T orah P ortion
CAN DL E L IGHTIN G
Dream and Reality
BY RABBI JOE HAMPLE
Parshat Devarim
I’M GRATEFUL TO have
a fairly normal summer after
the loneliness and boredom
of a lockdown year. Coming
up: face-to-face office hours!
Face-to-face religious school!
Face-to-face adult ed! Face-to-
face life cycle events! Face-to-face
High Holidays! Woo-hoo!
And yet this won’t be a
normal season at all. Pandemic
or no, the chaos and violence
over the last 12 months, in
the U.S. and in the land of
Israel, preclude any full return
to familiar patterns. Security
will be tighter; attitudes will
be warier. The strains and
sorrows of the coronavirus
helped unleash the year’s crazi-
ness, but the damage done will
outlast the medical crisis.

In this week’s Torah
portion, we are finally at the
brink of the Promised Land
after a 40-year delay and much
loss of life (Deuteronomy
1:1-8). Moses reviews bonds
Teens Continued from Page 9
Rachel Glazer, 16, from
Cleveland chose to “spend
[her] summer with BBYO to
enhance [her] leadership skills
and make new friends.”
Not only are they making
new friends, but they’re gaining
valuable skills and discovering
their Jewish identity, all while
being provided with a commu-
nity by BBYO, according to
Maya Sullum, 17, from Clarks
Summit, and Hailey Weisberg,
17, from Cleveland.

Like many summer camps,
BBYO had to cancel its programs
last summer, so teens were
especially excited for this year. To
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM July 16
July 23
less and less control of our
own image, our own defini-
tion. What does that bode for
our future?
In this week’s haftarah, in
the Jerusalem of the eighth
century BCE, we confront the
menace of a rising, ruthless
Assyria. “Come let us reason
together,” says God reassur-
ingly (Isaiah 1:18), but how
often we have betrayed this
God on whose protection we
now depend! Are we too late
to reclaim an unaccustomed
piety, a half-forgotten faith?
What words, what holy acts
will mend the threadbare
covenant in time to rescue us?
Danger hangs in the air.

The danger persists. We
Zionists — I trust most of us
are Zionists — are stirring
from a sweet daydream, a fond
fantasy that the world supports
a Jewish state, after all it has put
us through. In spite of Israel’s
contributions to culture and
scholarship, medicine and
technology, the world does not
support a Jewish state. In the
world’s eyes, 200 other peoples
around the globe deserve a state
— the Slovaks and the Slovenes,
the South Sudanese and the
East Timorese deserve a state —
but the Jews, not so much.

How did we get here? Yes,
the Palestinians have suffered;
and no, it isn’t the Palestinians’
fault if the Jews were persecuted
in Germany or Russia. Israel
has made mistakes, and worse
abuses in other countries are
beside the point. But how is it
possible that one Jewish state is
too many and 18 Arab states are
not enough? I realize we Jews are
a small people, but surely we are
1/18 as important as the Arabs.

The Jew worships an invisible
God: a short-term embarrass-
ment and a long-term advantage.

I’m square — I believe in the God
of the Bible, but I respect other
views. For my agnostic friends:
God is a metaphor for our search
for meaning. For my existen-
tialist friends: By changing for
God, we make God real. In any
case, a Jew should never say
“everyone does it”: a Jew is called
to be different from “everyone,”
a light unto the nations (Isaiah
as well, as countries are begin-
ning to open their borders to
tourists. While summer travel
programs for teens are limited,
some are up and running.

Dara Hammel of Voorhees
and Hallie Jayson and Ziva
Davis of Cherry Hill, New Jersey,
are spending their summers
traveling around Israel.

“After spending my time at
home for a year-and-a-half due
to COVID-19, I can finally say
that I am happy to be in the
country I love,” Jayson, 17, said.

All three girls are attending
Ramah Israel Seminar, a six-week
travel program for graduated
campers who attended a Ramah
camp in the United States.

“Whether our daily
Travel itinerary
includes a sunrise
Travel is starting to rebound
hike on Mount Arbel or a
visit to an IDF memorial in
conjunction with a discussion
about the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, I reflect on how lucky
I am to spend the next four
weeks in Israel, learning and
expanding my connection to
Judaism,” Hammel, 17, said.

Although she’s only been
there a week, Hammel said she
already feels more spiritually
connected to her Jewish roots.

Davis, 17, feels at home in
Israel as well.

“It is so comforting to be
surrounded by Jewish people
who share similar values that I
do,” she said. l
broken and lessons learned
(Deuteronomy 1:9-18). How
easy to sulk and snivel, to
wallow in self-pity, to blame
our troubles on someone else
(Deuteronomy 1:26-28) — but
that won’t move us forward.

The tension is palpable.

We still feel that tension.

We American Jews are rousing
from a grand reverie, an epic
illusion that we are part of
the mainstream population.

In spite of our contributions
to American art and science,
American business
and politics, we are not part of the
mainstream population. We are
“other”: We are a minority upon
whom the majority projects its
fears and foibles, its vices and
vanities. It’s a rude awakening.

Suddenly and incredibly,
we Jews are again the target
of dark rumors, conspiracy
theories and acts of violence,
like our ancestors throughout
history. The
synagogue shooting of October 2018 was
no fluke, much as we wish it
were. Demonized in different
ways by right and left, we have
protect the teens from COVID-
19, they were required to show
a vaccine card or a negative
COVID-19 test before arriving,
and they are screened daily.

Adam Crasnow, 17, from
Orlando, said being connected
to his faith and community
makes spending his summer
there “100% worth it.”
Amber Zeitz, 17, from
Voorhees, New Jersey, has
looked forward to ILTC since
the beginning of 2020.

“I chose to spend my
summer with BBYO at ILTC
to connect with Jewish people
internationally and grow a new
family,” she said.

JEWISH EXPONENT
Leah Snyderman is an intern for the
Jewish Exponent.

8:10 p.m.

8:04 p.m.

49:6). We dare not stoop to the
level of our adversaries — that
would legitimate their tactics. If
your enemy hungers, give them
bread; if your enemy thirsts, give
them water (Proverbs 25:21).

On July 18 — Tisha b’Av, the
Temple Fast — we pivot from
admonition to consolation, as
we begin the seven weeks of
coming home to God for the
High Holidays. Jewry’s position
in America, Israel’s reputation
in the world, is shakier than
ever before in my lifetime. So
be it, provided we renew our
ties with the true judge, the one
impartial observer of us all.

The world lurches from
fad to folly, hokum to hypoc-
risy. But “Zion shall be saved
by justice, her returnees by
righteousness” (Isaiah 1:27). l
Rabbi Joe Hample is the spiritual
leader of the Tree of Life
Congregation in Morgantown,
West Virginia. This column was
originally provided to the Pittsburgh
Jewish Chronicle as a service of
the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic
Association. Chai.

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JULY 15, 2021
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