Rabbi's Blog

Dear OZ family,

Greetings from Netanya and Chodesh Tov!

We had a festive Rosh Chodesh tefilla and breakfast at Beit Elazraki today and I’m sending some pictures and videos. Beit Elazraki is a microcosm of what we’ve seen in Netanya, in its parks, in its malls, and it is not dissimilar to what we saw earlier this week at the Kotel. I speak of a phenomenally broad scope of people from all over the world. You can hear five or six different languages in one restaurant. And the Kotel not only unites Jews from every walk of life, but a wide range of non-Jews as well, fulfilling the prophecy of Yeshayahu that God’s house would be a house of prayer for all the nations.

All this exists within the backdrop of the accusations of apartheid leveled at Israel in the highest echelons of academia, religious bodies, and the media. One of my dear friends responded to my last message wondering how Israel can be considered racist when Israeli Arabs, Palestinians, and Israeli Jews are all of the same race. Israel Arabs enjoy the same rights as Israeli Jews, and Palestinians would find their lives vastly improved if they simply acknowledge Israel’s right to self determination. The insignia of the PA, to say nothing of Hamas, is the full map of Israel, because they continue to deny the existence of a Jewish State.

The malls, parks, and prayer halls in Israel are filled with people of different races, who live in peace, and fraternity. There is one other country like this, the US, where people from far away will do anything to get there, and the people who hate one usually hate the other.

Attached atop this email is a photo that was taken at Beit Elazraki recently. Tell me if you think that a racist country could have a place like this?

Stay well and healthy.

Rabbi Allen Schwartz