The first national conference of J Street, the self-described “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobby, convened October 25 in Washington, D.C., with all the understated reserve of a new iPhone launch or the christening of the Queen Mary. Gathered in a swank hotel a short walk from the White House, some 1,500 activists from across the country sat through hours of speeches by big-shot politicians and diplomats, earnestly debated tactics and philosophy, handed out awards over chicken dinners and jabbered excitedly in the corridors. Outwardly it looked like any other major Jewish organization rallying its troops and flexing its muscles.
But this was, as J Streeters boasted and critics complained, no ordinary Jewish convention. These conventioneers were rallying not to defend Israeli actions and reaffirm Jewish virtue but to challenge and question. It’s no easy trick these days to convince 1,500 Jewish liberals to pay their own way to Washington for the purpose of fighting over Jewish values. J Street’s success in pulling it off surely earns them some bragging rights, whatever one thinks of their positions.
Up to a point, that is. J Street’s conference was an impressive feat, but it’s not quite the game-changer it’s been made out to be — at least, not yet. On examination, this shiny new vehicle turns out to have a few kinks built into its design. They’ll have to be addressed if the organization hopes to succeed.
The core problem is that J Street has two main stated goals, and they don’t really fit together. The first goal is to “broaden” the definition of what it means to be pro-Israel, to open up Jewish community discourse to a wider range of acceptable opinions. The second goal is to lobby for an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord that leads to a two-state solution. It became evident during the convention that you can’t do both.
By advertising itself as a forum for free and open discussion of Israel, warts and all, the conference predictably attracted a contingent of Jews who are ambivalent or hostile toward Israel. They weren’t on the program, but they spoke up in breakout sessions and gathered in clusters in the hallways. Some came to paint Israel as the guilty party and argue for sweeping Israeli concessions without regard for Israel’s security. Some opposed the very idea of Jewish statehood. Most came to Washington expecting to help shape J Street’s goals and gain political influence for their views.
What they found was an organization that defines itself as wholly committed to Israeli security, that favors an Israeli-Palestinian accord as a way to ensure Israel’s security as a Jewish state. If that wasn’t obvious beforehand, J Street’s architect and executive director, Jeremy Ben-Ami, pointedly drew a line in the sand in an October 23 interview with journalist Jeffrey Goldberg (full disclosure: not me) on the Web site of The Atlantic.
Sounding more hawkish than he had in the past, Ben-Ami ruled out cuts in American military aid to Israel, endorsed the Law of Return, denounced the so-called “one-state solution” and repeatedly distanced himself from individuals and groups on the left that reject Zionism. Arriving at the conference two days later, the outliers — let’s call them “un-Zionists” — were in an ornery mood, feeling duped and gobsmacked. In one breakout session on how broadly to define “pro-Israel” (full disclosure: this was moderated by yours truly) one audience member emotionally protested the very idea that she should define herself as pro-Israel. At another session, a participant objected to the suggestion that advocates of territorial compromise should emphasize their love of Israel. Some greeted Rabbi Eric Yoffie of the Union for Reform Judaism with boos when he criticized the Goldstone report.
All this left J Street in a ticklish position. By calling for unfettered debate, it had essentially invited the un-Zionists to come and participate. Objecting to their presence would undercut its declared commitment to open discussion. But embracing them would undermine its credibility as a pro-Israel organization advocating compromise as a means to strengthen Israel’s security, not weaken it. Ben-Ami and others argued that a firm pro-Israel stance would make the un-Zionists want to leave. But the un-Zionists gave no sign that they would leave willingly. J Street could be in for a fight that will leave it tainted with a McCarthyite image in the eyes of some liberals it needs to recruit.
The hard truth is that both of J Street’s goals are important. Growing numbers of American Jews are struggling with their relationship to Israel. They shouldn’t be cast out. The community urgently needs a forum for members to engage over their differences rather than turn their backs on one another. It also needs a strong voice for security through peace and compromise. But they’re two different jobs. One vehicle can’t do both.
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The organization also offers little in the way of workable solutions towards peace. It is all well and good to call for a two state solution but how would that be implemented according to J Street? Would Israel return to the '48 or '67 boarders? What do you do about the many Israels living beyond the Green Line? How would J Street deal with the rift between Hamas and Fatah? What about water rights? How do they propose to handle the Kotel and sharing of Jerusalem?
Pro peace. Sounds very nice. How do you get there?
Broadening the definition of what it means to be pro-Israel is not in conflict with actively supporting a two-state solution. Open debate and the struggle with honest differences of opinion are at the heart of both American democracy, and Jewish life and law. My own grandmother has called me a terrorist supporter because I told her that I supported a two-state solution. It's impossible for a liberal pro-peace organization like J-Street to advocate its own position without being open to honest debate. I can't see it as a failure when that process leads to the disagreements that are already there simply being brought to light. I'm incredibly grateful to J-Street for stirring up the pot.
I am an American Jew living in Australia. We Jews have benefitted by living in countries where there is separation of religion and state, where one's religion or lack of it is no business of government and where government does not discriminate among its citizens on the basis of religion or ethnicity. I am a free person in both the United States and Australia because of that. In Israel there is not separation of religion and state, one's religion or lack of it is the business of government and government discriminates among its citizens on the basis of religion and ethnicity. I cannot support in Israel what I do not support in Australia and the United States. If Israel does not discriminate on the basis of religion and ethnicity it cannot remain a Jewish state. I cannot in good conscience support such a state where non-Jews are second class citizens as I cannot support a state where Jews are second class citizens. Israel cannot be both Jewish and democratic. I once thought it could but think so no longer and choose democracy.
David Fisher rejects the Jewish founded State of Israel because he likes the English founded states of Australia and the USA. He fails to understand that Israel is in fact a Hebrew Arabic English speaking secular Jewish country that encourages freedom to practice and not practice all faiths. An Israeli may choose to go to synagogue in Jerusalem on Saturday or drive to Ashkelon and go swimming. The Jewish shop will be closed on Saturday and open on Sunday but the Arab shop in Nazareth will be open on Saturday and closed on Sunday. So Israel is a free secular Jewish state. The reason you believe it is not is that you don't understand that having definable ethnic and religious communities does not make a country less democratic as long as the government is not a dictatorship and Israel is not a dictatorship. Its government is freely elected by all its citizens and the court system protects individual rights against the tyranny of the majority.
Nice article, but I'm not so sure that the fissure the author describes is as existentially threatening to J-Street's mission as is posited here. Even in the less-affiliated realms of the Jewish community, morality is important, and this can translate into a moral vanity which is easily exploited into vocally anti-Israel stances. Some of Israel's most virulent Jewish critics are open to evolving views that respect the lines that J-Street draws, some ain't. Either way, the ferment and excitement of a good argument will attract Jews disaffected the intellectual dishonesty of the position that every. single. thing. that. Israel. ever. does. is. above. reproach.
So J Street will evolve in short order into another Human Rights Watch with a whole bunch of self-hating Jews congratulating each other. Wonderful! Just what we need more of.
Yeah, what Joe says.
I hope and expect that J Street is interested in presenting to the the American Jewish community the platform and ideas of those Israeli Jews whose relationship to the Likud led government echos that of J Street to AIPAC.
Joe and JZ: opposing settlements, opposing the occupation, calling for a two-state solution are neither anti-Israel nor the symptoms of Jewish self-hatred. If you can't respond to well thought out arguments with anything except name-calling, it means you have no argument. Not only is that anti-illectual, it is un-Jewish. Argumentation is part and parcel of our religious tradition and civilizational culture.
If you have some good arguments for why it would be appropriate for Israel to continue expanding settlements and deny Palestinian statehood, etc. I am willing to give your arguments a respectful hearing. And, I would hope, that you would give my position a respectful hearing as well. That is not much to ask for, is it?
As a long-time member of AIPAC, I think that many people do not understand the diversity of personal views help by AIPAC's supporters. Many of us do believe in a two-state solution - but the devil is in the details. I think all of us are "pro-peace" and find it profoundly insulting that J Street implies that we are not. What unites supporters of Israel who work through AIPAC is the strong conviction that Israel, as a democracy, and the U.S., as a democracy, have a strategic relationship based on shared moral and political values, and that this holds regardless of which party, in which country, is in power. I am glad to read that Ben Ami has set himself far apart from those who reject Zionism -the national movement of the Jewish people.
All the pontificating my American Organizations posing as Friends of Israel is just that. Israel is no longer the country of the 40's,50's 60's, dependent on American Jewey aid. It is a viable economically sound, Militarily strong Country and in the final analysis it will make the decisions as to its future.
To all those proposing solutions to Israels problems, who are not citizens of Israel, are just messaging their egos, however, it will have very little effect on what Israel does.
At the moment and for the forseable future there will be no peace deals for One State, Two State or any other sloganed solution to a problem that is non solavable at this time. We will continue with a No Peace, sporadic short term wars, and Israels continued development as one of the worlds successful countries. JStreet, and others of that ilk, will have no effect whatsoever as to its outcome. You JStreeters learn to live that you are just a fringe element nipping at the heals of the Israelie Government accomplishing nothing.
The one person you would have wished at this meeting, Oren, choose not to have anything to do with JStreet. Having Obama advocates at your hyped up meeting means nothing as you knew where they stood before inviting them. The American Administration has already written off their original Peace plans as they have proved a complete failure. It is now "How to save face".
The J Street Conference was something of a sad failure in that every statement was so full of on-the-other-hands that made the discomfort with reality palpable. Many young Jewish Yuppies and old hippies gathered, all traumatized by the neocons' incessant badger slandering them "self Hating Jews," they, in turn, trying to disprove it by affirming their support for Israel, but... Like their right-wing opposite American Likudniks, they too suffer from a guilt complex for they do so little more than talk. What more can they do, given that they quiver before the assertiveness of Israelis on either side? And at the conference, alas, that's all it was as every seeming affirmation dissolved in equivocation and limitation. Under their sense of guilt was the constant sense of dread that by the end of this century Israel may no longer exists. They offered abstract notions but no one seemed to have any real answers to a situation where both sides are determined to exterminate the other. How do Diaspora Jew, right and left, with so little in common with the Jews who know no other home but Israel speak about something they only know through blogs and magazine articles?
In the 60s I saw this same confusion and disconnect towards Judaism as an identity in young Jews so desperate to fit into goyim America. There was some kind of affirmation of a shared fate while also an confession of total divorce. In contrast, AIPAC offers up vitriol and clamor but both know that J Street and AIPAC are remote ceremonial affirmation of support for something unknown to them that's a nice place to visit, not to live.
We are again in an era of un-moored Americans who know of but not what roots hold them to some ancestral ground. Now, however, things are tough, really tough, and very hard decisions must be made. Yet J Street and AIPAC act like the spectators at a football game, J Street behaving as if they sneaked into the bleachers. I have never seen such panic on American faces as I have seen of late at programs on Israel where Israeli speakers veer hard left or hard right, leaving their audiences dumbfounded. One can only wonder if Jewish Americans are in the final analysis all talk and just can't cope with Israel's life and death realities. And so, like all others, they assuage their confusion with equivocal but harsh moral judgment tempered by declarations that things are not that bad. Finally, an Israeli friend told me, we Jews are like you East Euros, "home" is a place to talk about but life here is more than enough for you to deal with.
You are missing the major point. For the first time, Jewish youth are challenging zionist hedgemony, and realizing that "pro-isreal, pro-peace" is a contradiction in terms. Thus, kudos to the J Street U you has cast off the "pro-israel" shmatta and dedicates itself soley to peace. It is now time for the elders of J street to follow. I can brag a bit and note that I played a not inconsequential role in this change. I have been labelled a self hating Jew. I do not hate myself, I just hate those who embarass the Jewish people. I am gratified that many other bloggers here, such as Norman, Shoded Yam, Ariex Zimmerman, and David Fisher share my opinions
I think that J Goldberg is right about the tensions between open debate and supporting Israel. But I think it can be a creative tension. After all one of the core dilemmas for all who care about Israel is how to support its legitimate claims without protecting its misconduct. This is a problem for loyalists of any cause with a conscience. Yes, AIPAC has in-house discussions of problems, but its public face never even hints at that. This turns AIPAC contributors with a conscience into patsy's of the right-most trend of Israel's government.
The united front mentality has disenfranchised so many of us. Let's give this other approach a chance.
Michael Goldfarb of the Weekly Standard reveals a document that demonstrates the comingling of apparatchiks in the anti-Israel universe of organizations. J Street, George Soros, and the author of an anti-Israel UN Report are all linked. It is a letter purportedly written by Judge Richard Goldstone, of the notorious UN Goldstone Report, condemning Israel but not its opponents in Operation Cast Lead. Judge Goldstone supposedly wrote it to comment on a House of Representative resolution condemning the Goldstone report: HR 867 sponsored by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Howard Berman. Goldfarb looked at it closely:
Upon further inspection of the Goldstone letter, the actual author seems to be Morton H. Halperin, who serves on the J Street advisory council and is a senior adviser at George Soros's Open Society Institute. The original document can be downloaded here. (A check of the file's "properties" reveals the author as Morton H. Halperin.)
So a George Soros-supported staff intellectual, who also advises J Street turns out to be effectively delegated to speak for the author of UN report critical of Israel.
The web of influence bought by Soros's billions staggers the mind.
J Street officially takes no position on the Goldstone report. As Goldfarb notes:
It's just another example of the disconnect between J Street's official positions and the actions of those who are connected to the organization.
Most of you American Jews commenting on FORWARD about J STREET as well as most of you J STREET activists are not Mizrahis but Ashkenazis so you have East Euros roots like me; most of these are of ancestral converts to Judaism generations ago as so discussed and elaborated even in COMMENTARY. But that is not the issue. The real issue is to take the best from your East Euro cultures and discard the worst. Being a Jew does not exclude you from the human race and does not deny you full participation in goy society. Therefore, mental prison cells without bars are only self-inflicted limitations on potentially rich lives. Apparently this became obvious to many Jews as they fully immersed themselves in Western culture and have little to do with their Jewish roots. This is particularly true and tragic in Europe where today hyphenated identities do not mean as much as in America where "American" simply means that you are of those who lost the land or those who violently stole it from the others. One point J STREET tried to make is that one is not locked in any way to any conclusions because one is a Jew, an Israeli or anything else. Yet, at the conference many articulated in perfect English-- of course, it being their mother tongue-- all sorts of expanded definitions and expanded permissiveness of membership which does not exclude one's standing as a "Zionist." The retort was the Holocaust Psychosis invoked by people, ironically, very remote from it. For example, I and my parents speak of Stalinism in existential terms, my kids and grandkids speak of it in abstract terms. But that in no way de-legitimizes the older nor the younger in offering solutions to the table. My Communism problem was resolved in 1989. And, on current East Euro Affairs, my cultural and linguistic abilities as well as interest in keeping up with issues are all I have to legitimize my commentary. I am no longer a post-1989 East Euro, that’s a whole new world that I can’t really know from here. In the same sense, most of you are a lot more remote from the Holocaust than a lot of your parents-- both in terms of European victimization and American shame for silence then. So for you Israel is about what Italy is for an American of Italian roots on Columbus Day, an historic marker that is not existential to you but still is a part of you. For those of us personally or familiarly victimized by the horrors of an historic crime passing on to our kids the emotional and existential intensity is a bit wrong. But we can pass on details for their cognitive analysis as lessons learned to be weighed in current context but not automatically shoe-horned into events. So it is for Israelis with 1948 and Palestinians with the Nakba. Our hope is that the youth of today are more rationally future-minded and less past-locked emotionally so they can resolve the impasses that will bring down the whole of the hopes of us all. J STREET kids are a lot of new generation folks who-- TO THEIR CREDIT-- cut into their today to seek solutions that perpetuate their own Mideast sprouts from their hereditary roots. Alas, they have been traumatized by the bellowing rage-- some real some fraudulent-- of others who would slander and injure them by discrediting the legitimacy of their membership in the historical line that they feel a part of. It is demanded that they simply line up and follow orders from various insistent factions. Though intimidated, they do not question the legitimacy of multi-passports Israelis or shysters that try to make them mindless followers in service of this or that interest, but do ask: since I have listened attentively to your views, when will you listen to mine? The answer from the neocons is: YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED VIEWS, YOU *MUST* FOLLOW MINE! What else could one expect from ex-Commies who never put themselves at risk and live in splendor cashing in on their claim that they alone speak for American Jews. What they want is polarization of young Jews for they are wed to that Leninist dictum: POLARIZE TO MOBILIZE—not to democratize!
However, J STREETers insist that, as in any other issue in life, let us sit together and, obeying laws of civility, engage in dialogue. Alas, this principle they failed to stand by because they tried to be all things to all men rather than get into the weeds of the complexities of the issues at hand. The Conference got lost on palatability rather than on substance. The question overhanging the conference was: HOW DO WE MAKE OURSELVES SOMETHING OTHER JEWS CAN SWALLOW so that they accept J STREET as a legit part of the Diaspora discourse on Israel's future from an American Jewish perspective?
Such a first try will never succeed to concretize for it is an effort to get the lay of the land rather than to put proposals on the table. Now comes the hard part where J STREET tells the neocons: Either you act civil or get the hell out of our conference! It will take a lot of blows before J STREETers realize that the pain inflicted by the neocons’ blows does not merit the intensity of the anticipatory fear they feel before the blows land. When no longer dominated by this anticipatory fear, J STREETers will offer opportunity for debate but will not countenance a platform for slander, allowing neocons a monologue microphone from which to later brag that "we let those pussies have it." J STREET should not be perceived as Jell-O but rather as generous molten steel still in formation as it cools. Its first conference failed to delineate where it stands but it introduced the world to its open-- sometimes even empty-- minds. Hence forth it can only grow in intellect and knowlegibility and become a leader of meaningful dialogue en route to policy leader some day. In so doing it will not only help in the development of solutions for Israel's problems and support for its well being but also the ability to make Israel a positive concern for a lot of people who now think: why should we do anything for Israel when we have so many problems here at home? The incompetent World War IV on Islam thesis of the neocons has brought death and anger to many Americans, having pushed the minute hand on the clock to an American Krystalnacht forward. But J STREET's much more pure of motive and goodness of heart approach will push the minute hand on that clock backwards as it evolves solutions that benefit not only Israel but also all concerned parties. The distinction is that ideological thugishness as false mensch-hood a la neocons can only get you slapped down. But the meaningful dialogue perspective of J STREET can only improve the depth, realism and usefulness of the discourse upwards. We are returning to the American Zionist role of decades ago: do for Israel much and do it well by achieving meaningful dialogue driven consensus.
Mr. Teodoro,
That is without a doubt, the most insightful and interesting comment I've ever read on this forum.
Thank You
SY-I agree. Teodoro often has many good things to say.
Consensus is good only if it comes to the right consensus. J street U has taken a giant step by casting off the "pro_israel" from the traditional "pro-isrel pro-peace" which anyone knows is a contradiction in terms. If the consensus stays in terms of a 2 state solution, it is a useless consensus. The elders of J street need to follow the youth
Who are we, as American Jews, to decide the fate of the citizens of Israel? Ultimately or indirectly peace does affect us all. However, in the end it is up to the citizens of Israel to decide. I am an American Jew and I a strong supporter of Israel, and I do wish for peace, as most of the World. I also believe great compromises will have to made on both sides to achieve peace.
What is Israel worth if Jews are at war with their own children-- a totally unnecessary luxury demanded by old fart pride to prove themsleves still mensch despite arthritis and overweight? What can more destroy the transmission of rich cultural mores from generation to generation that vile rejection of the younger generation by angry old men who want it only their way though BOTH are supposedly trying to cope with the new world using the gifts from the old? Vitrioloc accusaation of betrayal of a common spiritual bond by the older ones is a sacriledge against the endless bonds of generations-- God did not name you Abraham and did not ask you to kill his sons to prove your worth in your old age. Soon after we got to what my dad called this "Paradise of Freedom," my parents dennounced me to the FBI as subverted by Communism because I sought to understand them rather than just hate them. Considering Communists like human beings was deemed the essence of violating the very humanity I was raised to respect. Yet, somehow, I passed to my children all the humanist culture my parents passed to me but without demand that they prove their allegiance to our kin by hating anyone else. The youthful rebellion in young Jews is comparable only to that in young Arabs-- perhaps the late great Levi-Strauss would have something to say on that point. By demanding that young Jews share your freights and passions old Jewish fathers may well cause them to hide far from home and that may leave their children with little more than the stupid materialism devoid of depth and past that will soon make of this great America a Third World debtor of haves and have nots. Jews have a stake in America the Great because they did so much to make it that great. Judaism is a most important other half to the American character of your children. You cannot curse and allienate them because they question your Jabotinsyism. If you do that, they will not turn anti-Israel (NO ONE IN J STREET IS) but you will cause them to bury their Zionism and loyalty to solutions in resentment that may leave their children, your grand-children blind to the wealth of human closeness to God that kept your ancestors surviving through so much. Israel cannot afford to lose the good will and good ideas of J STREETers. Love your children for they shall inherit the earth will you will rot under it in silence....so now is when you should reasonably and lovingly be heard giving the gift of wisdom in love, just as touching a dialogue as that with which you courted your wife in your youth. We old farts are only eating our grandchildren's lunch if all we can do is curse at their parents. We must seek the common grounds in order to ALL survive, together like a flowing stream that never dries. After you settle in internal peace your nuclear Jewish family you will find that you can help your Semitic cousins' children settle with yours for the sake of your grandchildren. I saw this happen on Israeli-Arab battlegrounds over and over again with victorious Jews taking the initiative ( their victory was in their making righteous choices instead of hateful ones so that no enemy could deny them two eyes, two ears and an open mind. If you don't want to believe this "dumb goyim," read Laura Blumethal's "Revenge." It is a classic of insight as God would ONLY GIVE TO WOMEN. Sharon and Rabin did not differ in goal, only in way to it and, God bless them, both never reached the Promised Land they so desperately sought. Both openly told me of fear in getting there at a time when both were in a rush. At least both managed to pass the baton firmly and lovingly to children who will forever remeber them with honor. So sit together and swallow your pride and be patient listening to your children's advice. It may be dumb but listening to dumb advice proves that you can love and ONLY if you can still love can you still be a Jew.
ONE MORE THING....Think of the great gentle author Grossman whose name arouses tears in my eyes. This righteous Jew payed for his righteousness with the life of his son. Send him your tears and hug your sons, thanking God that they breathe and blink while squeezed so tight in your trembling arms. Shalom!
Listen, uh, "Rabbi" Tony,
Re.
"...I am gratified that many other bloggers here, such as Norman, Shoded Yam, Ariex Zimmerman, and David Fisher share my opinions."
While I can't speak for Norman, Arieh, or Mr. Fisher, the day you and I find ourselves on the same page about anything, that will be a cold day in hell, indeed. You're ridin' alone Kemosabi.
Listen, uh, "Rabbi" Tony... its Rabbi Tony Jutner, no quotation marks needed.
the day you and I find ourselves on the same page about anything, that will be a cold day in hell, indeed...We have been on the same page many times. You, me, Norman, David Fisher, Micheal Levin are all confirmed anti-zionists who believe israel is an embarassment. Please dont be intimidate by ziocons
I want to compliment all those who list their names. I find the blog custom of using stupid nicknames an insult. If you have an opinon, don't hide behind a phony moniker. Now to the body , The Forward is an appropriate place to be sensitive to J Street. I think they have a lot in common with your founder's socialist secularism. J Street attracts unaffiliated, unobservant, marginally identified Jews by letting Jews use the language of those who want us all dead. I used to be pro-peace but see that as long as the Arabs refuse to accept our legitimacy or our right to live as a free people in our land, any little part of our land, there is no use. It's a shame but J Street reminds me of all the Jewish Communists who gave their lives for the Revolution and were killed by Stalin. Until there is a mind changing catharsis in the Moslem world, nothing we do will bring real peace. I wish it were not that way bu it is. J Street are the Bundists of this generation.
Listen anthony,
You know, being a provacateur really isn't your forte, sparky. Don't quit your day job as an imaginary shaman. My Zionist bonafides are well established enough both in the US and in Israel to deflect any such lame attempts at hasbara. In any event, as I'm sure many here will agree, I'm not important enough to discredit. Have you tried MJ Rosenberg over at TPM? He loves guys like you.
Leonard,
If it comes down to a choice between pissing you off and protecting my wife and kid from listening to threatening phone calls on the answering machine, I guess you're just gonna have to be pissed off.
In any event, why is a name necessary? If the truth and logic of your comment isn't plain for all too see, the moniker "Leonard Oberstein" isn't going to make it so, as your last post illustrates so well.
American Jews are struggling with their relationship to Israel because decisions can affect an entire household. " G-D lives in us." No matter what country we find our selfes in.
We want a strong voice for security and peace....and want no compromise with all these attempts to put confidence in risky political alliances are looking in the wrong direction---to human beings and not to G-D--for salvation.
Decisions can affect an entire household.... We are of one house, the house of G-D ---"G-D lives in us."
Jeremiah 27....And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. For thus saith the LORD of hosts, (Us in G-D) The G-D of Israel;... Seek Peace! The strong voice for our security...is the voice of our G-D!