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In The Presence Of A Giant

was ordained 70 years ago from the
Washington, D. C.
Jewish
Theological Seminary of
ive weeks ago, we buried
America,
where he studied with
an era.
Reconstructionism's ideological
Rabbi Ira Eisenstein, who
founder, Rabbi Mordecai
was 94 when he
Kaplan. Ira became Rabbi
passed away on June 28, was
Kaplan's assistant, both at
the chief architect of
their cutting-edge
Reconstructionist Judaism. He
Manhattan shul (Society for
witnessed, and contributed to,
the Advancement of
many of American Judaism's
Judaism)
and their influential
major trends over four genera-
journal, The Reconstructionist.
tions. His greatest legacy, for
Their relationship was like
which I am eminently grate-
father and son — literally.
ful, was founding the
Ira married Rabbi Kaplan's
Reconstructionist Rabbinical
RABBI FRED
eldest daughter, Judith, an
College (RRC) in 1968.
SCHERL INDER ethnomusicologist who, in
In recent years, Ira followed
DO BB
1922, had become history's
his daughter Miriam to
Spe cial
first
bat mitzvah. The two
Washington, D.C. I was hon-
Comm entary
men co-edited the first
ored to become the rabbi at
Reconstructionist prayer-
their synagogue, Adat Shalom
books, groundbreaking in the 1940s
in Bethesda, Md. Ira's last public speech
for their deletion of references to the
was this past April, at our new sanctu-
Jews
as the chosen people, as well as
ary's dedication; his funeral, three
their
Zionist orientation.
months later, was the sanctuary's first.
Upon ordination from RRC in
1997, I was 27. Ira was 90. That's how
Reconstructionist Roots
the world's oldest Reconstructionist
Rabbi Kaplan theorized; Ira con-
rabbi then became a congregant of the
cretized. He both refined and popular-
youngest! Yet I felt he was more "my"
ized many key elements of
rabbi than I was his. Though it was
Reconstructionist thought: centrality
daunting to lead services with Ira
of community, the proud dual
around, I learned greatly from his
embrace of Jewishness and
respectful feedback. Studying sacred
Americanism, inclusivity and equality,
texts with him, or hearing tales of the
and being simultaneously progressive
Jewish world generations ago, I was in
and traditional, among others.
the presence of a giant.
Along with their friend Rabbi
Ira's biography proves that point. He

was an elder states-
Eugene Kohn, who had
man admired for
a gift with words, they
his vision, dedica-
shaped
tion and intellect.
Reconstructionism as
In time, I came
we know it (and were
also to appreciate
jokingly referred to as
his humor, humili-
the father, the son-in-
ty, gentleness and
law and the holy ghost-
genius. I discovered
writer!).
his deep commit-
Ira was once presi-
ments to equality,
dent of the
to lesbian and gay
Conservative move-
inclusion, to social
ment's Rabbinical
justice.
Assembly, and served
RRC's president,
Conservative pulpits in
Rabbi
David
Chicago and elsewhere.
Teutsch,
rightly
But for years, Ira prod- Rabbi Ira Eisenstein
called
him
a "rabbi,
ded Rabbi Kaplan to
who
embodied
in
mentsh,
scholar
and
make a break and strike out on his
his
daily
actions
everything
that
he
own. In his words:
believed in."
"I said to him that all we were doing
I'll never forget when tears once
was advocating an idea and that it
rolled down Ira's cheeks as he recalled
wasn't enough. [Rabbi] Kaplan felt
what a privilege it was to know and
that if people came in contact with
study
with [Rabbi] Kaplan."
our idea, the Orthodox and the
Tears
will continue rolling down my
Conservative would become liberal-
cheeks,
as
well, recounting the privi-
ized; the Reform Judaized; and the
lege
of
knowing
and studying with
Zionists religionised.
Rabbi Ira Eisenstein. Zichrono
"I disagreed. I said we can't go on
livracha — his memory is already a
telling everyone else what to do; we
blessing. E
would have to do it ourselves."
With Rabbi Kaplan's reluctant bless-
Fred Scherlinder Dobb, a former
ing, Ira founded the institutions of the
Michigan State Temple Youth member,
Reconstructionist movement: a syna-
gogue association (now the Jewish
worked for two summers at the Jewish
Reconstructionist Federation, boasting
Community Council of Metropolitan
100 affiliates); a group of like-minded
Detroit. He is now active in the
rabbis; and, marking the new move-
Washington Jewish community as a
ment's full emergence, the
rabbi at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
Congregation in Bethesda and as a
in Philadelphia in 1968.
leader in Jewish-environmentalism. His
During my own years at RRC, Ira
e-mail address is rabbifred@aol.com

"

The Great 'Occupied Territory' Hoax

In reality, there are two definitions
Ramat Gan, Israel
of
the "Palestinian occupied territo-
he term "Palestinian occu-
ries."
Among themselves, the Arabs
pied territory" is one of the
use this term to refer to the area
greatest hoaxes of all time.
between the Mediterranean
Daily, terrorists
and the Jordan River,
attacks are justified in the
including Israel. However,
name of this territory and its
when talking to naive
"liberation."
Western journalists and
And yet, there has never
diplomats, the term "occu-
been any such place, except
pied Palestine" is used to
in the political mythology
refer to the West Bank of the
that dominates discussion of
Jordan River and the Gaza
the Middle East. At no time
Strip.
in history, did a sovereign
These areas have convolut-
entity known as Palestine
GERALD M.
ed
and complex histories.
exist, and at no time did the
STEINBERG
From
the times of Joshua,
ancestors of the Palestinian
Special
following
the Exodus from
Arabs have a state in any of
Commentary
Egypt,
only
the Jewish peo-
this land.

T

O.J

8/3

2001

26

ple had sovereignty of this land. For
the last 2,000 years, since the Roman
conquest of Israel, the territory was
under foreign occupation, including
the British, who, in 1917, pledged to
re-establish the "Jewish National
Home" in this land.
The initial area of the Mandate was
divided in the 1920s, when
Transjordan was given to the
Hashemites. The remaining land was
left for division between Jews and
Arabs; in 1947, the United Nations
proposed the partition into two sepa-
rate states.

No "State Of Palestine"

While the Jewish leadership accepted

partition and proclaimed the State of
Israel, no claim was made for the cre-
anon of a "State of Palestine." Instead,
the Arab states spearheaded an inva-
sion to destroy the Jewish state.
Israel survived, but the British-led
Jordanian Army captured the areas
between the Jordan River and
Jerusalem (including the Old City),
and this area became known as the
West Bank. The Jordanians annexed
this area, and ruled for 19 years, until
the 1967 war.
Between the 1948 and 1967 wars,
the Gaza Strip was controlled by
Egypt, and, as in the case of the West
Bank, served as a base for terrorist
attacks against Israel. In Gaza, there
also was no suggestion of independent
Palestinian control.
Control over both areas changed
hands in 1967, when the territory
was captured by Israel in a defensive

