A Nation Among the Nations
There have been numerous individual statements and institutional pronouncements regarding the calamitous developments in Gaza and Israel. I have found many of them meaningful. Others have been either sanctimonious or self-hating.
The situation in Gaza is dire and tragic. It is urgent that we address the suffering. But we need to be careful to avoid the self-flagellation that has become standard fare among certain Jewish groups and individuals trying the capture the moral ground. The blame for the conditions of famine and devastation in Gaza does not befall Israel alone. Hamas, which continues to be the front for a defanged and embarrassed Iran, bears responsibility for the conditions in Gaza. Not only do they starve, mistreat, and fail to return the Israeli hostages, but they hold their own people (Gazans) hostage to their lust for blood and hatred of Israel. Already, some Arab countries are calling on Hamas to surrender arms and return the hostages.
The Israeli government and military have made mistakes and need to do all that is possible to maintain ethics in warfare (Tohar Haneshek) and to alleviate the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, even as they protect their citizens and insure that an event the likes of Oct 7, will never happen again.
We need to denounce labeling Israel’s actions as “genocidal” and calling Israel/Israelis “Nazis,” both of which tropes are becoming more common, even among certain Jewish sectors. These are hyperbolic, masochistic expressions that promote antisemitism and do not offer constructive solutions.
We, as many Israelis who are unabashedly demonstrating and exercising their democratic rights, will disagree with specific military strategies, political stances, and personalities in the Israeli government. But let us not forget that Israel is confronted not only with an implacable enemy, but with a history of delegitimization and a pernicious propaganda machine.
As we approach Tisha B’Av, the mournful date recalling the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians (586 BCE) and the Second Temple by the Romans (70 CE), as well as many other historic tragedies that befell our people, let us not resort to what the ancient Rabbis identified as the primary reason for the fall of Jerusalem, Sinat Hinam, wanton hatred. This was not hatred directed at others, but inter-communal hatred, accusations, divisiveness, blame. A thread of classical Jewish theology, in an inward twist of contrition, blamed our people itself for the damage inflicted by others upon us. The famed historian, Salo Baron, criticized this “lachrymose conception of history” which dwelt on suffering, pain, and guilt as the driving forces of Jewish self-understanding into modernity. Zionism came to undo this “diasporic” pietistic view and, instead of messianic prayer and yearning, implemented a diplomatic and political initiative to bring about Jewish self-reliance and sovereignty.
The images from Gaza and ongoing settler violence in the West Bank are painful and everything humanitarian needs to be done, politically and diplomatically, to avert further catastrophe and restore peace to the region. It is very difficult for us as Jews, and for Israelis as human beings, to witness the devastation and the pain and not to act. We want the message of the prophets to endure, for Israel to be a “light unto the nations.” But Israel also needs to be acknowledged as a “nation among the nations,” secure, and not isolated and judged by different standards among the community of nations.
Let our voices be informed by the highest of Jewish values but let us be cautious of moralism. Let them be realistic as well as altruistic. The tradition calls us rachamanim b’nei rachamanim (compassionate ones, children of compassionate ones). May we never abandon that stance, towards others and towards ourselves.
Od lo avda tikvatenu…. Our hope is not lost….
