July 24, 2015 | 8 Av, 5775
The Honorable Charles E. Schumer
United States Senate
322 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3203
Dear Senator Schumer,
My name is Daniel Reiser, and like you, I am a proud
American Jew. In May of 2016, I will be ordained a rabbi by the Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion -- the seminary of Reform Judaism. As part
of my rabbinical studies, my wife and I spent a year living, studying, and
working in Jerusalem. We care deeply about the state of Israel.
I have been following the Iran nuclear deal closely. I am
aware that many commentators believe that your vote for or against the Iran
deal will be a bellwether for other congressional Democrats. I am aware that
many of your other pro-Israel (and particularly, Jewish) constituents have been
lobbying hard for you to oppose the Iran deal. I am writing so that you will
hear a Jewish, pro-Israel voice that is in support of the deal, however hesitantly.
Like many, I worry about the risks of this deal. In
particular, I worry that the Iranian regime will use its newly restored cash
flow not for the betterment of its westward-looking youth population, but
rather to extend its destabilizing arm throughout the Middle East.
Additionally, I worry that the inspections process and the snapback option may
not be strong enough to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions with any certainty.
Unfortunately, life doesn't provide us with many certainties.
The best we can do is take cues from those who think critically.
In the realm of foreign affairs, I take cues from Jeffrey
Goldberg, who wrote last week in the Atlantic that critics of this deal seek “a
perfect solution to the Iranian challenge. There is no perfect solution. … It
is very difficult to stop a large nation that possesses both natural resources
and human talent, and a deep desire for power, from getting the bomb.”
In the realm of Jewish thought, I take cues from Yehuda
Kurtzer, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, who wrote last week in the Times of Israel that both the classical rabbinic tradition and
the modern Zionist project “insist on the possibility of the Jewish people assuming
a sense of agency to respond to historical realities and changing times. … It
is difficult for me to fathom a reality of Jewish politics in which the
normative position is so deeply risk-averse.”
I don’t know what will come of this nuclear deal. I believe
in President Obama when he says that this deal is “by a wide margin the most
definitive path by which Iran will not get a nuclear weapon.” I resonate with the president when he says, “Twenty years from now ... if Iran
has a nuclear weapon, it’s my name on this.”
One hundred years from now, when my great-grandchildren (God
willing) uncover this letter and see that “it’s my name on this,” will they say
that I made the right decision?
I say to you what I would say to them: “Who can possibly
know what is best for a person to do in life -- the few days of one’s fleeting
life? For who can tell a person what the future holds for him or her under the
sun?” (Ecclesiastes 6:12)
For these reasons -- with doubt and hope intermingled, as
ever -- I lend to you my voice as a proud American Jew who cares deeply about
Israel, and say: support the deal with Iran. It may not be certain, but nothing
ever is.
Sincerely,
Daniel Reiser