{"id":60367,"date":"2021-03-26T15:48:50","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T21:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=60367"},"modified":"2021-03-26T15:48:50","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T21:48:50","slug":"off-the-pulpit-no-with-the-rope-around-their-necks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/off-the-pulpit-no-with-the-rope-around-their-necks\/","title":{"rendered":"Off the Pulpit: No \u2013 With the rope around their necks"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE<\/p>\n

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A few weeks after the first pogrom was the sixth Zionist Congress. There the \u2018Uganda plan\u2019 was proposed, the idea that Jews could be saved immediately by taking land in East Africa that was a British Protectorate and creating a Jewish state. Herzl among many other seriously entertained this plan since it would mean salvation from a possible catastrophe<\/p>\n

The Jewish love of the land of Israel and our history with the land goes back thousands of years and cannot be erased. In a dramatic moment, as the vote on the Uganda plan was taken, everyone\u2019s eyes were on the delegates from Kishinev. They had suffered, they were scared. They had lost friends and family members \u2013 surely they would recognize the need to escape. Yet, as their turn came the delegates of Kishinev unanimously and resoundingly voted \u201cno.\u201d Their \u201cno\u201d was turning point and a moving affirmation of love for Israel.<\/p>\n

Herzl was shocked: “These people have a rope around their necks, but they still refuse.” At this moment, according to Chaim Weizmann, Herzl became a true Zionist. He realized that it was not only about saving Jewish lives; it was about reviving the Jewish spirit in our ancestral homeland.<\/p>\n

(Rabbi David Wolpe is the senior rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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