I am stunned by the spiritual courage and depth of the Israeli and Jewish thinkers who have counseled compassion, urged nonviolence and advocated for Palestinian human rights--in response to last weekend's grim (and escalating) violence. These are the prophets who stand like Jeremiah in the court and cry for justice. These are the visionaries who see, as Isaiah did, a holy land where many peoples study war no more. It starts, however, with decency, with humility, with maturity. And these gifts move me so profoundly, even to tears, today.
This, for example, from Michael Sfard of Breaking the Silence:
In the same op-ed, he says, "Israelis must maintain their humanity even when their blood boils." If only we'd been able to stand up to Dick Cheney and George Bush in 2001 and 2003 and say something so brave and true. Our faith is tested and proven "when our blood boils." Our courage to be human is fully realized "when our blood boils" and we respond with informed insight, bold love and a commitment to the seventh generation. Thank God for these brave souls and their words.
And then, this, from If Not Now at a Public Mourners Kaddish in LA:
"So our purpose today is to create a sukkah big enough to hold all the complicated emotions we may be feeling, big enough for our grief, heartbreak, rage, despair, uncertainty, confusion, fear--so we can be present to all of it. In doing so we can help each other stay present to the pain and brokenness of the world. So we can stay present to the work this moment calls us to do."
Where there is no space for grief, where there is only anger, where there are militaristic half-truths and simplistic judgments on whole peoples--we reject our human gifts, our human capacities, our human calling. Let us build a "sukkah big enough" for this moment, for the terrible histories of the many peoples involved, the violence generations have endured, the losses, the genocide...And let that sukkah be space enough for pain, brokenness, hope, collaboration and "the work this moment calls us to do." All of us. To do. Together. One people. United. Of many faiths. Of all nations.