Ever since coming to Oceanside nine years ago, I’ve been wrestling with a serious rabbinic dilemma each year on the High Holy Days. I don’t have enough opportunities to deliver sermons to our congregation. Mind you, most of my colleagues are green with envy when I tell them that I only have to deliver two major sermons at this time of year. They have to deliver four and even five sermons on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It’s not that I’m complaining. It’s just that with only two big chances (or three if you count this evening) to speak to our congregation, there doesn’t seem to be enough time to say all the things that need to be said at this time of year.

What are the Yamim Noraim about? There are many themes one can speak about on the High Holy Days: personal growth, change, repentance, faith in God, Jewish identity, forgiveness, spirituality, family ties, interpersonal relations and the meaning of life. Those are the standard themes that most rabbis talk about at this time of year. For many years I too delivered several sermons each year on the holidays. But I always made a point of devoting at least one of them to Israel. On the eve of Yom Kippur I would speak to my congregation about the state of Eretz Yisrael, what our connection to Israel should be and what challenges Israel is facing today.

Now, with only two opportunities to speak to you, I find myself caught in a dilemma. There just isn’t enough time to devote an entire sermon to Israel. And I find myself feeling a little guilty about this. Of course I speak about Israel throughout the year – but there are only three days a year when I can count on having most of my congregation present and there are other things I need to say.

This year I feel that sense of ambivalence even more keenly. This has been a tough year for Israel. It began last summer with the cathartic withdrawal of settlers from the Gaza Strip and it ended this summer with a senseless war in which several thousand rockets rained down on Israel, 157 Israelis were killed, and three Israel soldiers were kidnapped by Hezbollah. It was the year in which Israel’s controversial leader, Ariel Sharon, had a stroke and had to leave the political arena, and a year in which a new government was elected that some say is too weak and indecisive.

Israel’s neighbors continue to threaten her – anyone who doesn’t think that the present crisis over Iranian nuclear aspirations isn’t about Israel is truly naïve. Given the chance, there is no question that this terrorist nation would destroy Israel. This summer Israel was the object of an unprovoked attack and the rockets were indiscriminately fired at civilian sites. This attack was not about land or sovereignty but inflicting as much suffering and pain on Israel and its people as possible.

As we mark the beginning of a new year, Israel is only beginning to pick up the pieces after a devastating war. And while Israel was amazingly lucky that more people were not killed or injured, Israelis are still feeling a sense of trauma from the unrelenting “rain” of terror that took place for thirty four days this summer. Listen to the words of an artist whose gallery and cafe our group visited in Safed just days before the rockets began to fall:

“The war is over (I don’t know if I should put a question mark or a period after that sentence). We are back home, everything here is in one piece – the house is covered in a thin layer of gray and there is a smell of gunpowder and soot. We had a lot of fires. A power shortage spoiled all the food, other than that we are OK.

Our studio gallery is a mess: broken glass everywhere and the café is pretty much destroyed. The explosion short circuited the building and burned out all the electric appliances. There are lots of broken doors, window frames ripped out of the walls, and lots of dust and soot. It’s taking all my energy just to set up and start the work of rebuilding.

Regardless of the damages I am thankful. We are very lucky…We have been to three funerals in the last ten days…two twenty year old boys… classmates of our son…who grew up together on Kibbutz and died together in the same tank…the third was my neighbor’s twenty eight year old son and a father of a three year old…what can you say to ease their pain…what are your losses compared to theirs?”

And that brings me to the other dilemma with which many rabbis are struggling this year. Those who are speaking about Israel have complained that they’re not sure what to say. They want to offer a hopeful message and yet they can’t avoid the ominous situation that Israel is facing. They want their congregants to visit Israel and yet the fearfulness and anxiety that this summer’s hostilities have created, have left us all feeling tentative and unsure of the future.

Of course if you were in Israel this summer you know that Israelis don’t give up quite so easily. Even during the war life went on in the south, tourists came to Israel, temporary villages and camps were set up for Israeli youth and American youth groups in Israel continued to conduct their programs. At Selichot services last week my colleague Rabbi Barry Dov Schwartz quoted the well known Midrash in which the sages say that the children of Israel are not just children – banim; they are builders –bonim. And that hope will never die in Israel because the land of Israel was founded on hope and because it can’t if Israel is too survive. As we begin the High Holy Days, I’d ask you to think about and pray for the land of Israel and the people of Israel this coming week. We have become much too complacent about Israel – and Israel and her people need us now more than ever.

I was so proud of our congregation this summer – at the height of the war we raised over forty thousand dollars for the Magen David Adom in order to complete our community campaign to purchase an ambulance for Israel. This was quite an accomplishment and it could not have taken place without the strong support of all of you. But we can’t stop here. Israel needs us now more than ever. We need to help in the rebuilding of the north, and we need to supplement the programs that are helping Israelis put their lives back together. Frankly the best thing to do this right now is to support Israel financially in any way we can. More is being asked of us this year and more must be done. We cannot ignore our responsibilities to our congregation but neither can we ignore the needs of our brothers and sisters in Israel.

There are many ways to support Israel. There are small programs like “A Package from Home” that provides Israeli soldiers with care packages and there are big programs like UJA federation that sends millions of dollars to Israel and underwrites dozens of social programs throughout the country. You can also support Israel by helping our Masorti congregations and movement throughout the country. Like all Israelis the members of these congregations supported this war, sent their sons and daughters off to fight, faced the uncertainty of rockets hitting their homes in the north and are now rebuilding their lives. But their congregations do not receive the support of the government as Orthodox congregations do. Our Masorti rabbis are still not respected in Israel despite the contributions they make to their country.

The group that visited Israel with me this summer was most fortunate to witness the amazing contributions of our movement to Israel when we delivered a Sefer Torah to the Tali School in Bayit Vagan. Under the leadership of Machon Schechter, our Conservative rabbinical school in Israel, this school is one of many throughout the country that are helping secular Israeli families to make the Jewish tradition part of their lives. Orthodox Jews should not have a monopoly on religious life in Israel. As we sat with almost five hundred Israeli children who were all wearing Bukharin kippot and sang prayers from the service with passion and joy, we understood that the Masorti movement is bringing hope and spirituality to anyone in Israel who wants it.

Finally we need to support Israel by visiting her. I hope to take another mission to Israel next summer – preferably in the month of August. As soon as I have more information, I will pass it on to you. Now more than ever, we need to make our presence felt in Israel and to stand at her side. And even if I do not give my big sermon on Israel tomorrow, Israel needs to be at the top of our agenda as Jews.

It is so easy and so comfortable for us living here in the Diaspora. But let us not forget that our well-being and our future are intimately tied to the land of Israel. More than just our prayers, Israel needs our presence and our presents. Next week as we conclude the fast of Yom Kippur, I hope we can say, “Next year in Jerusalem” and really mean it! Shanah Tova. May this be a year of peace and well being for the people of Israel, for the land of Israel, and for all people of good will everywhere. And let us all say…Amen.