D’var Torah: Sikkuy (Ron Gerlitz and Rawnak Natour)

Written by Writings & Sermons by others — 6 November 2018

Ron Gerlitz:
Shabbat Shalom!
We are very honored to be with you and to join your Shabbat service. I am Ron Gerlitz, and Rawnak Natour is also here.
Both of us are the co executive directors of Sikkuy, an Israeli Jewish-Arab organization working for equality and shared society between the Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel.

This week’s Torah portion, חיי שרה, Chayye Sarah begins with Sarah’s sudden death. Although the Torah tells that she was 127 years old, which may seem like a good enough explanation for her death the Rabbis in their midrashim still see her early death as requiring explanation.
They explain that the reason for her unpredicted death was in fact a reaction to the shocking events of last week’s parasha – namely the story of the binding of Isaac, the Akedah
The Rabbis teach in the midrash that although Abraham did not consult with Sarah about taking Isaac to be sacrificed, she learned of his actions, and was so distressed by them that she died as a result.
I think that the rabbis who wrote this midrash were of course suggesting a critique of Abraham’s behavior- Abraham’s obedience of God’s command is not unanimously accepted by the Rabbis as a great display of faith. On the contrary, it is also interpreted as a mistaken act of zealotry or blind faith and not taking into account the perspective of his wife, Issac’s mother.
An act which resulted in the early death of our shared mother Sarah.

I would like to make some parallel between this midrash and contemporary Israeli society.
In Israel today there are strong people and forces, Jewish and Arab, that work hard to make the Israeli society more equal, shared, tolerant and just. Sometimes, when too many bad things happen, it is hard for us in Israel, and maybe for you here, to see the strength of those positive forces. And that’s why it is important for me to emphasize that there is in Israel strong, diverse and committed people and organizations, so many of them are being supported by the New Israel Fund that work for equal, shared and just society.
But sadly, there is also a great deal of zealotry and fanaticism that we see today in Israel. Too many of Israel’s political leaders freely speak words of strong incitement against Israel’s Arab citizens.
They are so convinced of their legitimacy that they do not pause to think about the devastating effect these actions have on the Arab citizens and Israel as a democracy – just as Abraham did not pause to reflect on the consequences of his actions on his wife Sarah.
And also, just as Abraham and Sarah were the joint parents of Isaac and both should have been part of the decision whether to listen to God’s command of the Akedah, so are Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens that should be equals in determining Israel’s fate.
But this does not seem to be the case by much of Israel’s Jewish leadership. This can be seen in the recently legislated Nation State law, officially withdraws from the Declaration Of Indepence the promise to equality to all citizens and so turns Israel’s Arab citizens into second class citizens.
And we should remember – all citizens of Israel, Jews and Arabs, are the sons of Abraham. We can and will find the way to live in equal and shared society.
Rawnak Natour:

You can’t imagine how overwhelming it is being here tonight, for a Muslim woman married to a Christian giving a D’var Torah in a Synagogue. That for me is even more overwhelming than getting the New Israel Fund award
And allow me to express my sorrow for your loss last week in Pittsburgh and my admiration for your choice of joy and singing tonight, it’s the best answer for the evil.
Sikkuy is an organization that provides a different model – a model where each partner – unlike Sarah in the biblical story – gets an equal voice and say. Sikkuy is a joint Arab- Jewish organization with joint leadership . Every department is co-directed by Arab and Jewish managers and our board is half Jewish and half Arab. We work together advocating vis a vis the government to change policy and provide equal resources for Arab citizens as well as to makes changes on a symbolic level to include the presence of the Arabic language and the Palestinian narrative across the public space to create a truly shared society. There are countless examples of Sikkuy’s successes:
Making the revolution of changing all buses into bilingual (Arabic and Hebrew)
Bringing the ministries to add 92 kindergartens to Palestinian children citizens of Israel in the Negev
And much more
The message of the midrash of Chayye Sarah is clear – excluding one partner from having an equal voice in major policy decisions is dangerous and harmful for society. In Sarah’s case it resulted in the premature death of the first matriarch – leaving Isaac motherless and silent for the rest of his life. In Israel’s case the danger is the death of democracy and equality Israel’s Arab citizens.
Luckily organizations like Sikkuy and the NIF are fighting to make sure Arab citizens do have a voice and are not silenced and disregarded like Sarah in this week’s parasha. By you and your community and the NIF supporting Sikkuy and organizations working for equality and shared society, you too do play a role to create shared society in Israel.
Shabbat Shalom