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Monday, January 28, 2013

A Message from Israel on Erev Tu BiShvat 5773


January 25, 2013
Erev Tu BiShvat, 5773

Dear Friends,

Shalom, shalom!  I am writing to you from the beautiful city of Jerusalem. It occurred to me that it might be of interest to share a few reflections on “what’s happening” in Israel these days. I would like to focus on two topics that have been at the top of the news during the past few weeks.

The first is the weather. Israel is now in the middle of its rainy season, which extends from Sukkot to Pesach.  (That’s right: the weather really does follow the Jewish calendar.) Although it doesn’t rain every day at this time of the year, during the week we arrived there was a fierce storm with lots of wind and rain.  It culminated in an unusual and beautiful snowfall that covered many of the hills in the interior of the country.  Even the Negev town of Dimona got snow!  About a foot of snow blanketed Jerusalem, and it was delightful.

(Yes, that is a palm tree covered with snow, and yes, that’s me standing alongside it.)

As Shimon Peres, who was interviewed on TV, diplomatically put it:  “Yesh Yerusahalayim shel zahav, v’yesh Yerushalayim shel sheleg.  Ha-ir ha-zot tamid nehederet.”  “There is a Jerusalem of gold, and a Jerusalem of snow.  This city is always beautiful.” 


(By the way, I’m living around the corner from “Beit Ha-Nasi,” the president’s official home.  Whenever I walk by, I wonder whether I’m going to bump into Mr. Peres as he is coming or going. So far, it hasn’t happened.)  

As a result of the recent storms, the level of the Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) has shot up several meters, and it is expected to rise another half meter by the end of January.  This is a source of great relief. Let me tell you why.

One day a few years ago, as a result of the Sea’s declining level, an island appeared in the middle of the Kinneret opposite Kibbutz Ma’agan, causing much chagrin.


This past week, with the robust rainfall, that island fortunately disappeared.  People are hopeful that this winter will continue to be a good one for the region’s water supply – always a vital concern.

As significant as the level of the Kinneret is, that isn’t at the top of the news any longer.  Instead, it’s electoral politics 

What an extraordinary week this has been!  To be an American in Israel at this time has been a particular treat, even if one is not a political junkie.

First, there were the two days of the U.S. presidential inauguration.  I was struck, in a way that I might not have been in the States, by how odd—and yet, at the same time, how perfectly reasonable—it was for the inaugural festivities to have been postponed to Monday. After all, notwithstanding the strong tradition of separation of church and state in America, supported by the Constitution, America is a religious country.  And the vast number of U.S. citizens are Christian.  And Sunday is Sunday!  

To me this seemed very familiar:  After all, when the first day of Rosh HaShanah falls on Shabbat, we refrain from blowing the shofar until the second day.  Similarly, when the first day of Sukkot falls on Shabbat, we refrain from shaking the lulav and etrog until the next day.  Both practices we do out of reverence for Shabbat.   In a sense, you could say that this past Monday was like the second day of a two-day American Yom Tov

And so, it made sense to me that, although, as the law requires, the President took the oath of office on Sunday, he had to do it all over again on Monday.  Which reminds me:  I believe that Barack Obama is the only U.S. President aside from Franklin D. Roosevelt who has taken the oath of office four times!  (Twice in 2009, and twice this week.)

I found it moving to watch the inauguration from my apartment in Jerusalem.  The emphasis on diversity, on inclusion, on the notion of E pluribus unum (“Out of many, one”) was striking.  For the event, coincidentally, to be taking place on Martin Luther King Day gave a powerful sub-text to the entire day. 

While all this was going on, final preparations were being made here for the national Israeli elections due to take place the next day.  Israel is a very different country from America, but one thing that the two countries have in common is a commitment to the power of the ballot box. 
                         
                       
 

Campaign laws are very different in Israel:  rather than being bombarded with campaign ads for several months prior to an election every time you turn on the TV as in the States, all campaign ads run one after the other during one hour every night for about two weeks prior to the election.  Hence, you can more easily avoid them if you wish.  There are also other constraints that don’t exist in the States.  For example, it is a violation of the law for incumbents to make use of their office during the week before election to attempt to win votes.  I’ll give you an amazing example.  Two days before the election, Prime Minister Netanyahu called a press conference to announce the appointment of a popular politician who had recently “retired from politics” to head the Housing Authority.  This particular politician is well known and highly regarded here in Israel for restructuring the telecommunications industry and dramatically bringing down the cost of cell phone service.  Appointing him was an effort to demonstrate support for doing the same with the housing sector, of tremendous concern for young families.   

However, it is not permitted to make such an appointment just days before the election, so Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubenstein, charged with enforcing the election campaign laws, contacted the television networks and ordered them not to cover the news conference.  Can you imagine that? (By the way, Justice Rubenstein visited our community about a decade ago, and spoke at the home of David Eisenberg and Fran Caplan.)

It’s truly extraordinary to think that men and women of such different political perspectives—Hareidim (Ultra-Orthodox Jews), socialists, Arab nationalists, Tel Aviv technocrats, Sephardi traditionalists, American immigrants—all came together to choose those who will represent them in the Knesset (Parliament) and, indirectly, those who will form the next government. (Of course, not everyone appreciates the blessings of sovereignty and considers citizenship in the State of Israel to be a virtue.  Just before the election, the Satmar Rebbe, who lives in New York, visited Israel, and offered $100 to anyone who agreed not to vote in the national election. Can you imagine that? And several nationalist Arab leaders routinely urge their followers to boycott Israeli elections.)

Citizenship comes with tremendous privileges in Israel.  One is struck by the dramatic difference between the political freedom enjoyed by Israelis and the relative lack of opportunity and influence of those living outside of Israel.  This includes, of course, residents of the West Bank and Gaza.  Though some of them may have the right to vote in Palestinian elections, those elections are hardly what we would consider free. The contrast in political engagement, empowerment and enthusiasm is striking.

Unfortunately, from the start, the political system here has not reinforced unity.  (There’s plenty of “pluribus,” but not much “unum.”) Instead, the system has reinforced “identity politics.”  Because no party has ever held a majority of seats in the Knesset, even large parties have always had to form coalitions in order to form a government.  And that has meant that relatively small parties can and do command enormous influence, far in excess of their relative share of the electorate.  In the Maariv newspaper the other day, one reporter decried this state of affairs, which he termed Israel’s “miut-o-kratia”, or “minority rule.” 

The results of the election seem to indicate that Prime Minister Netanyahu will again be invited to form a coalition government. 

                  
The question remains whether it will be a right/religious coalition or a center/right coalition. 

                                                                                             
Either way, my hope is that the transition to the new Knesset will be as peaceful as the inaugural festivities in Washington the other day.  Ken Yehi Ratzon!

Let me close by offering you a winter’s greeting that I’ve only heard expressed in Israel, a land where water is so precious.  It appeared at the bottom of a flyer I saw on a bulletin board in a local hospital: 

B’virkat khoref bari v’gashum!
With blessings for a healthy and rainy winter!

Shalom u’vrachah,

Rabbi Carl M. Perkins

P.S.  If you want to see an illustration of Israel’s religious and ethnic diversity, consider the following:  During one 24-hour period last week, four sets of twins were born in the western Galilee hospital in Nahariya.  And they came from four different religious/ethnic backgrounds: Jewish, Christian, Moslem and Druze. You can see a picture of the proud parents and their babies here: http://www.yourjewishnews.com/Pages/25186.aspx .