In July 1969, just months after the Tet offensive in Vietnam, I began military service as a part of the (Colonel Frank) Berry plan. This program allowed young physicians to complete their specialty residency programs uninterrupted and avoid the draft. I had protested the Vietnam war many times, in marches and in demonstrations. My wife, Kate, said, if I was assigned to Vietnam, we should move to Canada with our two very young children or else she would come with me to Vietnam and the children would stay with my mother (not a practical idea). I suggested we wait until we learned of my assignment and, fortunately, the Department of the Navy sent me to Beaufort, South Carolina and not Danang. I was spared that terrible decision but, deep down, and despite my complete sympathy for those who did leave the United States, I knew I was unwilling to be a “deserter,” unwilling to leave my country no matter what.
During the period after President Obama was in office and before President Biden was elected, there were many times when Kate and I thought about leaving the United States and living somewhere else. Trump was such a boorish, intolerant, ignorant, misogynistic, xenophobic, divisive, corrupt and dangerously narcissistic force we feared for the future of the country under his incompetent leadership. It was revolting to watch that inept clown pretend to fill the role held by Washington, Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy. Even then, I had great difficulty conceiving of leaving our country, for which I have a sometimes-naïve passion. We never quite agreed on a place to which we, then in our late 70s, would move. Kate was willing to consider France since I love Paris so much and I was willing to consider it because of the health care, which is quite good. But it never was a serious thought for me since France has so many problems like those we face here and lacks the history with which I identify, the stars and stripes that still thrill me.
We also talked about Tel Aviv. Attractive in so many ways: beautiful, mild climate nested on the beautiful Mediterranean, courageous and caring people, arts, culture, and music and, of course, a history that is rich. But I knew it would never be my history.
Also, even when I was thirteen preparing for my bar mitzvah, I was a terrible student of Hebrew. Kate never mastered high school Spanish so communication would be challenging for us both, even though most Israelis speak English.
Paris has more problems today than in 1969. Of course, moving to Israel is not tenable after the unspeakable, horrible attacks by Hamas, even though we know that Israel will triumph and Tel Aviv will again be a vibrant, wonderful city
Neither Tel Aviv nor Paris quite fit.
Commentators say there is now a slight possibility that Trump could be elected again but, deep down, I have not yet reached the point where I believe that to be possible and have not yet worried about where I should be if and when it happens. Joe Biden has been a good and effective President, and is a decent and thoughtful man, and I will not hesitate to vote for him again. I’m four years older than he is so I can’t hold his age against him. Biden as our leader is reassuring and I shudder to think what would be happening now if Trump, and his equally incompetent cadre of followers, were in power. Still, I harbor the wish that one of the bright and charismatic young democrats was ready to run. Politics is a complicated business and his potential successors (Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, Eric Swalwell, Josh Shapiro and others) don’t seem ready to make that enormous move to candidacy.
There are repeated reminders about the many and seemingly increasing faults of the United States (as examples, the loss of an honest and moral second political party and, in its stead, one that now foments the rise and influence of the religious right, increasing anti-semitism, the failure of America to achieve the promise of true equality, a culture of guns and more) but I remain convinced this is still the best place in which to live and the best hope for a just and safe world.
Just as there are reminders about America’s weakness there are shining moments that confirm my devotion to my country.
Two weeks ago I was sent a copy of the YouTube recording of a sermon by the Senior Rabbi of the Central Synagogue of New York City. The Central Synagogue is a
Central Synagogue, New York
renowned Reform synagogue on Lexington Avenue and East 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan. It opened 150 years ago, in 1872, and is a copy of Budapest’s Dohány Street Synagogue with distinct Moorish design. It has sustained two fires, in 1886 and 1998, and, after both, was restored to the original style. In March 2019, the mosque of the nearby Islamic Society of Mid-Manhattan was significantly damaged by a fire. The Central Synagogue opened its doors to the mosque congregant so they could hold services until their own house of worship was restored.
Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl has been the leader of this historic place of learning and worship since 2013. Born in Korea in 1972, one hundred
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl
years after the Central Synagogue first opened its doors, she is the daughter of a Japanese-born Korean Buddhist mother and an American Ashkenazi Reform Jew, whose ancestors emigrated from Romania and Russia to the United States. At the age of five, Buchdahl moved to Tacoma, Washington with her family, where her paternal grandparents had founded Tacoma’s Temple Beth-El a century before. Following her mother’s lead, she became very involved in temple groups, first visited Israel when she was 16 and at the age of 21 underwent Orthodox conversion. She attended Yale, where she was one of the first women to be a member of “Skull and Bones,” a prestigious secret student society. There she met Jacob Buchdahl, her husband, an attorney. She completed her cantorial and rabbinic studies at Hebrew Union College.
Think about that for a moment. She is, in and of herself, a melting pot: A Korean-Japanese-Buddhist-Ashkenazi Jewish-American woman!
https://www.centralsynagogue.org/worship/sermons/author/angela-w-buchdahl
Two weeks later her words have not lost their meaning and their truth.
This blog is not intended to focus on Rabbi Buchdahl and I will include only one of the many interesting stories about her that further emphasizes how she is both unique and distinctly American. In 2014, President Obama invited her to lead the prayers at the White House Chanukah celebration. She commented on how special the scene was, rhetorically asking if the President ever imagined that our founding fathers could have conceived of a time when a female Asian-American rabbi from a New York synagogue would one day be at the White House leading prayers in front of an African American President born in Hawaii.
This blog is instead intended to highlight her sermon that prompted the trite, but still relevant, comment: only in America.
It is no surprise that so many around the world are protesting Israel’s history with the Palestinians and their retaliatory attacks on the people of Gaza. What is disappointing is that there are those who call themselves Americans who echo these protests. They don’t understand, as Rabbi Buchdahl indicates, that, after years of attacks by Hamas compounded by the October 7 brutality and inhumanity, Israel has no choice. Why do so few of those protestors mention that viciousness, that lack of regard for human life, that heartlessness?
The notes from her sermon complementary to that of Rabbi Buchdahl were published in the New York Times:
htpps://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/17/opinion/Israelis-palestinians-torah-humanity.html?searchResultPosition=1
They are by Rachel Timoner, the senior rabbi of Congregation Beth Elohim. Beth Elohim is a
Temple Beth Elohim, Brooklyn
reform synagogue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, founded more than 150 years ago. It has also been referred to as the Garfield Temple (on Garfield Place and Eight Avenue) and as the Eighth Avenue Temple. Long a center for, and leader of, Reform Judaism, it is the synagogue where both my brother and I celebrated our bar mitzvah.
Even if/when Hamas is destroyed and many innocent Israelis and Palestinians are killed, peace may not come in this generation. Look at the many demonstrations in response to what is apparently a Gaza hospital bombing by an errant terrorist missile. How many young Palestinians will be transformed to terrorists after Gaza is destroyed? I fear that, as in so many things, Golda Meir was correct when she said. “We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.”
Golda Mei
The topic for the blog that I originally was going to send out on Monday, October 9, until we learned of the atrocities in Israel, was about ice cream. It was not possible to distribute a jocular testimony to my favorite food with images of the horrific murders committed by Hamas in our minds. I understand and sympathize with the plight of the Palestinians—my life has been immeasurably enriched by knowing well so many Palestinians as well as so many I have called ‘dear friend’ from Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and other parts of the middle East—but nothing—absolutely nothing—justifies what Hamas has done. Hopefully the world will be a slightly better place in time and I can then circulate that unabashedly cheerful essay. Perhaps I should send it out now in the hope that the lightheartedness of that essay will allow a few to escape the unending, dismal news and constant air of sadness we are all experiencing.
October 28, 2023 at 5:58 pm
Dear Dr Geller
Thanks for share your blog.
I share the regret at the recent and terrible events in the Holy Land, where innocent people are dying and suffering unjustly
Once again we are witnessing an inhumane massacre of people. Unfortunately, not everything evolves positively over time. As Golda Meir said, in one of her speeches, the 7th of October witnessed, “the problem is not territorial, but there are “a people” who do not accept the existence of the Jewish people”. This outrageous and poor behavior is unacceptable. May God illuminate that piece of the planet and change the terrible threat that is looming large.
October 29, 2023 at 12:56 pm
Dear Dr. Geller,
My husband and I have talked about selling our house next summer and being ready to move if it looks as though Trump or another MAGA Republican will win in 2024. He suggests Monaco. Jews comprise almost 3% of Monaco’s total residents, though most are expatriates. But, like you, I’m not ready to leave the United States. He always warns me that the German Jews waited too long.
President Biden has been a phenomenal president and is probably the best person we could have chosen to lead us after the disastrous Trump presidency. However, he hasn’t done enough to develop the next generation of Democratic leaders. Maybe he felt he could leave that task for a second term. In addition, he is not recognizing that many Democrats, fearing that he is too old, are threatening not to vote for him again. Although I am greatly relieved by his support for Israel, the result is that he is losing even more votes from the progressive wing of the party. He should announce that he is not running for a second term ASAP.
My dream Democratic ticket is a Gretchen Whitmer/ Stacey Abrams ticket. If it won, I would urge Whitmer to bring Abrams into the Oval Office and establish a close relationship with her the way Obama had with Biden. I also like the possibility of a Whitmer/ Warnock or Warnock/ Whitmer ticket, but we need Rev. Senator Warnock too badly right now in Georgia to help maintain a Democratic Senate majority.
There will be many losers in Operation Swords of Iron (the name Israel has given to the current conflict), but I don’t see that Israel has any viable choices other than to take out Hamas. Although they would never admit it, the leaders of many countries in the Middle East will breathe a sigh of relief if or when Israel does. Given the presence of all the hostages, I’m glad I didn’t have to make the decision about whether or when to invade Gaza.
I agree that the deaths of so many Gazan children is a catastrophe, but I resent people telling me that I am a horrible person for saying that, right now, I am prioritizing Israeli lives and the safety and existence of Israel.
Among the losers of this war will be Americans of Arab descent. This is also true of Arab American professionals. I used an Arab obstetrician when I was pregnant with my daughter many years ago. I would never choose to use an Arab physician again, though I admit that I would not have a choice of doctors in an ER, for example. I know that it sounds bigoted of me. About five years ago, I told an ex-friend (a MAGA Republican) off about this kind of bigotry. The Muslim population of this country is following in the steps the Jews followed years ago and going to medical school in large numbers. Even Mount Sinai Hospital in New York employs many physicians with Muslim names and women physicians who wear hijabs. I am furious that I have not heard of a single Arab American group that had a word to say in public about the atrocity on October 7th and before Gazan children started dying in large numbers. I am particularly incensed that no Arab American medical group has spoken out, at least not that I am aware. In my view, people who didn’t speak out on October 7th have no right to criticize Israel now. If you or your Middle Eastern friends know of any such groups that spoke out in the immediate aftermath, I hope you or they will correct me.
Elite American colleges and universities will also be losers in this war. Back when I was in college in the 1970s, these academic institutions were about 30% Jewish. Their Jewish alumni (as well as some non-Jewish ones) are now battling college and university presidents who allow support on their campuses for Students for Justice in Palestine, a hate group that is apparently part of Hamas. (At a minimum, the SJP appears to have ties to Hamas.) The single largest donor in my college class (who, rumor has it, gave more money one year than the rest of us in our class combined) and some of the largest donors, in general, to my alma mater are Jews.
Thank you for your column, Dr. Geller. Please feel free to post your ice cream column. We would probably all benefit from reading it more now than ever before.
October 30, 2023 at 12:31 pm
Dear Dr. Geller,
I am starting to wonder if Golda Meir is capable of uttering anything that is not part of a propaganda campaign. Her infamous quote “there was no such thing as Palestinians” was brilliant in gathering support for the Jewish state but utterly false. The quote you just posted is new to me but equally disturbing.
November 28, 2023 at 1:14 pm
Dear Suha,
It is so interesting, and so disturbing, that we can grow up with such differing views of history. We both, of course, understand that each nation filters history to suit its own needs and goals. Perhaps that is unavoidable since we can not expect any nation to look at a history that would be disadvantageous. Golda Meir, in my reading of history, was wise and humane, genuinely and openly caring for the non-Jews of the Middle East as well as the Jews. Although, as I wrote, I grieve at the sight of children, women and men in Gaza undergoing so much suffering and so many of them dying, these horrors seem inevitable after the events of October 7th that were so horrific there is no way of justifying them, not even injustices done in the past to the people of Gaza. I am not, by nature, a warrior type but I don’t see that Israel has any choice but to eradicate Hamas and, in the short period until the next atrocity occurs, try to find peace and a lasting two-state solution. I am decidedly not a fan of Netanayu and hope his successor will have the judgement and decency of an Itzhak Rabin or a Golda Meir. There was once an agreement, as you will recall, that did establish the start of a solution and that seemed quite fair to those then who called themselves Palestinians, negotiated by the Clinton administration. It was abandoned by Arafat, leading Clinton to say, “I killed myself to give the Palestinians a state.” (https://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/bill-clinton-palestinians-israel-223176). If you were leading Israel, what would you have done the day after October 7?
November 27, 2023 at 3:12 pm
Whitman/Warnick or Whitman/Booker would be my Dream Team. If it’s Trump in 2024, we’re heading for Canada, where my wife holds
citizenship. Now let’s have some ice cream; or, even better, gelato!
November 28, 2023 at 12:09 pm
Lucky you, Dr. Sachar! Hopefully, it won’t be necessary for any of us to leave this country.
Gov. Whitman seems to be at the top of most people’s lists to replace President Biden. Much as I like Biden, I hope he gets that message soon.
My daughter treats me to Van Leeuwen ice cream whenever I visit her in New York. Try that brand, if you can. It has become my favorite. I suppose that it is fortunate that I would have to drive from the Bay Area (where I live) to Los Angeles to reach the nearest Van Leeuwen ice cream shop.
November 28, 2023 at 12:17 pm
🤞
November 6, 2023 at 7:17 am
Dear Stephen,
I could not avoid meditating on your dilemma regarding Vietnam, and then – Trump’s administration leading you to think of Paris or Tel Aviv.
Back in 1970, as a 19 years old kid, I served as a soldier in Gaza. It was already then, that I thought that the Israeli government had made a terrible mistake by submitting to the orthodox Jewish parties demands, claiming that god had returned the biblical lands to “his” people.
Gaza was Israel’s first Vietnam. General, then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was the “Israeli Richard Nixon” – who had pulled Israel out of the Gaza swamp.
In 1982 I served as a reserve soldier in the Lebanese war (The 1st one, the 2nd one would take place in 2006). More and more soldiers lost their lives in a guerrilla warfare which had made zero contribution to Israel’s security. Now, it was the turn of General, then, Prime Minister Ehud Barak, to pull the Israeli army out of the Lebanese swamp. (many demonstrations pushed for it).
As these words are being written, Israel is still drowning in the swamps of the West Bank. Only an American president can twist Israel’s hand behind its back and impose a withdrawal. The Israeli governments are held hostages in the hands of the religious.
If I would have still been in the reserve army (I served until the age of 55 in reserve) I would have refused to show up and serve in the West Bank. The October 7 catastrophe reached such a scale, because most of the Israeli army was deployed in the West Bank, protecting Israeli settlements, almost no troops had been deployed next to the Gaza strip.
It is amazing how much blood has to be spilled in order to correct mistaken decisions made by politicians. It is amazing how politicians in a “representing democracy”, who are supposed to act for the people, in the name of the people, are causing misery and tragedies.
I see both Trump and Netanyahu voted in by the ignorant mob, by the “Forrest Gumps”. Many Israelis feel that their country had been pulled from underneath their feet, in a similar way to Trump’s administration. I don’t think you could have lived in Tel Aviv, not because of the language barrier, but the cultural difference. In my youth, Israel was a European, Western oriented society. My parents lived like Diogenes in a barrel so that we could have extra English lessons, French lessons, Piano and violin lessons, extra education in the school of the fine arts. In those days, many of the teachers in Hebrew U and Technion were more comfortable in German than in Hebrew. Those days are over. Israel is a harsh, impatient, rude, loud, disrespectful middle eastern country, with western bubbles here and there. I spend much time in France, although very little in Paris, mainly in a tiny town in the south, very rural. Sad to admit – I feel at home there, more than in Tel Aviv.
Unlike Trump, who described George Washington marching to Trenton in January 1777, crossing the frozen Delaware River, “taking the airports” – Netanyahu is not such an idiot. Selfish and corrupt, he is stuck like a headless rusty nail, surrounded by the worst idiots one could imagine, as a shield around him. I do hope that the October 7 catastrophe would enable to uproot him. So far, he had managed to poison his constituency and throw the blame on those who criticize him.
Reversing Wade vs. Roe is alarming, yet the tip of the iceberg in comparison to religion taking over in Israel. Soldiers are sent to Gaza without ceramic bulletproof vests, and at the same time, billions are channeled to Yeshivas.
May be, if I would have been 18 again, knowing what Israel would look like in 2023, I would have chosen Denmark. Too late….
P.S.
Doctors in Israel earn peanuts in comparison to their counterparts in the US. 25% of all the Israeli doctors work in the US. The others are all idealists.
Looking around – I should consider myself to be among the luckier ones.
Thank you for sharing these thoughts which had triggered mine. Best regards to Kate.
November 28, 2023 at 1:31 pm
Dear Ze’ev,
I am always grateful for your comments which teach me new ways to look at recent and past history. The West Bank is another horror story and Netanyahu (and, for different reasons, Trump) will eventually be relegated to the waste basket of misguided and destructive tyrants (Trump will be relegated to a different level of hell reserved for the ignorant). I hope both of our countries find the ways forward that reflects our better instincts.
Denmark may be the place …
In response to this blog a younger (60ish) Lebanese-American friend of mine responded with some harsh words about Golda Meir, prompting me to think about how history can be so different in different countries. She particularly noted comments by Meir that question the historical existence of a Palestine before there was an Israel. My parents taught me that she was a wise, humane and courageous woman in a time of heroes. In my friend’s view, most of what she said was propaganda.
Best wishes and warm regards.
We are no longer Californians but live permanently in New York. If your travels take you this way, we would love to see you again.
November 28, 2023 at 12:31 pm
This is a lively exchange of ideas. I very much agree with my long-time friend and wonderful person Dr. Karen Rappaport. I am so disappointed that the horror of October 7th seems to be forgotten in the (unavoidable) horror of Gaza bombings and, further, that “progressive” democrats don’t understand that Israel has no choice. The poor people of Palestine are imprisoned by Hamas and do not have the arms or, perhaps, the determination to rid themselves of Hamas so the dirty task is left to Israel. Perhaps, after Hamas is completely eradicated (again Israel has no choice but to do so) there will be enough time before the successor group to Hamas (obviously young Palestinians now have no choice but to hate Israel) arises for Israel’s neighbors to do enough to have the region acknowledge Israel’s existence and, with Israel’s participation, make the entire area more prosperous and less inclined to acts of terror.
November 28, 2023 at 2:00 pm
My late older brother, an eminent historian, Howard Sachar, used to say he’d flunk any student who said, “The truth lies in between.” Israel and the Palestinians both have their truths. There is no “in between”; any solution has to recognize and accommodate BOTH truths.