Other voices say that the Jewish court must not be separated from the
"people"- as the Torah makes it clear that the court is to sit in the city
gate, "Shaar Hair." The city gate was the most crowded area of the city,
and it was there, in the midst of the people, that the judges were to hear
cases and deliberate. Israel, as a young state, struggles with these
questions daily.
Another question we will be dealing with is whether this complex should
open on Shabbat. This was a very big news item only two months ago,
when it was decided, after many court challenges from all sides, that for
the time being, it would remain closed on Shabbat. The questions here are,
what is the place of Judaism in public space? What kind of Jewish State
do we want to build? A state for Jews, or a truly "Jewish state" (as
Echad HaAm, the great Jewish/Zionist thinker asked over 100 years
ago). How do we define both "Jewish" and "Judaism" vis a vis a
sovereign state? According to what definition?
Where else did we see these
questions asked over the
summer? Perhaps when we met
with an F-16 pilot who told us
that he had to abort many more
missions in Gaza than he was
allowed to complete, because of
the presence of civilians. How is
this a Jewish decision?
It is such a pleasure for us, after
a challenging summer, to be
able to return to these core
questions, and use them to
frame and bring together all we
have experienced this summer.
At this time, there are no
additional security updates. We
look forward to greeting our
Rosh Tefila, Shlomi Edelstein,
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