Rabbi Gottlieb's D'Var Torah - May 10, 2025

Parashat Kedoshim City Shul, Toronto

B’nai Mitzvah May 10, 2025

Hilli Nachum Beit-On and Alon Knaan

Hilli and Alon have already spoken about this week’s Torah portion, and it is not my intention to add to the beautiful teachings that they have offered on the occasion of their B’nai Mitzvah.

The B’nai Mitzvah of our Shinshinim, however, is a perfect occasion for us to reflect upon the situation in Israel, and our on- going relationship with the People, the State and the Land of Israel.

For those of us who love Israel, the past eighteen months have been challenging. While I want to be clear that I consider myself a lover of Israel and an ardent and unrepentant Zionist, this is in no way an endorsement of the current government, with whom I disagree about their prosecution of the war in Gaza, their desire for expansion in the West Bank, their vision of shared society, their rejection of the two-State solution, and their design to weaken democracy and religious pluralism in the Jewish State.

However, in spite of all of this, I continue to be a Zionist because Ibelieve without reservation in the right of the Jewish People to live securely in The Land. Particularly at this time, when anti-Semitism continues to be overt in Canada and anti-Zionism is at its root, it is important for those of us who love Israel, to stand up and to proudly proclaim our support for the vision of Israel’s founders, exemplified in the words of Hatikvah—lehiyot am chofshi b’artzenu—to be a free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem.

For most of my life, Israel and her accomplishments have been a source of pride for me. Born out of a conflict in which all of her neighbours united to deny a two-State plan offered by the United Nations that would have seen a State of Israel and a Palestinian State share their heritage lands, Israel grew from a third world outpost, absorbing Jewish refugees from all over the world, into a first world economy, innovating in science and technology, assisting in the development of other third world countries, continuing to absorb persecuted and dispossessed Jews, and giving new energy, pride and strengthened identity to Jews in the Diaspora, all while continuing to defend herself against an expanding coalition of both State and non-State aggressors.

But these days, it is hard to feel pride in Israel. It is hard to understand the values of warfare currently being employed by the Israeli government, especially the starvation and displacement of Gaza’s civilian population. It is hard to witness the government’s attack upon the judiciary which threatens the foundation of democracy in Israel. It is hard to imagine a scenario like the one that took place last week, when a mob incited by ultra-Orthodox Jews and secular Likudniks rioted and attacked a Reform synagogue in Raanana on Yom HaZikaron, because the folks there were holding a memorial for Israelis and Palestinians killed in the war. (I guess they missed the verses in this week’s parasha, “You shall not hate your kinsman in your heart.” And “Love your neighbour as yourself.”)

And it is particularly difficult for us here in the Diaspora, where speaking out against these atrocities and the policies that fuel them is considered to be a betrayal of our relationship with Israel.

But, my friends, I ask only that you look at Israelis themselves. The overwhelming majority of Israelis do not support the current government or its measures. We can see this in the thousands of Israeli citizens who take to the streets, week in and week out, in protest. They want democracy. They want pluralism. They want an end to the war and a return of the hostages. They want to live peacefully and securely in a civil society. But the current government has a majority in the Knesset, and it does not look like that will change any time soon.

But hear the good news…Rabbi Micah Greenstein reminds us that "every day in Israel, citizens with moral clarity are rising up and taking to the streets to defend democracy and Israel’s future."  This is the leadership Israel so urgently needs from within.  And what is sadly unknown among Canadian Jews, is that Israel’s Reform Movement is at the forefront of working to counter the crisis.  They are developing a strategy for the role of the Reform Movement in rebuilding the country, defending democracy and advancing a just and inclusive vision of Judaism; to save the soul of the Jewish state from religious and nationalist extremism; to create a society where different Jewish expressions live not in opposition, but in harmony.  A society with room for all.

Today, there are about 430,000 Israelis who identify themselves as Reform Jews.  Over 70% of secular Israelis prefer synagogues without a gender partition, and 40% of Israelis believe that Israel should take a global Jewish perspective into account on matters of religion and state.

The Reform Movement has become a vital and growing voice in Israeli society, shaping a Jewish future rooted in democracy, pluralism, and global connection.

That is what our Movement is doing over there, so the question is, “What can we do here?”

We can support those who share our views, the many organizations, and the Israeli political parties that are working to restore Israel to the place where we can be proud, not only of her history and her past accomplishments, but of her present and her future.

Later this month, you will have the opportunity to vote in the election for the Canadian delegation to the World Zionist Congress. This is an extremely important election, as the Congress is one of the only institutions that can balance the actions of the Knesset with allocations of funding for the institutions and programmes that support democracy, pluralism and shared society in Israel, including our own Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism and the Israel Religious Action Centre.

The World Zionist Congress is a body formed by none other than the father of modern Zionism, Theodore Herzl. Every five years an election is held to determine how delegates are appointed. There are about 500 seats in this global congress. About two-thirds are designated for Jews in the Diaspora. The ultra-Orthodox are rallying their small, vocal extreme base on a platform of silencing the core values of Reform Judaism—equality, acceptance, and tolerance for all Jews.  Our ultra-Orthodox opponents have pledged to get a large number of votes, with the intention of de-funding Israeli Reform and Conservative Judaism and turning back the clock on Israeli democracy, pluralism and peace.  They will win if good people do nothing.

City Shul, as a part of the larger Reform Movement, is represented at the World Zionist Congress by delegates from ARZA-Canada, and I am asking you all to vote in this election, and to support the Reform Slate. We currently hold six of the nineteen delegates from Canada, and it is important to hold on to all of these mandates, as together with progressive Zionists from all over the world, we can have a dramatic impact on policy and allocations from the World Zionist Organization.

Rabbi Sam Kaye of Holy Blossom Temple explains the urgency of this election and why we need to vote…He writes: “The World Zionist Congress controls the leadership and $1 billion of funding per year to the World Zionist Organization, to the Jewish Agency for Israel, and to Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael, which is also known as the Jewish National Fund.” [That means a total of 5 billion dollars to be allocated between now and the next election.]

There are forces at play on the extremist wing whose agenda is very clear: non-Orthodox Zionist Jews who love Israel don’t belong. Our love for Israel is not as good as their love. We are no longer to be a part of this miraculous Jewish project, and we should have no voice in deciding her future.

If we lose our voice, says Rabbi Kaye, if radical extremists on the far right who are actively campaigning [to remove] non-Orthodox voices from power…end up in charge of this [mega million dollar] budget, I want you to know exactly what we’ll lose.

If we lose our representation at the World Zionist Organization, which connects Zionist communities all over the world, funds Israeli education, creates Zionist policy and fights antisemitism, it’s only those extremist groups that will be allowed to speak for Zionism. It is only those communities that will receive international support from Israel for Jewish education, or when there’s an anti-Semitic incident…Only they will receive the scholarships and grants to send their young people to study in Israel. And if we lose the Jewish Agency, which manages aliyah and sends shlichim all over the world, we will no longer have funding to send shinshinim to our schools, synagogues or communities. No more Israeli camp counsellors at Reform and liberal Zionist summer camps, no more Israelis working with our day schools and youth groups.

And I would add, no more Hillis and Alons to enrich our Jewish lives, while learning for themselves that there is more than one way to be Jewish. No more shinshinim B’nai Mitzvah celebrations in our synagogues.

But it’s more than that. Rabbi Kaye goes on to remind us that the Right of Return, the ability for anyone who is Jewish to move to Israel, is controlled by the Jewish Agency. So if you know or love anyone whose Jewish status does not meet, or cannot be proven by the ultra- Orthodox Rabbanut, you need to know that their funding and approval to make aliyah might not just be severely limited, it might be outright refused.

And if we lose the JNF, which owns more than 10% of private land in Israel—it doesn’t just plant trees, it determines where and how Israel is developed, where new towns, kibbutzim and moshavim are created, how Israel’s incredible natural resources are managed—extremist settlers will have more power and more funds and more support than ever before.

And if we lose our voice, I might add, we will lose the funding that sustains Reform Judaism in Israel and enables its continuing growth, as Israelis continue to search for a new and different way to be Jewish in their modern world.

And this is why I am asking you to vote, and to vote Reform. Your voice matters.  Your vote matters.  From June 5th to 15th, Canadian Jews will have the opportunity to vote. This is our one chance in five years to join with Jews around the world in building a better tomorrow for Israel and for us, here in the Diaspora. The vote will be held online, and information about how to register to vote will come to you in the next week or two in a direct communication from City Shul. In the meantime, you can scan the Q-code at the back of the sanctuary, and it will take you to the ARZA-Canada website, where you will find more information about the election.

Please cast your vote.  And then, reach out to every Jewish person you know aged 18 years or older—family members, friends, children, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, close friends, co-workers, whether they are City Shul members or not.  Tell them, “You can make a difference” by casting yn our vote for our ARZA Canada delegates on the Reform Slate.

“Kedoshim t’hiyu, ki kadosh ani Adonai eloheychem

You shall be holy, because I, Adonai your God, am holy.”

This is the lesson of our parasha. May holiness return to the Land and God’s Will prevail, and may we come to know that we have had a hand in this redemption.zon

Ken Yihi Ratzon

Rabbi Danny Gottlieb

May 10, 2025