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Dear Friends, 

Please read on below for a rather long note from me. I'm grateful that Rabbi Jacob and our co-presidents, Barbara Black and Pamela Schwartz, have signed on as well. I welcome further conversation with you. 

With blessings for a Shabbat Shalom,

Ariella

What We Stand For  
 
by Rabbi Ariella Rosen, co-signed by Rabbi Jacob Fine, with the support of CBI Co-Presidents Barbara Black and Pamela Schwartz 

What is this document? 

This document distills many months of thought and conversation, summarized into a few key points, explained and expanded upon below. The key points will be displayed in signage and other graphics as part of our decision to share more publicly our values and beliefs.  They are: 

Release the hostages 

End the war/ceasefire deal now 

Jewish and Palestinian safety and sovereignty are intertwined 

These statements, like all sound bites, can be misunderstood without context. This document clarifies what I/we mean when we use these words.  

Why/Why now?  

In full transparency, it has been hard to figure out how to lead this year, to respond to the depth of grief and anger in our community, including several among us with family members and friends who have been killed or taken hostage, or have had to flee their homes.  Serving somewhat unexpectedly as interim rabbi, there has been a lot of learning on the job. I have never worked in a community with such a wide range of perspectives, and we don’t have many models in the broader Jewish world. This diversity is a point of pride, and also brings with it deep challenges. I would not trade us for anyone else, and still the leadership path has not felt clear.  

In trying to understand the nature of our community, I have done a lot of listening, which has been invaluable in better understanding who we are, what our perspectives and needs are around having our Jewish identities and values seen and acted upon. I have also gotten the message loud and clear that listening alone is not enough. CBI also needs a clear stance and public message from leadership. I am prepared to provide that now, and I am grateful to be joined by Rabbi Jacob and our CBI Co-Presidents in doing so. 

My starting point: 

I hold deep love and care for everyone in this community, for all of you. And I have been absorbing your hurt and pain, confusion, and often competing asks and needs. So these words are shared in love as well, as an attempt to chart a course forward. It might not be the course you would have chosen, and it’s possible that this course will change. I hope this can be a foundation for further growth, learning, and action for us all.  

As I shared in my sermon on Rosh Hashanah, living through this time is to live in contradictions. There are many conflicting truths that I and many of us have been striving to hold over this past year (and truthfully, for much longer than that) with regards to Israel and Palestine. [When I say "Palestine," I refer to Gaza and the West Bank, territories that are called by that name by most Palestinians. My use of "Israel" refers to the State of Israel exclusive of those territories.]  

It is likely that you will find something you appreciate or agree with below. It is also likely that there is something here that does not align with your values. May this be an opening to further conversation, and an opportunity to arrive at clarity.  

So who are we and what do we stand for? This is how I would answer that question.  

Some personal background:  

I have not shared much of my own feelings and perspectives on Israel and what has transpired since October 7th. At times it did not feel like it mattered- our job has been to support our community, to hold the feelings and perspectives of others, and my pastoral training taught me to be aware of and push aside my own feelings to be present for others. And yet, we are in community together, in relationship with one another, which means I share myself with you, too 

This is just a snapshot of some of what informs and motivates me: 

My experiences with Israel started from a young age: I learned from Israeli teachers at Jewish day school, watched my father officiate at the funeral of a rabbinical student from our community who was killed in a bus bombing, I heard stories of my parents’ experiences living in Jerusalem in college. After several youth trips, I followed suit, spending a year of college at the Hebrew University and then a year in rabbinical school in Jerusalem as well. I felt like a sponge in those years, soaking up the language, music, poetry, food, and traveling as much as I could. Israel is still a place where some of my favorite restaurants, hiking trails, and people are located, and I am regularly awed by the beauty of the spoken Hebrew language, and the layers of meaning that come from the physical land’s place in Jewish history and spirituality. During that second year of study, I also had the opportunity to learn more about Palestinians and their lives, experiencing home hospitality, checkpoints, and the separation barrier in Bethlehem with Encounter, and touring Hebron with Breaking the Silence. I coached ultimate frisbee with Ultimate Peace. I began to better understand the Occupation and how unsustainable it is as a strategy to build long-term safety and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians.  

These days, I have found additional sources of guidance, learning, and hope in the incredible activism of people on the ground, on both sides of the ocean. I have been inspired by the work of Standing Together, who are steadfast in their work to shift the narrative inside Israel, calling for a ceasefire, return of hostages, and an end to the occupation. I’ve also found solace and alignment in the messages from T’ruah, and have signed onto several of their letters in the past year. I have found role models in colleagues such as Rabbi Sharon Brous and Rabbi Amy Eilberg, who speak courageously from a place of moral conviction and love for the Jewish people. And I have learned from so many of you, who advocate, push us, and live your values clearly and proudly.  

So after much thought, here are three statements that feel clear and true. I want to be clear that these are not recent realizations or sentiments for me. It is the direct articulation of them in this format that is new, something I know many of you have been waiting for. They cannot tell the whole story- there are not enough words for that- but they can ground us as we move forward.  

1. Release the hostages- Pidyon Shevuyim 

I have been living in anguish knowing that fellow Jews have been in captivity for over 400 days. Because of the interconnectedness of the Jewish world, there are several taken hostage with whom I have only a couple of degrees of separation. (Including Omer Neutra z"l, whose death on October 7th was confirmed this week.) I know that for some of you, that degree of separation is even smaller, and you have been suffering immensely as a result. 

Rambam (Maimonides), wrote that “there is no greater mitzvah than the redemption of captives.” (Gifts to the Poor, 8:10) This is echoed in prominent law codes such as the Shulchan Arukh, which continues on to say that “Every moment that one delays redeeming captives, where it is possible to do it sooner, it is as if one is spilling blood.” (Yoreh De’ah 252:3) 

While debating the specifics, Jewish law is clear that when fellow Jews are in captivity, it is our absolute priority to free them. We have a clear responsibility to work toward the safety of members of our own community.  

In this moment where all words can be understood in different ways, we need to be clear about what we mean when we use these words.  

In North America, the phrase “Bring Them Home” has often been used in contexts that do not differentiate between support for the hostages and support for the actions of the Israeli government. As such, the phrase has sometimes been rejected as not leaving room for acknowledging the tremendous loss of innocent life in Gaza that has been a consequence of this war. This humane and moral issue then becomes political, regardless of intent.  

Instead, when we call for the release of hostages, we use these words in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who take to the streets regularly, feel that the government has abandoned the hostages, and are demanding a deal that brings them home and ends the war. They saw the release of 80 of those hostages as a result of negotiation in November 2023, and believe strongly that the continued bombardment of Gaza is not the path toward their loved ones returning home.  

Quoting the Israel Prayer we have been reciting weekly for over a year, we raise our voices alongside all those who call to “return all those who are kidnapped safe and sound to their homes, without the spilling of more innocent blood, without any more souls being tarnished by horrific acts.” (by Hannah Ellenson) 

2. End the War/Ceasefire Deal Now 

October 7th was a horrific day, and Israelis are still living in its aftermath. Grieving the 1,200 lives lost that day, continued war, tens of thousands displaced from homes across the north and south, 101 hostages still in Gaza (only some confirmed still living), and fears of further harm from Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, are among the challenges. There is plenty of reason to share in the suffering of fellow Jews. 

As Rabbi Sharon Brous writes in her book “The Amen Effect,” “validating someone else’s suffering does not diminish our own.” While still carrying the pain and trauma of these events, we have ample room in our hearts for Palestinian suffering as well.  

And life for Palestinians has been absolute hell. Gaza has been destroyed (a majority of buildings have been damaged or destroyed), over 40,000 people have been killed, most of them civilians, including 13,000 children. People are starving and have nowhere safe to go when issued evacuation orders. West Bank settlers have acted with even more impunity than before, causing harm to Palestinians, their homes, and their lands.  

I have read many arguments over the past several months blaming Hamas, blaming the Netanyahu government, pointing fingers at those who had the power to direct a different reality. As Jonathan Polin, father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin z”l who was killed in captivity said at the DNC, “in a competition of pain, there are no winners.” Rather than be distracted by arguments over cause and fault, my focus remains on the millions of people across the region who are deeply suffering right now, and have no power to change their circumstances. 

For their sake, and with concern about the stability of the current ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, we call for a ceasefire agreement that ends the fighting in Gaza, releases the hostages, and enables all people in Israel and Gaza the opportunity to rebuild their lives, and for so many, their literal homes.  

3. Jewish and Palestinian safety and sovereignty are intertwined 

I remember watching the handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn on TV as a second grader, watching my teachers cry tears of hope. That moment had a tremendous impact on me, and my subsequent experiences with Israel. I became a two-state solution advocate, having formative conversations with Israelis and Palestinians, volunteering with coexistence NGOs, traveling into the West Bank to better understand the Occupation in action, and learning from activists who love their homeland and were fighting for the future they believed in.  

A two-state solution and the end to the Occupation felt farther away than ever before October 7th, and all the more so now. The trauma of this moment will be with both peoples for generations. And yet, I hold firm, with millions of others, to this truth: Israeli and Palestinian safety and sovereignty are mutually dependent and inextricably connected. All people deserve to live in safety and without fear.  

I yearn to see in my lifetime an independent Palestine alongside a secure State of Israel that does not feel forced to operate from fear of harm.  

What’s next? 

For all of the reasons outlined above, as leaders at CBI, we are committed to displaying at CBI the following statements as a summary of our values: 

Release the hostages 

End the war/ceasefire deal now 

Jewish and Palestinian safety and sovereignty are intertwined 

Thank you for continuing in this journey with us. We are so grateful for our community. 

Written by Rabbi Ariella Rosen 

Co-signed by Rabbi Jacob Fine 

With the support of CBI Co-Presidents Barbara Black and Pamela Schwartz