Somehow the CCAR statements that Rabbi Andrew Davids quoted last week read like upgraded Lego instructions, explaining how Jewish identity and life are to be constructed. What is missing is an animating force, a vision, a holy dream to be embedded in the new historic day. Yet I know that Rabbi Andrew Davids believes as I do, that to undertake tikkun olam, we Reform Zionists desire the building of a just Israeli society that fulfills its moral mission in the world community. I take comfort in the history lesson that Rabbi Davids speaks of: Once we Reform Jews were anti-Zionist but now we embrace Israel. For two years I worked closely with the Union for Reform Judaism and ARZA while serving as Sh’licha, the Reform Israeli representative to the North American Reform Movement. I know how passionately Rabbi Davids and other key Movement leaders work to give voice to their vision for a new paradigm that relates to Israel and all that she represents. 

But just talking relationships or critiquing some of Israel’s wrongful political policies is not enough. In fact, it can be a kind of displacement activity, masking the real work ahead while making us feel we are making progress.  

Let’s be honest. When the Zionist movement started, when the yishuv was being built and the early institutions, social contracts and national narratives were being formed, the North American Reform Movement was not around. The result is that here in Israel, we are almost-invisible —organizationally, intellectually, spiritually and culturally. The boat sailed without us. On that boat crews were formed, navigational conceptions hammered out, and the steering wheel wrestled over. True, at critical junctures, those on the shore played an important role protecting the ship as it got into heavy seas. Some jumped and swam ashore —made Aliyah. There were heroes of intellect and will who became leaders of Israel’s nascent Reform Movement in the state’s early years. But collectively, we stayed firmly planted on foreign soil.

Even now, after years of toil in Israel, Reform Judaism is largely invisible. We are, to borrow a contemporary Israeli political slur, “irrelevant.” In Israel—unlike the labor movement, the settler movement, the nationalist movement, the national-religious movement—the Reform Movement has no national institutions, no unique broad-based leadership training institutions, no social or cultural forms, no critical networks, no household-name Reform leaders who people can admire. When I, as an Israeli Reform Jew and progressive Zionist, look into the mirror of Israeli society, I can not see myself there at all. I see fragments—Israeli feminists, culturalists, social activists, humanitarians, intellectuals and spiritualists. But nowhere do I see the whole astonishing montage that Reform Judaism at its best brings together in a thriving whole. I see a big gaping hole, because we missed the boat.

Here is the problem for us as Reform Jews: We add our Movement’s voice to those of truth so weakly, our strength to those struggling for justice so feebly.

To solve the problem we need to build Israeli institutions and a movement of power, depth and spirit. We need to take our place at the helm along with others, to partner with those of us already there, and to help wrestle the wheel in the direction of tikkun. That is why I worry when I hear some Americans arguing over whether you have the right to speak out on this or that issue. You do!  As Rabbi Andrews wrote, “Involvement from world Jewry [is critical] in fulfilling the dream of Herzl and history.” We need to build institutions, train leadership cadre, found vision-driven communities and harness our dreams and hands.

Otherwise we will never become creative and influential enough to influence the journey and choice of destination. We will never fulfill our true potential to partner with each other and The-One–On-High to repair the world. We Progressive Zionists are doing our best here in Israel, and it is good. Together we can climb into the full light of day, where history and holiness can walk as one.

Bring it on.

A Yonatan Glaser’s invitation to “bring it on” is candid, compelling and fresh, especially given the long history of distancing that Diaspora Jews have experienced over the years. If only his voice reflected the majority of Israeli leaders and the amcha, its people, who dedicate so little of their time and attention to the Jewish communities outside of the land of Israel.

Much more typical is the perspective posted on the blog administered by the Jerusalem Post blog and written by Rabbi Eric Yoffie, on which someone suggested that non-Israelis have no right to weigh in on issues facing the Jewish State, saying that “If we need to know about Long Island or Beverly Hills security, it will be nice to hear from you.” This perspective, by the way, is held not only by many Israelis but is also often offered by leaders of the North American Jewish communities. These folks suggest that Israelis are the only ones who will have to suffer the consequence of bad decision-making; therefore, only Israelis have the right to take stands on issues related to security and beyond. This opinion does not reflect the multi-faceted nature of Jewish society either here or there; rather, it often serves as an obstacle to the involvement of critical thinkers and a new generation of Jews.

I do appreciate Yonatan’s suggestion that we all will be implicated by our engagement in Israel. I find particularly compelling his last caveat, which suggests that we show some self-restraint and patience. Israel is a complex society that operates in multiple vectors: religious vs. secular, Jewish vs. non-Jewish, fundamentalist vs. liberal, particular vs. universalistic. In Israel’s short history, and yes, fifty-nine years is a short time for a state to develop and mature as a political and societal culture, she has focused most of her tremendous potential on issues of security and meeting the needs of absorbing wave after wave of immigrants from a vast array of cultural backgrounds. Those efforts that have been supported by the state to create an indigenous Israeli culture have been fraught with challenges and rejected by most. Therefore it takes an outsider some time before she or he is fully aware of the different sectors of Israeli society and how each group views issues such as security, education, and state vs. religion, the role of the non-Jew and a host of other areas of concern. The United States and Canada have also not fully come to terms with these matters, after two hundred-plus years.

I think Yonatan and I would both strongly agree that the best way to prepare for a lifetime of Israel support and healthy, intelligent and honest criticism is by spending significant time experiencing Israel first-hand and the issues that she faces. Both the challenges and the capacity to overcome those challenges come into full focus when one is in the land. For those who are concerned about Israel acting in their name or on behalf of Diaspora Jews, I suggest they get on a plane as soon as possible. I am certain that when they get to Israel, they will find some Israelis who feel exactly the same way. They will be pleased to have the support of their Jewish brothers and sisters who have come to explore this wonderful land and get to know Israel on her own terms.