"Don't Shoot and Don't Weep"

                                    



I saw the excellent documentary Budrus this afternoon. Today's was the last showing in Chicago, and I'm glad I made it. Besides thoroughly enjoying this well-made work, I also left the movie theater inspired. Budrus is about a West Bank village that successfully confronted the Israeli army. The Palestinian villagers successfully organized to save their olive groves and cemetery from being destroyed by the Israeli security wall.

This story is so wonderful not only because it has a happy ending but because is rings true.  As one of the activists in the movie says, "The powerful never make concessions without a struggle." I saw other universal lessons including the importance of non-violent, steadfast, unified resistance. These are just as relevant to the campaign for worker justice in Chicago's hotels as they are for Palestinian farmers on the West Bank. Budrus reads like a textbook for community organizing.

As a story of building a unified campaign, Budrus pays attention to alliances between different constituencies: men and women; parents and children and teens; Palestinian villagers and Israeli activists. One of the relationships the documentary illustrates is that of Israeli soldiers and Israeli activists. An Israeli activist, seeking to make a human connection with the armed, Israeli soldiers, calls out to the soldiers through a megaphone, "We are peers. I am 22 and you are my age!"

If activism is your pleasure, Israel is a paradise. When I lived in Israel, what made for an enjoyable demonstration was a good slogan: it has to rhyme and pack a punch. The Israeli activists in Budrus came up with a great one. A group of young Israeli activists taunt the Israeli soldiers with the call: "lo yoreem v'lo bocheem!" "Don't shoot and don't weep." This call mocks the classic Israeli military ethic: "We shoot and then we will weep." In other words, Israeli soldiers are tough enough to go into battle and do what needs to be done, yet sensitive enough to process their emotions back home and let the tears run. This is reflected in mainstream Israeli culture. The mourning soldier is a touchstone of Israeli music and literature. Israeli popular music abounds with elegaic songs that articulate rituals of grief, among soldiers and with civilians.

The early Jewish pioneers who laid the foundations for modern Israel set out to re-create the Jewish man. These young men and women - peers in age of the soldiers and activists of Budrus - turned their teenage rejection of their parents' lives into an ideological movement. Their mission - as reflected in contemporary writings - was to take the weedy, terrified, bookish shtetl Jews and produce farmer-warriors. One hundred years later,  the Israeli military male has developed as a hybrid: the Israeli sabra combined with the traditional Jew: The Israeli is the warrior, then, after the battle is over, the "Jew" emerges, and talks, and weeps. Israelis are proud of this archetype.

What I find lacking in this model is the ability to go beyond emoting and to question the premise for going into battle. There is no format in mainstream Israeli culture for asking fundamental questions. Like the documentary's woman-warrior Yasmin, this ideal type never questions the morality of her actions. (This pattern is the subject of the 2008, Israeli movie Waltz with Bashir about the first Lebanon War.)

Israeli military Border Police enforcing illegal seizure of Palestinian lands to build the Israeli '"Separation Wall"

The formula of "We shoot, then we weep" has a particular resonance in Hebrew. I hear in it a paraphrase of the formula with which the Children of Israel accepted the authority of the Torah. Famously (to those who had a traditional, Jewish upbringing) the first generation of Israelites entered into covenant with God with the formula: "na'aseh v'nishma". "We will do it, and then we will study (lit. hear) it." The Talmud (BT Shabbat 88a) lauds the Israelites' acceptance of the commandments before knowing the scope of that commitment. This unquestioning acceptance of authority in matters of war is a perversion of the classical, rabbinic understanding of accepting the authority of God.

The Israeli activists' call on the Israeli military to abandon the cycle of violence-then-therapy. The Israeli activists in Budrus issue an urgent call to return to traditional, Jewish values of non-aggression. That message is delivered in simple, Israeli Hebrew: lo yoreem, v'lo bocheem!
Translation: If you won't shoot at us now, you won't have to cry about it later.

Worker Justice in the Business Section

The campaign for worker justice at the Hyatt and other hotels in Chicago which I've been active in since the summer and have written about received a boost from the Chicago Tribune over the weekend. The Trib covered the interfaith protest of 70 religious leaders and 100 workers on November 4. We appeared with a color photo on the cover of the Trib's business section

The article provides good context and is available here. I have tried to post the scanned hardcopy so you can see the pictures (which are not available in the online edition), but, apparently, there is a general glitch in the software. Please comment here if you want to receive a scanned image by e-mail.

This prominent coverage has already triggered some good conversations for me. I look forward to a dialog with folks who know more about business than I ever will.

What is the real bottom line in dealing with people as workers?

Demilitarizing Israel-Palestine

                                                


CTA, Chicago's public transportation system, is now hosting an advertizing campaign aimed at demilitarizing the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Of course, I support a campaign that espouses the mission of this blog.
Fifteen years ago, when I was living in Israel, the so-called two state solution was publicly supported by only one political party, the Jewish-Palestinian list, formerly communist, Hadash. This party was beyond the pale of the polite society I belonged to. I could not have voted for Hadash without wading uphill through a lot of social negativity. Hadash was communist. Worse, Hadash was non-Zionist.
Well, that was then, and now, even the racist Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman and Prime Minister Bibi "Terror" Netanyahu support the two-state solution. Now that the two-state proposal is part of standard right wing rhetoric it is clear that it carries no hope. The dream of a viable future for the  Israelis and Palestinians is best served by campaigns such as www.TwoPeoplesOneFuture.org

The CTA campaign reminds me of Israel circa 1995. An urgent and simple truth, that is ahead of the mainstream curve: we need to find a way for both peoples to share the land.

Many American Jews will argue that Israel is embattled and is in a dangerous neighborhood and Israel needs all the support it can get from its principal ally, the U.S. Therefore, the U.S. should continue to give Israel billions of dollars annually in military aid with access to some of the U.S. premium armaments,
I disagree. If Israel were truly under threat, the U.S. would rush to the rescue. This was true in Israel's traumatic 1973 Yom Kippur war and, it's abundantly clear that this is just as true today.

President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu                                                       

This campaign will not put a dent in the military aid Israel receives from the U.S. Yet, it will educate Chicagoans as to how our tax dollars give the current Israeli government the confidence to dominate the Palestinians militarily.

The news last week that the Netanyahu government has successfully demanded that the U.S. commit in writing to providing 20 F-35 warplanes, before it was willing to consider a limited 90 day freeze West Bank construction in exchange, illustrates how damaging the current military relationship is.

For a powerful exposition of the scale of U.S. military aid to Israel, please watch this testimony by Josh Ruebner:

                                

Looking forward to seeing this campaign spread to other cities across the United States.

Palestinian and Israeli-Jewish fathers dream of a peaceful future for their daughters

                                                          

Biking through Chicago's Winter Blues

                

Chicago is a cyclist's dream. With 150 miles of bike lanes and more bike racks than any other U.S. city, my adoptive hometown is rightly proud to be the national leader in urban biking. We are helped by the uniformly flat Midwestern terrain. But the real credit goes to Mayor Richard Daley Jr. who has been a champion for bicycles. In addition to the network of commuting bike lanes, his administration has overseen the development of extensive recreational bike trails through parks across the city. The most famous of these is the 18 miles of trail along Lake Michigan. The city's biking culture is amplified through forest preserves across suburban Chicago.

                                            

I started bicycle commuting three years ago.  Gas prices had peaked and commuter trains were packed as people minimized their cars usage. In addition, the expressway that connects the city to the suburbs was under construction. At one point along the 21 mile route, the bike path runs through a tunnel under the six-lane expressway. The trail continues alongside the roadway before veering off, back into the forest preserve. In my first year of biking, it was always a thrill for me to pedal along, overtaking the stalled traffic along the interstate. The driving commute took so long that the time it took for me to go to the gym and then drive was longer than my bike ride. So, I saved my gym membership fee, some time and had a great riding experience through the forest preserve in the bargain. During the work week, there are so few people out in the forest preserve that the ride is safe and calm. In early morning, or around dusk, the deer were out. I came to know where the various deer families lived. The trees keep track of the seasons. There was one patch of forest floor along the Chicago River that is the first to sprout new seedlings every Spring. A cluster of tree seedlings springs up in a large circular patch. They grow to about a foot tall and then the canopies of the established trees overshadow the patch. Fall is golden. The winter is a constantly changing scenery of ice and snow.

                                                                         

Riding through the winter has transformed my relationship with Chicago's winters. It's not just the constant cold (averaging in the mid- to high  20s) or the occasional bouts of intense cold (O degrees or colder + the wind chill factor) or, even the gloomy, overcast days. The hardest part is how long the winter is. Come March, when we see on television how the rest of the world is heading outdoors, we Chicagoans still have  up to two months of the Chicago winter ahead of us.

Cycling has been my way of combating the Chicago winter blues. Many Chicago winter days are stunningly beautiful. By taking the battle to the outdoors, I don't feel closed in by the weather. With appropriate clothing and my winterized bicycle, I get to enjoy the outdoors, year-round.

The affluent North Shore suburbs along the shoreline of Lake Michigan keep the bike path clear, year-round. They plow the snow throughout the winter. I must be of one of the handful of folks who take advantage of this tremendous resource. This will be my fourth winter in which I regularly commute by bicycle throughout the winter.

Mayor Daley's administration is coming to an end. He steps down this winter. Looking ahead to February 2011, the city's mayoral race is being closely watched by Chicago's cyclists.  Which of the candidates will build on Mayor Daley's legacy?

                                                                               

                                                    Bon voyage, Mayor Daley, and many thanks!

B'tselem

Last night, my wife and I had the pleasure of meeting and having dinner at our home with Uri Zaki. Mr. Zaki is the US representative of the Israeli human rights organization, B'tselem. 

B'tselem does great work, documenting and publicizing the lives of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. As an Israeli organization, based in Jerusalem, B'tselem enjoys solid relationships with the Israeli political establishment and media.

Surprisingly to me, Uri Zaki is not a radical leftist. He started out in Likud and saw in right wing Prime Minister, Menahem Begin a role model. He speaks of himself as an "unapologetic Zionist." It was only after serving as a soldier in the Occupied Territories that Uri's eyes were opened to the reality of the Occupation. When a good friend, who was a gentle soul, stole from a Palestinian at a checkpoint, he realized that there is something in the essentially discriminatory nature of the Occupation that was poisoning Israel. He rejects AIPAC's position of Israel-right-or-wrong and sees the path of B'tselem (and J Street) as the only way "to keep Israel both Jewish and democratic."

                                                                           Uri Zaki delivering the Yizhak Rabin lecture

This morning, Uri delivered the annual Yizhak Rabin lecture. I don't agree with him on a number of key issues, most importantly, on the fundamental importance of maintaining a sovereign state for the Jewish nation and how "Jewish and "democratic" are reconcilable. However, I found it refreshing to hear a young Israeli leader speak of America and Israel as the two co-equal centers of Jews and the importance each center has for the other. By contrast, the former Israeli Consul-General in Chicago, Barukh Bina ended his speech in my congregation with this classic Zionist distinction: "Today, Israel and America are the two centers of Jews. Israel is the stage - you, are in the audience. We invite you to step on to the stage and become actors in this great drama."
Uri invited American Jews to engage with Israel and to influence US policy on Israel. He spoke of what each of the two large, Jewish communities can give each other. The AIPAC position as articulated by its representative's speech to the congregation, echoing Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren is: "American Jews should not get involved in Israeli politics." To this, Uri countered: "there is no escaping Israeli politics. If you support Israel-right-or-wrong then you are supporting Netanyahu's right wing agenda."
The audience asked thoughtful and, sometimes, provocative questions. One particularly insightful comment: "the younger generation no longer share the same relationship with Israel that the older generation is used to." This, the audience member observed, is "something we need to acknowledge, even though it is frightening to do so." Times are changing.

Uri Zaki represents a new Israeli generation of young leaders. He explained that previous generations of Israelies did not feel free to leave Israel. Those who did move from Israel to the U.S. carried guilt within and had to bear their peers' disapproval.  Today, many Israelis live in the U.S. His decision to stay in Israel is a free one. This generation therefore demands of Israel that it live up to higher standards.

For me, what's missing from these conversations is the key factor - the Arabs. As dissenting voices within the Zionist movement noted back in the 1920s, a comprehensive vision for lasting peace must involve the Palestinians. Meeting them at the negotiating table is not enough. In Israel itself, I'd like to see Palestinians brought into the government and upper echelons of the bureaucracy.

Two audience members asked Uri what we can do for B'tselem as American Jews. He replied that we not believe everything we are told about Israel. If J Street syas something, check it out. He also asked for donations.
My suggestion was to donate to B'tselem's  camera distribution project. Last year, when I visited Israel I brought a check to B'tselem, video editor Yoav Gross for the purchase of a camera. B'tselem's brilliantly simple strategy has been to arm Palestinians was cameras so that they can document settler violence (and the Israeli military's collusion with the settlers). This work has already resulted in two front page pictures - by B'tselem's Palestinian activists - on the front page of the New York Times. A similar project on the Gaza tunnels received prominent coverage in the Israeli mainstream media. Since Israeli journalists are barred from Gaza and international journalists cannot document every criminal attack by settlers, these cameras act as our eyes. This brilliant scheme empowers the powerless and does this in a non-violent fashion.

At a cost of a couple of hundred dollars, you might see a picture taken with your camera, on the front page of the New York Times.

B'tselem is doing vital work in using their privileged status within Israel to empower the Palestinians living under the Israeli settler/military occupation.

Chile and Judeo-Christian Israel

Israel has invited the rescued Chilean miners to spend Christmas in Israel. "All expenses paid." The Israeli itinerary includes visits to Christian holy sites.

Israel enjoys strong ties to Christians around the world. This close relationship has marked the course of Zionism in Palestine. The Jewish Zionist movement developed alongside Christian ambitions for the Holy Land. It was the British victory over the Islamic Ottoman Empire in World War I that led to the creation of the State of Israel. In 1917, the Christian Zionist British Prime Minster Lloyd George authored the Balfour Declaration, the document that sanctioned Zionist, political aspirations in Palestine. Ironically, this Christian support for political Zionism was met with Jewish opposition:  Edwin Montague,  the only Jews in Lloyd George's Christian cabinet was the sole opponent of the Balfour Declaration.

Even earlier, Jewish Zionism existed and developed within the Christian Zionist world. British journalist, Victoria Clarke in her comprehensive history of Christian Zionism   Allies for Armageddon  documents the relationship between Christian- and Jewish-Zionism over a period of 350 years. Her fascinating  - and very readable  - history links contemporary Christian Zionism back to the mid-17th century to the re-admittance of Jews to England and to the beginnings American Exceptionalism.

American Zionism in Palestine started in the mid-19th century. One of the legacies of that period, the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem, is the preferred accommodation of the international press corps in Jerusalem.

Beginning somewhat earlier in the 19th century, British Zionism was characterized by the influx of Christian missionaries, including former Jews. The beautiful convent (now including a wonderful Bed & Breakfast) of Notre Dame de Sion in the picturesque village of Ein Karem was founded by two French, Jewish brothers who converted to Catholicism.

Similarly, the neo-Gothic church inside of Jerusalem's Jaffa Gate was built by the Solomon Alexander,  the first Protestant Bishop of Jerusalem. This former Galitzianer Jew moved to England. became a provincial rabbi, then abandoned Judaism and converted to Christianity. He re-entered the clergy this time as an Anglican priest,  and was sent to Palestine to head the Christian mission in Jerusalem as its first bishop.

The foundational impact of the mid-19th century Christian settlement in Palestine is evident to this day. The German Templars helped turn the village of Haifa into the major city it is today. They shaped the city's architecture. In Jerusalem, the Templars' "German Colony" is the trendy, hotspot in West Jerusalem. The templars are credited with the famous, or, infamous depending on your point of view) Jaffa orange brand.

Political Zionism developed in Christian Europe and is guaranteed today by Christian America. Christian Evangelicals famously back Israel and, the Israeli settler movement in particular. Israel, her emissaries and representatives around in American, nurtures this image of Israel as the Christian ally in the Middle East.

The European-American Christian context for Jewish Zionism explains an anomaly in Israeli policy. If Israel is truly the ally of Christians in the face of perceived Islamic encroachment, why are Palestinian Christians subject to the same discrimination, humiliation and intimidation as their Muslim neighbors?

The answer lies in the kinship Israel feels, not with Christians as Christians but as extensions of the Western world which Israel longs to be a part of.

 A case in point, is Israel's harsh response - through the agency of American Jewish organizations - to the Palestinian Christian

statement of principles

on human rights in Palestine. This Christian document was lambasted as anti-Semitic by such groups as the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

             High on the itinerary of the Chilean Christians will undoubtedly be the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. As Bethlehem is officially under Palestinian control, and the Old City of Jerusalem is internationally recognized as part of the Palestinian West Bank, the Palestinians, were understandably unhappy when Israel neglected to put their names on the Chilean invitation.

                                                      Entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Old City of Jerusalem

I'd love to see the Chilean miners go to Israel, bid adieu to their official, Israeli minders and do a photo-op with the Palestinian custodians of Bethlehem and Jerusalem's holy Christian sites. The courtyard in front of the Church of the Holy Speluchre in the Old City of Jerusalem would make a great backdrop: representatives of all the churches that maintain a presence in the church, together with the Muslim family that holds the keys to he church, some Jewish clergy from Rabbis for Human Rights, and the 31 miners  - plus their families. 

Clergy Solidarity with Hyatt Workers

This evening 70+ of my fellow clergy, cantors, rabbis and Christian clergy gathered with Hyatt workers to protest the continuing exploitation of workers by Hyatt management. We protested outside the Hyatt Regency, on the Chicago River across from the Magnificent Mile.

U.S. Representative Danny Davis (no relation...) added his presence and words to the event. My colleagues, members of Reform Cantors of Chicago, led the clergy processional with Go Down Moses (Let My People Go).

                                                               
                                                                       With Cantor Scott Simon at the rally

There was a great atmosphere. Our Christian colleagues were good sports and incorporated a Jewish ritual into the event. As Rev. Lillian Daniel explained it: on the Jewish holyday of Purim, whenever we hear the name of the evil Haman, we make noise in protest. Similarly, at the rally, whenever a speaker said the word "injustice", everybody shook their 'clackers'.

Rabbi Peter Knobel, immediate past-president of the 1,800 member Central Conference of American Rabbis invoked the Biblical term "oshek" "exploitation" to describe Hyatt management's treatment of its workers. Hyatt Regency hosts major Jewish events in Chicago, as it is one of the only large establishments to offer kosher food. In light of this "oshek", Rabbi Knobel declared the Hyatt Regency "not kosher."

Rev. Chisum infused energy and roused the crowd to chanting with him. Sister Gwen Fary joined with my colleagues

Cantors Simon, Goldstein & Luck accompanying on guitar Cantors Mahler & Dresher & Sister Gwen Fary.

The overall theme of the event was the Passover exodus story. I spoke about Nahshone, the hero was, according to tradition was the first to brave the waters of the Sea of Reeds (the Red Sea). Jewish tradition credits Nahshone with the beginning of the miracle of the splitting of the sea. We ended the event with singing "We Shall Overcome." By that time, the challenge that faced the protesters was not Hyatt but the weather. I had to abandon the second half of my speech because I couldn't quite unfold the sheet of paper that was disintegrating in the rain...

The atmosphere was lively. It strikes me repeatedly, how enjoyable this activism is. I met up with old friends and met new people. The workers, clergy and organizers were all connected through the common commitment of solidarity with the workers in the face of shameless exploitation. I hope our public action gave the workers a boost and gave Hyatt executives reason to fear that their image will be tarnished unless they treat their workers with respect.

On Large Ink Toner Cartridges (or, the Absurdities of the Yemeni Plot Against Chicago)

So, all were aflutter in my adoptive hometown, Chicago. The news channels and my e-mail inbox were full of reports about Al-Qaida's failed attempt to fly explosives to a Chicago synagogue. According to the authorities, one of the packages was found on board a cargo plane in the U.K. Today, a British cabinet minister, flanked by a grim-faced David Cameron, announced, according to The Guardian's top headline, that, henceforth, the British have:

"imposed an immediate ban on large ink toner cartridges in hand luggage."

So, the British government's response to the latest terror scare is....to make air travellers' lives even more miserable - at least those passengers who are wont to schlep large ink toner cartridges in their hand luggage. For the rest of us: we can be calm in the knowledge that the large ink toner cartridges, that may contain explosives, are in the cargo hold. Wait a minute. Isn't that just like that plane that the British seized which, we are told, could have blown up?

Really, for the authorities' placebo sedative to work, the plan at least has to have the appearance of fixing the problem. This absurd plan makes one thing abundantly clear: there isn't much our fearless leaders can do to give us added security. (And they are doing plenty to make us unsafe, thank you very much.) Actually, I'm relieved that this latest security directive doesn't require us to give up any more of our civil liberties.

Except, of course, for the right to bear oversized ink cartridges. In our hand luggage.