Rabbi's Week in Review Blog

As I write this week’s blog, it has been 667 days since the brutal attack on Israelis at a kibbutz near the Gaza border and at a music festival. About 1,200 were killed. Of the hostages taken, it is estimated that 50 are still held by Hamas, with 27 of those dead. Gaza is in rubble, with virtually every hospital, school, university, and mosque destroyed. Approximately 60,000 Palestinians have been killed; of those, about 20,000 were children. There is still no agreement allowing food to enter, and death by starvation is now a daily occurrence. There is no infrastructure remaining to provide for the most basic of human needs.

As we gathered last Saturday night to observe Tisha B’Av, a day commemorating the many tragic events that have befallen the Jewish people, we chanted from Eichah—the Book of Lamentations. We grappled with the most difficult questions that Eichah presents: How do these tragedies impact and define our relationship with G‑d? What was our sin that brought on the tragedy of destruction and exile so starkly described in the Book of Lamentations?

Among the sins cited by our commentators, one that stands out is sinat chinam—baseless hatred. While Hamas and the Netanyahu government remain in a stalemate, with an end to the war nowhere in sight and the destruction continuing, our Tisha B’Av discussion landed on the need to work for a different path forward, a path in which we carve out a better world than that of our supposed leaders, leaders on both sides who have failed us.

On Sunday, Tisha B’Av day, some of us gathered with other Jews and with Palestinians, all committed to working together to find pathways to peace. On the previous evening, as we finished our reading and study of the Book of Lamentations, we agreed that we would seek out organizations in which Israeli Jews and Palestinians work together as equals to seek peace, justice, and dignity for both.

As we leave Tisha B’Av and its message of despair, we move forward on the Jewish calendar with seven weeks of consolation and hope leading us into Rosh Hashanah—a new year. It is our history and our destiny to live with hope in our hearts, and to live our Jewish values—values that see everyone as having been created B’tzelem Elohim, in G‑d’s image, values of loving the stranger in our midst. May we have the strength to never lose hope and to do the needed work to move us toward the world we pray for.