Chaverim y'karim - dear friends,

​

Amy and I arrived safe and sound on Thursday morning in Israel. It was about 7:30am by the time we left the airport. It was also the morning of Yom HaAtzmaut - Israel’s Independence Day. 

 

Driving into Tel Aviv on Thursday morning was a delight. There was absolutely no traffic! If that weren’t enough we had the most personable taxi driver. Yonatan's perspective on life was so admirable. He could not have been happier to load our luggage and strategize how to fit us and our gear into the car. We came with extra goods for my stepdaughter, which of course enables us to show our Zionist spirit by bringing extra things home. 

 

As we got to chatting, we learned it was Yonatan’s birthday. He and I were born in the same year just a few months apart. Imagine the contrast: Oakland, CA (me) and him in Georgia (as in Georgia that is located on the east side of Black Sea). When he was five years old, roughly 3,000 Georgian Jews from his region moved to Israel. Some quick research yields that roughly 15,000 Georgian Jews came from the USSR to Israel in the early 1970s. What they found there was actually quite a contrast, in many ways, from their previous life - some for the better and some not. See a NYTimes article from Sept. 30, 1973: “Georgian Jews find Israel is too worldly” (page 3).

 

Yonatan made his life in Israel until his 20s when he moved to NYC and worked for Moishe’s Moving Company! He stayed there for about ten years. At some point, he wound up in Thailand and married a nice Thai woman and they now run a hotel called, naturally, “The King David Inn.” He is back in Israel right now because he needed foot surgery and is recuperating with half a foot. Yes, we learned a lot about his life - and the Israeli medical system - in thirty minutes.

 

I especially enjoyed Yonatan’s narrative of Tel Aviv. Rather than reminiscing about what Tel Aviv used to be like, he embraced all of the growth and all of the new buildings. Tel Aviv of today is very different from that of yesteryear - and even from just 20 years ago. Yonatan is proud that even in the midst of this horrific war, the city is building and flourishing. He commented that Israelis have no choice but to look toward the future and build and grow and transform. “The Tel Aviv of my childhood is disappearing,” he said, “but that is alright a new city is being born.”  

 

I could end the column now — but the story would be incomplete. Much more happened on April 30 and May 1.  

 

There were horrific fires in the Judean Hills — the fires were so bad that a major artery of the country (Highway 1) was closed, and most of the public ceremonies for Israel’s Memorial Day were canceled. As I write this article no one is sure of the cause of the fire. Some say it was arson; others say it was carelessness. As the source of the fires is being investigated — here is what I know. The fires serve as a metaphor for this moment in Israel’s history. The fires caused the country to shut down — and it was unclear how long it would take to contain the fires. 

 

To give you an idea of just how extensive the fires were, even in Tel Aviv there was a layer of soot on all the cars parked outside. Yonatan told us that his car was so filthy that his wife washed his car before he left for work, insisting that he go to work for a few hours on Independence day (and his birthday)!

 

If only the heavy news on our arrival to Israel would have been the fires. But that was not the case. As soon as we landed I learned that rioters stormed a Reform synagogue in Ra'anana on the eve of Israel’s memorial day during an Israeli/Palestinian Memorial Day ceremony. Demonstrators threw objects and firecrackers at the building, forced their way inside, and assaulted participants. After backup officers arrived, event attendees were evacuated in small groups, including the head of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, surrounded by police, who pushed through the crowds of some 200 protestors. A pogrom by Jews against Jews on one of Israel's most sacred and mournful days was a disaster and embarrassment of the highest order.  

 

Whenever I come to Israel I experience a cocktail of emotions. I am thrilled to be home; I love hearing people’s stories; I love hearing and speaking Hebrew; and I love thinking about what Israel has accomplished in such a short time.  

 

But I am enraged when I think about what is wrong with Israel. I detest the tensions between the ultra-Orthodox and, quite frankly: the rest of the country. I am incensed that Reform and Conservative Jews are fighting to be left alone - let alone recognized - by the State and her residents. And I am so angry when I see far right wing nationalist hijack the country and Jewish values. 

 

Our teacher Yossi Klein Halevi eloquently described the situation in a recent podcast with Dan Senor, "The Echoes of Israel's Founding Fathers." Yossi said Israel is at a crossroads. It will either be a divided nation as it was on October 6, or it will be a united nation, fighting an enemy that seeks to annihilate the Jewish people. We don’t know whether Israelis will choose October 6 or October 8. We can only hope and pray and vote in the WZC (voting ends today!) and support those organizations which are doing the work on behalf of the Zionism that reflects the Jewish and democratic life that undergirds Israel and reflects your own aspirations for our people's ancient and modern land. 

 

I close with a newly written prayer for this year's Yom HaZikkaron and Yom HaAtzmaut: 

 

Our Father in Heaven, Rock of Israel, our Redeemer, we come before you with tear-filled eyes and a broken heart, yet believing in goodness and in search of comfort.

 

The world’s evil forces have attacked us. They have murdered and taken men, women and children captive, and wholly disgraced the image of God.

 

And in contrast to their destruction and thirst for evil… Civilians and soldiers alike gave their lives. With bravery, heroism and ultimate dedication, they went out to war. And they upheld the honor of the land and people of Israel.

 

Our hearts are awash in both pain and pride: Pain for the horrific plagues we have endured. Yet pride for the tremendous heroism we have witnessed. And with a broken heart; a heart that still believes in goodness, we extend our hands towards You - that You should fill us and the entire world with comfort and hope, with life and with peace.

 

Return all of our hostages. Heal the wounded. Strengthen the unity among us.

 

And open our eyes to the immense good which surrounds us. Give us the strength to overcome the pain and loss, to assist all those in need and to continue to build and heal our beloved nation. And may we fullfil that which is written: “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of Hashem has risen upon you.” And we say, Amen. (Rabbi Tzachi Lehman)

 

Ken Y'hi Ratzon - may it be God's will and may we make it our own as well - shavua tov, wishing you a good week,

 

Rabbi Mark Cohn, 4 May 2025

(co-written with Rabbi Amy Wallk)