UNDER THE DOME at Congregation Beth Israel some 700 people gathered the evening of Jan. 12 to express their solidarity with Israel in the current conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Leaders from across the political spectrum in Portland’s Jewish community addressed the crowd.

ELIE BULKA PHOTO

ISRAEL SOLIDARITY

Many opinions, one community

By AMY R. KAUFMAN

article created on: 2009-01-15T00:00:00

Upwards of 700 members and friends of the Portland Jewish community were present at Congregation Beth Israel for the Community Solidarity Gathering in Support of Israel Jan. 12.

Each speaker chose a distinctly personal way of responding to Israel’s retaliatory war on Hamas in Gaza.

Rabbi Michael Cahana of CBI described Hamas as “an enemy dedicated to our complete destruction,” and said its “charter borrows generously from the Nazis’ creeds.” Yet, he acknowledged, “The war rips into the bodies of innocent people on both sides, and the problem rips into the soul.”

“I will ask you to indulge me if, in the five minutes allotted to me, I do not speak about Israel and Gaza,” said Charles Schiffman, executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland. Instead, he asked the community to join him in an “exercise” that “will enrich our dialogue and our family.” He called upon everyone to “hear each other with respect.”

“I do not recant my firmly held opinions,” said Schiffman, “…but I do make a commitment to understand and to accept that other views are being aired, and not to cover my ears and pretend that they don’t exist. …I fear that this is what I, and perhaps a few others, have been doing for many years.”

“If I can’t hear you or if I refuse to hear
you, perhaps I can pretend that you’re not saying anything. This is a comfortable game to play, but a dangerous one for building community.

“Community is not monolithic. It can share certain values but can encompass many ways of expressing those values. I cannot and must not pretend that those other expressions with which I may disagree are not being stated or talked about.”

Citing Jacob’s descriptions in the Torah, Schiffman said the founders of the 12 tribes of Israel had very different characteristics, and they all formed “am echad, one nation.”

“My friends, the diversity of character and opinion in this room is not less than that of our forefathers,” he said.

Schiffman read the letters of support for Israel from Gov. Ted Kulongoski and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

Schiffman thanked the many “Christians who are concerned about the welfare of Israel and her people” for attending the event.

Rabbi Joseph Wolf of Havurah Shalom drew upon the story of Moses and “Pharaoh’s harsh decree to kill every male child” to evoke the sense that we are adrift on “the river of life that has turned bloody.”

Stating that he serves on the rabbinic cabinet of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, Wolf observed the wide range of viewpoints represented in the audience.

“I’d like to suggest that some of us here tonight are the shomrim, the guardians…You who defend Israel are fierce and vigilant and grim, because you know how things stack up in the world when it comes to our place in it. You are diligent and erudite. You know the names and faces of soldiers who die. The math doesn’t matter: each one of these kids is dear.

“And others here tonight . . . are the neviim, the prophets. You are compassionate and intuitive. …You see blood flowing in the homes of Gaza, children knelt over dead parents, waiting for them to come back to life. …You glimpse two peoples living alongside one another, in the long run. . . . But we all share a common question. We desperately want to know … What will become of our dream?”

Wolf said he would leave for Israel in a few days.

“I’ll feel the rage that we’re stuck with the world’s expectations of us, while being on the receiving end of serious threats to our security,” he said.

Portland attorney Arden Shenker, formerly chair of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs’ Israel Strategy Task Force and a past president of JFGP, gave a precise review of the facts.

“It is a fact that 81 percent of the Israeli body politic strongly favors the Israeli operation in Gaza,” he said.

He said Operation Cast Lead has two objectives: “total cessation of rocket attacks and international enforcement of a ban on rearmament of the Hamas rocketry.”

“The first objective is about to be met,” he said, “and that makes the second objective more important.” He said that after the 2006 Lebanese War, the international community agreed to enforce a ban on rearmament but failed to put it into effect: “Today, Hezbollah has four times more armaments than they had before (the second Lebanon war); it has an inventory greater than many nation states.”

He said when Hamas fighters recently “took off their uniforms, booby trapped schools, and stockpiled (weapons in) mosques,” they were committing “war crimes.”

“I want to share a fact of international law,” said Shenker. “When a murderer takes a hostage and fires behind a human shield, and a police officer accidentally shoots the hostage, the hostage taker is guilty of murder, though the policeman fired the fatal shot.”

Rabbi Kim Rosen, now living in Jerusalem, said that “Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza has gone relatively unrecognized by the world” and that Israeli citizens “who traded land for peace” received nothing in return.

“Israel has the right and the obligation to protect its citizens from launches of terror,” she said. “Israel’s response is long overdue. . . . We hope America will continue to stand with us. We just want to live.”

Eric Kornblit, who served in the Israel Defense Force and established Portland’s Friends of the IDF, described the agony of being a soldier.

“There are so many ways to die or kill innocents by mistake,” he said. “A split-second is all you have between success and tragedy.”

Ken Kwartler, chair of the Israel Advocacy Committee of JFGP’s Community Relations Committee, suggested everyone thank the congressmen who voted in favor of H.R. 34, resoundingly passed by the House and Senate. The resolution recognizes Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza, reaffirms the United States’ strong support for Israel, and supports the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Kwartler made special note of the fact that Oregon’s congressional delegation voted for the resolutions in the Senate and the House, with the exception of Rep. Earl Blumenauer and Rep. Peter Defazio, both of whom were among the 22 members of the House who voted “present” on the Gaza resolution.

Several of the rabbis expressed thoughts of Rabbi Aryeh
Hirschfield (of blessed memory) of Portland’s P’nai Or, who was remembered in the prayer for Israeli soldiers and captives led by Rabbi Arthur Zuckerman of Congregation Shaarie Torah.

Rabbi Ariel Stone of Congregation Shir Tikveh sang a Hebrew song consisting of three words of comfort, translated “Command the Redemption of Yakov.”

“I offer it to you from our ancestors—it’s what Aryeh would do,” she said. “After all the words are spoken, we can sing this hurting world of ours into the harmony we seek.”