November 2, 2017
Dear Friends,
Today,
November 2nd, is -- or, at least, it used to be -- a special day of celebration for Jews on the Gregorian calendar. Even now, long after it has ceased to be observed, it is a day on which we should reflect on what it means to live in a world in which there is a Jewish state -- and what the world was like when Jewish sovereignty was but a dream..
Today, November 2nd,
commemorates an event that took place 100 years ago. It now may seem trivial, but in fact it was instrumental in establishing a Jewish homeland.
It was on November 2nd, 1917 that Lord Arthur Balfour wrote a letter on behalf of the British government to Lord Walter Rothschild, a wealthy British Jew and a leader of the British Zionist Federation expressing support for a Jewish homeland. The letter includes a one-sentence declaration which has come to be referred to as the "Balfour Declaration."
Lord Balfour
You can read the Declaration and the letter containing it here:
The Declaration was exciting and highly encouraging for Jews, especially Zionists. For it put the British government on record as supporting Jewish Zionist aspirations. And that meant that one day, perhaps, Jews might be able to re-establish sovereignty in their ancient homeland.
At the time, the Land of Israel was ruled by the Turks, so one might have thought this a purely symbolic gesture, but Great Britain and her allies were fighting the Turks, and it was already anticipated that they might succeed in wresting control of Palestine from them. Indeed, this happened within weeks. On December 11, 1917, General Allenby dismounted from his horse and, in a sign of humility and respect, entered the city of Jerusalem on foot.
(General Allenby entering the City of Jerusalem on foot; December 11, 1917.)
Thus began a new era of Jewish history: For the first time in about 2,000 years, the Land of Israel -- then referred to as Palestine -- was under the control of an empire that "view[ed] with favor" the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people." Extraordinary.
Think about it: Today, when we want to celebrate Jewish national sovereignty, we do so on Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel Independence Day. But before the state was created, all that we Jews had to reinforce our dreams were expressions of support by foreign governments. The prize among them was the Balfour Declaration. For years, Jews celebrated its promulgation as a Zionist holiday, and the name "Balfour" was a name of honor within the "Yishuv," or Jewish community of Palestine. The mother of a friend of mine (Rabbi Shai Held who, incidentally, has taught here at Temple Aliyah) was born in Poland between the two World Wars. She was given the name "Balfura" in honor of the man and the declaration delivered in his name.
Of course, not all the inhabitants of Palestine greeted the Balfour Declaration with joy and excitement. The "existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine" referred to in the Declaration may have wondered about their own future in the land. As the British Palin Commission of Inquiry later (1920) saw it: "It is said that the effect of the Balfour Declaration was to leave the Moslems and Christians dumbfounded... It is impossible to minimise the bitterness of the awakening. They considered that they were to be handed over to an oppression which they hated far more than the Turk's and were aghast at the thought of this domination."
Why did the British government issue the Balfour Declaration? If the Balfour Declaration expressed the support of the British government for a Jewish state, and the British took control of Palestine only a month or so later, why did it take until 1948 for a Jewish state to be declared?
To explore these and other questions about the Balfour Declaration, I encourage you to do three things:
First
, listen to Rabbi (Lord) Jonathan Sacks speaking in, yes, the House of Lords, about the significance of Lord Balfour's Declaration. (It's an excellent two-minute, succinct clip.)
Second
, take a look at the following website set up by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, which includes many essays and videos, here.
Third
, sign up for my adult education course entitled, "Four Milestones in the History of the Modern State of Israel." In it we will study four significant events whose anniversaries we are observing this year: The First Zionist Congress in 1897 (which I discussed in one of my High Holiday sermons, accessible here), the Balfour Declaration in 1917, the UN vote to establish a Jewish and an Arab state in Palestine in 1947, and the Six Day War in 1967. Our course will be based on a curriculum prepared by the Hartman Institute that includes videos and texts. Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP) has generously paid for the cost of acquiring this curriculum from the Hartman Institute.
If you would like to sign up for this course, which will take place on Tuesday evenings after minyan, beginning on November 7th, please register here.
Looking forward to seeing you next Tuesday. In the meantime, Happy Balfour Day!
