By Sylvie Moscovitz
The Jerusalem Shabbaton was an incredible opportunity to hear from a variety of individuals of different religious backgrounds and learn about what they find most important about Jewish life. Out of all of the speakers, Rabbi Melchior’s ideas about the importance of dialogue between groups of different people in order to create a strong Jewish and Israeli nation resonated with me most deeply. Rabbi Melchior discussed some of his many achievements, such as helping create Birthright Israel, representing a left-wing religious party in the Knesset, forging peace between Israelis and Islamist groups, and creating curriculums that would bring religious and secular Jewish students together to learn from each other. The magnitude of which one man was able to create such important change inspired the cohort, and myself, as we embark on our own personal journeys to enact change in the Jewish communities for the future.
Rabbi Melchior framed his talk around the consequences of inaction, and the ways in which small voices can make large changes. He explained that just like the Israelites who were afraid to leave Egypt, many Jews today are placated by the idea that we have a Jewish state, yet do not want to change or criticize it out of fear of responsibility, freedom, and leadership. However, these are the only ways to maintain a peaceful, successful Jewish state.
Throughout his talk, Rabbi Melchior explained the sources of the main issues plaguing Israel today. In Israeli democracy, all parties feel demonized and excluded. The Haredim who run the government are angry because the left wing media controls the country, yet secular Israelis complain that the Haredim are actually the governors of Israel. Israel’s religious Jews feel as if the country is too secular, while secular Jews feel that it is too religious. With a lack of dialogue and an emphasis on talking only to those with which one agrees, it is impossible to foster long lasting peace and maintain a successful democracy.
Rabbi Melchior claimed that education is the best way to solve the problems in Israel today.
With this in mind, he created a chain of youth parliaments, in which children of all backgrounds, whether religious, secular, Palestinian, or otherwise, could talk out the issues plaguing their society. In addition, he has worked to create new schools, called Meitarim, to bridge educational gaps in Jewish education. These schools educate both religious and secular students, and allow for students to see those unlike themselves as friends, not as “the other.”
One of the most fascinating parts of Rabbi Melchior’s lecture was his discussion of personal experience with peace talks with Islamic extremists. He explained that the reason for the failure of past peace processes is the lack of consideration for religion. Most peace processes involved only secular individuals from each party, and ignored the religious identities of the affected groups. Rabbi Melchior’s solution is to insert religion and belief into these peace talks, and to discuss religious differences and similarities.
Personally, I was extremely inspired by Rabbi Melchior’s words and passion to unite Israel, whether it is religious and secular Jews, or Jews and Muslims who have stakes in the country’s future. His positivity and optimism about the future of Israel due to education changes and dialogue about identities, along with his successes in many of his major endeavors really showed me that one person could truly make immense change. I learned that being a pragmatic idealist is a way to enact positive change, and I hope to emulate this in the future as a leader in the Jewish community
