We are living in the first era of Jewish independence since the time of the Maccabees. It was over 2000 years ago that Jews last controlled their own destiny before the creation of the modern State of Israel. The independence the Maccabees gained lasted about 80 years. Modern day Israel is 67 years old.
It was internal divisions and rival factions amongst ourselves that led to the loss of
sovereignty then and we may well be heading in the same direction today.
Americans for Peace Now (APN) applauds Secretary of State John Kerry for his courageous speech Saturday in which he urged the leaders of Israel and the Palestinians to act now to prevent the collapse of the two-state option and to prevent the emergence of a bi-national state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean.
Rabbi Michael Bernstein is the spiritual leader of Congregation Gesher L’Torah in
Alpharetta, Ga. Michael received his ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1999 and is an alumni
of the Rabbis Without Borders second cohort.
This week on the Jewish calendar both great darkness and great light intersect as we read in the Torah the story of Joseph being subjected by his brothers to the bottom of a pit, and prepare to once more kindle the lights of Chanukah. In the Talmud, there are two different teachings by Rabbi Tanhum that are presented one after the other, even though they seem to have little to do with each other. The first is the law that the Chanukah candles must not be placed so high that a passerby's eyes would not naturally be able to see them. The second deals with Joseph and the fact that the pit into which he is tossed is described as being "empty and having no water." It had no water, but, according to this teaching, the pit did have snakes and scorpions!
Secretary of State John Kerry on December 5, 2015 delivered a courageous speech at the Brookings Institute's Saban Forum, cautioning against the emergence of a bi-national state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, as a result of the current impasse in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking efforts.
Following is the Israeli-Palestinian portion of the Secretary's speech. For the full text click here
The current Israeli-Palestinian violence demonstrates how damaging national-religious incitement can be. But it’s not just Palestinian incitement. The extremist rabbis of the ideological West Bank settlers are as responsible for Jewish violence as Muslim clerics are for Palestinian violence.
The most blatant case of incitement-inspired Jewish political violence since the establishment of the state of Israel was the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.
Dan Ephron’s Killing a King is a must-read book that follows both Rabin and his
assassin, Yigal Amir, through the year or two that preceded the murder. It invites the reader to continue
following these two lines – the progressive, peace-seeking Israel that Rabin led and came to represent, and
the extremist, reactionary Israel – beyond the disastrous point of their intersection on November 4,
1995.
The following message from Tom Feldman and Michael Walzer is the first in a series of messages that you will be receiving from members of APN’s Board of Directors and staff during the eight days of Hanukkah.
These messages are our way of exchanging gifts: offering you the gift of learning -- for you or a loved one -- in exchange for your contribution to APN.
We call it Spreading the Light. It’s a celebration of ideas and learning to nourish our hearts and minds and bring some much-needed light into our lives and into the lives of people we love.
For us, the best way to spread the light, to enlighten, is through books that we find eye-opening. The books that we will be offering you during the week – gifts to convey our appreciation for your support -- include fascinating chapters in the history of Israel and the Palestinians, and the conflict between them, as well as an Israeli-Palestinian cookbook, a book by Israel’s leading modern poet, and a whimsical book on the role that words play in Jewish tradition, co-authored by Israel’s leading contemporary novelist, a founder of Israel’s Shalom Achshav (Peace Now) movement, and his daughter.
Thank you for all that you do to support our efforts to counter the darkness of war, violence, intolerance and extremism, and advance hope for a better future for Israel and its neighbors.
Happy Chanukah,
Jim Klutznick, Chair, and Debra DeLee, President and CEO,
Americans for Peace Now
Americans for Peace Now mourns the passing of Samuel (Sandy) Berger Z”L, a former member of our Board of Advisors and a friend of APN. As President Clinton’s national security advisor and in other capacities, Sandy served America’s national security interests. He also played a pivotal role in advancing Israel’s security and wellbeing, and was an avid advocate of the two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
