Israel Discourse

Judea Reform Congregation’s Board of Trustees has adopted the following resolution on discourse within our community.

Judea Reform Congregation is a community where many different voices can be heard and valued, and where our members and our friends who hold a variety of opinions regarding Israel and Palestine can find civil and respectful discourse.

The Reform Movement is strongly supportive of the Zionist dream of a Jewish State. Broadly speaking, the Reform Movement stands for: a love of Israel; a critique of the occupation of Palestinian land in the aftermath of the Six-Day War; a heartfelt prayer for a just peace that results in two states for two peoples; and an insistence that Israeli society be built upon the values of justice and fairness, including for non-Orthodox Jews, Israel’s LGBTQ community, Ethiopian Jews, and others. As a Reform synagogue, Judea Reform Congregation views the body of Reform Movement material (e.g., resolutions and platforms) relating to Israel and her neighbors to be instructive, but not binding. It serves as a useful starting point for our conversation, and reflects the values of a significant number of our members.

In all ways - including (but not limited to) our choice of speakers, our travel to the region, our tzedakah choices, our Religious School curriculum and youth group programming - we shall affirm the legitimacy of the State of Israel and reject anti-semitism in word or deed. Similarly, we will affirm the reality of a Palestinian People and reject racism in word or deed. While Judea Reform Congregation may choose not to host or sponsor speakers or programs that depart from these values, our instinct is toward listening to ideas even when we may disagree with them, and even when they represent a viewpoint to the right or left of our Movement’s position.