יהי שלום בחילך, שלוה ברמנותיך.
Y’hi shalom b’heilekh, shalvah b’arm’notayikh.
May there be peace in your ramparts, tranquility in your citadels (Psalm 122:7).
I write in great sadness after a week of tragedy and destruction in our holy city of Jerusalem. With so many acts of terrorism and hatred over the past months, we reached a new level of awfulness when a synagogue in a suburban neighborhood of Jerusalem, far from East Jerusalem or the border or any other area in this conflict, was attacked, with its worshippers slaughtered and maimed. An image reminiscent of the pogroms in Europe, of H. N. Bialik’s City of Slaughter, and of the biblical book of Lamentations, read every Tisha B’av. In this attack, we lost Jewish brethren, some of them rabbis. We lost a Druze friend, the police officer who gave his life for the Har Nof congregation. All because of two Palestinian human beings, who before this incident even occurred, chose for themselves and their communities a path of evil, destruction and hatred.
I am pained at the loss of life, the loss of collective wisdom of the rabbinic scholars, the loss of the spouses and parents, and the loss of innocence from their children. I am pained that terror is wrought in Jerusalem by those who had the privileges that one receives when living in a good East Jerusalem neighborhood like Abu Tor, where close friends of mine also reside. I am pained that whereas we condemn acts of terror and hatred against innocents on all sides (made absolutely clear at Baruch Goldstein’s massacre of Muslims praying in Hebron, when Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin verbally excommunicated him from the whole of the Jewish people), there are others who dance and rejoice at the death of Jews.
I do hold hope that there are those on all sides who wish for peace. But I cannot but feel rage and deep sadness at the acts of monsters who live among us, willing to burn the world down for a nominally sacred cause.
It is so frustrating knowing that there is little I can do as a Diaspora Jew and rabbi to help stop the violence in Israel. What is comforting, however, is knowing that I can help my Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel, and that I can work to foster mutual respect, understanding, and perhaps even friendship here in the West.
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Due to terror at home and Anti-Zionist movements abroad, Israel takes a huge economic hit. So, when things are bad over there one of the best things we can do over here is invest in Israel.
Send dollars: Buy Israeli products. Order them from Amazon, buy them from our Sisterhood Gift Shop, from Judaica Gallery or Glatt 27, or order directly from Israeli companies. Donate to Israeli non-profits. Synagogues, JCCs, social service organizations. Ultimately, fight terror by supporting life.
Remain aware: read up online and in print, share stories and articles on Facebook, speak about Israel with your friends.
Pray: keep Israel in your hearts when we join together for services.
And, continue to reach across that bridge, knowing that there are those on all sides who remain committed to loving humanity and holding hope: foster friendships with Muslims in your lives. Stoke as many positive relationships as possible with those on the other side, to spread understanding that Jews and Muslims can live side by side in peace. To affirm to others, and |ourselves, that we refuse to give in to those who bring chaos, and that we stand firmly on the side of goodness.
שאלו שלום ירושלים, ישליו אהביך.
Sha’alu shalom yerushalayim, yishlayu ohavayikh.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and may those who love you prosper (Psalm 122:6).
Originally published in Temple Emanu-El of Edison’s December 2014 edition of Kolaynu.
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