The Great Synagogue of Budapest was built about 150 years ago.  With pews for 3000, it is the biggest, most ornate synagogue in all of Europe, its grandiose appearance resembling a cathedral more than a synagogue.  Today it is a tourist site and a reminder of the glorious past of the Hungarian Jewish community.

My family and I went to Hungary for the Sukkot holiday.  We wanted a vacation spot that was not too far away, not too expensive, with pleasant weather, and where we could spend an enjoyable week together. 
We devoted our first day in Budapest, on the eve of the festival, to learning about the city's Jewish heritage.

We started out at Chabad House, where we made reservations for meals during Sukkot, and then we walked a little further up the street to the Great Synagogue of Budapest.  The Great Synagogue has many claims to fame, including being the synagogue where Theodore Herzl, the visionary of the State of Israel, had his bar mitzvah.  Alongside the synagogue itself is the cemetery where a small number of murdered Jews of the Budapest ghetto are interred in mass graves, low mounds in the fenced graveyard.

Next to the synagogue, build on land where Herzl's house once stood, is the Jewish Museum.  This unpretentious little institution contains mostly Judaica from the Hungarian Jewish community.  At the end of the small museum is a room with photos and relics of the Budapest ghetto and the 600 thousand Jews whom the Nazis exterminated during their efforts to wipe out the Jewish population of Hungary.

I moved slowly among the pictures of bodies in mass graves and of trains on their way to the death camps, every so often glancing at my children to see how they were reacting to this difficult exhibit.  One cannot ignore the contrast between the beautiful, vibrant city outside the building and the horrific role the city played some 70 years ago.  My happiness of the morning was replaced by a somber sadness.

After visiting the Jewish Museum, we continued our walking tour of the city.  We crossed the Danube, the river that divides "Buda" from "Pest", and went up Buda Castle Hill to get a panoramic view of the city.  But the museum continued to cast its shadow over me the entire time, on the hill, on our way back to the hotel, and all during our preparations for the festival that evening.

We dressed in our holiday finery, lit the festival candles, and hurried to the synagogue at Chabad House for Sukkot services.  As I listened to the prayer leader's repetition of the Amidah, I found myself looking out the window onto the busy street below, seeking out the Great Synagogue of Budapest.  Then the realization hit me like a shock: I, a Jewish Israeli, a father of four, a tourist, was praying across the street from a visible reminder of the past glory of the Hungarian Jewish community.  I was struck anew by the wonderful miracle that is the existence of Israel.

Israel rose from the ashes of the concentration camps and death camps, the ghettos and countless other hellholes.  The survivors became pioneers and helped establish Israel -- a free, sovereign, prosperous country.

My thoughts continued to wander, from the miracle to the growing numbers of Jews around the world who are alienated from Israel, who do not identify with it, who emphasize only its many faults and failings, who ignore the historical miracle that it represents and the fact that it is a source of pride, the basis for belonging, and a safe refuge for all Jews everywhere in the world.

I thought: The terrible past is still fresh and real, its horrors still recounted by eyewitnesses.  It is not just the past that is so threatening - the future does not feel secure.  Hatred and persecution of Jews still exist, and have in fact increased in recent years. 

Even if the "real Israel" often falls short of being the "ideal Israel", even if it is not a perfect society, even if it is tainted with the same human failings that plague every other country in the world - corruption, egoism, hardheartedness, mistreating the "other" - this does not negate the fact that Israel is "the Jewish State of all the Jews".

Even the Torah, beginning with the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the Patriarchs, acknowledges that our world contains not just love and fraternity, but also lies, jealously, murder and fraud.  All Jews, whoever they may be, should feel connected to Israel and feel the country is connected to them.  It is perfectly legitimate to criticize, to try to improve things, even to complain, but it must be as a supporter and partner and not as one trying to delegitimize Israel's very existence.

Some of my friends believe that only those who live in Israel have the right to criticize it.  I disagree, and declare that the Jews of the Diaspora have the right - nay, the duty - to criticize.  But the criticism must come from a place of belonging, of a feeling that we share the same fate, and from a willingness to contribute and build together.

The Great Synagogue of Budapest is just one more reminder of the historical process in which we play our part.  Although Israel is a miracle, it is "a miracle in progress", with no guarantee that it will last forever.  A people without its own state are weaker and more vulnerable, more at risk of persecution and attack.  Without Israel, without a piece of real estate to call our own, a place where we live as sovereign beings and not at the whim of others, the Jewish people will once again be weak, persecuted, and vulnerable.  All Jews must feel committed and connected to Israel, and must work to continue the miracle.

Sagi Melamed lives with his family on Mitzpe Hoshaya in the Galilee.  He serves as VP of External Relations at the Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, and as the head instructor at the Hoshaya Karate Club.  Sagi received his MA degree from Harvard University in Middle Eastern Studies, specializing in conflict resolution.  Contact Sagi at: Melamed.sagi@gmail.com

November 2011