Celebrating Jerusalem and Israel 50 Years Later

A few months ago a college friend who lives out of town sent me an email asking what we were planning to do as a synagogue to commemorate this upcoming Jerusalem Day, Yom Yerushalayim, 50 years since Israel's victory in the Six-Day War.  

I said, we're going to be having a concert in a local park, we're going to sing and celebrate. 

Yom Yerushalayim Concert, May 21, 2017, Great Neck, NY

He wrote back – interesting.  You know that there are rabbinic leaders that are struggling with whether or not they and their communities should celebrate.  

I knew what he was referring to.  Since1967 was also the beginning of the annexation of the West Bank, it also marks the beginning of the occupation.  So colleagues of mine, in light of that outcome of the Six-Day War, are ambivalent about celebrating Jerusalem Day.  Perhaps the day should be devoted more to solemn study and reflection, some are saying.

He wasn't expressing his opinion, he was giving me a sense of what he's been reading and observing.

Since I've known him for a long time, I decided I wasn't going to continue the conversation through emails.  So I picked up the phone and called him and I started to get excited.

Maybe the "Blind Person" is You or I

A Greek filmmaker named Nancy Spetsioti produced a powerful short film.  In the film a couple and their young daughter walk into a doctor’s waiting room.  They all sit down when the mother notices that the little girl just seated herself next to a young man with darker features than the family members have.  The mother switches seats with the girl.  The father gives his seat to the mother and stands nearby, leaving the seat next to the young man empty.  They look at at him suspiciously, he looks down awkwardly.

The family is told that the doctor is ready to see them and that he would also like the young man to come inside as well.  

Scene from "Jafar," directed by Nancy Spetsioti

The family walks in, followed by the young man.

The doctor happily observes that the little girl looks strong and well following her surgery.  And then he walks over to the young man, puts his arm around him, and says to the family, “Let me introduce you to Jafar.  He is Anna’s bone marrow donor.”

Jafar smiles gently, the family look at him and at one another.  The film ends.

I looked for reactions to the film on-line.  One person wrote, he must be a Muslim.  Another wrote, he’s Turkish, and a Greek family would consider him to be the enemy, untrustworthy.  

The film appears to have been created to call into question the assumptions that we make about one another before we know each other well, or even at all.  

I thought it would be worthwhile to explore the Jewish perspective on how we judge one another.  What do we assume when we see someone?  When we know, or think we know, something about the person's racial, cultural, ethnic identity and other aspects of his or her life?