June 12, 2007 / 26 Sivan 5767

Dear Friends,

The cover story in Haaretz magazine this shabbat caused me great pain.  Pain over a person who was considered to have great promise for the future of the State of Israel.  Pain over a person raised and educated in this country in a Jewish-Zionist family, one of the leaders of Israel’s younger generation and one who filled many important positions in the Jewish world and in the State of Israel.

Many of you know personally Avraham Burg, who served as chairman of the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency Executive and as Speaker of the Knesset.  Ari Shavit’s interview with Mr. Burg in Haaretz on the occasion of the launch of his book is full of extremely distressing comments.  To mention just a few: the comparison between Israel and Germany on the eve of the Nazi’s rise to power; Mr. Burg’s recommendation that Israelis acquire foreign passports; the disconcerting quote that “to define the State of Israel as a Jewish state is the key to its demise”.  Unfortunately, these are not off-the-cuff comments. Avraham Burg admits that he dedicated three years to writing his book from which the quotes were taken.

As the State of Israel is licking its wounds from the Second Lebanon War and as Qassam rockets continue to shake Sderot and the Gaza perimeter communities, Avraham Burg chooses to disconnect himself from Israel and Israeliness.  To turn his back on them.  To besmirch life in Israel and to deny that Israel is the center of the Jewish People and the object of the Jewish People’s longing since its beginnings.  To see in it only what is lacking.  

Our Israel is different.  As the national home of the Jewish People, Israel has achieved in its 59 years of independence what no other people in the world has ever achieved.  From a Jewish population of 600,000 before the War of Independence, Israel has become the home of more than half the Jews in the world, many of them Holocaust survivors who endured the death camps and Nazi horrors.  

The tasks and challenges facing us are indeed many:  to realize the dream of peace and provide Israel’s residents with a life of tranquility and security; to strengthen the rule of law; to reinforce the foundations of Israeli society as one of equality, openness and democracy; to widen the common denominator among all segments of the Israeli public, including religious and non-religious, veterans and new immigrants, the center and the periphery; to deepen our commitment to Jewish heritage and Zionist values on which our lives here are based; to develop national priority areas and enable each and every young person in the Galilee and Negev to realize their full potential and find their rightful place among Israel’s leaders of tomorrow.

All this awaits us; at the same time, let’s look back and be proud of what we have already achieved.  There is place for criticism and for correcting mistakes, as long as we recognize what exists and look ahead to what still awaits us.  There is no place for destroying what we have and negating, as Avraham Burg unfortunately has done.

Besides the personal circle of life which each one of us has, we also have a national and social Jewish Zionist circle.  This is a circle to which we, members of the Board of Governors in Israel and the Diaspora as well as employees of the Jewish Agency and WZO, are committed and dedicated.

The Chafetz Chaim in his book Shmirat Halashon, speaks of ethical speech and guarding one’s tongue.  It is quite unfortunate that the words of Avraham Burg, which will most certainly be used by our enemies, do not correspond with the teachings of the Chafetz Chaim. 

 We will continue to work together for the sake of a State of Israel of high quality, for the sake of a better Jewish world and for a strong connection between the Jews of the Diaspora and Israel.