1 November 2019 - Cheshvan 5780 שבת ציון - AMERICAN ZIONIST SHABBAT The American Zionist Movement is pleased to update for 2019 -5780 and share again the AMERICAN ZIONIST SHABBAT initiative which was launched in 2017. This project continues during the period from Parshiot Lech Lecha (November 9/11 Cheshvan) to Vayishlach (December 14/16 Kislev), 2019-5780. Below you will see resources for discussing Zionism in synagogues, schools and the community during this period, including links to materials easily available on the internet. In May 2018 AZM added a Jerusalem Shabbat Supplement in partnership with the World Zionist Organization and this addition is included here as well at the end of the Source Book. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- During 2017 and 2018, the American Zionist Movement (AZM) launched a series of programs in honor of several Zionist anniversaries. At the time, it launched a new AMERICAN ZIONIST SHABBAT initiative covering the period of Shabbat Lech Lecha through Vayishlach. The edition you will find below had been updated for 2019, running from November 9 to December 14, 2019 (11 Cheshvan - 14 Kislev 5780). AZM has resumed the Zionist Shabbat/Shabbat Tzion program that AZM and the World Zionist Organization conducted in the past, in order to have greater dialogue within American Jewry on the significance of Zionism and its continuing relevance to our people and community. We hope the commencement of Parshat Lech Lecha – the beginning of Abraham and Sara’s journey to what would become the Land of Israel – will inspire Rabbis will speak about Zionism in their sermons, drashot, and writings; day schools, yeshivot and Hebrew schools to connect their students to Zionism through the Parshiot; and congregations, community organizations, and Jewish institutions to share materials through programs and discussions on Zionism. AZM has compiled this Source Book, drawn from materials developed and shared by our AZM organizations and others, to whom we express our thanks and appreciation for their leadership and dedication, in order to provide a resource for conversations on Zionism during this period of AMERICAN ZIONIST SHABBAT. We will continue to grow and expand this guide and program through the years, and encourage others to share sources with us at [email protected]. As we have seen Zionism attacked from various groups and people in America, we believe in the importance of coming together to discuss and support the State of Israel. Herzl’s 2 Basel Congress in 1897 brought Jews from three continents together in a discussion of Zionism. In the spirit of discussion, we present the following material as an aide to furthering Zionist discourse in the United States. By connecting Jews worldwide with our homeland continuing to support the vibrant democracy, culture and contributions of Israel and the Jewish people, we hope to play our part in maintaining the vibrancy of Zionism today and in the future. Below, please find materials covering a wealth of Zionist content including: Shabbat in Israel Divrei Torah History Art Please share, forward, and implement your own thoughts in celebration of Zionism and the AMERICAN ZIONIST SHABBAT. The American Zionist Movement wishes to thank the leaders of each of the AZM organizations who have contributed materials, ideas, and thoughts in developing the AMERICAN ZIONIST SHABBAT SOURCEBOOK. Special thanks to Danille Hoffer, AZM’s 2019 summer intern for her work on this material. For further information, or to make contributions of materials or resources, please contact: Herbert Block, AZM Executive Director Alicia Post, AZM Program Director (212) 318-6100 ext. 6946 (212) 318-6100 ext. 6947 [email protected] [email protected] Please note: materials have been presented to AZM by our member organizations and others as resources and “food for thought” on Zionism. Inclusion of these resources here does not imply any official or full endorsement by AZM of all of the content. The American Zionist Movement (AZM) is comprised of 33 national Jewish Zionist organizations and works across a broad ideological, political, and religious spectrum linking the American Jewish community together in support of Israel, Zionism, and the Jewish people. AZM is the U.S. Zionist Federation in the World Zionist Organization. The Sourcebook can also be found at WWW.ZIONISTSHABBAT.ORG and at HTTPS://WWW.AZM.ORG/ZIONIST-SHABBAT 3 WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT ZIONISM? Rabbi Paul Golomb AZM Vice President for Programming Rashi, in his initial commentary to the first verse of B’REISHEET, indicates that God’s commandments to the people Israel commence with the establishment of the new moon as the first of the month (EXODUS 12). He then quotes the midrash that the acts of creation are nonetheless appended to Torah in order to establish God as the proprietor of all the earth, and thus able to assign pieces of land – specifically, the land of Israel to the Israelites – as a divine right. Israel, as a covenanted people, comes into being in the BOOK OF EXODUS. There are no Jewish people in Genesis. There is rather universal humankind (Adam through Noah), the peoples scattered by diverse languages as a result of the tower of Babel, and a certain family. As there is no People Israel in Genesis, there is no Land of Israel either. I leave this point for later. Genesis, therefore lays out themes that are not specifically pertinent to the Jews as Jews. They are deeper and broader than the fate and obligations of one people. Among the most fundamental of these themes – an idea that courses through this Book, and then through the rest of Tanakh – is that of responsibility. The first man and woman are banished from the primordial Garden. The reason for this punishment, which entails pain and labor, is not due to disobedience. Defying God’s prohibition is treated with the loss of immortality. The punishment of banishment arises because the man blames the woman, and the woman the snake. Neither person is willing to take responsibility for their own actions. Cain is condemned to wander landless and homeless as much for his unwillingness to take responsibility for his brother, as for killing him in the first place. Noah descends from the Ark with the mission to repopulate the earth. Yet he shirks from the task and rather drinks himself into a stupor. His son, Ham, in turn, shows disrespect for his father as he lies in drunken nakedness. Finally, although the plain text is not explicit, midrash explains that the builders of the Tower were far less concerned for the welfare of the workers than for the material they were carrying. With the appearance of the Abraham saga, the theme of responsibility is continued, but it is no longer instances of irresponsibility that are highlighted. Of many examples, I offer these two. The brothers seal the longstanding rift they opened with Joseph, when they step forward and accept responsibility for Benjamin, even at the peril of their own lives. Abraham argues with God over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of those who ought not be doomed to destruction. The family of Abraham and Sarah is distinguished from the peoples of the world by the merit of responsibility. [We might add that Esau drops out of the line. Spurning the birthright is a form of refusing to take responsibility.] 4 Coming as it does at the climax of the Genesis narrative, the encounter among the brothers in the court of the Egyptian Vizier completes the transformation of a family into a people, a nation. The Genesis narrative reminds us further that responsibility is not limited to kin alone (whether conceived as familial or national). Abraham’s merit was sealed in his defense of the inhabitants of Sodom. Responsibility is unlimited. It is to be extended beyond those to whom one is naturally tied, either by shared history or ideology. Although Torah emphasizes that fundamental obligation to be responsive to the will of God, (we recite after all, the Shma twice each day) the responsibility to each other tends to arise within ourselves. Abraham challenges God. The story of Joseph and his brothers unfolds independent of divine presence (God is not perceived as present, but is not absent either!). And this is what we talk about when talk about Zionism. Zionism is rooted in the acceptance of unlimited responsibility exemplified in Genesis. It is initially formed by recognizing and accepting one’s unbreakable relationship with one’s kin, even –especially – those who are difficult and irritating. The impulse to this responsibility is not external. It is not commanded. It arises from within our own souls. The fate of the Jewish People, both those with whom we feel compatible and those not, is also our fate. And ours is theirs. Responsibility begins with peoplehood, but does not end there. In parashat K’doshim (LEVITICUS 19), we are first enjoined to love our neighbor as ourselves (V. 18), and then to love the stranger who resides among us as well (V. 34). As for the Land, the BOOK OF GENESIS begins somewhere in the East. A family is drawn to the “land I (the Eternal) will show you,” but concludes in Egypt, west of that land. Torah itself concludes with the people arrayed on the other side of the river. The Land, like God, is never absent, but not present either. When we talk about Zionism, we begin with a people formed by a sense of responsibility. And we begin with ourselves, our own very human needs and interests. Yet, when we talk about Zionism, we cannot end at the beginning. Responsibility cannot be limited to just the people, and both Torah and history attest that being on the Land is not sufficient.