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The Drash

Constructive Conversations

05/04/2023 05:08:43 PM

May4

Rabbi Dan Dorsch

At some point in my rabbinate (I am deliberately being ambiguous as to the timeline here), I received a rather chutzpadik complaint.  
 
In fairness to this person, the complaint itself was not the problem.  She may even have had a point.  What made the complaint chutzpadik was that the person who issued the complaint was not a member of the synagogue, had never been to a synagogue program, and had no personal stake in the matter in which she felt the need to complain.  
 
When people file suit to the Supreme Court, this is called a matter of having “standing.”  If the person filing suit is not in some way directly affected by the matter, it does not matter if they are right or wrong: the court dismisses the case.  As a rabbi, for example, I couldn’t take part in a class action suit filed by the Lovers of Bacon Society (yes, I just made that up).  It would be absurd.  
 
One of the more serious concerns from where I sit when it comes to having constructive conversations about Israel is related to this issue of standing.  I personally feel that our synagogue, by virtue of our love for Israel, has good standing when it comes to holding constructive conversations about the future of Israel.  We are invested.  We serve in positions of governance on boards and on committees that support Israel.  We have family members and friends who live there.  All of this gives us standing.  For the record, not all Israelis would agree with me.  Many feel that American Jews who do not vote in the country, serve in the army, and are not citizens, have no standing at all.  
 
Despite that last disagreement, what American Jews and Israelis certainly unite behind is that many critics of Israel–especially those who are a part of intersectional movements–have no standing to get involved in these conversations.  This certainly hasn’t stopped random groups and some celebrities from believing it’s their place to comment on Israeli politics.  But most serious people recognize that these folks are as bad as my joining up with the Bacon Lovers Society, and as much a farce as the chutzpadik complainer I began this piece by writing about. 
 
I do feel when engaging in productive discussions about Israel, it’s always important to take the standing of a person into consideration.  And all the more so, when we are among lovers of Israel not to forget: Derech Eretz Kadma LaTorah. 
 
There are certainly the “Bacon Lovers” in our society who warrant our disdain.  But we cannot forget that the way we treat one another, especially in our large, “multiple-ways to change a light bulb” community of standing, matters almost as much as what we have to say.  
 
Mon, May 6 2024 28 Nisan 5784