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Dear Friends,
I have been struggling with what to write about the events along the Gaza border this week. On the one hand, seeing images of Palestinian demonstrators being shot by IDF forces was nothing less than horrifying. On the other hand, knowing that those demonstrators were there, at least in large part, as part of a larger Hamas strategy to breach the border and flood Israel with Hamas terrorists committed to murdering Israeli men, women and children was no less terrifying.
And I was reminded of being in Israel during the Gaza war a few summers ago. We encountered numerous Red Alerts and even were protected by Iron Dome when a missile fired from Gaza approached the building we were in. On the one hand, the loss of life in Gaza was heartbreaking. On the other hand, I was on the receiving end of missile fire from Gaza despite repeated requests for a ceasefire by Israel.
So what does one say when both the loss of innocent life AND the need for security appear to be in conflict with one another? How does one address both without compromising their values or digging in on one side or the other when there is truth to both?
Then I read an op ed in the Times of Israel by Rabbi Donniel Hartman. The article, entitled “The moral challenge of Gaza,” was written as troubling split-images of people smiling during the the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem on one side and protesters being shot at the Gaza border were being shared thousands of times over on social media. It was, however, written before a Hamas official acknowledged that their strategy in Gaza was to provoke Israeli fire against civilians for maximum PR impact while also claiming that fifty of the sixty-two Palestinians killed during the border riots were members of their terror organization. Still, Rabbi Hartman’s piece reflects the inner struggles of many of us who love Israel and want a safe and secure Jewish State AND also value all human life.
Rabbi Hartman beings his piece stating,
Late last night, as the death toll in Gaza neared 60 human beings, my daughter called me with one simple question.
“Abba, what are you writing about Gaza?”
Before her call, I hadn’t intended to write. Gaza paralyzes me into silence.
When I read reports or hear discourse about Israeli Army use of lethal force against demonstrators, I cringe. To call what is happening at the Gaza border a demonstration, is a perversion of reality as I know it.
The inhabitants of Gaza have every right and reason to demonstrate against the tragedy which is their life. Not only do they live under unforgiveable and deplorable conditions, no one is taking responsibility either for their predicament or for the path to rectify it.”
He goes on to clearly articulate the dueling perspectives that give many of us reason for pause. He states,
What is happening on the Gaza border is not a protest against the reality of life in Gaza, but an attack against the sovereignty of Israel and its right to exist.
But also states,
Palestinians have every right to view and experience the formation of Israel as their Nakba (catastrophe). They have every right to view the Six Day War and Israel’s reunification of Jerusalem as a deepening of this Nakba.
He then captures the moral dilemma this way:
The challenge is that when it comes to Gaza, for Israelis our moral conscience is by and large, silent. We argue that our unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, including its setting of the precedent of dismantling Jewish settlements, should have inspired Gazans to embrace or at the very least explore, the possibility of peace, instead of the path of war. It should have inspired the trade of goods and the fostering of economic ties, and instead it led to missile fire and the resulting partial blockade.
Later in the piece he comes to this conclusion:
Gaza paralyzes me, because human beings are dying at my hands, and I do not know how to prevent it. Gaza frightens me, because it is so easy to forget it and sing, regardless of what is happening there. Gaza challenges us, for it is in Gaza that our commitment to the value of human life is and will be tested.
We may not be principally responsible for the reality which is Gaza, but like all moral human beings, we must constantly ask ourselves whether and how we can be part of the solution. As Jews, we are commanded to walk in the way of God, a God who declares, “My creation is drowning, and what are you doing about it?”
Rabbi Hartman’s op ed is worth reading, not because you will agree or disagree with it — I suspect everyone will, at different times, have both reactions — but because it captures the inner, moral conflict many of us feel.
I have a deep love for, and commitment to, the State of Israel. My disagreements and disappointments with many of the policies of the Jewish State break my heart but they do not diminish my commitment. When I hear someone say that Israel does not have the right to defend itself against violent attacks I recoil and find myself digging in and tending toward such arguments as “The blame falls solely on Hamas’ shoulders.”
At the same time, my Jewish values teach me that each person is born in the image of the Divine and that the death of any person, particularly a child, is a tragedy. When I hear supporters of Israel defending Israel’s actions without so much as acknowledging, let alone mourning, the loss of life, I also recoil and find myself questioning Israeli policy.
 But love for Israel need not lead us to callous disregard for Palestinian lives nor does concern for Palestinian suffering need to lead us to question Israel’s right to exist and defend itself.
 There is, as the Midrash teaches, no reason to ever celebrate death nor is there justification for not defending ourselves, our family and the members of our Jewish community. If we can agree upon that then maybe, just maybe, we can hope to find a solution.
Read the entirety of Rabbi Hartman’s Op Ed here:
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Daniel M. Cohen