I gives me great pleasure, honor and pride to be with you tonight, not to mention the challenge.

It gives me pleasure, since I was invited to one of America’s warmest and most supportive communities in respect to Israel.

It is an honor to be with you in the shul that my very dear cousin Marty Berkowitz za”l used to go for years, and my family surrounds me this evening.

It gives me pride to have been the one you chose to honor a very dedicated leader of your congregation, Shelly Brodsky, who is also a great husband, father, and family man. I am proud to share with you this moment, as well as my thoughts.

The US and Israeli relations have a long common history. They are based on a true friendship, on common values and mutual respect. There are also many shared interests. This friendship was proved many times in the last decades. It was president Truman who was the first statesman to extend recognition of the new State of Israel, only eleven minutes after the declaration of Independence. Both countries are strong democracies, both began as pioneer societies and both continue to absorb new immigrants.

This is a lasting friendship, though sometimes even friends disagree and have quarrels. Like children, like spouses, like friends. This friendship is strong enough to overcome such hurdles, not without a sincere mutual effort. We need to continuously nurture this friendship.

On the other hand, there are several shared interests. These vary from time to time, from situation to situation. Some of them are long-term, steady and continuous. Others are rather short-term, or influenced by trends and events or particular developments.

Interests can sometimes be contradictory. It is then that the friendship, the mutual respect and the common sense, but mostly the good will to solve problems helps and is needed most.

Who are the partners in this endeavor? How do we accomplish it? The parties involved are first the two countries as a whole, the US and Israel. Second, the Jews in Israel, in the world and mostly in the US, the Jewish community of North America still bei know more about Jewish development in this country, and of course in Israel and the world. We need to learn a much better and lively Hebrew, not only the prayer book Hebrew. Not only is it needed to enhance a better communication between us, but it enriches your lives so much more. So much of the endless treasures of our Bible and Talmud or even the meaning of prayers gets lost via translation and transliterations.

Our roots are in our original culture, language, stories. As Jewish people we have the responsibility to make one personal contact each of us. Could you imagine what a true bridge we could build if five and a half million Jews here will each make a contact with one Israeli Jew? Creative ways to do that are pen-pals, e-mail, video conferrencing or calling on the phone, and of course visiting.

As persons we are responsible to stay away from trouble, not to be involved with scandals, be it presidential or other, Rabbis accused of murder or fathers killing their children because of religious disagreements with a spouse. We need to set the example, and that can be done only personally. We need to visit Israel more, in good times and bad times. Did you know that in crisis time, when terror strikes the Christians are those who do not cancel their visits while Jews are the first ones to do so?

As a community, our responsibility is to be successful, highly educated, strongly committed to our own community and to Israel. We need to be righteous and honest, not hide our real problems and worries under the carpet. If Jewish identity and continuity worries us, let us address these issues openly and search for ways to solve them sooner than later. We need to find creative ways to solve the pending issue of Conversion, working together. I know examples of similar cooperation here in the US, where with wisdom and cooperation different Jewish streams found a way to even merge into one synagogue, overcoming existing gaps when real need was there. There is a real need here, too.

As a community we have more responsibilities. We need to make the right choices, to set a clear agenda in which Israel, and Jewish education for youth and adults has a high priority. Educating children without being able to extend an appropriate support at home, one that will be in harmony with the teachings does not give a fair chance to Jewish values to survive well in our modern, assimilating world. We have to support Israel, not unconditionally but from sincere concerns, even if some Israelis might say we do not need that kind of support. That support is most meaningful if you know what you are talking about, if you keep an open dialogue and plan and implement together, in a concept similar to the Partnership 2000 projects.

We need to plan ahead, long-term, comprehensive strategic plans, based on realistic needs, plans that can be implemented and measured for success. These action plans need to be implemented by recruiting leadership, lay and professional, and by involving as many volunteers and participants as possible form the community members, from all groups and affiliations, especially targeting the non-affiliated.

We need to send our children to Israel more, make introduce them to the people, the country, the history, but mostly to the present. Let them make friends, study, work with Israelis. Beyond the interest and the friendship, as between the US and Israel, we as Jewish communities have also a shared heritage, a common history and common roots, therefore a much stronger responsibility to build the relations in an active, ongoing way. We are not united in land, but we have to be united in spirit, intent, in efforts towards a better future.

As to our Christian and other neighbors, we need to cultivate excellent relations, to nourish friendships and promote understanding, fight ignorance and indifference. We need to help promote the universal humanistic values that Judaism was fortunate to endow the world with three thousand years ago. We can not agree to a situation in which hatred stems out of ignorance.

As for the other side of tng the largest Jewish community outside the State of Israel and in the world. Third, Jews and non-Jews in this country, in the world and in Israel.

How do we make a better partnership?

We have mutual responsibilities in this mission, responsibilities at two main levels: the personal level and the community level. By this second level I include the general communities of the two countries, and the local ones as the same.

We need to cultivate and nurture the common ties, interests, by finding new ways to communicate and keep a meaningful dialogue alive, by finding new reasons to cooperate and by bridging existing gaps. In order to achieve that we need to adopt new and creative ways of communication, we need to find the best way to remain relevant to each other.

Allow me to analyze shortly the two levels of responsibility I think we have, as mentioned before.

On this side of the ocean, this personal responsibility means that we need to get in a better and stronger touch with our own Jewish roots. We have similar responsibilities on both the personal and the community level.

On the personal side, we need to educate ourselves more as to our Jewish roots, not assume the land will keep us Jewish. We have to broaden our horizons, learn more about the many faces of Judaism, the streams in America and in the world, the differences and the similarities. In that respect, the US Jewry is two steps ahead, since most of the average Israelis do not know or care about this issue. You need to help us here.

When we come to visit America, we need to visit the Jewish America as well, something that happens rarely, mainly or only when we come to a family simcha.

Quite often we need to improve our English, though mostly our accent. We need to learn from you how volunteerism works for the community, and what a great asset it is for the community, but also how rewarding and satisfying it can be on the personal level.

As a community and a nation, we need to do more. We need to create more relevant programs and ways to communicate with Jews in the Diaspora. Being, or becoming relevant again is the key. As the two communities are rapidly changing, Israel will become the largest Jewish community in the world in about five to ten years, while the American community’s size keeps shrinking constantly. With Israelism getting stronger than Judaism in Israel, the country assimilating more and more with the Middle-Eastern neighbors, especially the more peace treaties and calm borders we achieve throughout the years, we too need to watch our Jewish identity remain strong and intact, while at the same time continuing to develop.

On the other hand, the American Jewish community gets more assimilated, sees more intermarriages, gets farther and farther from Jewish roots and has less Jewish knowledge available at home to support a strong formation of Jewish identity. The task of keeping us all together hence becomes more difficult.

Both communities have the responsibility to make Jewish education more relevant, more fun, creative and attractive, work on the differences and the friendships and cultivate the family ties, as we are all a great family. We have to work hard to get there, in joint efforts.

If we do not do that, then as my late dear Mother used to say, “if you don’t move forward, you move backward”. We, these two large Jewish communities, we can not afford to go backwards. We can not afford the luxury of being indifferent, lazy or incompetent. We have a historic responsibility which we need to fulfill, for the future generations. Joint efforts and interaction are the key to the success.

I will try to

Regarding our non-Jewish citizens in Israel, we need to do better, too. Faithful minorities need to get better chances of development, better cultural and educational opportunities aand better chances to be involved in the politics of the country. Should we fail to do this, we will soon find more unrest and disagreement, plus outside pressures we do not really need or want.