Walking Tall on Martha's Vineyard

5/23/25

I usually try to avoid Five Corners on Sunday afternoons. 

The busy intersection at the entrance of Vineyard Haven is always a nightmare during the summer months, when our traffic-lightless island roads leave you struggling to get through. 

But even in the off-season, when the road is empty and traffic is light, I try my best to avoid the area on Sundays, where every week a group of Islanders stands protesting for a free Palestine and calling for the dismantlement of Israel.

I stay away because I don't want to argue, and quite frankly, I don't want to see it. I much prefer to live in my little bubble of belief that Martha's Vineyard is an idyllic refuge from the antisemitic rhetoric that's been plaguing the nation.

But when I accidentally drove by this week, I needed to do something. I couldn't just drive by without a bark. So I unrolled the windows of my car, turned on the music, and blasted—absolutely blasted—Am Yisrael Chai to the startled faces of the protesters and others driving by. 

A first for MV, no doubt. And a great honor.

I mention this only because too many of us have fallen into the trap of thinking these protests aren't antisemitic. Last year, I got into a lot of heat when I told the MV Times that the protest outside our festival was antisemitic. "It was only anti-Israel," I was told.

But this week we saw that, as a direct result of this rhetoric, Jews were targeted and blood was spilled in DC as the shooter shouted, "Free Palestine." This week it so happened to be Israeli embassy staff. Next week it could be you or me, G-d forbid. Nobody should be surprised. 

And it hurts to see people—politicians, community leaders, even rabbis—condemn the murders without identifying and mentioning the very clear and transparently obvious cause. 

What are they shying away from? Does a synagogue need to be shot up in the name of Palestine to realize it's antisemitic? Or is that not enough either? Perhaps two synagogues? Or do we need three?

As always, the weekly Parsha is a must-read and is a timely wellspring of wisdom and guidance.

Here's what it says in this week’s Parsha:

The first verse dispels the notion that the Jews’ attachment to Israel is a recent phenomenon:

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, to be your God.” — Leviticus 25:38

If we celebrate Passover, we must celebrate Israel. They are one and the same. We left Egypt to inherit the land of Israel—our everlasting homeland.

Our connection to Israel did not begin with the Zionist movement, and our presence in Israel is not one of occupiers. We are the indigenous people of any living group alive today. 

The second verse is equally, and perhaps even more, pertinent: 

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, so that you would no longer be slaves to them; I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright.” — Leviticus 26:13

It is easy to feel disheartened by the frightening rise of antisemitism in this country. And we should be alarmed. But G-d forbid—never afraid. Never bend. Never ashamed.  

This week's Parsha tells us that the most essential Jewish value—on par with leaving Egypt—is that we walk upright, that we be proud, that we be strong. 

We left Egypt not to be victims of another kind.

We left Egypt to receive the Torah at Sinai, to inherit the land of Israel, and to be a light upon the nations.

And we left Egypt to forever and always walk tall.

“I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright.”

So if you're at Five Corners on Sunday and you hear some Jewish or Israeli music blasting from a passing car, don't be confused. 

It’s just a Jew walking upright.

Rabbi Tzvi Alperowitz