Rabbis Are “Muzzled by the Minority” When It Comes to Expressing Their Views about Israel

Rabbis across the U.S. have effectively silenced if their support for Israel and its policies are not total.

A 2013 Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) study found that about one- third of rabbis said they repressed their true views about Israel for fear of clashing with members of their congregations.

In his article, “Muzzled by the Minority,” published in the Fall 2014 issue of Reform Judaism, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, former president of the Union for Reform Judaism, writes: “In 2012, I met with a dozen Reform and Conservative rabbis. Two of the rabbis, who served different synagogues, mentioned having each recently made the mistake of giving sermons that were somewhat critical of Israel’s policy toward Palestinians. Congregants with hawkish views responded with such outrage, contempt and ferocity that the rabbis vowed that, going forward, they would simply remain silent on the subject in public, rather than subject themselves to arbitrary litmus tests of loyalty to Israel. The fact that not a single rabbi in the room suggested the two rabbis reconsider their decision didn’t strike me as strange. Truth is… American Jews no longer know how to have a civil conversation about Israel.”

In September, Rabbi Brant Rosen announced that he would step down from leadership at the Jewish Reconstructionist Congreg¬ation in Evanston, Illinois after 17 years because of his role in Jewish Voice for Peace and his advocacy of Palestinian rights “has become a lightning rod and divisive.” As he explained to The New York Times (Sept. 23, 2014): “For many Jews, Israel is their Judaism, or at least a big part of it. So when someone challenges the centrality of Israel in a public way, it’s very painful and very difficult, especially when that person is their rabbi.”

According to the Times, “Forty-seven years after Israel’s victory in the 1967 Middle East war…Israel’s occupation of Arab lands won in battle and its standoff with the Palestinians have become so divisive that many rabbis say it is impossible to have a civil conversation about Israel in their synagogues. Debate among Jews about Israel is nothing new, but some say the friction is now fire. Rabbis said in interviews that it may be too hot to touch, and many are anguishing about what to say about Israel in their sermons during the High Holy Days…”

According to the Times, “Particul¬arly in the large cohort of rabbis who cons¬ider themselves liberals and believers in a ‘two-state solution,’ some said they are now hesitant to speak much about Israel at all. If they defend Israel, they risk alienating younger Jews who, rabbis say they have observed, are more detached from the Jewish state and organized Judaism. If they say anything critical of Israel, they risk anger¬ing the older, more conservative members who are often the larger donors and active volunt¬eers.”

The Times reports that, “One Milwaukee rabbi in the Conservative movement, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, because he is raising money from Jewish donors, said he was rejected for a position at a temple after he told the board that ‘there’s not just one Jewish point of view’ on Israel. Another rabbi’s board put a note in her file saying she cannot speak about Israel….Last year, the Board of Rabbis of Southern California of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles tried and failed to organize an event exploring how to have a dialogue about Israel, in part because of logistics and in part because it was just too contentious, said Jonathan Freund, vice president of the board. ‘It was kind of ironic,’ Mr. Freund said, ‘because we couldn’t in the end figure out how to talk about how to talk about it.” •