This article originally appeared in the Summer 2023 issue of CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly and is reprinted with permission of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. The full special issue on “Israel at Seventy-Five” can be found at https://ccar.co/summer23.

“A Tough Neighborhood”

This is the line of Noah. Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age; Noah walked with God.

— Genesis 6:9 JPS 1962, 1985, 1999

A rabbinic midrash on this verse suggests that a person should not be judged by absolute standards — that time, place, and circumstances should...