- “I haven’t really thought about incorporating Israel into life cycle events beyond the standard things that we already do, like a gift certificate toward a trip to Israel to a Bar/Bat Mitzvah.”
- “We talk about Israel during the counseling sessions with couples before their weddings. They tell me why they are disturbed by what Israel is doing, or feel ambivalent about it. The most important thing is making time for those conversations to happen.”
- “My emphasis is to connect them to this synagogue community. I discourage people from having a Bar/Bat Mitzvah in Israel because I want them to celebrate these milestones within the community.”
- “I take the lead from the couple. If they want Israel mentioned, I will incorporate it into my drasha under the chuppah. It is not the primary theme.”
- “The families I work with connect to Israel as an ancient place, not as a contemporary reality, so that’s what I emphasize too.”
- “It feels terrible for me to say so, but mentioning Israel seems irrelevant at the time of a life cycle event, especially a wedding. Sometimes it’s all I can do to bring them into a Jewish ritual, and help it not feel foreign to them, so it doesn’t occur to me to ask about Israel.”
- “In Jewish liturgy Zion was all about a dream, a fantasy, a hope for something that wasn’t. The reality of Israel now flies in the face of that fantasy and makes connecting to modern Israel in the context of a life cycle event difficult.”
Appendix A: Professional Reflection Trigger Statements from Rabbis
Appendix A: Professional Reflection Trigger Statements from Rabbis
