So, a group of "rabbis" decided that they are not only experts on Jewish law, clearly knowing more than God Himself, but also military experts, specialists in ethical and moral clarity and more. I've been challenged to speak to the flaws of the despicable letter rather than condemn (most justifiably) the people and the concept of a letter written, at least 90%, by American "rabbis", "rabbas" and one new immigrant to Israel.
But, I am not to attack their shameful audacity, their insensitivity...just their words. It's actually easier than I thought it would be, so here goes. Their letter...did I mention it was despicable?...and my responses.
The humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza is one of the most severe in recent history.
Hogwash, and in the very first sentence. Allow me to explain.
- Where were you during the Sudan Crisis? This is an ongoing, devastating tragedy of epic proportions. More than 12 million people have been displaced; 30.4 million people in need (allow me to remind you Gaza's entire population is just over 2 million). 24 million people facing acute food shortages with over 635,000 actually starving (not like in Gaza where hundreds of aid trucks are going in daily, food is being (stolen and) sold on the streets, and vast stockpiles are waiting for the UN to deliver.
- Did you complain and write letters during the Syrian Civil War (which began in 2011 and continues. With estimated death tolls of 350,000, over 6 million people exiled, 7.4 million internally displaced and 17.6 requiring urgent medical and food assistance.
- And Yemen? Not a thought for the estimated 377,000 deaths there? 18.2 million people in dire need of humanitarian aid? 5 million on the brink of famine. Any words for Yemen?
- And the Ukraine? 2022 started, still ongoing. Estimated at 5 million deaths, over 7 million displaced, 25 million people needing humanitarian aid.
- And Afghanistan with 10.9 fled the country and another 3.2 million internally displaced and 7.8 million children starving
- And Darfur with 300,000 dead, 2 million displaced
- And Rwanda with 800,000 dead, 2 million fled their homes.
- And the Congo - with around 5 million dead, 7 million displaced, 25 million needing humanitarian aid. In just ONE week in February 2024, 78,000 children were forced to flee.
- The Ethiopia/Tigray Crisis with an estimated 600,000 dead and nearly 40% of Tigray's population suffering food shortages.
While it began with the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023—a brutal act that justifiably demanded a strong military response and demand for the release of the hostages—this does not absolve Israel’s government from assuming its share of the responsibility for the profound suffering of Gaza’s civilian population.
Who are you to determine what the Israeli government can or cannot "absolve" itself from? Who has caused the profound suffering of Gaza's civilian population? And to be fair to Israel, though that was certainly not your intent, October 7 was not a "horrific terrorist attack". It was a massacre, a genocide in which terrorists went door-to-door to systematically murder every human being (Jew, Muslim, Christian) they set their eyes on. And then there was the kidnapping of around 250 people. These combined crimes against humanity cannot be dismissed nearly as easily as you have attempted to do with your "while it began" statement.
Hamas’s actions have repeatedly shown a cynical disregard for the lives of the people it claims to represent, using civilians as human shields and rejecting ceasefire proposals.
Well kudos for you actually mentioning some of Hamas' crimes. Isn't it ironic that while you note Israel's demand for the hostages, nowhere in this letter do you actually get around to demanding this yourself. If that is not the greatest epic fail of this letter, I do not know what is. Indeed, it is this failure that clearly identifies exactly who you are, and who you are not.
However, Israel’s prolonged military campaign, now approaching two years, has devastated Gaza.
No, Hamas' kidnapping our civilians, thereby requiring us to go in and try to "bring them home", coupled with Hamas boobytrapping countless buildings, hiding in civilian homes, schools, hospitals etc. AND over 2,000 Hamas misfires contributed to much of the damage. You do not explain why this war has lasted almost two years, so allow me to mention it here - it is because they are still holding 50 of our people. Hamas caused this war and thus Hamas caused the devastation of Gaza. Had they not attacked on October 7 and nearly every day since, there would have been no devastation at all.
Not to mention, of course, all the tunnels built under the homes and mosques and hospitals from which they attack, in which they hide our hostages. "As a Jew", don't you think you should have known this, mentioned it, demanded the release of the hostages, which is a focal point of this whole conflict (at least in our minds and hearts, if not yours)?
The death toll is rising with very significant losses of lives, and Israel’s limiting of humanitarian aid, at times completely halting the entry of food and medical supplies, has raised the specter of coming starvation.
Can you name ANY SINGLE instance in mankind's history of waging war in which the side that was attacked brutally sends in humanitarian aid and water to the side that attacked them? How many Nazis did the British and Americans help during WWII? So, let me assist you...I found two cases in history...
- Case 1: During WWI, Germany invaded Belgium (August 1914) and refused to feed the Belgian civilians. Britain set up a naval blockade of Belgian ports, creating starvation conditions for 7 million Belgians. The US negotiated a deal whereby the US would guarantee that all food shipments would go only to the Belgians; the Germans agreed not to take the food destined for civilians. So in reality, it wasn't the fighting parties (Germany and Britain) who facilitated the aid.
- Case 2: Following the savage and barbaric attack on October 7, Israel facilitated the delivery of humanitarian aid to the people who elected the ones who attacked us on October 7. Israel warned civilians away from areas it intended to attack, thereby endangering our soldiers by giving advanced warning to our enemies.
We affirm that Hamas's sins and crimes do not relieve the government of Israel of its obligations to make whatever efforts are necessary to prevent mass starvation.
This is an easy one and so I ask - who the hell are you to affirm anything for Hamas OR the State of Israel? You can't affirm anything for the government of Israel. The vast majority of you do not live in Israel. I wouldn't be surprised if most of you have never been here in Israel for more than a short vacation.
So let me make THIS clear to you. Israel has NO moral or legal obligation to feed the civilians of our enemies. We do it because WE believe OUR humanity requires us to go above the laws of man to save the lives of any human being. We, who put our sons on our borders. We, whose sons have been fighting for hundreds of days. We spit on your affirmation and your attempt to sell your abomination as "moral clarity."
There have been months when Israel blocked humanitarian convoys on the mistaken premise that increased suffering would bring about Hamas’s surrender. Instead, the result has been the deepening of despair.
No, Israel blocked humanitarian convoys because that is the norm of the world. And because Hamas was stealing the food and stockpiling it for their own use or selling it for 10 times the price on the black market. And we blocked the convoys because we were concentrating on finding our hostages. And we blocked humanitarian aid when Hamas launched rockets at the sites from which humanitarian aid entered (Keren Shalom, for example). And, oh my God, we never acted with the intent to "increase" suffering. That is without question a blood libel against the people of Israel and thus the majority of Jews in the world.
The justified anger toward Hamas has dangerously expanded by some extremists into blanket suspicion of the entire population of Gaza—children included—tarnished as future terrorists.
Nonsense. Just nonsense. well except for the first three words only. Yes, our anger is justified. We aren't scared of the children of Gaza. We have become their protectors - protectors against Hamas. With this accusation, honestly, you are just embarrassing yourself and proving your ignorance.
Meanwhile, in Yehuda and Shomron (the West Bank), extremist settler violence has resulted in the murder of civilians and has forced Palestinian villagers from their homes, further destabilizing the region.
To hear rabbis (and rabbas) refer to Yehuda and Shomron as the West Bank is the ultimate proof of your galut mentality. Nothing further need be said. Bow to the ground. Sell your brothers to the dogs.
But okay, since you took the liberty of making the blood libel against our "settlers", while it is estimated that settler violence was responsible for something like 8-10 deaths of Palestinian civilians since October 7, most of those deaths (all but one, I believe) was based on injuries or deaths during a conflict between populations...in this case, settlers and villagers.
For example, when a Jewish family drove home on THE road and were attacked and in defense, someone opened fire at those congregating to harm them. Not all were innocent deaths. Some were and those were widely condemned in Israel not by people who say "as a Jew" but by all Israelis who do not want to see the conflict in Yehuda and Shomron intensify or have innocents on either side injured.
And of course, nowhere in your rant do you mentioned the 689 planned shootings against Israelis, 326 involving explosive devices, 13 stabbings, 9 car-rammings, 2 suicide bombings, and one kidnapping attempt against Israelis...all of which inflamed local residents and did indeed intensify anger, especially after the horrific massacre of October 7.
Amid this devastation, the absence of a clear post-war vision from Prime Minister Netanyahu has allowed the most extreme voices in the Israeli government—including ministers from the religious Zionist community—to fill the vacuum with disturbing proposals. These include the forced “voluntary” exile of Palestinians from Gaza and the sacrifice of remaining Israeli hostages in the pursuit of an elusive “total victory.
The forced "voluntary" exile of Gazans came from your president. We just agreed to it. Take it up with Trump, if you have a problem with it.
After 77 years and the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, I believe we are justified in believing there is little real chance for peace here. But again, coming to that conclusion takes a depth of knowledge that you lack.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the democratically elected leader of the State of Israel. If you don't like that, the vast majority of you who signed this letter simply need to make aliyah - something as supposedly Orthodox Jews you should know is a mitzvah, an obligation.
From your safe homes in the US, you have no right to comment on who we elect and if you are disturbed by the religious Zionist community, perhaps you should speak with your friends in the United Nations and the International Court of Justice. Clearly, you speak their language.
This moment demands a different voice—one grounded in our deepest Jewish values and informed by our traumatic history of being victims of persecution.
Wait, let me guess, you mean YOUR voice? You mean the voice of Jews who have chosen not to live in Israel, not to fight for our country, not to raise your children here. As for "our traumatic history of being victims of persecution", your ghetto mentality means nothing to us. We are no one's victim. We will fight those who invade our lands, and those who seek to destroy us in the courts of the world, the halls of the United Nations and even in the misguided shuls in America who mistake Jewish values for galut fears.
Orthodox Jewry, as some of Israel’s most devoted supporters, bears a unique moral responsibility. We must affirm that Judaism’s vision of justice and compassion extends to all human beings.
Now you purport to speak for Orthodox Jewry? Um...no. Most devoted supporters of Israel? By publicizing a blood libel against us? With such supporters...
Some of Israel's most devoted supporters? God help Israel from such supporters. But maybe this is the time to make something brutally clear to you...as Jews. You have no moral responsibility for what is happening in Israel. Your moral indignation should worry about what is happening in the US and Europe where Jews are being beaten, synagogues are being burned. Your children are assimilating. Save them.
Our tradition teaches that every person is created b’tzelem Elokim—in the Divine image. We are the spiritual descendants of Avraham, chosen to walk in the path of Hashem, “to do righteousness and justice” (Bereshit 18:19). Allowing an entire people to starve stands in stark contrast to this teaching.
If you want to walk in the path of Avraham, you're going to have to get on a plane. The man didn't walk in Denver, Miami, New York. For what it is worth, with this letter, you haven't decided to walk in the path of "Hashem", you're walking on foreign soil.
And here comes the bitter truth. The galut of your mind and your soul is foreign to my people and my land. One more time...we are not "allowing an entire people" to starve. Educate yourselves. Israel has done everything it can to avoid civilian casualties, to help civilians, to prevent starvation.
As we reflect on Tisha B’Av, the words of our prophets ring with renewed urgency. The Haftorah of Shabbat Chazon reminds us: “Zion shall be redeemed through justice, and those who return to her through righteousness” (Yeshayahu 1:27). And on the morning of Tisha B’Av, the voice of Yirmiyahu echoes through our prayers: “Let not the wise glory in their wisdom...but in this: that they understand and know Me, that I am the Lord who practices kindness, justice, and righteousness on the earth—for in these I delight” (Yirmiyahu 9:23).These are not just poetic phrases. They are the foundations of our ethical obligation—to demand policies that uphold human dignity, to provide humanitarian aid wherever possible, and to speak out when our government’s actions contradict the Torah’s moral imperatives, no matter how painful this may be to accept.
Most of what you write in this last section is, of course, mostly correct. But you might also want to look at ילקוט שמעוני, שמואל א', רמז קכא: אמר רבי יהושע בן לוי כל שהוא רחמן על אכזרים לסוף נעשה אכזר על רחמנים (English translation: "Anyone who is merciful to the cruel will end up being cruel to the merciful.")
And despite this, Israel IS providing humanitarian aid and upholding human dignity. Israel is not abusing, starving, beating and psychologically torturing Gazans as you seem to suggest. It is the hostages you forget to mention (except in passing) that are suffering endless indignities. And finally, it is not YOUR government. YOU don't live here. YOU are not guarding Israel's borders (the vast majority of you who signed this obscenity).
The future of Israel depends not only on its military strength but on its moral clarity. Let us be resounding voices for justice, righteousness, and peace for all people—even and especially in the hardest of times.
And again, it is not you who determine what Israel's future holds because you are not here, you are not offering us anything other than your stunningly blind moral clarity. We who have sought peace for generations and sacrificed our children to defend this land are not swayed by your galut mentality of bending to today's Nazis.
But worst of all, perhaps, are the last few words. When you speak of "the hardest of times", you have no clue what we are enduring here. The children who have lost parents, the parents who have lost children. The widows who were married a month, or two. The suffering of my people. Thousands wounded, maimed. Large areas burned, destroyed.
In reading this atrocious letter of immoral clarity, I am grateful for my land, my people, my children. Our soldiers have held the moral line in light of the utter immorality thrown at our people - now even from our own people.
As you call yourselves "rabbis" and "rabbas", I will tell you that you have lost your moral compass. You have lost your morality. You have lost touch with the essence of Judaism and the drive of our people to live in our homeland in peace, in hope, in safety.
We who guard the Torah and the land, turn our eyes from you. You have lost the courage of our forefathers to stand for your people AND justice. You have turned on your own people, similar to what we read in Eicha. You live in darkness in far off lands and deny your children the light of this land.
And as often happens, in writing this, my anger drains away. Behold the glory of Jerusalem just outside my window. I pity you the blindness in your eyes, the corruption in your brains, the ugliness in your hearts that would condemn your own people rather than find the courage to demand that the world see the truth. I cut the cord you wrapped around my heart. You are nothing, not rabbis, not teachers. Not wise. Not courageous.
For you, in the holy month of Elul, I have only pity. Hashem is in the field, here in our land. You condemn yourselves and your future, what little of it is left, there on distant shores. And we open our hearts and our minds to the light of Hashem, here in this beautiful land.
Here. Home. Am Yisrael Chai.
Oh, and the list of who signed the letter:
"If you want to walk in the path of Avraham, you're going to have to get on a plane. The man didn't walk in Denver, Miami, New York."
ReplyDeleteI *love* this.
thank you. My daughter laughed out loud when she saw this...
DeleteNonsense. Obscenity. Blood libel. These are not the crimes of others, they are the essence of your own text. You shout “moral clarity” while showing only moral blindness. You invoke “as a Jew” to claim authority, yet erase international law and collective punishment. You speak of “humanitarian aid” while children starve under blockade. You pretend generosity where there is only deliberate cruelty. You mock critics as ignorant because they do not live in Israel, but human rights are universal. You accuse others of distortion, yet it is your own writing that drips with contempt and propaganda. You demand shame from others, but it is you who should be ashamed.
ReplyDeleteHard to understand this comment, though I am trying. I usually don't bother responding to "Anonymous" - more often than not they are cowards who hide, too scared even to give their names.
ReplyDeleteI speak of humanitarian aid while Hamas steals 88% of the aid going in and then tries to resell it for 10 times the going rate. No children aren't STARVING and there's no blockade. At this point, Israel and the US are encouraging the Gazans to leave. Their October 7 massacre backfired. They wanted to destroy Israel and instead their country was destroyed. Gaza lies in ruins. Only Hamas is to blame.
We do not "pretend generosity" - we deliver it. No country in the world has fed its enemy...no nation at war warns the enemy where they will next attack and opens humanitarian corridors for civilians to escape (and then protects the civilians from Hamas, who has opened fire on Gazans who try to flee).
I don't mock critics as ignorant - I mock ignorant critics. Especially those who do not live in Israel. This is not a discussion of human rights. Israel, unlike Hamas, is not violating the human rights of anyone. Israel is holding no civilians as prisoners. We tell them where we are going to bomb and give them plenty of time to evacuate. If asked, we will help innocents evacuate. The ones violating human riots are Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Yemen, Hezbollah and Iran who are targeting innocent civilians with ballistic missiles, starving, torturing, dehumanizing our hostages. My writing doesn't drip - not with contempt...okay, you might have me there - with SOME very justified contempt and no, not propaganda.
As for shame, yes, those who support and publicize blood libels should be deeply ashamed...as should cowards too afraid to post with their names.