Sunrise over the Mount of Olives
Sunrise over the Mount of OlivesiStock

Dear Jeremy,

I spend an awful lot of time on the Mount of Olives, some would say too much. One of the reasons I spend so much time there is to educate myself. As a teacher of 32 years before making aliyah in 2007, I deeply value learning. The lessons to be learned from the pantheon of Jewish sages and Zionist leadership buried among the Mt. of Olives’150,000 holy souls offer us arguably the best and most compelling case for making the Mount of Olives a major centerpiece for Jewish education.

That pantheon not only includes the high profile A-listers most often cited like Menachem Begin, the Ohr HaChayim zt”l, Henrietta Szold and Rav Kook zt”l, to name just a very few. It also includes hundreds, if not thousands, whose stories deserve to be told as much as their more famous Jewish brothers and sisters.

Thanks to the many paeans written about him, including an expansive New York Times obituary, I learned that your father, Yitshaq Ben Ami z”l, whose grave I pass when walking through the beautiful Kehillat Yerushalayim section, is one of the most notable of those notables. I understand his 40th yahrzeit is coming up on the 7th of Tevet (January 8, 2025). Perhaps we’ll see each other there, although I doubt it given your father’s grave’s (bloc 18, row 9, grave 2) status listed as “neglected” in the City of David database.

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I also learned thanks to the renowned historian, Rafael Medoff, that when your father passed away on December 31, 1984, he was initially buried in Brooklyn, but when his wife Eve passed, in 2003, he was exhumed and they were buried together on the Mount of Olives, as per his instructions. You mentioned that “Dad had a deep sense of Jewish national pride. The Mount of Olives was a symbol of that national heritage, as well as the final resting place for prior generations of his family.”

The more I learned about your illustrious father, the more I grew to admire and respect him — from his 1930s Irgun efforts that brought more than 20,000 endangered Jews to Palestine to his larger-than-life Bergson Group struggle to rescue European Jewry from the Nazi death factories and so much in between. His grave reads simply, “husband, father, Zionist activist.” He deserved a far more extensive homage.

Perhaps that is why I, so many far more astute than I, and probably your father are so perplexed by your 180. One of those more astute leaders I was privileged to know was Isi Liebler who in a 2011 Jerusalem Post review of your book “A New Voice for Israel” observed that “In reality, had Yitshaq lived, I think he would almost certainly have been devastated and outraged to witness his son’s attitude toward Israel.” Although I’ve never seen any movement when passing by, I would imagine your father must be turning over in his grave.

Your father who struggled so valiantly to get Jews and arms to the nascent state must be appalled by J Street’s November 24th call for and advocacy of the withholding of arms for Israel. Fascinating that less than two months before Israel was forced to engage in its current existential war you penned a Forward oped “AIPAC’s attacks on J Street show how out of touch they are” that stated “The record clearly shows that J Street supports security assistance to Israel." The problem, Jeremy, is when I clicked on that link I got a “404 Not Found Error.” Obviously J Street duplicitously scrubbed that page supporting security assistance for Israel after it took its current anti-Israel arms embargo position.

Most recently, your support of ICC arrest warrants of Israel’s prime minister and former defense minister and your Israel-bashing trips for US legislators (e.g., my former Congressman, Jamaal Bowman attributed his virulently antagonistic anti-Israel attitude to his November 2021 J Street trip to Israel), serve as prime examples of J Street’s betrayal of Israel.

That said, as an educator, by far and away your worst breach of the Jewish People’s trust has been your corruption of the young and malleable Jewish mind. How many Simone Zimmermans and IfNotNow useful idiots are the products of J St. U and J St. Israel trips? That betrayal of an entire generation is something you cannot undo simply by scrubbing a website page.

Finally, on a more hopeful note, you are a young 62 years old, just over halfway to a hoped for ad meah v’esrim (until 120). That gives you plenty of time to realize the righteousness of your father’s ways and the errors of yours. I always say that had I been born Catholic my patron saint would have been St. Jude, the saint of the impossible and hopeless causes, but I do not believe that applies to you.

May you be blessed, God willing, with a long, long life and the wisdom to recognize and reverse human folly. When the time does come many decades from now, may you enjoy a hallowed Mount of Olives resting place next to and in total harmony with your awe-inspiring father z”l. Just remember that your kids and grandkids will only be able to visit you if Israel, contrary to J Street’s policy, maintains sovereignty in an undivided Jerusalem.

Am Yisrael Chai,

Jeff

Jeff Taubeis the former Israel director of the Zionist Organization of America.

Photo credit: Chevra Kadisha Kehillat Yerushalaim