvement with the three- Teach other, is led by Carol Greenwald, negative reactions to Jacobs’s appointment. year-old, left-leaning, pro-Israel J Street, an economist and investment manager from Rabbi , the current URJ president, which opposes settlements and calls for a Chevy Chase, Maryland, and was launched in tells The Report that his initial positive greater involvement by the Obama mid-April. Greenwald tells The Report that response and his perception of Jacobs as a Administration in the Israeli-Palestinian peace they hope “to convince the URJ to have Jacobs staunch Zionist indicate just how deep the process; his role on the of step down from the J Street rabbinic cabinet schisms of feelings are even within the the , the umbrella funding and resign from the board of the New Israel Reform movement and how unaware the lead- group that provides funding for and conduits Fund,” which she refers to as “divisive” and ership has been. funds to most of Israel’s social action groups; outside of mainstream Jewish opinion. Jacobs has informed The Report that he and the fact that, on a recent visit to Israel, Vic Rosenthal and Stuart Weil, signees on will not speak with the media until the URJ Jacobs had participated in one of the weekly the advertisement and members of the board of trustees votes on his nomination in demonstrations held in the East Jerusalem Reform Temple Beth Israel in Fresno, mid-June. But in early May, speaking at the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah run by a loose- California, both tell The Report that they Reform Movement’s Religious Action ly organized group of left-wing activists to oppose J Street and the NIF because they are, Center’s Consultation on Conscience, Jacobs protest the takeover of Palestinian homes by in Rosenthal’s words, “inimical to the sur- declared that “leaders of the Reform Jewish right-wing settlers. vival of Israel.” Karin McQuillan of Movement must never be defined by member- “We call on the Congregation Beth Israel in Carmel, ship in outside organizations” – an obvious to reconsider this divisive appointment,” the California, tells The Report that “this isn’t an reference to the attacks on him due to his ad urged. “Do not drive mainstream Zionist argument about whether Jacobs is right or involvement with J Street and the NIF. Jews out of the Reform movement.” wrong, but the nomination is making Reform J Street’s President Jeremy Ben-Ami also A second ad, signed by about 100 individ- members uncomfortable… We Jews clash declined to comment for this story. But they uals, is scheduled to be published in the week- with each other so much already. Why choose are among the very few not commenting, one

28 THE JERUSALEM REPORT JUNE 6, 2011 refer to the tone and content of the ad as “tac- that Jacobs’s nomination is “problematic.” The tics of witch-hunting and demagoguery.” Reform Movement is in a statistical decline, More than one dozen presidents and lead- Sussman warns, and Jacobs’s relationships ers of the Reform Movement’s Central with J Street and NIF create a PR problem for Conference of American (CCAR), the Reform Movement. “I don’t know if the largest and oldest rabbinical organization Jacobs… is a consensus-building person, but in the world, signed a letter to the editor at the starting blocks, it puts him in a difficult which expressed their enthusiastic support position,” he says. for the choice. Despite the CCAR’s support for Jacobs, Rabbi Eric Gurvis of Temple Shalom in Sussman argues that at least some of the objec- Newton, and Baehr-Robertson’s rabbi, says tion to Jacobs’s appointment stems from vest- “the campaign to discredit and delegitimize ed interests. Jacobs was among 18 rabbis of Jacobs is part of a bigger, ugly wind in the large Reform congregations around the coun- community that distresses me terribly... There try who founded a group known as the are people in the world who want to delegit- Rabbinic Vision Initiative (RVI). The group, imize Israel and now we’re trying to delegit- which became public in March and has since imize Jews because they don’t hold the ‘cor- expanded, has issued a position paper that rect’ support of Israel… We are at a precarious includes a strong critique of the URJ. Many BEN FINK SHAPIRO point, at a crossroads. And are we going to Reform rabbis are concerned, Sussman says, RABBI : Under fire walk to the crossroads together or walk away that the RVI, represented by large wealthy from each other?” congregations, will weaken CCAR. way or another, both inside and outside the Support for Jacob’s nomination – if not for Reform Movement. his positions – has also come from the wider N AN EXTENSIVE E-MAIL, Jewish community. A letter of support for , professor of American N A LENGTHY INTERVIEW WITH Jacobs, published in the newsletter “eJewish IJewish history at tells The Report, Rabbi , presi- ,” was written and signed by sev- The Report that “support for Rabbi Jacobs is Ident of Hebrew Union College-Jewish eral past and present leaders of organizations actually very broad within the Reform com- Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), the Reform with a broad range of constituents, including munity... It is widely known that the opposi- Movement’s rabbinic college, says, “I’m past presidents of the Conference of Presidents tion was organized outside the Reform move- struck virtually speechless that of anyone in of Major Jewish Organizations, rabbis from ment, not by members who are on the inside.” the world, Jacobs would be considered anti- the Conservative Movement and president and This is not really a story about Reform divi- Israel. The ad was beyond simplistic and CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs sions, Sarna says. Rather, the controversy is smacked of McCarthyism.” (JCPA), Rabbi Steve Gutow. about boundaries within the American Jewish Ellenson continues, “The attack is the “Some of us identify ourselves with J community. “Once upon a time, non-support most despicable thing I’ve ever encountered Street, others with (right-leaning) AIPAC for the Israeli government put one outside the in my life in the Jewish community. This (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) boundaries of communal norms. Those days brings great shame to the Jewish community. and others with neither,” they write. have passed, since both those on the right and I’m just infuriated.” “However, one should not doubt the firm com- on the left have at different times publicly dis- Rabbi Naamah Kelman, dean of the mitment of each of us to the welfare of the sented from Israeli government policies. At the Jerusalem campus of HUC-JIR, tells The Jewish State and the Jewish people.” other extreme stand those who insist that the Report that she is “appalled” by the attack. Separately, Anti-Defamation League boundaries should be all-inclusive, including Kelman, Ellenson, and Rabbi Michael National Director Abraham H. Foxman was even Jews who promote boycott and divest- Marmur, Vice President for Academic Affairs quoted by the JTA as saying the attacks are ment or those who refuse to support the idea of at HUC in Jerusalem, have written a response “harmful to the spirit of unity and common Israel as a Jewish state… Realistically, it is to the ad that was published in the “Forward” cause that unites the Jewish people.” hard to write out of the community those who and several local Jewish newspapers. “We From Israel, Rabbi Donniel Hartman, pres- hold views that are articulated and supported vehemently disagree with this distorted cari- ident of the Shalom Hartman Institute in within Israel. Rabbi Jacobs, who has a home in cature of Rabbi Jacobs and his attitudes Jerusalem, succinctly states on the institute’s Israel, cannot reasonably be seen as standing toward Israel,” they write. They further website, “I have known Rabbi Jacobs inti- outside the bounds of legitimate viewpoints.” charge that the ad is evidence “that a handful mately and personally for more than 15 years, He further points out that this is not the first of Reform Jews have now joined previously and if he is not a friend and lover of Israel, then debate over boundaries. “In the late 1940s, the right-leaning critics… Their claim is that these categories have no meaning.” supporters of the American Council for Rabbi Jacobs’s involvement with groups pro- But Rabbi Lance Sussman, senior rabbi at Judaism were effectively written out of the moting human rights and social improvement the Reform Congregation Knesseth Israel in community’s consensus. In the 1950s, the aligns him with crazed extremists.” They Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, tells The Report Jewish communists were written out. In the

THE JERUSALEM REPORT JUNE 6, 2011 29 JEWISH WORLD

1970s, the leaders of Breira [a left-wing group American Jewish conservative voice. “I understand that the people upset about that called for Israel to make concessions and According to Windmueller, more than half of Jacobs are concerned about the best interests to recognize Palestinian national aspirations] the survey respondents indicate that they had of Israel, but they are dangerously wrong to were written out. In retrospect, the Breira posi- contributed over the past year to one of the crush dissent and call everyone else traitors. tions were widely adopted (and most of its political parties – 50 percent to the Republican This will bring a split in the American Jewish members welcomed back), while the ACJ and Party and 48 percent to the Democratic Party; community,” Daniel Sokatch, CEO of the the communist positions remain marginalized. 19 individuals say they had contributed to the NIF, tells The Report. “The people who are “The question is whether we will look back Libertarian Party and some 25 respondents coming after Jacobs, NIF and J Street, are upon J Street as more similar to Breira and have made gifts to one or more of the Tea operating under faith and belief… Extremists well within communal consensus or more like Party groups. on both sides don’t care about the facts. This the American Council for Judaism, which ulti- Windmueller says the most significant isn’t opinion, but faith.” mately lost communal credibility.” divisions among voters centered around Referring to the vocal opposition of The issue of political perspective on Israel domestic issues and with regard to same-sex Jacobs’s nomination, Sokatch continues, has gained attention even outside the Jewish marriage, gun control and the Muslim pro- “This small group of doesn’t community, as indicated by the on-again, off- posal to construct a community center near realize that support for J Street and NIF is again, on-again decision by the City University Ground Zero in New York, where the part of the consensus. That’s why this will of New York board of trustees to approve an September 11 attack occurred, one can iden- fail. There’s litmus test that a small hard core honorary degree for Pulitzer Prize-winning tify a sharp political divide. And although he is trying to hoist on the community and the playwright Tony Kushner. At a qualifies his survey, not- community is rejecting it. But the bullies are May 2 meeting, trustee Jeffrey ing that because it was on the defensive and that’s why they are S. Wiesenfeld argued that ‘Do not drive self-selected and unsci- more vocal.” Kushner should not receive the entific it precludes any JCPA’s Gutow says he is afraid that Israel degree due to some of the play- mainstream defining conclusions, will be used as a wedge issue to divide the wright’s anti-Israel comments. Windmueller also points Jewish vote. If that happens, he fears “it will A week later, after a vote to Zionist Jews out to the declining percent- tear up our community. And if Israel is used as approve the degree, “The New of the Reform age of Jews supporting a wedge issue in the general election, it will be York Times” quoted CUNY’s President Obama. hard to stop at the line of the Jewish commu- chancellor Matthew Goldstein, movement’ “The survey reflects nity.” He is concerned that if Jews use Israel saying, “The basic misstep was – ad placed in the conversation we hear to divide the Jewish community, support for there wasn’t a counterpunch” to on the street. We are no Israel could also be used to divide the wider the remarks by the one, ques- several US longer able to talk to each American community, with detrimental tioning trustee. I’m not sure Jewish other; that’s the bottom effects for Israel. why the appropriate people did- newspapers line,” Windmueller tells Jane Schiff, a leader in the Jewish n’t chime in at that time.” The Report. “If political Community Relations Council of Atlanta and The answer to Goldstein’s conservatives used to feel a JCPA board member and member of the comments is key to under- uncomfortable speaking JCPA’s Civility Task Force tells The Report, standing why civil discourse within the out in the past, now I hear the reverse.” “I hear less and less from the Jewish commu- American Jewish community, particularly nity,” about controversial issues. She contin- about Israel, has become so toxic. NLINE COMMENTS FROM ues, “Some of that is due to concern over los- Gurvis believes that the lack of civility in American Jews in response to the arti- ing the organization’s tax status. But when it the Jewish conversation is “part of the broader Ocle authored by Ellenson, Kelman and comes to the subject of Israel, the organiza- culture. We’re living in an incredibly instable Marmur mix American politics with Israeli tional leaders are worried that whichever way time… I think that fear is driving this. When politics. Many of the talk-backers claim that J they express their feelings, it will create a will we stop living only by fear?” He says that Street and NIF don’t support and backlash organizationally.” there’s legitimate fear of Iran as an existential even funnel money to Israel’s enemies. At Schiff says these difficult conversations threat to Israel, “but there’s another existential least one of the writers is a member of an penetrate personal friendships, as well. “I threat if Israel doesn’t find a way to make organization called Jewish Task Force have friends who say, ‘We cannot ever talk peace with the Palestinians. This is not binary; (www.JTF.org), which is described on its about a subject’ because they assume they it’s not simple. And... I’m not sure people are website as “an organization of right-wing know how the other person is thinking and being realistic.” Jews and righteous gentiles who follow the feeling. Unless people are open to hearing JCPA’s Gutow warns that “as the US enters teachings of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane,” other opinions and other positions, they the volatile 2012 election campaign, venom whose party in Israel was outlawed for being cannot determine if their own opinions will flow. It’s not as serious in the Jewish com- racist. The website also expresses strong have merit.” munity as the non-Jewish community, but it views against Obama. Ellenson tries to find a silver lining in the will be strong, even on domestic issues.” The toxic talk seeping into the Jewish controversy. “On the positive side, people In fact, the findings of a recent survey of community from the wider American society obviously care deeply.” But then he con- 2,300 self-selected Jewish voters conducted by – merging controversial domestic issues with cludes, “on the negative side, they fail to HUC Religion Professor Steven Windmueller the question of Israel’s future – has many reflect on the humanity and integrity of people points to the emergence of a distinctive Jewish leaders alarmed. who have different views.” •

30 THE JERUSALEM REPORT JUNE 6, 2011