Before beginning my remarks, I want to make sure everyone understands what my 2^nd Day Rosh Hashanah sermon was about and what it was not, as I heard a number of comments that it was polarizing and not unifying. The sermon certainly was NOT about falling in line and supporting Israel unconditionally. In fact, after the holidays I want to create (provided I get the right moderator and can create a safe space to do so) an open discussion about Israel between Zionists, including Israel supporters who have critical views about Israel. I know many won’t approve of this, yet I feel it’s important to do and will make every effort to do so. People feel they can’t share their views of Israel here, and I want to try to enable that to happen-though it will NOT be in a sermon, at Kiddush or at a Shabbat Torah Study.

My sermon about boundaries and where there was “no other hand” WAS about anti-Zionism. Last February I met with a fellow JTS graduate who is in the leadership of Jewish Voice for Peace and was looking for a place at MLC as one who likes the Conservative service. I can’t find a place for such a person. Why is there no other hand? When JVP supports a competing candlelit vigil touting “One Year of Genocide”-Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people, celebrates UC-Davis’s divestment from Israel and calls to boycott products made in Tel Aviv, Occupied Palestine, it’s beyond my bounds. If you don’t believe me, go to their Facebook page where all of this is easily accessible even to those who don’t like the page. Fortunately this person found a home at an anti-Zionist Havurah, which meets once a month in a midtown church. If you are anti-Zionist, meaning you don’t support Israel as a home for the Jewish people but rather one, binational state that is not Jewish, then I welcome you to join that Havurah-I can give you the information after Yom Kippur. Many of us know 18- and 19-year-olds crawling through terror tunnels and I won’t spit in their face by telling them they have no right to be there. In that light, I give the following sermon remembering October 7^th but of equal, if not more importance, having hope for our future.