December Bulletin Message

For Your Consideration - Rabbi Mark Dov Shapiro

 Before the war in Iraq began, I spoke publicly several times.  I feared our country was taking the wrong path.  Since the invasion of Iraq, I’ve kept my opinions mostly to myself, although I did allude to the war during the holidays in 2003 and 2004.  But now (as of November 1) the question of our presence in Iraq has arisen in a new setting that  finally means our congregation and others need to confront Iraq directly.

     What has happened is that several members of our national Reform movement, the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) have asked that the URJ take a position on the war in Iraq.  Specifically, they are advocating that the URJ speak out against the war at its national biennial convention in mid-November.

     By the time you read these words, the biennial convention will have passed and a resolution on Iraq may very well have been passed.  Whatever is passed won’t be binding on any of us.  It will at best only represent the collective will of the 4,000 or so Reform Jews who will have been at the convention in Houston.  As such, the resolution can hardly be expected to have a very great practical effect on American foreign policy.

     Nevertheless, I am very much in favor of the URJ’s taking a position on the war if only because our religious tradition demands that we Jews play a serious role in the world.  Without being tacticians or diplomats, we can always understand moral rights and wrongs, and when we do, we need to become involved in responding responsibly.