Forty Years Later:
June 1, 2007

Let's start with a riddle: Think of the number 40:
Name all the biblical references to Forty'
Noah, Midbar, Moses on Mt Sinai x2, fasting and praying
Jesus in the wilderness fasting and praying
Akiva begins his study at age 40
Mohammud receives prophecy at age 40
Gestation of a baby'.
Based on these references, what does the number 40 represent:
Trial, Testing, Proving, Growth and Spiritual Development'

This first week of June 2007 marks the fortieth anniversary of that great watershed event in Jewish history called the Six Day War. How many of you remember this war? Where were you when? Were you alive at the time or still ripening on heaven's vine? Either way, what words come to mind that characterize this time of victory?

The Six Day War was arguably, one of the most fateful events in modern Jewish history. Of all the historical events I have personally lived through, I cannot think of any event of such mythic proportion, and when I say mythic, I mean that it had bearing on the large story of our people, and the world. Imagine: This tiny state, vanquishing huge armies on all sides? It exceeded all realistic speculations. The world watched stunned at what felt like a modern replay of the David and Goliath story. For many Jews, it was as if a super-human force was accompanying the Israeli army, and for six days, a miracle seemed to be unfolding in our midst.

How proud to bursting Jews were all over the world. We cringed and prayed for six days, and on the Seventh day, we rejoiced. Still stunned, the wall separating old and new Jerusalem came down; For the first time in centuries, Jews entered and walked the streets of the Old City, wept at the broken desecrated graves on the Mount of Olives, broke down at the Wailing Wall and gave thanks. For six days, the agony and the uncertainty, the waiting, the losses and bloodshed on both sides; and on the seventh day, Israeli soldiers of all religious and non-religious stripes, in their helmits and battle fatigues, bowed their heads at the Kotel, sobbed, embraced one another and danced.

Forty years ago: It was a moment that was beyond time. It was a moment when the ancient history that flows through our veins, the history of displacement, sacrifice, and longing, the weeping hearts of generations'all this burst open on that Seventh Day'

There was much more that we never expected to claim: the Temple Mount, the Judean Valley, then further into Syrian territory, the Golan Heights, the Sinai Desert'we were dizzy with it all and tired, proud and mourning all at once. But among traditional Jews and secular Jews alike, there was a feeling of God presence. Who doubted it? Nobody doubted it.
It was the end of any doubt that Israel would survive.

It seemed that the great prophecies were coming alive in those years. The words of Isaiah and Ezekiel were coming true before our eyes, Jews were flowing into Israel by the millions from all over the world, from the Soviet bloc, from the Arab countries, and then from Ethiopia'to a Jerusalem now united, to a homeland that was now viable'
In those days, the Jewish community celebrated the territories that were seized, because they provided a well needed security buffer. This is when the concept Land For Peace was coined'we were sure that these lands would be the necessary leverage, the tool that would turn our fate from that of a crouching fearful victim into a powerful, sovereign state.
But in all these years, land for peace has not come to pass, except in one case, the trade of Sinai and the opening of relations with Egypt.

What have we done with the miracle, with our victory? Forty years later, we must ask ourselves: How have we used it wisely? 'Today, we are less euphoric. We have lived with the consequences of our victory. The price has been astounding. No one could see back then, of course, that these territories, the land we took for the purpose of peace, would become the bane of Israel's existence, wrenching us off course into a deeper and deeper moral, economic, and political abyss.

What do I mean by this? Holding on to these territories has run us amok with our Jewish values. And this is reflected in altered perceptions about the State of Israel. While nations do not survive on image, it is important for Jews in 2007 to gauge what is happening, to understand that How Israel is seen is how Jews are seen. Not fair but true.
Even if you have never lived in Israel, never visited, don't know much about it, or don't care, we are all identified with Israel and its policies.

Forty years ago we annexed land for safety, for security, and ultimately to buy peace. But history teaches that no matter who you are, how high minded you are, hand in glove with occupation comes indignity. And with indignity comes hatred, and with hatred comes violence. With violence comes abuse. With abuse comes moral degradation.

Lately I have been having a repetitive dream. In it, I am leading a large service and coming to the Shema Yisroel and stopping. Each time I cant go on'either my voice wont come out, or there are people outside the door that need to come in, or the children haven't been included. In each dream it is different, but in each dream 'something shows me: You are not ready to proclaim the great unity until everyone is here, everyone is included.

I think the Unconscious is telling me that to say the Shema, to really say it, to really proclaim unity, we must see we are all in this together; you cannot cast blame, or villainize the other. The question then becomes: how to take responsibility for where we are standing, after 40 years, without blaming or demonizing ourselves or the other; and to see clearly what has happened, without idealizing ourselves or the other. Because as soon as we go there, we are contributing to the polarization, we are increasing the problem.

As the poem said, we are all Isaiah's grandchildren, and on both sides of the lineage, Arabs and Jews have suffered indignity, hatred, violence and moral degradation that turns Isaiah's teachings sour. And likewise, on both sides of the lineage, there have been incredible acts of beauty and courage: doctors who have treated their so called enemy, Jewish parents and Arab parents who are both mourning for their children who have embraced one another; children and adults who have befriended one another despite the scourge of community; human rights organizations that keep persisting; journalists who keep reporting the other side. All of these are living proof that Isaiah's teachings are alive.

Holding the truth of both sides is hard work. It means you cannot blame or villainize. It means you must say yes to two narratives that want to cancel each other out and allow them to live side by side. But friends, there are guests praying with us here tonight who are stretching themselves to just be here, to hear the tale of our victory, which to them is painful indeed, because they lost land and homes in that victory, and in turn, we must, hear words that are difficult for us to hear, like occupation, like: taking responsibility for victory.

As we said, forty is the number of gestation, of trial and proving, of maturity. Our job as Jewish citizens of the planet, who are committed to declaring the Shema Yisroel , the unity of God, is this: While never denying the Jewish narrative or the necessity for a Jewish state, or the miracle of this homeland, to recognize that ours is not the only narrative; that ours is not the only truth. We must recognize that there is another longing that is also true, another people who are also real, another dream waiting for its fruition, just as ours did.

We have gone forty years. May the Holy Power grant us to be pulled back again by the magnetic force of Isaiah's teachings, and the moral compass of our Torah. And may we succeed in saying a Shema Yisroel that is so big that it includes all possibilities, all sides, all people! Amen.