Category: Peace

Our lives are changed

All of our lives have been irrevocably changed as a result of October 7. The lives we thought we enjoyed before have had the veneer ripped away, and we are in a new and strangely familiar place as a people of history.

As many of you know, I am planning a trip to Israel with a few of my colleagues from the Philadelphia region through the generous support of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. Our purpose is to learn, bear witness, and bring home the stories of what is happening to the people of Israel. We will start in Tel Aviv, and we will move South, meeting with families of the kidnapped, hostages, and others whose lives around the envelope have been changed forever.

I do not know what I will encounter. And I say that as someone who is struggling here in the Diaspora and as someone committed to the Jewish state. We have complex and conflicting moral issues to try and understand. It is like threading the eye of a tiny needle. Our tradition is well-versed in parsing, probing, and understanding how we maintain our values even when those values are challenged in the most extraordinary ways. But we have enjoyed the opportunity to study those texts, not live them in real-time, and here in lies the real challenge of what it means to understand what is going on Jewishly.

I will share the lessons I will learn and some wisdom that I hope will come from these experiences. But I will at least bear witness.

I have been asked repeatedly if I am nervous or scared about my trip to Israel, and I do have trepidation, but it’s not the trepidation of being physically hurt. It is the trepidation of everything that I have held dear, of everything that I have worked for, of everything that I believe in, being tested in a way that I never thought would be imaginable today.

The virulent Jew-hatred we believed was part of our history is now being expressed publicly and shamelessly; that is frightening.

I am privileged to know many people of Goodwill, and so many of them have reached out in this fraught time to offer their support and love. But there are so many others who have remained silent and too many others who have let their antisemitism erupt into the public space. We can no longer pretend that Jew-hatred does not affect us. It does, and we must now decide whether we stand for what we claim to believe and fight for those values and ideals.

I pray for the people of Israel, I pray for my Jewish brothers and sisters both there and here, and I pray for peace. Perhaps these things may come more quickly than the all-too-elusive Messiah. It is up to us to hasten their coming.

 

 

 

Off To Israel

I am pleased to share that I am traveling to Israel. The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia is sponsoring a small group of rabbis to witness the situation first-hand.  I look forward to sharing with you what I learn so we can better understand the issues and how we constructively engage. Stay safe and secure; find ways to support our people here and in Israel.  Let us pray for peace.

L’Shalom,

Rabbi David

War is Hell

The death and destruction of war are terrible, and it has never spared civilians.  It cannot.  The objective is to defeat the enemy, and that is done by breaking things and killing people.

The victims are innocent civilians, and the people in the hospital in Gaza are among them.  Everyone bears responsibility regardless of who fired the missile that caused the bloodbath.  This kind of tragedy will continue to happen as long as the war lasts.

As terrible as war is, moral wars need to be fought when you face an existential threat.  Hamas has proven that it is an existential threat to Israel and, therefore, must be eradicated.

For anyone needing proof of their barbarity beyond the vicious brutality unleashed on Israeli civilians, look no further than the keeping of the hostages.  These hostages include the 200 kidnapped from Israel but also the civilian population of Gaza trying to flee the carnage.  They have not permitted humanitarian aid into Gaza, and what little has gotten in has been stolen.

Hamas must be eliminated.  There is no choice.

It is time for all nations to find a way towards peace in the region.  Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi must join the United States and others to create a new Marshall Plan to rebuild in the aftermath of war, providing physical and governmental infrastructure to finally give the Palestinians the opportunity to live in peace and security alongside a safe and secure Israel.  Whoever cares for the region’s people must come to the table and start the work.

Every decent person is appalled by the loss of human life.

We pray for peace.

Shabbat Shalom

This beautiful song, better together, helps set the mood for Shabbat- lyrics, melody, and people combine to form an easy-listening message of deep importance.

Celebrate the power of unity with “Better Together” Song Around The World, featuring Jack Johnson, Paula Fuga, Lee Oskar and talented musicians from around the globe. This beautiful, feel-good song was a single, released in February 2006 from Jack Johnson’s third studio album, “In Between Dreams,” and was inspired by his love for his wife. “Better Together” has a universal message that “it’s always better together” when we lead with love as the answer.

Shabbat Shalom

Forgiveness -Moses and Ted Lasso

Behaalotecha

Within this parsha lies an extraordinary verse. As you will recall, Miriam contracted leprosy and was consigned outside the camp until she recovered. This comes on the heels of what Moses could see as a betrayal of him by Miriam, challenging his authority as the leader of the people. However, putting aside personal hurt, Moses prays to God for her recovery, saying, “El nah refanah lah. Please, God, heal her.” Moses teaches us to embrace our humanity and our need for human relationships, not mired in anger, but to replace retribution with reconciliation and to do the right thing.

In the words of the modern prophet Ted Lasso in response to Nate’s return as the prodigal son, “I hope that either all of us, or none of us, are judged by the actions of our weakest moments, but rather, by the strength we show when and if we are ever given a second chance.”

May their words serve as lessons for us to be better, more deeply human, and connected.

 

 

 

Shabbat Shalom

Koolulam is a social-musical initiative aimed at strengthening the fabric of society. The project centers around mass singing events in which large groups of non-professionals come together to form a collaborative musical creation. Koolulam brings together people from all walks of life to do one thing: stop everything for a few hours and just sing – together.

Shabbat Shalom