DUALITY

Yom Kippur, 5787

Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz

How do we know if we are smart?

F. Scott Fitzgerald said famously, "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." Fitzgerald is quoted very frequently, and the more I think about it, the wiser his insight looms.

One area in which I find this duality true is theology. Indeed, my book Open Judaism argues for a religious pluralism, holding theism and humanism, revelation and reason, Jerusalem and Athens, belief in God and disbelief in God, together. While some judge my position as untenable, I humbly see it as a “Fitzgerian” first rate intelligence!

Another area in which find this duality true is patriotism. Indeed, I have argued in many a sermon for both American exceptionalism and American despotism, for remembrance of the triumphs of our history and our tragedies. My slogan is not, “America: Right or Wrong”, but “America: Right and Wrong”. While some judge this position as untenable, even unpatriotic… I humbly see it as necessary.

A third area in which I find this duality true, and lately, excruciatingly true, and the one I want to talk about today, is Zionism. You might be saying, another sermon about Israel? The answer is emphatically, “Yes!” After another year like the last one how could I not? For better or for worse, Israel is the story that keeps on giving. Three years since October 7, nothing seems to be settled.

With one exception, of course—the last of the hostages came home. For that we are all profoundly grateful.

But Hamas still threatens in Gaza, Hezbollah is still a menace in Lebanon, and Iran still imperils from afar. At the same time too many civilians are suffering and dying. Settler violence is rampant. Progress toward peace is nil.

One can argue, as I do, that Israel must continue to act in self-defense, and Israel must act in self-restraint.

One can argue, as I do, that we should be proud Zionists, and prodding Zionists.

One can argue, as I do, that we should love Israel unconditionally, but not uncritically.

Some find this duality untenable. I find it necessary.

Rabbi Josh Weinberg, who is a vice-president of the Union for Reform Judaism, the head of AZRA—the Association of Reform Zionists of America, and a colleague I know well, wrote a thoughtful piece on this subject back in May. He began,

There is a dangerous instinct that has been emerging in the Jewish world right now and increasing in intensity over the past few years: the belief that we must choose between defending Israel and defending moral clarity. This belief claims that if one acknowledges the horrors committed against Israelis on October 7, one cannot also confront allegations of abuse carried out in Israel’s name. Or conversely, that if one speaks honestly about Palestinian suffering, one must abandon the legitimacy of Jewish power and sovereignty altogether.

He continues: "That binary is a false choice and represents a collapse of both moral seriousness and Jewish integrity."

As Jews, we do not get to avert our eyes simply because the conversation is painful, politically inconvenient, or weaponized by those who seek Israel’s destruction.

Nor do we get to surrender our critical faculties and abandon standards of evidence because the allegations confirm our prior assumptions and fears.

The Jewish task is harder than that, because two things can be true at the same time.

Yes, all of us are painfully aware that there is a massive, global, coordinated effort to demonize Israel. But that does not free us to turn a bind eye on abuses by Israel. Very painfully, for example, the horrifying report on sexual violence by Hamas on October 7 cannot excuse the allegations of sexual abuse of Palestinians by Israeli prison guards that became known on the same day.

Nor can we can continue to ignore or minimize the settler violence in the West Bank. The president of Israel himself, Isaac Herzog, has decried, quote, “a terrible process of brutalization,” creeping into Israeli society, and in the strongest terms has condemned a lawless, anarchistic mob whose attacks “defile our home and depart from every basic norm—moral, legal or Jewish.”

Rabbi Weinberg concludes,

Our people’s commitment to a covenant forged at Mount Sinai and evolved over the millennia cannot lose our capacity for moral self-scrutiny.

A Judaism concerned only with survival can eventually lose its soul. A Judaism concerned only with moral[ity] can eventually lose its ability to survive.

The challenge is holding both truths simultaneously.

The task of liberal Zionism today is not to become prosecutors of Israel nor defense attorneys for every action committed in its name or by those in its employ. It is to insist that Jewish power must remain tethered to Jewish moral responsibility. That loving Israel means refusing both demonization and denial.

When a loved one is imperfect, we do not abandon them.

We stand by them even as we try to strengthen them.

We commend them even as we must carefully and compassionately criticize them.

At a time when Israel is still under assault, physically and emotionally; when Israel is vilified and hemorrhaging support from the left and the right, the natural tendency is to circle the wagons. I’m on the wagon.

As I have said before: Israel’s existence needs no apology. Israel’s right to self- defense needs no apology. Being a Zionist needs no apology. Loving Israel needs no apology.

Another colleague of mine, Rabbi Yael Dadan, puts this in perspective

No one is asking us to ignore the hard questions, but hard questions should not be the first inheritance we hand our children. Before critique, there must be connection. Before complexity, there must be belonging. Israel should enter the Jewish imagination not first as a controversy to be managed, but as a homeland, a people and a story they are allowed to love without embarrassment. That story should be the foundation of every conversation, not an afterthought.

Proud, unapologetic Zionism is where I start. But concerned, liberal Zionist is where I end up. To repeat: a people concerned only with survival can lose its soul. A people concerned only with soul can lose its survival. Security first. But scruples second. Holding both in our hearts and minds.

Fitzgerald wrote of “the test of a first-rate intelligence”. I prefer to call it “the test of true wisdom”.

On this Yom Kippur may we seek security and prosperity, but above all, wisdom.