I want to scream.
I want to cry.
I am trying to hold space for so many enormous feelings. They are not in conflict with each other, but social media is trying to make me feel they are.
I am so deeply sad about the mass murder of Israelis by Hamas. I am broken by the shockwaves of grief that have permeated my Jewish family. I cannot even comprehend what the family members of the murdered and kidnapped are experiencing.
And I am angry, sad, and frightened as I watch Israel commit war crimes in the name of Jewish vengeance. I am certain that Israel today — controlled by a racist, Jewish nationalist government — is poised to conduct ethnic cleansing. This is not hyperbole. This is a literal reading of Israel’s ministers’ words and the government’s actions.
I know that Israel’s actions will not make Jews safe. If killing Palestinians made Jews in Israel safe, then the events of October 7th would not have happened. But they took place after four assaults on Gaza within ten years.
My biggest fear, which is hard to articulate, is that the Israeli government is about to succeed at doing something that enemies of Jews have failed to do for millennia. If Israel carries out genocide, it will utterly dehumanize the Jewish people.
Tisha B’Av is a holiday that mourns the destruction of the first and second Temples. Rabbis teach that the Temples were destroyed because of sinat chinam, baseless hatred. Since the destruction of the Temples, the Jewish people have expressed our Jewishness through community and ritual rather than animal sacrifice. Our values are at the center of our community, including, most importantly, the sacredness of human life. Now, I’m afraid that the holy peoplehood we built to replace the Temple is in danger of being destroyed once again by baseless hatred. If we permit Israel (aided by the US) to carry out genocide in the name of Jewish life, what does Jewish life even represent?
I know that the word genocide is a challenging one for my Zionist friends and family to hear. To accuse Israel of being capable of genocide feels like a threat to Israel’s very right to exist because it questions the fundamental moral character of the state. I empathize with this. It is extremely uncomfortable for me to consider a Jewish state capable of ethnic cleansing or genocide. However, we can look at the actions of Israel’s far-right Jewish nationalist ministers to see the evidence clearly. We can look at the way settlers have been empowered to carry out acts of mob violence. We can also look at international human rights law, which forbids collective punishment, the use of white phosphorus, and other actions Israel has done this past week without apology. Ultimately, I worry that this understandable visceral reaction to certain language will paralyze us from taking action. And there is no time to waste.
On Friday, I attended a protest organized by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Jewish Voice for Peace, and If Not Now. We joined together to demand an immediate ceasefire. It was a powerful experience. All week, I felt like I could not find a place that honored grief over the Israelis murdered by Hamas and the anger and grief over the Palestinians being killed by Israel. I know that my politics do not align with many of my Zionist loved ones anymore. But as someone who spent my whole life believing in the necessity and sanctity of a Jewish state, I am still figuring out my relationship to the idea of a Jewish homeland. And so, I knew that amongst this group of New York City Jews, my beliefs were not the same as everyone else protesting. And yet, I am certain everyone has the right to freedom and safety. And so I knew I was in the right place.
At one point during the protest, someone led a chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” I recently heard that this slogan is interpreted by some to mean that the land of Israel/Palestine must be a democratic country where ALL people are free. Still, to my knowledge, at one point, the slogan meant the expulsion or extermination of Jews. So when I heard these words, I felt discomfort in my body.
I share this to be transparent that I am in a place of learning, unlearning, confusion, discomfort, and transition. But still, I felt compelled to join this protest because I feel that there is complete clarity about the stakes of this moment. Earlier in the protest, one of the speakers said something that felt vital for everyone to understand. She said, “We don’t all have to agree on the solution, but we all have to do everything in our power now to stop genocide from happening.”
Whether we are Zionists or not, Jews or not, we are standing at the precipice of a terrible moment in history. We cannot be silent. We, as Jews who carry the words “Never Again” ingrained in our DNA, must speak up against Israel’s actions. Everyone can and should tell our elected officials that we need a ceasefire now.
We do not have to agree on the long-term political solutions. We only have to agree on what we already know from Jewish tradition: Every life is sacred.
Other Recent Writing
“The Iran-Contra Affair Unravels,” History Daily
Recommendations for Reading/Listening/Watching
“In Gaza and Israel, side with the child over the gun” by Naomi Klein, The Guardian
“We Cannot Cross Until We Carry Each Other” by Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents