I am an ardent Zionist. My love for the State of Israel was instilled in me by my parents and grandparents, who proudly supported Israel in many ways. My paternal grandmother led her local Hadassah chapter and gifted me a life membership when I was only seven years old. In fact, I believe I was the first very young life member to be inducted at that time.
My family and I marched in pro-Israel rallies in New York City and Washington, DC. I used my Bat Mitzvah gifts to visit Israel for the first time the following summer. I graduated high school a year early so I could spend a gap year in Israel on a kibbutz-ulpan program before starting university. During my first year of rabbinical school, I spent one year, living and studying in Jerusalem.
As a congregational rabbi, I led teens on the March of the Living and accompanied congregants on educational journeys to our beautiful homeland. While serving as the Executive Director of ARZA Canada (the Reform Movement’s Zionist organization), I led study missions and participated in fundraising bike rides across Israel. Over the course of my life, I have visited Israel more than 30 times.
My Israeli friends and colleagues include Members of Knesset, deans and professors at HUC, rabbis, leaders in the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), attorneys, social workers, educators, tour professionals, retired army generals, and people from all walks of life. I share this with you not to boast, but to affirm my deep “street credibility” when it comes to my connection with and love of Israel.
As a new rabbi entering this community, and as someone who lives in the public sphere, I understand how difficult it can be to speak about critical and emotional moments in the life of our people without proper context. I also understand that conversations about Israel evoke strong feelings. We can be Zionists and love Israel deeply and passionately, while also acknowledging the complexities and disagreements surrounding the government’s actions and policies. Ahavat Yisrael, love of Israel, does not mean however, unconditional support for any government in power.
I share these reflections now for two reasons:
First, as Temple Beth Or’s Rabbinic Search Committee begins its work, they are committed to finding a rabbi with deep love and passion for Israel. That rabbi’s Zionism and Ahavat Yisrael may look different than your own. That doesn’t make it less valid or less passionate, just different. Following the High Holy Days, I will offer a course titled Israel: Love, Opportunity, and Challenge. Together, we will explore multiple perspectives on Israel, reflect on her achievements, confront her struggles, and engage in respectful dialogue. My hope is to create a space where multiple narratives can coexist, and where we can learn from one another, even when we disagree.
Second, we are approaching the second anniversary of the horrific October 7 Hamas massacre and the war that ensued. Tragically, the war continues. Just this past week, Hamas crushed our hopes by once again rejecting a ceasefire and refusing to return the remaining hostages, both the living and the dead.
As the Reform Movement stated just days ago:
“Hamas has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to sacrifice the Palestinian people in its pursuit of Israel’s destruction, but Israel must not sacrifice its own moral standing in return. Neither escalating military pressure nor restricting humanitarian aid has brought Israel closer to securing a hostage deal or ending the war.”
Simultaneously, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to grow more dire. We may debate the accuracy of some news images or statistics, and we know that Hamas has manipulated aid for its own ends. Still, the fact remains: too many civilians, especially children, are literally starving. That is not a “just war.” This is a moral emergency.
Both the Reform and Conservative movements issued statements this week calling attention to this tragedy (see below). We learn in Genesis 1:26–27, that all people are created b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God. Therefore, all people are worthy of food, shelter, justice, and dignity. In Leviticus 19:16, we are commanded: “Do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is in danger.” Our sages interpreted this to mean that if someone, even an enemy, is starving, we are obligated to feed them, to provide them with the most basic of human rights.
My late father, Rabbi Richard J. Sobel (z”l), taught that once our eyes have seen or our ears have heard something, we can no longer claim detachment. We are called upon, morally and Jewishly, not to turn away from suffering, wherever it occurs. We are commanded to take action to change the situation.
As the peace of Shabbat descends upon us this evening, “let us not allow our grief to harden into indifference, nor our love for Israel to blind us to the cries of the vulnerable. Let us rise to the moral challenge of this moment,” (from the Reform Movement’s statement on Gaza) and use our prayers, voices, actions, and commitments to bring healing, justice, and compassion into this broken world.
As we are taught in Pirkei Avot 2:6: “In a place where there is no humanity, strive to be human.”
Reform Movement on Starvation in Gaza
Rabbinic Assembly (Conservative Rabbinic Organization) Statement on Humanitarian Aid to Gaza and Freeing the Hostages
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Sharon L. Sobel
Interim Rabbi
Temple Beth Or
Raleigh, NC
rabbisobel@tboraleigh.org
