How Our havurah is Addressing
Israel-Palestine Issues
We members of the Narberth Havurah* hold a variety of views, and have a range of feelings, about the peoples, land and governments of Israel and Palestine. Some of us have deep connections to Israel and Palestine, and others do not. Some of us are actively working, learning, and engaging with ideas in this area, while others are not. This was evident in our facilitated three-part series held in the Spring of 2026, in which a majority of our members chose to participate. In the course of this process, each of us spoke and heard from others about their upbringing, experiences, questions, struggles and hopes for Israel and Palestine. Emerging from this process, we affirm the Havurah’s founding commitment to maintaining a Jewish community rooted in human dignity, peace, learning, growth, social justice, and inclusion.
We thus commit to the following:
Based on the concept of B’tzelem Elohim, meaning that we are all created in the image of the Divine, we oppose all oppression and the supremacy of any one people over others.
We condemn antisemitism as destructive and unacceptable in all its forms and expressions.
We hold that criticism of the policies and actions of the State of Israel is not inherently antisemitic.
We acknowledge generational and current traumas, including but not limited to the Holocaust, the Nakba, October 7, ongoing violence and dispossession in Gaza and the West Bank, and the continuing pain and human suffering of both Palestinians and Israelis.
We support Jews, Palestinians and others who are working toward a shared future grounded in equality and human rights for all.
We support opportunities for those interested in learning about Jewish and Palestinian histories, and about the realities of life in Israel-Palestine today.
We strive to create space for respectful expression across difference and to support members in navigating the complexities of this topic.
We confirm our desire to remain together in community as we continue to engage in dialogue and learning, seeking to understand each other’s perspectives and perhaps evolving our own.
*A Havurah is a small, Jewish community that gathers together for fellowship, learning, participatory prayer, support and celebration.
Source: “Havurah Judaism: The havurah movement and The Jewish Catalog blended Judaism with the 1960s counterculture,” from Sarna, Jonathan D. (2004), American Judaism: A History (Yale University Press, pp. 318-322).
