Emor
At the age of 17, I packed up my duffle bags and headed to Israel on a six week trip with sixty other teenagers from Denver. Throughout my religious school education and camp experiences, I had learned about and embraced Israel as my homeland. Traveling to Israel after the junior year of high school was a rite of passage not only for me, the future rabbi, but also for most of my Jewish friends. Like a Bris or Baby Naming, B’nai Mitzvah and Confirmation, traveling to Israel was a critical component to becoming a “card carrying” Jewish adult. Being in Israel is an experience like no other for a Jew.
Two summers ago when the fighting broke out between the Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Israeli army, I was working at a Jewish overnight camp. The Israelis counselors, as well as the senior staff, were ready to show support to our brothers and sisters living in Israel. The majority of the high school and college counseling staff, on the other hand, were indifferent; some were even adamant against showing support. As I spoke to the counselors, I could understand their concerns with Israeli policy or use of military force. But, for many of the counselors, it had nothing to do with political opinions. They simply had no relationship with the State of Israel. Since the cancellation of many teen Israel trips in 2001 due to the violence of the Intifada, including the East Bay Trip, many Jewish American teenagers have never had this life-changing experience. Before 2001, 95% of Temple Isaiah’s Confirmation class went to Israel the summer after their sophomore year. This year, 9 out of 29 Confirmands, simply 30%, will take part in an Israel experience.
Yehudah HaLevi (1075-1141) a Hebrew poet and philosopher wrote:
My heart is in the East, and I am in the depths of the West.
My food has no taste. How can it be sweet?
How can I fulfill my pledges and my vows,
When Zion is in the power of Edom, and I am in the fetters of Arabia?
It will be nothing for me to leave all the goodness of Spain.
So rich will it be to see the dust of the ruined sanctuary.
Like Jews living in America today, Yehudah HaLevi lived at a time in which there was peace and calm for Jews living in his Diaspora community of Spain. Yet, his heart was in the East. His poetry continually expressed his love and yearning for Eretz Yisrael, a homeland to which he had never been.
As we celebrate Israel’s 60th birthday during our Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations this week, I connect to the emotions portrayed in Yehudah HaLevi’s poem. How can a Jewish person who had never been to Israel have such a strong relationship with Israel? What does it mean for American Jews to have a “homeland” that many of us have never lived in and perhaps never visited?
This week’s Torah portion, Emor, teaches us about the sacredness of the Jewish calendar. God tells Moses to explain to the Israelites, “These are My fixed times, the fixed times of Adonai, which you shall proclaim as sacred occasions… You shall celebrate each at its appointed time.” (Lev. 23:2, 4) Each year during this season, we join together and celebrate another year of our Jewish State. As we remain in the West, we turn our hearts towards the East, reflecting on our individual relationships and efforts on behalf of Israel. We ask ourselves, “What have we done to support our fellow Jews in our Jewish State? How have we connected to the events, the people, and the land of Israel this year?”
On this Shabbat may each of us turn our hearts to the East, reconnecting and strengthening our relationship with Israel.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alissa Forrest
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