As a rabbi, I see clearly how the Jewish community is faced with a profound moral challenge. We must oppose genocide.
Palestinians inspect the rubble of a municipality building after Israeli airstrikes in Khan Yunis, Gaza, on October 10, 2023.Palestinians inspect the rubble of a municipality building after Israeli airstrikes in Khan Yunis, Gaza, on October 10, 2023.As a rabbi for a Chicago-based synagogue that holds a deep shared commitment to the struggle for Palestinian liberation, I am holding so much intensity and emotion right now.
Even though our synagogue is explicitly anti-Zionist, our ideological commitment does not require us to be callous to the basic humanity of Israelis — or to condone the killing and abduction of civilians. Many members of our community have relationships — however fraught — with extended family members or others living in Israel. And many of us work actively with peace activists who are engaged in anti-Occupation work from within Israel, as well.
As we attempt to understand the context of this recent violence, I believe it’s utterly critical to know where to plot the starting point — and to my mind, this is precisely where most of the media analyses of the past several days have sadly gone astray. To judge by any number of pundits, this current outbreak of violence began alternatively with the U.S.-Saudi deal or the policies of the far right Netanyahu administration.
Dayan’s words resonate today with terrible prescience. Decades later, the descendants of this original Gazan generation still remain in refugee camps in Gaza, “gazing though the barrier fences as Israel appropriates as its own portion the land and the villages in which their ancestors dwelled.” Dayan’s eulogy also powerfully described a hypervigilant Israeli mindset that has only deepened throughout the decades.
Over the past several days, I’ve found myself returning to a famous narrative from this week’s Torah portion: the story of Cain and Abel. In the wake of the first act of violence in human history, God says to Cain, “What have you done? The blood of your brother is crying out to me from the ground! Cursed by the ground that opened its mouth to receive the blood of your brother.” From this we learn, among other things, that bloodshed actually has the power to pollute the earth.
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