18 rabbis from LA went to Israel for 58 hours on a "solidarity… love" trip, at the behest of the Israeli consulate in LA. The rabbis renewed their vows and– the new mantra– committed themselves to "wrestling" with Israel as a real place with flaws. (Already an anachronistic paradigm in a country that elected Avigdor Lieberman.)
Jeff Blankfort asks, Is there some concern in Israel that the support for it within key elements of the Jewish religious community are wearing thin? Nothing better than 58 hours (doing what would take two weeks, maybe three in the gentile world) in Israel to make things right again. Who paid for it? If it’s the Israeli government, wouldn’t that raise a few eyebrows?
They went to Jerusalem for the obligatory pilgrimage, then drove up to the lake of Tiberia to dip their feet, dropped by Tzfat for the annual Klezmer festival which was followed by a short shopping trip in Tel-Aviv.
That should cover 58 hours, I think.
This leads me to the following idea: The Mondoweiss Tour De Blog. You take a number of inmate volunteers from this ‘ere distinguished forum, and together they touch down on a number of blogs and fora for a friendly visit, a nice chat, and take off to the next blog. Alright, one might think that this is odd behaviour in these days of the internets. And I agree. My guess is though that some people would appreciate the visit.
I wonder what it means when all these non-Israelis burble about “loving Israel.” What is it that they love?
I think that for most of these people what they love is the idea of Israel, not the reality that they have never known and won’t know as long as the Zionist thought police are vigilant. The reality of Israel is profoundly unlovable.
Is there anything about these Israel-lovers that doesn’t boil down to pure tribalism?
Who won the wrestling match…hehe And will new rabbinical garb now be tights and a rising tide of insults?