By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent
Leaders from Jewish organizations and interfaith groups who spoke at Temple De Hirsch Sinai’s recent community-wide meeting on June 6, “Beyond Conflict: Toward Dialogue, Reconciliation and Peace,” actually agreed on one thing — that if there is to be some sort of peace in the Middle East, and if the United States is going to be the primary broker of that peace, then there first must be peace at home, within the American Jewish community.
Mainly in response to what most political observers consider dreary prospects for peace talks anytime soon and partly in response to recent local conflicts that have accompanied community events on the issue, Rabbis Daniel Wiener and Shifra Weiss-Penzias along with the Social Action Committee of the Temple decided to encourage the communal conversation.
“Previous gatherings [at the Temple] were politically disturbing to me,” Wiener said. “Some people don’t always listen or they make a decision about what they think they heard. Then the aftermath of the [pro-Israel] rally and the inability of the Jewish community to talk to one another made me think about how we can create a dialogue.”
“Our growing awareness is that the Jewish community needs to come together,” Penzias said. “I think the majority of Jews in Seattle want to see an end to the occupation and I think many of them feel disheartened. I want them to feel hopeful. We did open the program to the two extremes. I think you can attempt to change the climate.”
Speakers at the evening event included Ronald J. Young, founding director of the U.S. Inter-religious Committee for Peace in the Middle East; Susan Kane from Pursue The Peace; UCLA Prof. Steven Spiegal from the Israel Policy Forum in Los Angeles; and Gil Elan representing the Middle East Policy Forum. Rabbi David Seidenberg offered a commentary on the week’s Torah portion. Rabbi Zari Weiss conducted a candle lighting ceremony, while the Temple’s cantor Marina Belenky, and music leader Jonathan Ramer helped soothe the overflow crowd in the small sanctuary with well-timed Hebrew songs of peace. Rabbi Jonathan Singer of Temple Beth Am led the group in the Kaddish Prayer for the Dead to memorialize those lives that have been lost through violence.
In his introductory remarks, Wiener noted the June 5 anniversary of the 1967, Six Day War in the Middle East, when Israel launched a preemptive strike against the evident impending attack from Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Today’s Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza as well as the Israeli military presence that protects them are a result of the Israeli claims from that war. The disposition of those territories remains at the heart of the conflict both within and without the Jewish community.
“We are at a stage where the status quo cannot stand,” said Wiener, reflecting back on the last 35 years in Israel. “This is a possession that has imperiled the soul of this great nation. We have a common goal, a common purpose and a common dream. Shalom is our end and dialogue and reconciliation are our means.”
Spiegal echoed the call for resuming a process that involves talk instead of bloodshed while emphasizing the role the Jewish community in the U.S.
“Military solutions cannot solve this problem,” Spiegal said. “It can only be solved by diplomacy. The American Jewish community is a factor in American policy. You can be supportive of Israel and you can be supportive of peace.”
“I would not love Israel the way I do if I learned [about] Israel through the American Jewish community,” said Young, who lived in the Middle East with his wife while she worked in a ministry there. He believes that America needs more of the Israeli influence in its Jewish-American identity. He also reiterated the need for communication skills from all the parties involved.
“You can’t understand the situation unless you’re listening to each other,” continued Young. “Listening helps all of us resist stereotyping the other side. By being in relationship with each other, we keep our eyes on the prize and it prevents us from giving tacit approval to government advocacy positions that have a snowball’s chance, at best, of influencing the administration.”
The final two speakers of the evening shared nearly opposite viewpoints of the current situation in Israel.
“I’m angry and I’m a little despairing,” Kane said. “There’s a peace offer and there’s a war offer. The options are either one country, shared; two peoples, two states; or one dominates over the other and there’s ongoing war. I see a consolidation for option three. I don’t see Sharon going into Hebron and pulling out the settlers.
“Being a child of my age — and I was born in 1968,” added Kane, “I’ve never known anything but an Israel that shoots Palestinian children and occupies a people’s land. I’m here because I don’t support the war offer.”
In response, Elan, who possesses both Israeli and American citizenship, was born and raised in Israel and served as a lieutenant colonel in the Israeli Defense Forces, diplomatically rejected and sought to reverse those images while addressing the problems he sees within the local Jewish community and commenting on the peace process in general.
“With all due respect, no,” Elan said, responding directly to Kane, sitting in the front row of the sanctuary. “Israeli soldiers don’t go around shooting Palestinian children. We dreamt of peace. All of our marching songs are about peace. I used to pray that my children would not have to serve in the army. My son was wounded in Gaza. I now have a grandson in Israel who is three months old and I pray he doesn’t have to serve in the army.
“And, yes, the Palestinians are suffering,” continued Elan, “but I have a problem with Jews tearing down the Israeli flag or calling for the boycotting of Israeli products and calling themselves pro-Israel. We are responsible for each other. Let’s [have a] dialogue between our selves first and present a united front.”
In regard to the resolution of the escalating violence, Elan added, “Yes, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, but we haven’t even entered the tunnel yet.”
Hoping to enter that metaphorical tunnel locally, Wiener wants to see more evenings of dialogue and community participation.
“This was a point of departure for future engagement,” Wiener said. “I want to bring a number of different people to the temple to speak on Israel and Islam and I’ve extended [invitations] to a lot of groups in town to use Temple De Hirsch Sinai … as a forum for dealing with the conflicts in the Middle East.”