Almost as long as I’ve been writing these messages - give or take three years now - many readers have emailed or messaged me asking me to weigh in or take sides on some of the critical and sometimes contentious issues being debated and even fought over in Israel and among the Jewish people today.

I have resisted the call to do so, for several reasons.

My father taught me how to debate, usually around our shabbat table. He had a demanding approach, putting forward an opinion (on a commentary on the weekly torah portion, or current events, and the like), supporting it, and then soliciting an expected response from each of my siblings and I. An opinion, once expressed, had to be supported - with facts, examples, and logic. At the same time, he taught us that we weren’t well served by a dogmatic or one dimensional approach. Often enough, he’d abruptly stop the discussion, switch the side he was advocating for, and prompt us to take on the opposite perspective from the one we had been advocating moments before.

This forced us to consider a different perspective. But we were still often enough unequipped with the facts or experiences, even if we had learned the logic. So, for my part, I read, and I learned, and found those areas where my curiosity and my desire to have an informed opinion intersected. What I didn’t have, certainly not in those days, was experience.

Why am I sharing all of this with you?

A major reason for my hesitation on weighing in on controversial issues in Israel is simply that I have learned to be humble about things I haven’t experienced, been responsible for, or haven’t yet considered from all sides.

Aside from the obvious considerations that representative and collaborative organizations like ours need to maintain political neutrality both by virtue of our nature as a charitable endeavor as well as the breadth of perspectives among our constituency, I do not feel empowered to direct, advise, or criticize the choices of Israelis. Neither as an organization, as described, nor as an informed individual. I can state (and I have) a perspective without making a critical or partisan argument.

In this conceptual frame, there are some things that I’m not going to venture to address even if I have my own perspective based on limited knowledge, responsibility and experience, and given the apolitical nature and religiously broad constituency of our organization.

This is not to say we have no strong opinions. Stating that we are Zionist, that we internalize the movement of Jewish peoplehood and self determination in our ancestral homeland is not political, it is the 3500 year heritage of every Jew. Stating that our community is targeted and vulnerable to hate and we will take every step, build every relationship, and seek every redress to ensure its safety is not political, it is responsible. Opposing blood libels, lies, betrayal by those we stood with and silence from those we fought for, is not political, it is self preservation. Stating that Israel is the ancestral, aboriginal homeland of the Jewish people, and that opposing its existence or legitimacy is vastly different than opposing the policies of its current government isn’t political, it is existential.

Nonetheless, with all these reasons and rationales, there is one truth even more important than all the others.

We are in a struggle for our future and our existence. We can not afford to be weak or vulnerable. Disunity makes us weak and vulnerable. I will not advocate for anything that diminishes Jewish resilience and strength, and neither will this Federation. Disagreement is fundamental to our heritage. It is the foundation of our ancient methods of learning and discourse. But it is also the place where, (with credit to Hegel) the synthesis of compromise and unity takes place. Of course we can argue, as long as it is “L’shem shamayim” - for the sake of heaven.

As I’ve said these past two years to many individuals, groups, and leaders, I believe that if the unity and consequent resilient strength of the Jewish people is not at the top of your agenda, then get out of the way, and let someone for whom that is paramount do the job. I hope to live up to that advice every day.