As I help Israel celebrate its 78th birthday, I do so in the shadow of war in Gaza, confrontation with Iran, rising antisemitism not only in the United States but around the world, and deep internal division within Israel itself. An unpopular prime minister faces growing peace and democracy movements, while Israelis argue not only over policy, but over the very soul of the nation.

In that context, I cannot help but ask: What of the future?

The prophets of old looked beyond the immediate crises of their own times and described visions of what a redeemed society might become. Isaiah envisioned a Jerusalem that would become “a house of prayer for all peoples.” Micah imagined a day when nations would “beat their swords into plowshares.” Their visions were not predictions as much as moral aspirations — descriptions of the kind of society humanity should struggle to build.

Inspired by that prophetic tradition, I find myself asking what kind of future Israel should seek to become, and whether its future may ultimately depend on embracing both pluralistic Judaism and pluralistic Zionism.

I believe in pluralistic Judaism and pluralistic Zionism. These are not abstract ideas or academic categories for me. They are deeply connected commitments that shape how I understand Jewish identity, Jewish history, and the future of Israel.

When I say I believe in pluralistic Judaism, I mean that Judaism is not a single, fixed system. It is diverse, evolving, and expressed in many different ways across time and place. No one community or movement fully captures the richness of the Jewish tradition. Judaism has always been shaped by debate, interpretation, memory, law, ethics, culture, and lived experience across centuries and continents.

This diversity is visible in denominational life: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Renewal, secular, and cultural expressions of Jewish identity. It is also reflected in the experiences of Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi, Ethiopian, Yemenite, and other Jewish communities that developed in different regions of the world. Each carries its own history, language, customs, music, theology, and understanding of what it means to live as Jews in covenant with God and in relationship with one another.

For me, pluralistic Judaism also means being comfortable living in conversation with difference. Jerusalem itself embodies this reality. Within the city are more than 1,200 synagogues representing a vast range of Jewish traditions, including Haredi, Hasidic, Lithuanian/Yeshivish, Sephardic, Mizrahi, Religious Zionist, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and Karaite communities. Yet Judaism is only part of Jerusalem’s religious landscape.

Jerusalem contains more than 150 churches and chapels representing Ancient Eastern Churches, Catholic traditions, Protestant communities, and numerous monastic orders. The city is also home to more than 70 mosques representing Sunni, Shi‘a, and Sufi traditions. Beyond these are Druze, Baháʼí, Hindus, Buddhists, Ahmadi Muslims, African Hebrew Israelites, Messianic Jewish communities, Ethiopian religious communities, and many other smaller........

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