US Senator Chris Coons Pays a Visit

Only in Delaware would your brand-new United States Senator decide he wanted to attend your Confirmation Class.  The topic was Israel Advocacy.  The intended speaker was Hailey Soiffer, Foreign Policy Advisor to Sen. Ted Kauffman and now Senator Chris Coons.  She spoke.  She was amazing.  Turns out her Hebrew name is Channa and she first became politically active when she was only seven, picketing in front of the Soviet Embassy with her dad.  They held up signs to then-Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev, saying "Let My People Go!" (It worked).

But imagine the impact when Sen. Coons turned to teens from Congregation Beth Shalom, Congregation Beth Emeth and Adas Kodesh Shel Emeth and said, "the most moving thing my roommate said to me in my freshman year of college was "if there was a war,  I would be willing to die for Israel."  It was during the First Gulf War, and Israel was the target of Sadam Hussein's missiles.  As Sen. Coons learned more about his roommate, he discovered that his family were survivors of the Holocaust and that helped shaped his thinking on Israel.  This encounter also helped shape Sen. Coon's thinking about Israel (and that of course was the point).

Senator Coons implored the teens to appreciate their Confirmation education experiences and to learn as much about Israel as possible so that like the Senator's freshman roommate, our Delaware Jewish teens would also be able to tell Israel's story to their friends in high school and college.  He also told the teens how important that they be able to "bear witness" to the Holocaust, in order to make sure that it never happens again.  Sen. Coons made this plea on the date that Southern Sudan, the place most recently plagued by the horror of genocide in Darfur, was voting to become an independent country.  Senator Coons words were empowering and motivating.

On a very personal note, it was extremely gratifying working with Delaware rabbis from Adas Kodesh Shel Emeth and Beth Emeth to bring teens from Orthodox, Reform and Conservative backgrounds for shared learning under one roof.  I find this level of cooperation between colleagues to be exciting, path-breaking, and ripe with opportunities which will benefit the entire Jewish Delaware community.  Although Reconstructionist Temple Beth El was not a part of this program, my almost weekly, always enjoyable Hockessin coffee get-togethers with Rabbi Micah Becker-Klein ensure that next year all four movements will be bringing our teens together for group learning  And long before that, we will be gathering in two weeks at Temple Beth El on Friday night to share Shabbat dinner and worship services as a united community, celebrating our Jewish Federation of Delaware.

I am curently writing to you from the Rabbinical Training Institute outside of Baltimore, MD, where Conservative rabbis of all ages and backgrounds are in a five-day retreat with one another, exploring topics as diverse as Radical Judaism with Art Green and JTS Chancellor Arnie Eisen, to Jewish Relations with the Christian and Moslem World, with a special emphasis on JTS-pathbreaking outreach to Moslem and Christian Leadership in the Catholic and Protestant communities, with Rabbi Burt Visotsky.  I will be back in Wilmington Thursday night, just in time for my Confirmation Class at 6:30 pm and to prepare for a funeral......the life of the rabbi in a nutshell.