"צדק צדק תרדוף"

"Justice Justice You Shall Pursue..."
(Deuteronomy 16:20)

Tisha B'Av has long represented the collective tragedies that have marked our people. Scholars and sages have assigned the date of every major tragedy to the 9th day of the month of Av - most especially the destruction of the holy Temples.

It has been taught that the greatest of these events was the destruction of the Second Temple, which we learn from the Talmud could be blamed on the baseless hatred (sinat chinam) within our own community - when Jew turned on Jew, we were no longer worthy as a community to have a central locus of religious faith and focus.

And yet, through each and every tragedy, we have arisen renewed and strengthened. Even today many in the Progressive community observe Tisha B'Av only as a half-fast because despite all of the horrific events of the past, we have been privileged to witness the birth of the Modern State of Israel, perhaps the greatest miracle of modern Jewish life.

This time in the Jewish calendar demands that we become ever more sensitive to the core values upon which our Jewish homeland rests. Upwards of 300,000 Israelis, young and old, poor and comfortable, religious and secular, right and left have united in the call that Israel must not just be about the establishment of a Jewish State, but that the state of the Jews living there (as well as all who choose to live there) must be dignified and affordable. We are witnessing, not a political divide, but a demand for social justice - echoing the calls from the highest traditions of our historic past - the prophetic call for justice and respect for human dignity.

The World Union for Progressive Judaism, called into being almost a century ago to spread the word of prophetic Judaism, stands with all in the streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and every tent city established to say that the Israel for which we have all fought and sacrificed must be an Israel that treats its citizens with dignity and respect, and offers the most basic of needs: housing, food, child-care and education, to all in an affordable way.

Israel can only be a light unto the nations, when it is a light unto itself and its people. We call upon the government of the State of Israel to heed the call of her people - with whom we pledge our support and assistance.