Letters
A divisive message
In response to “American rabbis need to step up and love Israel” (September 12) — It is incredible, especially around the Days of Awe when we as Jews are supposed to be reflecting deeply on our individual and collective flaws, to see someone be so absolutist in dismissing Jewish critics of Israel, and denying that there is any complexity to the crisis of Israel, Gaza, and Zionism with a mere “As my teenage daughter says, it’s not that deep.”
Wow. Mr. Berman, who wrote the opinion piece, engages in denomination-based division by saying that most American rabbis criticizing Israel are non-Orthodox, as if that undermines their credibility of understanding Jewish values and ethical law, and ignoring the fact that Orthodox and Conservative rabbis are increasingly voicing their concerns, such as Rabbi Blau’s penning of the recent letter signed by many Orthodox rabbis. He peddles in tired talking points about our synagogues being “functionally illiterate” about Israel and Judaism, a very convenient way to write off any arguments he disagrees with. He rails against Reform Jews for intermarriage and assimilation, even though there are thousands of Jews married to non-Jews who are raising their kids Jewish (including some of my own family members and friends).
Mr. Berman says that rabbis should just focus on their main purpose — “to bring more Torah into the world and ensure the continuity of the Jewish people.” Mr. Berman, that is exactly what these rabbis are trying to do — they are trying to live up to the Torah’s values by engaging in very needed reflection and debate around war and justice to ensure the survival not only of civilians in Gaza, but also to ensure that Israeli Jews are no longer needlessly put in danger by their own government.
Mr. Berman then bizarrely goes on to say that partially as a result of American rabbis’ protests, “Jews are being lit on fire in Colorado and gunned down in Washington, DC,” outrageously insinuating that these rabbis have enabled such violence in the U.S. Why, in Mr. Berman’s eyes, if it weren’t for these rabbis “giving an inch to Jew-hate,” surely the anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric and violence would not have escalated by itself!
In his own take on cancel culture, Mr. Berman then encourages the Reconstructionist movement not to ordain rabbis with anti-Zionist views, and says that Conservative rabbis critical of Israel have “brought shame” to their movement and should likewise be ostracized, issuing his own personal herems. This flies in the face of Judaism’s core commitment to debate and discussion of theological as well as political ideas; we are not meant to blindly fall in line and all agree with our institutional leaders. It also ignores more than a century of skepticism from many Jewish leaders toward Zionism as the purported solution to Jew-hatred.
At the end of the day, Mr. Berman is just parroting the same tired talking points we have been hearing for the past two years now. He claims to call for Jewish unity, but from what I can see, he is actually further dividing us.
Victor Edelman
Fair Lawn
Preserve New Jersey’s virtues
This past Sunday we were honored to host Congressman Josh Gottheimer at our home for a meet-and-greet between N.J. Governor nominee Mikie Sherrill and the Bergen County Jewish community. Approximately 100 people attended from many different Jewish circles, and we were grateful to host because we understand how very important this next election is.
I, personally, have lived in New Jersey for most of my life. I’ve lived here as a little girl, a young adult, now as a woman and a mother, and always as a Jew.
There are many reasons I like living in New Jersey. I like our changing seasons. I like that we live near the ocean. I like our pizza and our bagels. But there are many more serious reasons I like living here in New Jersey too.
I like that if a person were to start walking down the street towards my house or towards my children’s Jewish day school or sports field, holding a pistol or a long gun or an AK47, that the police would immediately be able to approach them and try to disarm them. It’s not like that in many states in this country. In many states, the police wouldn’t be able to do anything until that person started firing and shooting at people.
I like that in New Jersey, I have the right to make decisions about my own body. I like that my daughter and my daughter’s friends have the right to make decisions about their own bodies. It’s not like that anymore in many states in this country. Girls and women are denied the health care they want and need, and are even forced to bleed out in emergency rooms.
I like that in New Jersey, my children and my mother can get the vaccines they need and want to keep themselves healthy and alive. I like that our current governor recently joined the Northeast Public Health Collaborative to help continue to keep our state healthy and safe. It’s not like that in many states in this country anymore. And if we don’t elect Congresswoman Sherrill as our next governor, it likely won’t be like that here in New Jersey anymore either.
I know that everyone has different priorities at the ballot box. And I know that many people reading this are weighing their concerns about being a Jew in New Jersey and in America at this time — but I can tell you that there has never been a time or place in all of history where Jews have thrived or even been safe under a non-democratic regime. When we have leaders who are suppressing freedom of speech and freedom of the press, who are rewriting the past, that never goes well for us. In all of history, whenever we Jews have lived under any type of authoritarian rule, we have always been the next scapegoated — the next targeted. So if right now brown-skinned people are being disappeared off of our country’s streets by masked men with no warrants, we are a heartbeat away from the next strongman in charge saying that the Jews deserve to be next.
If we want to fight that kind of lawlessness here in New Jersey rather than embolden it, then we need someone in charge who is committed to upholding our country’s founding principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness someone who has literally spent her entire adult life fighting for America and the life-saving ideals this country was founded upon.
Sarah Nanus
Tenafly
Ms. Nanus is a former local group leader of the Bergen County chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and a graduate of the Berrie Fellows Leadership Program.
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