by Rabbinic Intern, Shira Stutman

Contemporary Israel (or, Go Visit Your Mother!)  

As I write, Kol Ami’s president is perhaps still on a plane, on his way to visit and celebrate one of the most shining achievements of the 21^st century— Israel . In fact, many Kol Ami members have a strong and enduring relationship to Israel . Whether this means living in pre-Israel Palestine, fighting in the Haganah (the Israeli army that helped liberate the country in 1948), or raising money for hospitals and other vital parts of the Israeli community, many of you have left your mark on this small country—and, I know, it has left its mark on you.  

Although, from day to day, it seems that all we read in the newspaper is about terror and retaliation, dividing walls and expanding settlements, Israel really and truly is more than the sum of its New York Times reporting. It is a country of complexities—a country that loves its children dearly, organizing out-door dance concerts for them, while at the same time a country that is forced to send most of its children to the army. It is a country that really and truly wants peace with its neighbors, even as it is a country that wants to hold on to as much land as possible—even when that means expanding home-building onto contested land. It is a country that strives to be democratic, even as it is a country that is currently coming to terms with a Palestinian population explosion that could force it to re-examine its existence as a “Jewish state.” It is an “or la’goyim,” a light unto the nations, even as it has its own mafia, its own prostitutes, its own human rights abuses.  

No matter what the difficulties, though, my hope is that Israel is a country to which we feel called, even against our better judgment.  

The Midrash reads that “As the navel is set in the centre of the human body, so is the land of Israel the navel of the world, situated in the centre of the world…” It makes sense. For, the navel has no purpose in our day-to-day life except as a reminder of what has come before us. Each of us was born, connected by umbilical cord to our biological mother. About this, we had no choice. In the end, we may have been adopted, or we may have developed a very conflicted relationship with our biological mother. No matter; we still came into the world connected to her body.  

The same is true with Israel . We American Jews have, thank God, been adopted into a beautiful, American “family.” Nevertheless, there still remains a connection, visceral or innate as it may be, to our biological mother, to Israel . Similarly, just as some of us have conflicted relationships with our mothers, so to do many of us have conflicted relationships with Israel . We may be furious with abuses of the Palestinians, or we may be astonished that the government would consider uprooting Jews from their homes in order to give the Gaza strip to the Palestinians. No matter; even when we’re angry with her, she’s still our mother. Our job is to try to stay in relationship with her.

This year, Israel will celebrate her 57^th anniversary of independence on May 12. Perhaps it is time for you to visit, either for the first or the fifth time. Travel in Israel nowadays is as safe as travel anywhere in the world; in fact, studies show that it is safer than travel on I-95.

So go to Israel . Go to tour, go to protest, but just go. Go see your mother. Make her proud.