By JEREMY BURTON
As Zionism and the State of Israel established an elective democratic system for choosing its leaders for part of our people, and the State means that we can take care of ourselves, then for those of us not in the State of Israel, we must continue to cultivate networks – our own voluntary, participatory systems – where leaders are committed to power with, together, each other. If we do that, then we can continue to be an effective and consensual kind of community to take collective action in support of Israel and in support of all of our priorities.
We have come to see that speaking with one collective voice when we can allows us to be more powerful as a community and to have a greater impact on the issues that matter to us.
But in a voluntary community we don’t need to think about how we are building power over one another but we need to be thinking how we are going to build power together with one another. And power with one another requires us to find common ground among different interests and to focus on building our collective strength. And it’s rooted in mutual support, solidarity and collaboration.
Power with creates new possibilities from the very differences that exist amongst us. It emerges from the participants involved and grows stronger the more we put it to use. Power with gives us the strength to know that acting with immediate self-interest is not always our wisest course of action nor that one person or any one group should be in a position to know what is best for the others.
As Zionism and the State of Israel established an elective democratic system for choosing its leaders for part of our people, and to act powerfully in the spirit of tonight that the state of Israel is there to be a powerful defense that we can take care of ourselves, then the cultivation for those of us not in the State of Israel of these networks – our own voluntary, participatory systems – where leaders are committed to power with, together, each other, then we can continue to be an effective and consensual kind of community to take collective action in support of Israel and in support of all of our priorities.
Excerpted from "The Ethics of Public Leadership: Who Speaks for the Jews?" Yom Ha’atzmaut 5775, April 22, 2015, Temple Emanuel, Newton, Mass. Click here to view the full program
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