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Personal Statement from Rabbi Amichai
10/7/23, 12pm
As I write these words, on Saturday afternoon, there’s still no word from several relatives and friends who live in Kibbutzim and cities in the South of Israel, close to the Gaza border.
We don’t know if they are locked up in their shelters without the ability to communicate, or worse.
My nephew who lives on one of those kibbutzim and is in charge of the security squad there traveled with his wife and two kids up north two days ago for the holiday. They are now unable to get back home, worried sick for their loved ones and family, and he reports that at least one of his neighbors was killed while trying to defend his home.
My family members and friends throughout Israel, including my 94 year old mother, are either in shelters or already mobilized for army service. Everyone is in shock.
Friends in Jerusalem reported sirens early this morning and a shard of a shell that fell just feet from where a few insisted on praying this morning, out in a garden in the German Colony. None were harmed.
The few Palestinian friends I spoke with are horrified and terrified – they know that the violence is going to get very bad and are unsure how badly it will spread all over, and at what cost.
This is all unprecedented, even for this region so used to violence and terror attacks. It is a shocking failure of Israel’s government, intelligence and security forces but that does not matter now. Not yet. For now we focus on how to support what’s going on over there – and how to be supportive to those of us horrified, concerned and worried over here.
This surprise attack, 50 years to the day since the devastating Yom Kippur War that caught Israel off-guard, is a trauma in the making that we are living through and can hopefully hold with sensitive care, while doing all that we can to support and help heal.
One of my first memories is running from the Succah because of sirens as the Yom Kippur war began. I was four. I think of all the children now for whom this day will forever be a scar of suspicion and hatred, fear and fury.
Wherever we stand on Israel and its current government, on the occupation and the complex conditions that continue to make life so difficult for millions who seek peace, dignity and justice in Palestine and in Israel – today we stand in solidarity in Israel, condemn the Hamas terrorists and its brutal attack on Israel, offer our love and support to all who are suffering from this violence, and pray that this cycle of violence will end as quickly as possible. Perhaps, out of the rubble of this terrible rupture, some repair will finally begin to require strong measures that will bring peace.
It is going to be tough to stand in solidarity with the innocent victims – the people in Israel and Gaza, and yet, I invite us to try harder. We are not condoning the Hamas leadership in any way. But people are the victims here, yes, on both sides.
Militants, terrorists and supremacists are in control of both nations right now, while the majority of people want to find ways to get over the divisions and to live in peace. And no, I’m not equating Hamas with Israel’s democratically elected government. But the Extreme Right voices that now fuel the fury in Israel have helped to escalate the situation and tensions between Palestinans and Israelis this past year. The ongoing brutal terror attacks on Israel have caused too many Israelis to also lose hope and reject any peaceful options and to resort to increased violence, now sometimes state supported, against Palestinians.
The 16 year long Israeli siege on Gaza had left Palestinians with no vision of hope. Today is another chapter in the long history of this erosion. The roadblocks to co-existence and peace have claimed too many lives and more will be claimed in the coming days.
But this will not exist forever. Not if we keep on fighting terror and supremacy, despair and fear-fueled tactics, with every ounce of hope and human trust that we possess, inspired by the prophetic moral high grounds of our ancestry. Not if we dare to believe that we can get over the hurt for the sake of the future.
There’s a long road ahead. A road of healing beyond the horror, hope in possible repair beyond the terror and the rage.
Today, we are not there yet. Today we tend to wounds.
Simchat Torah, the holiday of celebrating our sacred story, will now, forever, like Yom Kippur, be imbued with memories of war and brutality. And yet: This is our story too, our painful narrative of dispossession and division that can only be healed if we dare wrestle with our history and hidden skeletons — not just dance with the scrolls to highlight the joy.
We won’t dance tonight but we will still gather tomorrow, if possible, to open up our Torah scroll from beginning to end, creation to death, and again, and again. We will bless our sacred stories, shadows and light combined, both/and, and find hope in each other’s presence, our shared prayers for healing and peace, our commitment to courage and care.
I lit a candle at 5am this morning, as soon as the news hit. It will stay lit for as long as needed, a candle for peace. I recited the Mothers Prayer for Peace that I had the honor to translate into English back in 2014 when another round of rage claimed lives in Gaza and Israel. It’s linked above – so you too can light a candle, take a moment to share these words with loved ones, take a deep breath and hold this story in your heart with compassion and patience. |
