“So how was it?”

Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky’s DC Rally Reflections

Rabbi Kanefsky (below on far left) is senior rabbi at B’nai-David Judea, Los Angeles

Well, it was the great big summer camp / youth group / old friends / college / family reunion that everyone knew it would be. There were, after all, 290,000+ Jews (and friends of Jews) there.  And not only, I was feeling, was there nothing wrong with that (even if it sometimes made it hard to listen to – or even hear – some of the speakers way over there on the stage), but there was in fact something very healthy and soothing about that as we live through these historical moments.

But the rally was also of course about much more than that. As I experienced it, it was primarily about two other things. First, it was about having an up close and personal reminder about just how much Israel means to so many people. Our “brethren [almost] the whole house of Israel” were there. Jews of different “Israel politics,” of different religious beliefs, and of different movement affiliations. High school students, college students, adults of every demographic. Southerners, New Englanders, Tri-State-ers, out-Westers. Jews of color, Jews-by-marriage, Jews putting tefillin on other Jews. A whole mess o’ Jews who had taken off a day or more from school, from work, from life, riding on buses and flying on planes, to show up for Israel. So many people for whom Israel is of paramount importance. And so many more watching at home. It’s not that I didn’t know all this somewhere in my head. But there’s nothing quite like seeing it in real life.

And if I had to guess, these massive numbers of varieties of Jews didn’t show up because the struggle that Israel is now engaged in is an important geo-political issue. They showed up because Israel and the struggle she’s (the female pronoun was ubiquitous at the rally) now engaged in, is a deeply personal issue. They showed up because there are zero degrees of emotional distance between themselves and the citizens of Israel. Between themselves and the hostage families. Between themselves and theIDF soldiers. There was one hand-held sign, among the thousands of hand-held signs, that particularly caught my eye and heart. In huge hand-written Hebrew script, it simply read “משפחה“ (mishpacha).  

The other thing that the rally was about was antisemitism. On the surface, it was about the fear that many American Jews are experiencing and our sense of physical insecurity. But if you scratched beneath the surface a little, it was about the sadness, confusion, and heartbreak aroused by the fact that all of this is happening in America. It’s upsetting exactly because we are part of this place. Because we believe in this place. Because we love this place. And in this regard, I found the rally to be a potent elixir, a restorer of our emotional balance in these insecure-feeling times. Both the Senate Majority leader and the Speaker of the House showed up to speak in person. As did numerous other elected officials and public figures. As did a personal envoy of the President. 

And so I left the Mall reinforced in my feeling that although there are very serious and frightening things happening around us, and that we need to be taking care and speaking up, it’s critical to always keep in the front of our minds that we have many, many friends and allies to reach out to, people who loudly affirm that we are part of this place, that we are right to believe in this place, that our love for this place in not unrequited. I happened to have had the privilege on Tuesday morning before the rally began, to be part of a small delegation of Jewish Californians at a private meeting with both of our US Senators. Both said all the right things about Israel and about antisemitism. But it was not what they said that made the impression. It was the empathy, understanding, and commitment that was evident in their eyes. Fear can be a potent self-fulfilling prophecy. Yesterday urged us to not let it become so.

So yes, it was great seeing friends from previous lives and taking selfies with everybody and their brother. But it was really great – for the heart and for the spirit – to remember that we are a big family with Israel at its center. And that this country, even with all that’s going on, remains our extended family. We are still very much in a dark and awful time. But together, with God’s help, we will have the strength to hold on, and to engage what will come hereafter.

— Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky, BDJ, Los Angeles

Next: Lane Igoudin’s Blessing the Sea: November 2023 “Radical Green Leaves“