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A hypothetical based on a real-world situation, not at Temple Emanuel, but at another Jewish organization:\n\nImagine you are on the rabbinic search committee for some institution near and dear to your heart: shul, Hillel, federation. You read the resume of a candidate. Superb. Excellent education. Deep experience at Jewish summer camp. Has lived Judaism in a rich journey. Doing exceptionally well in rabbinical school. You go into the interview very favorably disposed. At the interview, you like this candidate. You feel a connectivity. Chemistry is good. Then you ask this candidate about Israel.\n\nThe candidate responds: I am not anti-Zionist. I am just not into Israel. I want to teach Torah, mitzvah, Shabbat, chagim, tikkun olam, a Torah of love and bridge-building. And I can\u2019t do that with Israel. Israel is just too divisive. Israel does not build bridges. It creates rallies and counter rallies. So I am not against Israel, it\u2019s just not part of my religious identity nor will it be a part of my rabbinate.\n\nShould we hire this candidate, reject this candidate categorically, or reject this candidate with some ambivalence?\n\nHere is a lens. At the upcoming Pesach s\u2019darim, there is that classic kneged arbaah banim, The Four Children. The voice that says \u201cI am very into Judaism. I am training to be a Rabbi to teach Torah and mitzvah. But I am not into Israel. I am not anti-Zionist, I am just not a Zionist\u201d\u2014is that Wise, Wicked, Simple, or the One Who Does Not Know what to Ask?\n\nOne last layer of complexity: Last year Hebrew College\u2019s Rabbinical School changed its admissions policies so that intermarried rabbis can get admitted and ordained (a move that I enthusiastically agreed with and supported). How do you think of the non-Zionist rabbi in the larger context of the fact that intermarried rabbis are now being admitted and ordained? Are you good with both? With neither? With one but not the other, and if so, how does your thinking work?\n\nComplexity. It may be coming soon to a seder table near you.\n\n