Alef: The NEXT Conversation

On Park Avenue

by Yoav Sivan

At almost 90 degrees at noon with 60 percent humidity on a Thursday, one may think the main difference between Manhattan and the Promised Land is that here Jews complain about the weather in Fahrenheit.

There is no better way to see the similarities between the two biggest Jewish communities in the world than observing how their members complain. Luckily God summoned a visit from a Jew from the Promised Land – Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu – to the Council of Foreign Relations on 68th Street and Park Avenue to help my cause.

While Netanayahu enjoyed the air conditioning and some refreshments at the Council’s New York office, two rallies took place across Park Avenue. It was 68th Street that parted the anti-Israel and the pro-Israel gatherings.

Walking down Park Avenue, I first encountered the anti-Israel rally. A handsome number of people, considering it was business hours on a weekday, were carrying signs that left little question as to their sympathies. A Palestinian flag gave some color to the otherwise severe scene.

Crossing the street toward the other rally, I realized it was a mirror image of the first. Both were dominated by a diverse group of Jewish people fervently supporting a cause about which they would refuse to compromise. “Israel wants peace,” blasted through a loudspeaker held by a kippah-covered redhead on the right bank of 68th Street. On the left bank, a woman in a blue t-shirt was holding a sign that read: “Palestinians hunger for Justice.” Thank God we all want the same thing.

“Bibi Sink the Ship Next Time”, read a sign on the right, adorned with two small flags. I approached the man, who together with the sign was waving a huge Israeli flag, probably larger than all the Israeli flags I have waved in my life combined. A proud Israeli? I wondered. He lived in Israel, he said, for four years when he was ten, but then his citizenship “expired.”

On the anti-Israeli side, the left side, of the street the best spot was taken by some 20 Hasidic Jews. There was no question about their Jewish affiliation (whoever is willing to wear a heavy black suit in such weather is a better Jew than me) and there was no question about their sympathies. Their “freedom for Gaza and all Palestine” placards, raised voices, and fierce eyes showed me that anti-Israel tendencies can unite Jews of different observance levels and backgrounds.

A photographer, an invested observer like myself, asked me for my take on this peculiarity. He didn’t like my theory that “they just have too much time on their hands,” so I tried to provide him with a description of their political reasoning. Some sects of Hasidim maintain that according to Jewish law, a Jewish statehood should be restored only by the Messiah. Since neither Herzl nor Netanyahu have established themselves as offspring of King David, they consider it heretical for Jews to take their national identity into their own hands.

My problem in understanding them, I shared with him, is probably my first theological reflection. Growing up in Netanya, Israel, I would pass through a Hasidic neighborhood on my way to school. Wearing shorts, I could never understand a belief system that would dictate that someone dress in a heavy black suit in this kind of summer heat.

I was probably about an hour on the scene, and while I did pass through the left bank, I spent most of my time on the right. I crossed back over 68th Street a couple of times to revisit the other side and to learn about the protesters positions, but I kept coming back to my own flag. On the right bank I had a nice conversation with a group of Israeli women, whom I approached after I heard them speak my language, Hebrew. They were like myself; our hearts are in the East, and we are at the ends of the West. (When I asked one of them whether she was a tourist from Israel, she said that it was Bibi who was the tourist.)

I was comfortable and felt welcome on the right bank of 68th Street, but not because I necessarily share their political goals (nor am I even sure what they are) or feel secure from anti-Israeli criticism. I felt at home there, as I feel at home in Israel, because I was among people who are unapologetic about the Israeli flag.

Crossing for a moment to the left bank, I got a pamphlet from a self-identified Jewish woman that read: “Israeli War Criminal Netanyahu: New York Says You Are Not Welcome Here!” Many organizations had undersigned the message. My favorite was “Jews Say No!” I think that both the right and the left banks could join this group.

Reading in the New York Times the next day I found out what Netanayhu said in his speech, but I realized that I had left the site while he was still enjoying refreshments and air conditioning at the Council. Neither I nor the participants waited to hear what he had to say before we complained.

That was an Israeli moment for me, as neither I nor my fellow Israelis-in-Israel ever waited to listen to what he, or other politicians had to say, before we complained.

Read more from Yoav Sivan.

Photos courtesy of Michael Priest Photography.

Read more posts from Issue #19: Israel.

Tags: Anti-Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu, Complaining, hassidim, jews, Park Avenue, Pro-Israel, Rally

Posted by Emily.Comisar@birthrightisraelnext.org, Thursday, August 19th, 2010, 10:57 am, Israel.