Lerner, rabbi at Beyt Tikkun Renewal synagogue in San Francisco and the editor of Tikkun magazine, was keynote speaker at the event — engaging a crowd of more than 500 with everything from the Kaddish to a rendition of a Beatles song.
Earlier this year, the San Francisco-based Tikkun kicked off a national movement aimed at promoting ecological and social responsibility and ending the Israeli “occupation” of Palestinian areas. The Memorial Day gathering at First Unitarian Church — a “Middle East teach-in and creation of the Bay Area Tikkun Community” — was organized in the hopes of educating Bay Area residents about the current strife in the Middle East and to stress the importance of involvement at the local level.
“The task of the hour is to realize that the life of every Israeli and every Palestinian is sacred,” Lerner announced after reciting the prayer for the dead and involving the enthusiastic crowd in a standing sing-along. Walking with a remote microphone, he paraded up and down the aisle, imploring those in attendance to stand arm-in-arm and sing and listen to the words of non-violence.
Lerner then launched into a detailed account of historical and current events in the Middle East — touching upon the centuries of oppression and bigotry experienced by Jews, and including the rise of nationalism in European nations at the close of the 19th century which, he said, led Jews to migrate back toward their homeland in Palestine.
Lerner was careful to balance his discussion between both Israeli and Palestinian “mistakes.” While reciting the events that led to the displacement of some 3 million Palestinian refugees and continued bloodshed on Israeli soil, he was cognizant of not only telling the story, but reminding the audience of the need to see the good in all people — regardless of their violent acts.
“I am trying to help you see that both sides were reasonable, were rational. You can understand the resistance of Palestinians to Jews buying up their land, and the desire for Jews to have their own place.”
Those in attendance appeared to represent a diverse group of Bay Area citizenry including Jews, Christians and Muslims. For them it was a day of global issues: Beyond the speakers addressing the crowd indoors, outside the church stood several unaffiliated groups, one soliciting signatures for an anti-missile petition while another passed out flyers for an upcoming International Nonviolence Day.
The pinnacle of Lerner’s discussion came as he recited a passage from the Bible stating that all land is to be redistributed every 50 years. “This is the part of the Bible that you never hear religious fundamentalists talking about,” he joked, generating laughter.
“Who owns the land?” he asked rhetorically as the laughter turned to cheering. “Nobody. I am not just saying this about the Holy Land, I am saying it about all lands.”
Ultimately, Lerner painted a picture of the Middle East in which no single person or event was at fault. Centuries of frustration and oppression, according to Lerner, led to poor decisions by politicians and citizens on either side of the issue. “Both sides are fundamentally decent and both sides are fundamentally good,” he said.
“I need you,” he implored, “to be the people who can repeat what I have just said. A different discourse needs to be created. A discourse of passion.” Lerner outlined his hopes for a resolution of the Mideast conflict that would include, among other things, international intervention, an international conference and a binding international resolution ending occupation of the territories and recognizing Palestinian and Israeli states.
“The politics of the United States are keeping this reality from happening,” he charged, taking a shot at federal policymakers as well as representatives from the Bay Area. He went on to discuss Tikkun’s goal of “making things difficult” for elected officials from the Bay Area who, he charged, skewed the conflict in favor of Israel. These same politicians Lerner said, “have pressured the San Francisco Chronicle to put a strong Israeli spin on the news.”
“Dianne Feinstein is the worst,” belted Lerner as he told the audience how they could get involved with Tikkun by becoming dues-paying members and joining committees that perform the bulk of Tikkun’s activist work.