Basing his arguments partly on pragmatic policy and partly on Jewish law, the Reform movement's top Washington lobbyist said the war in Iraq has made the world a more dangerous place for Israel.

Speaking April 29 as scholar-in-residence at Temple B'nai Or in Morristown, Rabbi David Saperstein said the war has weakened Israel's position by strengthening Iran.

"If there is one thing this war has done it is what Israel feared all along," said Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. "Israel has said for 20 years its biggest enemy is Iran, not Iraq. This war has so strengthened Iran's influence and hegemony in the Middle East that it will wreak havoc not only with Israel's security and interests but with America's security and interests as well.

"In the last four years, almost everything that has happened has hurt Israel," he argued. "All we did was prove to the world the limitations of American political power."

Saperstein, an advocate for progressive causes and a member of many interfaith and interracial coalitions, said the occupation of Iraq has increased, not lessened, the threat of terrorism to the United States and its allies.

"Every day, the number of insurgents grows. They have developed new technologies and new techniques of fighting that have proven to be quite successful. This is terrorism that will haunt Israel and will haunt the Western countries for decades to come."

Although Saperstein said the Reform movement "did the right thing in 2002" by approving military action to remove Saddam Hussein as "a moral use of force against a brutal dictatorship," he said the war has become a set of "serious blunders over and over again."

In his speech, Saperstein reiterated the Union for Reform Judaism's January resolution calling for a phased withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

As the URJ did in that resolution, Saperstein framed his discussion in terms of "Jewish just war theory." He said the conflict in Iraq was not one of justifiable self-defense.

"Preventive war is one where people are about to attack you," he said, citing statutes defined in the Talmud. "When people are massed on the borders of Israel, then you have the right to use force.

"But the lack of evidence that Saddam had nuclear or chemical weapons did not justify a preventive attack."

Jewish law "also talks about the need to protect civilians," he said.

"Using 'smart weapons' allowed us to protect civilian infrastructure in a conventional war. But when the conventional war stopped and an insurgency started, then it became almost impossible. We didn't know how to fight this war," Saperstein said.

"Unique in Jewish theory of just war is 'You don't cut down the fruit-bearing trees.' It means you can't destroy the civilian infrastructure. We didn't have enough troops to protect the electrical system, the water supply, the government buildings, and all the other things needed to allow civilian life to continue. The effect was that Iraqis looted and destroyed," creating a situation "from which we have not yet recovered."

Referring to "the widespread abuses of torture," Saperstein said there is a Jewish concern over "not how well we treat a friend but how well we treat one's enemy," including making them "suffer humiliation."

"We did it all wrong. We never should have gone to war. But what do we do now?" he asked rhetorically. "There are no real guidelines in halachic law."

Despite polls showing that a large majority of American Jews oppose the war, the URJ is nearly alone among large Jewish organizations calling for a withdrawal – or, indeed, speaking about the war one way or the other.

Its resolution on the war was strongly criticized by the Republican Jewish Coalition, which said that withdrawal would undermine the war on terrorism and abandon average Iraqis to the violent insurgency.

Saperstein defended the resolution during his talk.

"This administration is never going to withdraw without a timetable. American troops are going to have to stay in the region, supplying air power and intelligence support to the Iraqi government forces," he said. "We believe the Iraqis will never step up to the plate as long as we remain there. Only when they go for broke are they going to take the steps that have to be taken to really make a difference here."

Noting that the URJ was four years ahead of other Jewish organizations in opposing the war in Vietnam, the rabbi said the Reform movement was a "moral goad to others in the Jewish community."

But Saperstein said he was disturbed that the war in Iraq has not generated more discussion in the Jewish community. "This is a debate we need to have, and it is to me a shonda that the American-Jewish community has not had it." Whether people agree with the Reform movement's stance or not, Saperstein said, how is it possible that such a discussion has not taken place – "with Israel's interests, with the interests of so many Jews here in the United States, at stake?"

Urging listeners to "encourage other Jewish organizations to talk about these things," Saperstein said, "I'd rather have them come out on the other side of it after a whole major debate than to remain silent on this crucial issue."

Saperstein's residency, cohosted by B'nai Or's adult education and social action committees, included four talks throughout the weekend. His presentation on economic justice on Saturday afternoon was held at Beth El AME Church in Morristown.