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OpEd: Letter to Reform Jewish rabbis

Pope Francis boldly invited and warmly welcomed Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas to the Vatican for prayers, conversations, and planting a peace tree. Barely a month later, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, followed the papal example with a stunning and unprecedented invitation. He asked the Moderator and Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church USA to vote down anti-Israel overtures at our denomination’s bi-annual General Assembly and join him in Jerusalem for a face-to-face sit down with Prime Minister Netanyahu to “express our deeply shared concerns.” Jacobs concluded, “You can choose partnership and engagement or you can choose separation and divestment.” By a narrow margin the General Assembly chose the latter in spite of its hollow profession that it shared Rabbi Jacob’s objection to expanding settlements, his support of a two-state solution, and his gracious, genuine expression that the bond between Presbyterians and Jews is both sought and valued by the American Jewish community.

The General Assembly vote to support divestment was the result of several years of behind-the-scenes networking, scheming, and planning that culminated in several months of unusually intense lobbying.  There were few commissioners who were not already decided by the time the matter came to the floor.  The San Francisco contingent of “Another Jew for Divestment,” as their T-shirts proclaimed was numerous, obvious, and vocal. Leaders, beginning with the Stated Clerk, were intent on securing a divestment vote in spite of pleas from a beloved former moderator and an esteemed seminary president to honor Rabbi Jacob’s offer that, had it been accepted would have been a game changer that guided our church toward reconciliation.

The leadership of the PCUSA consistently prefers strategically expedient and politically impotent actions that divide and harm rather than welcome participation in the hard work of relationship building and genuine diplomacy. Only Israel is targeted in these actions, never the atrocities by and the intransigence of Palestinian terrorists. We recognize that it is impolitic to use the label of anti-Semitism, but there are not many other ways to explain the willful rejection of the only democracy in the Middle East, or to explain the disregard for terrorist threats and actual attacks upon Israel, as well as the stated declaration of all of Israel’s neighbors that they are devoted to its destruction.  The PCUSA fancies itself as siding with the “little guy” but it sided with the neighborhood thugs.We deeply regret the overture that was passed last Friday, not just because it was a divestment action, but also because the subtly contradictory content was intended to placate rather than to foster mutual efforts toward a just peace: Presbyterian words did not complement their action.

It is now incumbent on very Presbyterian clergyperson and local church board to reach out to neighboring synagogues and rabbis to try to explain this hurtful vote and attempt to build back the bridges it destroyed.  We pity those clergy who do not already have a relationship of trust with local Jewish leaders, because building that now will be nearly impossible.

It is important for the Bay Area’s Jewish and Presbyterian communities to understand that the majority of the denomination’s clergy and laity do not support the vote, but genuinely want peace for the Jewish State and for a Palestinian State, and they care deeply about the fate of Palestinians in Gaza, but as the vote showed and as recent surveys indicate, the overwhelming majority of our clergy and laity across the county have not given much thought, if any, to the intricacies of the Middle East and do not have a deep comprehension of the issues.   Into that abyss of complexity and in the absence of wisdom, the anti-Israel antagonists in the PCUSA expend their energy and animus on caustic overtures without a thought for the consequences to regional and national relationship between Presbyterians and Jews. Although these are sad but true realities, we continue to work with a like-minded cadre inside our tradition to fulfill the vision and possibilities put forward by Rabbi Jacobs.

Doug Huneke
Doug Huneke
Paul Watermulder
Paul Watermulder

Doug Huneke served for 30-years as the senior pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tiburon. Paul Watermulder is the senior pastor of the Burlingame Presbyterian Church. Both men have devoted their careers to fostering interfaith respect and cooperation.

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