Dear President-elect Rivlin:

I join with the rest of the Jewish world in wishing you congratulations and offer­ing thanks to you for taking on the impor­tant mantle of leadership that is symbol­ized in the Presidency of Israel.

As Diaspora Jews get to know you, I am sure that they will be moved—as I have been—to learn about your family’s auspi­cious history in Jerusalem, your impressive political career, and about the reputation for integrity that you have accumulated in Israel’s sometimes messy political system. They will also be encouraged by your role in preserving Israel’s democratic character by combating anti-democratic legislative efforts, which have been on the rise in re­cent years.

At the same time, however, they will in­evitably come across two pieces of infor­mation that will make them cautious and concerned about your presidency.

The first pertains to your ideas about the integrity of the Land of Israel and your hope that it is not ultimately divided into two states. In the American Jewish com­munity, this ideology is considered perni­cious; and were it to be expressed by Jews on the left, it would be considered political heresy. Nevertheless, to your credit, in your opening remarks after your election you ac­knowledged that it is not your role to lead or dictate political realities in Israel but to provide broad support and leadership for the political system as a whole, and you ex­pressed a desire to represent the Israeli po­litical consensus, rather than your own par­ticular ideology.

I am writing to ask that you consider extending this generosity of spirit to the second issue of concern that will arise for many American Jews as they learn about you—your comments of some years back in which you referred to Reform Judaism as avodah zarah—literally foreign wor­ship, but more idiomatically translated as “idolatry.” Perhaps it seemed unlikely to you when you passed this judgment that it would one day be a condemnation associ­ated directly with the titular leadership of the State of Israel; you called it as honest­ly as you saw it.

But there are three critical reasons— which I present in ascending order of im­portance—why it is essential today that you not only retract those words but also work to heal the rift between the Jewish people and Israel that it creates, and to alle­viate the skepticism that many liberal Jews in America are already experiencing about your ability to lead the Jewish State.

First, it is in your own strategic interest. As foreign as its practice may seem to you, given your personal traditions and ances­try, Reform Judaism is the largest denom­inational movement in America and the broadest religious umbrella under which American Jews congregate. Reform Judaism has hallmarks of being a uniquely Ameri­can phenomenon, which means that Amer­ican Jews will invariably—perhaps un­consciously—interpret an attack on their Judaism as a slight to their Americanness.

This is not a moment for the Jewish people to create such deep dissent in our own ranks about the importance of the State of Israel for a meaningful Jewish iden­tity. With dissatisfaction by American Jews about issues of religious pluralism in Isra­el growing, words that delegitimize the au­thenticity and integrity of this broad spec­trum of American Jewry create distance, rather than narrowing the gaps between American Jews and Israel. Your own presi­dency, and the needs of the State of Israel, will suffer from this.

Second, there is no credible way for the State of Israel to pursue its stated aim of being the nation-state of the Jewish peo­ple while alienating and discrediting a sig­nificant portion of those very people. One of the moral obligations of your leadership will be tested in your willingness to un­derstand, empathize with, and ultimate­ly validate the needs and interests of your people—well before you can begin to pur­sue an agenda of steering your people on a course that you would consider to their betterment.

The Jewish people of today are, for better or worse, a complex and wildly di­verse community. The conditions brought about by modernity, and the societies in which we live, have enabled the flourish­ing of Jewish eclecticism. And while it may seem paradoxical, pluralism and diversity are essential elements of what we think of as Jewish peoplehood. Though this idea is often lost on those who would use Jewish peoplehood as a blunt instrument against dissenters, a key part of the Jewish histor­ical commitment to the idea of the Jewish people was rooted in the belief that this na­tional identity transcended particular be­haviors and practices: “An Israelite who sinned is nevertheless an Israelite.” (BT San­hedrin 44a)

The novelty of this rabbinic move was meant precisely to preserve an ethnic whole—a people—in spite of massive ide­ological and behavioral differences. If you wish to preserve a presidency, which un­der Shimon Peres has sought to represent the Jewish people as a whole, and if you be­lieve that the State of Israel is meant to be the political manifestation of the historical destiny of the Jewish people, it is counter­productive for you to maintain—much less to articulate—such a narrow-minded per­spective on what that peoplehood actual­ly entails.

But most importantly, it is critical that you engage with Reform Judaism, because there is what for you to learn. For all that may seem understandably foreign to you in Reform liturgy, there should be noth­ing foreign in the continued Reform Jew­ish commitment to the Jewish values of ethical living and social justice which serve as hallmarks of the movement, in the Re­form Movement’s continued investment in a meaningful Zionism and commitment to the State of Israel, and the abiding Re­form grand experiment of bringing Jewish tradition into dialogue—and even confron­tation—with the equally authentic Jewish values of engagement with the world and with the tools of critical inquiry.

Israeli politicians before you such as Shimon Peres and Knesset Member Ruth Calderon have learned key Jewish lessons from the laboratory of Jewish practice that Diaspora uniquely makes possible, and which can and should be meaningfully ab­sorbed into the texture of the State of Is­rael. My own institution, the Hartman In­stitute, was founded on the basis of and continues to be animated by Jewish val­ues as they have been developed in the Di­aspora. While no one expects you to forgo your own beliefs and commitments in pur­suit of pluralism, I suspect you will be sur­prised to realize that your Jewishness and your public service will be strengthened by engaging with Jews whose different com­mitments and practices may animate your own deeper understanding of your tradi­tion.

President-elect Rivlin, the Jewish peo­ple need your leadership. There is insta­bility in the Israeli political system, with many protagonists felled by scandal, and anxiety in the American Jewish establish­ment about what the future of leadership will look like. You have a moment to cul­tivate here, but it requires of you the hu­mility and the forward-looking ability to reconsider the narrative of the Jewish peo­ple that you will articulate in order to pave the way forward. A new narrative will be an asset to your work, more consistent with the aspirations of the State of Israel, and will strengthen your own understand­ing of the tradition. I implore you to take this step.

Respectfully, Yehuda Kurtzer

Yehuda Kurtzer is President of the Shalom Hartman In­stitute of North America. He has a doctorate in Jewish Studies from Harvard University and an MA in Religion from Brown University, and is an alumnus of both the Wexner Graduate and Bronfman Youth Fellowship pro­grams.

By Yehuda Kurtzer