Cantor's Blog

This past Tuesday, I was honored and blessed to travel with 250 Jewish Houstonians on an 18-hour Federation-organized junket to Washington DC,  joining over 250,000 other Jews assembled before the Capital of the United States.

It was an unusually beautiful November day, temperatures hovering just below 60 degrees, calm and crystal-clear air, amidst leaves of brown, red, yellow, and orange. Binureinu Uvizkeinu – with our young and with our old, throngs of people assembled, bearing signs and raising voices in support of the State of Israel and standing against anti-Semitism here in America and world-wide.

Lost in a sea of people, from my small vantage point, I could see groups from all over – Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Richmond, St. Louis. They came dressed in Chasidic garb, some in kippot, many without kippot, some wrapped in Israeli flags, others wrapped in Tefillin. Students from Emery Weiner, Beren Academy, and Day Schools nation-wide, from CYJ, Ramah, and a multitude of Jewish summer camps, college students, Birthright Israel participants, Holocaust survivors and their families, LGBT for Israel, arm in arm with Christians, white, black and Latino, standing with Israel.  Israeli music permeated the air as did the occasional waft of pot leading me to wonder if some of the chants were slightly altered to Am Yisrael “High.”
 
We stood under the shadows of American and Israeli flags, united against the false narratives perpetrated by the enemies of peace, the enemies of civilization, the enemies of life. We declared that Hamas, along with her fellow terrorist organizations, are responsible for the heartbreaking deaths of Israeli and Palestinian children – signs held high – “Free Gaza, Free the Palestinians from Hamas” We proclaimed loudly that “we live between the river and the sea” and we will not allow our people to once again suffer pogroms and holocausts. We repeatedly chanted to all who would listen - “Bring Them Home, Bring Them Home” – affirming that silence is intolerable while more than 200 Israeli, American and international hostages remain in the grasp of those dedicated to our destruction.

We recognized that this moment is contextualized in Jewish history – placards propounding “Let My People Go” and “Never Again Means Now.”  We heard from Natan Sharansky who reminded us that but a few decades ago we amassed in support of Soviet Jews at a time when others claimed Soviet Jewry had been abandoned. Deborah Lipstadt framed the moment within 3,000 years of anti-Semitism and asserted that “we will once again emerge victorious” in our fight for survival and the right to safely live Jewishly. Isaac Herzog, President of Israel, standing before the Kotel, assured us that Israel will remain strong in the face of those who seek her extermination and thanked America and all those congregated for the brotherhood between our nations.

We celebrated a bipartisan and bicameral assurance that America firmly supports Israel, and that America will defend against all forms of Jew-hatred within this great nation and abroad. We were reminded of George Washington’s letter to the Jews of Rhode Island in which he stated: “The Government of the United States will give to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance… and Washington then offered a prayer that “the children of the stock of Abraham”, along with all others will “sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

But we were also cautioned that our efforts were but a dawn, a prelude to vital and necessary actions going forward. As we learned that day, a bus of Jewish representatives from Detroit, who had flown in to participate in the rally, were rebuffed by a D.C. bus driver who discovered their purpose. Rallying cries against the leadership on many college campuses clamored from the lips of speakers and those around us, and there were calls to defund those institutions who will not stand up to Jew hatred. Families of Hamas’ hostages pled for the return of their loved ones, reminding us that each hostage is a precious life, each created in the image of God, each representing an entire universe, not merely one of 240.

And ongoing chants of “NO CEASE FIRE” reminded us that we remain at war –

• at war against those who slaughtered our innocent brethren on October 7th, who tortured and murdered babies and who raped women;
•  at war against those who would deny rights to all other faiths, to women, to LGBT, to anyone who would speak out in opposition;
• at war with those who deny the sanctity of life and openly profess, in writing and with bullhorns, that Israel has no right to exist, declaring an eternal commitment to her annihilation.

Tuesday proved a powerful and significant moment, a clarion call for peace with justice, for the right to feel safe in our homes, and within our borders, from “the river to the Sea” and from “the Atlantic to the Pacific.”

We, nonetheless, are in this battle for the long haul – we cannot allow fatigue to seep into our souls. We must continue to take four actions, now – in December, in January and for as long as is necessary. Fatigue cannot and must not stop us.

1. We must continue to write letters to our elected officials.
2. We must continue to share our blessings by donating to causes in support of Israel and to fighting Jew-hatred.
3. We must remain steadfast in opposing hatred and bigotry in all forms – having the hard conversations with our children, our friends, and with anyone willing to be open to a true narrative. 
4. And we must continue to pray for the chayalei tz’va haganah – the brave soldiers of the IDF and all those who fight for freedom and the right to live peacefully in secure borders.

I awoke on Wednesday morning like many others participants, back sore and feet aching from standing for more than three hours, exhausted from 18 hours of travel, but never more proud to be a Jew, to be an American and to love Israel. 

May HaTikvah – the Hope – continue to ring in our ears for all eternity. Going forward – May Shabbat Shalom be more than a greeting; may it become a reality and a true source of Thanksgiving. Shabbat Shalom, Am Yisrael Chai and God Bless America.