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When I lived in Israel for eight months from November 1978 to June 1979, I’d often see people in T-shirts emblazoned with the logo, ‘Israel Isreal’. Well, Israel was pretty real alright: Kibbutz Adamit, where I stayed, is at the top of a hill above Wadi Namir, just a couple of kilometres from the Lebanese border; when ketusha rockets were fired from Lebanon, they usually exploded in the valley below – although the kibbutz chicken houses were hit on one occasion. We wiled away many long hours in the bomb-shelters where we played Sheshpesh and watched films – I remember seeing ‘Nashville’, which ran to about ten reels. Anyone who has spent any time in Israel has a story to tell. And, of course, not only about violence: the sights, scenery, and seas; crowded cafes that never seem to close; ever ringing mobile phones; jostling crowds; bustling bus stations; the stillness of Shabbat… I’ve been travelling to Israel for half my life now (twenty-three years) and feel a passionate sense of connection and belonging as a Jew – quite apart from the fact that I have family and friends across the country from the Galilee to Eilat. It’s because I feel so connected to Israel as a Jew that I cannot help but think about Israel in terms of the values of Peace and Justice, which are the foundation of my Jewish identity. The Torah teaches that Justice not only means equal justice for all, it also includes conduct towards vulnerable people - widows, orphans, and strangers. What is more, the loving and just treatment of strangers (see Leviticus 19) - reiterated thirty-two times - is paramount. One of the most distressing aspects of the continuing Israeli/Palestinian conflict is the way in which ‘religion’ seems to have been hijacked by the extremists on both sides. Fortunately, just as there are Palestinian peacemakers (both Muslim and Christian), there are also observant Jews (both Progressive and Orthodox) - Rabbis For Human Rights, for example - who, alongside secular groups like Peace Now, are working together for a Just Peace for both peoples. As it happens, one of the founders of RFHR is my former Talmud teacher, Isaac Newman, who was the Rabbi of the United Synagogue in Barnet, North London, before settling in Israel. As a committed Jew, a rabbi, and a ‘lover of Zion’, I want to see an end to the cycle of violence. Just as, it is traditional to take three steps back when reciting the prayer for peace, ‘Oseh Shalom’, I pray that both peoples - Israelis and Palestinians - will step back from the brink and create a space in which to sow the seeds of peace. ©
Rabbi Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah |
