The moment a terror attack happens in Israel, the comments
start to come. “So do you STILL think there is someone to talk to?” “Still believe in ‘peace’ do you?” “Do you finally see who ‘these people’ are?”
The implication is that there is no rapprochement possible in the face of utter
barbarism. The only possible response to “these people” is force and lots of
it.
When I see the picture of a man in tallit and tefillin (like
me every morning) shot dead in a pool of blood in synagogue (where I too
customarily go every day) I am overcome with a wave of nausea followed by a
surge of anger. I don’t have words for the fury and the fear at the thought of
a person charging into our place of worship and hacking a fellow Jew, who, like
me, appears before God in tallit and tefillin, to death. If he weren’t just like me would I feel the
same? I don’t know. I look at the black pants, the white shirt, the build of
the man, the black striped tallis that I wear and this is deeply personal. This brutal monster has killed one of US and
I am furious.
In that, I am just the same as the person who taunts me.
Where I differ is that while I get that I am going to feel
more intensely when I have an affinity for another human being as a fellow Jew,
I also strive to see all human beings as “in the image of God” (so to speak, trust me on this my Muslim
friends, this really is NOT a blasphemous notion- its metaphorical). Each human being is a reflection of the
Divine majesty and precious to their Creator. Where is that well of outrage
when every single day human beings are being hacked, torn, shot for every
possible excuse? Where are my tears for the innocent of every color, race,
language, and faith?
Where I differ is that I distrust the idea of “these
people.” I don’t believe that
barbarians or the gullible idiots who
are always there to cheer such people on get to elect themselves the moral
representatives of their people. “These
people” whoever they may be in today’s news are like all people a
conglomeration of the best and worst in all of us. No people deserves to be branded by the moral
ugliness of its most despicable citizens.
Where I differ is that as much as I sometimes want to, I don’t believe that I
have permission to give up. I feel
compelled by the example of Abraham, who pleaded to God for the murderous
idolaters of Sodom. My struggle, like his, is to strive to uplift humanity in
any way that I can, not to wish for its destruction, not even the destruction
of the worst of us. Abraham believed
that even a few righteous people could turn around an entire world gone crazy. So I reach out to the righteous, encourage the
good where I can because it’s the only plan I have got.
I push through the pain and through the fear and do what I
have to do for the sake of my conscience, for the good of my people, for the good of humanity, with as much trust in my Creator as I can
muster. So yes, even today, I still…
