It’s about 10 a.m. In about an hour, we are scheduled to leave for the Rally for Israel on the National Mall. Maybe I will divide today’s post into two posts – a short one now, and a short one after we return from the Mall. I don’t know exactly what to expect.

Here is what I know: There has been a lot of publicity, not only locally but around the country. And there are a lot of people, a lot of buses, and a lot of groups heading here for the event. I had read that the organizers had originally expected 60,000 people. My guess is there will be more. There have been much larger rallies over the past week or two in London and Paris for example – over 100,000 in Paris at an anti-antisemitism rally last weekend. I know there are many coming to town from the New York area (as always), and I am sure from elsewhere.

We are meeting up with a group from our synagogue, Adas Israel. Now, we are a very large congregation, and located a few Metro stops from the Mall, and I expect there will be a few hundred in our group alone. And if we are having a synagogue group rallying together, you can assume that all other local synagogues are doing the same (that would be 50+), as well as all sorts of organizations, including the local Jewish Federation, which is I think (maybe along with the Jewish Community Relations Council) is the lead organizer.

The problem as I see it (I always seem to see the problems) is that this rally has three foci, which are not necessarily congruent. One, it is a rally to have Hamas release the 240 or so Israeli hostages it is holding. This is something that I assume everyone in the rally is supporting – and it is the least likely of the three to be influenced in any way whatsoever by the rally. It will be a good showing, of course, but – as the Bard would say –
probably “signifying nothing”.

The second goal of the rally is to denounce antisemitism. This again is something that everyone rallying will be in agreement on. Who wants antisemitism? (Of course, the antisemites do – or perhaps they just can’t help themselves) And reducing (you can’t eliminate, can you?) antisemitism is crucial nationwide and worldwide. We do, as a nation, have to figure out the relationship between antisemitic talk or action, and freedom of speech and expression. With a Supreme Court that has been anxious to call everything “speech” (like political contributions are speech) and to give entities (like corporations) the right to free speech as well as individuals, we have not only become victim to the goals of the rich and powerful, but we have become confused as to what the First Amendment really protects. We need to get over that – religious or ethnic or national bias should not be allowed. Full stop.

The third goal of the rally is to “support Israel”. This is where, I am sure, things will get confusing. And, of course, we are all confused about this anyway outside of the rally. There may be general agreement on this point, but no overall agreement. And the rally does not itself have a political slant. The organizers went out of its way to make this an inclusive event. The right wing Zionist Organization of America will be present, and the left wing Americans for Peace Now will both be represented. One group wants blind support for Israel; the other conditions its support on the nature of Israel’s military activity. Potentially, there will also be some of the fringier Jewish groups which are even more pro-Palestine, and would like to see major changes in Israeli policy or even the elimination of the Jewish state and the substitution of something else.

To me, this will make for confusion. There will be disagreement on this point amongst those rallying, and there will certainly be disagreement in the audience directed towards those making speeches. As I understand it, there will be a “variety” of speakers – we will see how that works.

Is it also possible for antisemites or pro-Palestinians to get into the rally grounds on the Mall? Of course, but everyone will have to go through metal detectors (you know what that means for a crowded rally) and, in theory, nothing that looks dangerous will be allowed in. That means not only no guns (ha, ha), but no lasers, and no selfie sticks, and no signs on sticks or poles, etc. This should make the rally safe. As should the hundreds of security officers (police and others) who will be both on the site and at the periphery.

BULLETIN: Our daughter Hannah is going out of town for several days today, and – as our son-in-law Andrew is a high school teacher with a rather inflexible schedule – we have partial responsibility for grand child care. It was to start with picking up our 3 year old grandson from pre-school around 4:30 or 5. But we just heard that our 8 year old grand daughter is being sent home from school because of conjunctivitis. We will pick her up and bring her here and that means two things: (1) We won’t be going to the rally after all, and (2) Probably no need for a second blog post this afternoon. To quote Kurt Vonnegut: “so it goes”.