According to Mordecai Kaplan’s teachings, which have long resonated with me and so many others, to be Jewish in America is to live simultaneously in two rich civilizations, the Jewish and the American civilizations, both full of promise and character-shaping values. To be Jewish in America is to draw deeply from both of these civilizations in order to contribute meaningfully to both of them. As deeply as Kaplan believed this, living it out was often challenging in his day. Increasingly, it is challenging in our day as well.
Why can’t religious leaders and institutions say, with clarity, that the grotesque violence against a trapped civilian population in Gaza is indefensible and wrong?
It took the recitation of Yizkor on Memorial Day to remind me of this important fact: it is incumbent on me as a citizen to take time to reflect and remember.
