Some of you said that the linked page didnt show up. Its due to Bryans privacy settings. So Im pasting the full text here: From Bryan Bridges: After giving it a lot of thought, yesterday I resigned from both the Board of Directors and the membership of CBST. Im sharing excerpts of my resignation letter below because I believe that engagement with and support of Israel are critical issues for American Judaism and global Jewish continuity. PM me if you have any recommendations for Masorti synagogues on the UWS. ------------ Dear CBST board members: After careful deliberation, I am writing to inform you of my resignation from the board of directors and the general membership of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, effective immediately. Please remove my name from all collateral, and remove me from your mailing and solicitation lists. I have chosen to address this to the entire board because I believe it addresses an important issue the board needs to carefully consider. [....] This is not an easy decision because I believe that there are a lot of wonderful things about CBST, and I have many friends who are members. However, CBST no longer satisfies what I believe is the core mission of a synagogue. For me, a synagogue should be focused on Jewish continuity by promoting different aspects (per Mordechai Kaplan) of behaving, believing, and belonging. I’ve always felt that CBST is weak on believing (i.e., theological engagement) and behaving (i.e., halachic practice) but I’ve felt that was balanced by the commitment to belonging (i.e., preserving Jewish identity for people who would not otherwise have felt they have a place in the Jewish community). Recent events have demonstrated that CBST is far more committed to a progressive political agenda than to the Jewish people. This raises a question for members: why belong to this synagogue instead of a different religious group such as the Unitarian church or an activist organization such as Queers Against Israeli Apartheid or a service organization such as the Ali Forney Center? I believe in Jewish continuity because I believe that the Jewish people, culture and religion have something valuable and important to offer the world. I also believe that Israel is the most significant development in Jewish culture of the last 2000 years. It is of central importance to the continuity not only of Jewish culture, but the Jewish people as a whole. A few years ago, I was disappointed that Rabbi Kleinbaum participated in a Queer mission to “Palestine”. In online discussions with people like Pauline Park, I became more annoyed with her involvement because her presence was used as a defence against being called out for anti-Semitic statements. Last year, Rabbi Kleinbaum invited a group advocating BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel to host an event at the synagogue. I and others raised our concerns at the time and were told the dialogue was appreciated, but the net effect is that we were largely ignored. In addition to giving a “kosher” platform for BDS, this also brought negative press to the synagogue and alienated many members. This may have been popular with the young, Queer-identified, “Not in our Name” types, but those are people who generally don’t connect to synagogue and likely don’t care about Jewish issues or Jewish continuity (and, if they do, it’s not in the numbers or with the intensity of those who do care about Israel). If contemporary progressive values are more important than Jewish values, then one naturally wants to ask “Why be Jewish?”. Recently, especially over the last few weeks during Operation Protective Edge, I’ve been out of town on weekends or had out-of-town family or visitors, so I haven’t made it to services. But I realize that I also haven’t had the energy to attend Kabbalat Shabbat services where my Shabbat would be hijacked by a political agenda. It would be an understatement that I was disappointed when I heard that Rabbi Kleinbaum had read the names of Gazan casualties on the same day that Hamas violated the sixth humanitarian ceasefire by kidnapping a soldier (whom we later learned died in the attempt) and killing two others. As I commented on Rabbi Kleinbaum’s Facebook page, she was essentially delivering Hamas propaganda by doing so; Hamas knows they can’t win militarily so they’ve chosen an “innocent dead civilian” strategy, even going so far as to drag the corpses of children into the street to mix them with the bodies of Hamas militant casualties. Publicizing these deaths further’s Hamas’s goals of vilifying Israel and Jews generally. Further, most people share the casualty numbers without any context; the fact is that children account for only about 20% of the casualties though they are more than 50% of the population of Gaza, which demonstrates that Israel’s strategy of targeted strikes is effective at targeting Hamas militants. I have yet to see either Rabbi Kleinbaum or CBST encourage congregants to donate to help, or even pray for, Israelis or soldiers during the current conflict; however today (August 11), the synagogue promoted a fundraiser on its Facebook page to send potatoes to Gaza. The fact is that Gaza receives tons of humanitarian and food aid every week from Israel, even during the conflict and even while Hamas fires at the Rafah crossing, endangering the lives of Israelis who are carrying the supplies. There is no shortage of food in Gaza, and Israel continues to provide electricity and oil to Gaza (what other country would be expected to provide supplies to a genocidal enemy during a war?). There are 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, many of whom are praying for Gaza and sending them aid (and many of those are praying for Israel’s destruction as well). There are only 14 million Jews (0.5% of the world’s population), so I want a synagogue, especially my synagogue, to call on congregants to provide aid to and prayers for injured soldiers and their families, people in southern Israel whose lives are disrupted by the constant sirens, etc. In the end, I would actually prefer the synagogue take a position of silence on the conflict rather than to support the enemy from the bimah. [...] I have enjoyed my time on the board. I have enjoyed teaching and learning and praying at CBST, and I will very much miss High Holiday services at CBST this year. I sincerely hope that the leadership is able to develop some clarity on these issues before alienating the synagogue’s most committed members. Best regards, Bryan Bridges
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 06:07:04 +0000
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