This morning a group of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on the sidewalk outside of Oheb Shalom, their visit timed with our Israel Today Committee’s program then underway. A graffiti message was written on the ground, and a caring neighbor came by to wash it away after the protesters left.

We are grateful to our security officers and South Orange Police who were on site to ensure everyone’s safety. SOPD and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office are investigating the incident, and we are fortunate for the security layers we already had in place. At no point was anyone in danger, and our program went on uninterrupted.  We remain in contact with local law enforcement and our Federation’s security team.

We are connected to Israel in a myriad of ways and are deeply bound up with the fate of am yisrael, Jewish people living in Israel and around the world. We continue to pray for the safe return of all of the hostages, for the safety of the troops protecting Israel, and for the sagacity of the leaders of that nation as well as our own. More than anything we pray for peace between Israel and its neighbors. 

As in all things, we are a diverse community. We do not insist that we all keep kosher the same way or have identical prayer lives or ways of celebrating shabbat and holidays. So too we do not require a set of beliefs around Israel, domestic politics, or any other issue. Since October 7 we have offered an array of programs that seek to reflect the diversity of the Oheb community in how we hold our connections to Israel. We have held Listening Circles to hear from each other, heard from West Bank Palestinians and Israeli settlers speaking together on our bimah, and we pray daily for Israel and for peace.

The program this morning featured an elite rescue unit of the Israel Defense Force, whose sole mission is search and rescue. This unit has saved the lives of people in Israel and around the world, including from natural disasters in countries such as Turkey and Haiti. Ironically, as protesters outside were calling those driving past “baby killers,” those attending the program were hearing firsthand accounts of infants and children rescued around the world – including civilians in Gaza during this war.

In February, we will gather for a discussion of Strangers in the House by Raja Shehadeh.  I write this because we get ourselves worked up, we walk around feeling – some of us, sometimes – that the “other side” has some sort of hegemony at Oheb. And I want to keep stating, over and over again, that we are committed to the Jewish people and to holding our diverse community with safety and curiosity, with calm and respect, and, of course, with security and safety. There is room for lots of questions, grappling, ideas and opinions.

However, there are limits to even the widest of tents. People who stand outside our building, calling us terrorists, making us feel threatened or on the defensive as we undertake the peaceful work of joining in local community, do not have a place here. Not at Oheb, and I know not at our neighboring synagogue partners, either. Our tent is a large one, but it has walls. 

Tomorrow, as it happens, I fly to Israel. I will be traveling with a group of interfaith clergy from the Greater Metrowest area, so that we can get to know one another and explore our shared relationship to the Holy Land. This summer I will take the mantle of leading this group in our on-going, year-round work of building relationships and mutual understanding.  For me, this feels like the perfect response to this morning’s protest.  During my absence, questions can be directed to Lorraine Survis, Michelle Strassberg, or Gavin Hirsch.