It's unfair to single out Israel

I’ve had one of those Sodastream seltzer machines for about 10 years – I think I bought it right when they started marketing it in the United States.  And yes, part of the reason I bought it was that I liked the idea of supporting an innovative Israeli company. I did not know that the factory was located in the West Bank. But it’s been a part of my culinary life too long for me to part with it now. In fact, I am chagrined to admit that I bought my sister and brother-in-law one this year – just weeks before the Scarlett Johansson flap.  

I didn’t realize the factory was in the West Bank until then. 

But I’ll say it very clearly – I’m glad I bought it.  And I’m glad Scarlett Johansson stuck with “us” instead of Oxfam.  And this is coming from someone who prides herself on being liberal, who avoids the West Bank when she visits Israel, and who would like nothing more than to see a peaceful and secure resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, even if it means that some of my favorite spots in Israel will once again be difficult, if not impossible, to get to.

I remember riding down the Red Sea coast of the Sinai Desert when it was Israel – while I was in rabbinical school, which means sometime between the fall of 1975 and the spring of 1976.  We explored the Sinai confidently – climbing the peak that was identified as Mt. Sinai (after having slept at the base of it, outside of Santa Katarina Monastery, on the ground, no tents, nothing – in the middle of the desert).  I remember swimming off Dahab, wearing a pair of swim goggles, no fancy mask, and being so overwhelmed by the beauty of the coral reef that I could hardly breathe.  That was, in fact, the beginning of my love affair with scuba diving.  I had never seen anything like it, and now I cannot see enough of it!  

We drove all the way down to Sharm-el-Sheikh, and then I remember being able to see sharks quite clearly, swimming in swarms through the Straits of Tiran as we stood on the high vantage point of Ras Muhammed.

Then I remember, about 20 years later, traveling to Nuweiba, on that same Red Sea coast, on a bus with 40 other reform rabbis, so that we could take an overnight ferry to Aqaba Yes, you can walk to Aqaba from Eilat now. They are contiguous. You just have to have patience while you navigate the red tape of both sides of the customs authorities. Back then, one could not leave Israel for an Arab country and return through the same location.  Nor could one go back and forth between Jordan and Israel. You could go one way, but not both. The peace treaty with Jordan was brand new.

As we schlepped down to Nuweiba to catch the ferry, I asked our tour guide — actually the owner of a fantastic tour company in Israel called “Da’at” — how it felt to be in the Sinai now that it was no longer Israel. He said something like, “It wasn’t ours before, then it was, and now it’s not again — but we have peace. I’d rather have peace if I have to make a choice.”

Now, about 20 years after that trip, I think about Israel and her neighbors. You can still walk across the Jordanian border and the Egyptian border, but the Egyptian border isn’t recommended these days. Certain Israeli orthodox leaders are saying that Reform Judaism isn’t really Judaism. Certain women are still struggling to liberate the Western Wall from the Haredim. Certain vice presidents are warning Israel about what the public relations effect will be if she remains recalcitrant on the settlements. And certain American academics are boycotting any products made in the West Bank, or in Israel — it’s not always clear. Three cheers for Scarlett Johansson.

I am not a fan of the settlements. Never have been. I am a fan of certain neighborhoods in Jerusalem that were once Jordan. Heck, I’ve even lived in some of them. I am a fan of Israel – the Israel I dream of, but also the Israel that exists today, even though I hate some of the things that go on there. 

Lately we have begun to hear more and more about the technological innovations that consistently come out of Israel – even snowmaking for the Sochi Olympics !  

But Israeli innovations also spring from every aspect of the digital world, medicine, agriculture, and even yogurt, as I learned from Ari Shavit’s book, My Promised Land.

I don’t think the greatest threat to Israel is from its neighbors, notwithstanding the possibility of a nuclear bomb in Iran.  I think Israel’s greatest threat is from herself; from a failure to nurture what makes her great, and a willingness to turn a blind eye to the things that make her not so great.

Yes, Israel hassles Palestinians when they try to get from one place to another. Ever heard of stop and frisk? Yes, Israel continues to build settlements where public opinion would indicate that she should not. Have you ever heard of misuse of eminent domain? Redlining? Yes, Israeli Palestinians do not really enjoy the same benefits of citizenship Jewish Israelis do. Have we overcome the effects of slavery in this country? Do all minority citizens of the United States really enjoy the same benefits of citizenship that white, Anglo-Saxon Christians do?

I wish that Israel could live up to the standards and ideals that created the state. I also wish that the United States could live up to the standards and ideals that created it. And so, surprising myself a bit, I have finally come down squarely on the side of those who say that criticism of Israel — when done in isolation and not in the context of criticizing all nations who fail to respect human rights, justice, fairness, etc. — is outright, blatant anti-Semitism.  There, I said it.

 Now I think I’ll go make myself a bottle of seltzer.

Judith Lewis is Rabbi of Riverdale Temple, the oldest congregation in Riverdale and the only one affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism.