Rabbi’s Update 8/14/2026

Dear Friends:

This coming Monday I will join about 100 of my rabbinic colleagues in Manhattan for a sermon seminar sponsored by the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition. Most organizations of rabbis have sermon seminars around this time of year as rabbis are working on their High Holiday sermons. Some are focused more on the craft or technique of writing High Holiday sermons and some are focused more on preparing sermons on a specific topic.

As you can imagine, the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition’s seminar focuses on preaching about Israel and Jewish identity. I am particularly looking forward to the presentation by Rabbi David Ingber on “The Progressive Case for Israel.” Rabbi Ingber is the founding rabbi of an independent shul in New York called Romemu. It describes itself as "experiential, open-hearted, and irreverently pious.” With its location on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and its primarily young adult community, the attitudes of Romemu congregants towards Israel and Zionist are more diverse, shall we say, than those found in our shul. Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, the rabbi emeritus of B’nai Tzedek in Potomac and founder of the Zionist Rabbinic Coaltion, will give a brief presentation called “The Challenge of Inspiring and Uplifting Our Communities in a Time of Doubt, Division and Cynicism.”

I have always tried to be honest with you and sometimes use these Friday morning messages as an opportunity to develop a dialogue about what the tradition calls ענייני דיומא, an Aramaic phrase meaning “matters of the day.” Chief among them for many rabbis today is our relationship to Israel and Zionism. Let me lay my cards on the table: I am a Zionist. I was a delegate to the American Zionist Federation’s annual conference in my early 20s and was an unsuccessful candidate for delegate to the World Zionist Congress as recently as 2020. I believe that one of the key lessons of the Holocaust is than an independent Jewish state is an existential necessity for Jewish survival. I listen to Israeli music and watch Israeli television shows. If I am shopping and come across a “made-in-Israel” product I will almost always buy it even if it is more expensive than a competing item.

At the same time I am wondering how useful it is to insist on the term “Zionism.” I am far from the only Jewish professional who is thinkin about this, even though the Jewish Federations of North America last week fired a communications consultant for the crime of discussing this question with members of its Young Leaders Cabinet.

I think that support for Israel’s existence and well-being is crucial and non-negotiable. I feel far less strongly about the word “Zionism” because there is no agreed-upon definition of the word and people often assume things about someone who uses the term Zionist which are not accurate.

For evidence of this, you need go no further than the JFNA’s own research. A survey which it sponsored and which was published earlier this year reveals that while 88 percent of American Jews support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state, only 37 percent define themselves as Zionists. This result is fairly consistent among all age groups. When you do a deep dive into the results of this survey, you will discover that while many self-defined Zionists oppose the right-wing and hardline policies of the Netanyahu government, Jews who do not call themselves Zionists tend to assume that the term Zionism implies support for annexation of the West Bank and denial of Palestinian rights. 

As the fired consultant Matthew Berger said, “if the goal is to raise awareness of antisemitism and build allyship, then we have to understand the word ‘Zionism’ is being misconstrued. And we can either spend our energy trying to define it and fix that or use language that people are going to understand to open doors to engagement.”

This is something that I have been thinking about quite a bit, and if you have thoughts to share I would welcome hearing from you.

If you or someone you know is in need because of having been laid off, or has  lost benefits of some type and needs immediate help, please let me know. I can access limited funds through the Jewish Federation almost immediately. For longer-term help, the Hebrew Free Loan Society will loan up to $18,000 interest-free and the Jewish Federation has set up a hotline to access assistance at 703-JCARING.

As a reminder, I am having drop-in hours on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 4 at the shul. For my drop-in hours, you do not need to make an appointment -- that would negate the whole point of drop-in hours -- but I’d urge you to check and make sure I am there regardless as sometimes there are unavoidable pastoral or other emergencies which might take me away from the building. 

As always, if I can do anything for you or you need to talk, please contact me at rabbi@kehilatshalom.org rather than through the synagogue office. I am happy to meet you at the synagogue by appointment; if you want to speak with me it’s best to make an appointment rather than assuming I will be there when you stop by. 

Additionally, if you know of a Kehilat Shalom congregant or another member of our Jewish community who could use a phone call, please let me know.

L’shalom,

Rabbi Charles L. Arian