“A genuine, spiritually and theologically grounded, rabbinic voice is missing from the American Jewish community’s Israel conversation”

Rabbinic talk is not political talk. Political does not mean partisan. Political talk focuses on the strategic and tactical questions of the day, on parties, interests, adversaries, threats, and the like. Religious thinkers and leaders frame questions in a distinct way that differs from the frames and lenses employed by students of politics and geo-politics, advocates of all stripes, journalists, and political leaders. Their voices are legitimate and often important. They’re simply not rabbinic voices.

A genuine, spiritually and theologically grounded, rabbinic voice is missing from the American Jewish community’s Israel conversation. Not that rabbis aren’t speaking about Israel highlighting both challenges and achievements, worries and fears. We are, in significant volume and in a great many forums and forms. For the most part, however, we do so within the non-spiritual or non-theological frameworks enumerated above.

David Ackerman, “How Should a Rabbi Talk About Israel?”, Forward (18 May 2015) [http://forward.com/opinion/spirituality/308427/how-should-a-rabbi-talk-about-israel/]