Dear T’ruah community,
This week, we read the story of Jacob and Esau, twin brothers who struggle from birth for their parents’ favor. In many ways, Esau is the most tragic figure in the Torah. Rabbinic tradition paints him as evil and untrustworthy, but the text in Genesis shows him to be an ordinary man who wants to make his parents happy.
When Isaac realizes he has been tricked into giving first-born Esau’s blessing to Jacob, he despairs: “I blessed him; now he must remain blessed!” (Genesis 27:33)
Esau begins to weep and asks, “Have you but one blessing, Father?” (27:38)
Right now, we are being asked to choose a favorite. To choose one side in this conflict to bless with our support. But that is a false choice.
We have enough compassion, commitment to human rights, and ability to hold nuance in our hearts that we can see the humanity in every person living on this piece of land, and bless them all for a better future.
The Jewish community is shattered by what happened on October 7. Many of us are mourning friends and family, worried about people held in captivity, and frightened for friends and family in Israel who are displaced, deployed, and living under rocket fire.
We are also shattered by the deaths of civilians in Gaza, including thousands of children, and by the humanitarian crisis unfolding there.
We are moved by the memory of peace activists like Vivian Silver (z”l), whose remains were identified this week on her kibbutz, where she was murdered by Hamas. Until her final hours, she was still working for peace from a place of empathy and common humanity.
Because there is ultimately no military solution to Hamas or to this conflict.
We need a political solution — one that protects the human rights and human dignity of everyone — and we believe the most likely solution to meet that criteria is two states for two people. Israel, side by side with Palestine.
That day may feel incredibly distant. But there are steps that can and must be taken now to move toward a shared future.
First, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza must be addressed. That means humanitarian pauses during which Israel ensures — along with the international community — that food, water, medicine, and fuel (without which humanitarian aid cannot be distributed) are delivered safely and with sufficient oversight to civilians in Gaza. People are starving, and disease is spreading rapidly. The current stop-and-start progress of aid into Gaza is unacceptable and contributing to a massive humanitarian disaster.
Humanitarian pauses are also crucial for securing the release of all hostages, which must be a priority for Israel. We must listen to the families of hostages, many of whom are on a five-day march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem right now to demand the government does more to rescue their loved ones.
The families are asking the Israeli government — which until now has largely ignored them — to prioritize securing the release of the hostages, and to do whatever it takes to perform the mitzvah of pidyon shvuyim, securing the release of captives — including a pause in hostilities and prisoner exchange.
We need to keep our eyes on the shared future Palestinians and Jewish Israelis deserve. That means working now toward a sustainable end to violent conflict as soon as possible.
This end to violence will require stopping the bombing of Gazan civilians and civilian infrastructure, stopping the rockets aimed at Israeli civilians, the hostages being released, and Hamas being rendered incapable of repeating the attacks of October 7.
All this must happen in the context of a mediated international effort. We reject a future where Israel’s military retains control of Gaza or in which settlements are built in Gaza for Israelis.
We must remember that the Israeli government is the same racist, incompetent government we have been protesting for the last year. Polls show that Israelis have completely lost faith in PM Netanyahu, and we join calls for him to step down immediately. We also call on the extremists in the government to cease their inflammatory rhetoric, which is only raising tensions. Israel must also act immediately to stop settler violence in the West Bank, and must stop its oppressive campaign to prohibit free speech, especially by Palestinian citizens. War must not be used as an excuse to weaken democracy.
In this time, T’ruah continues to provide pastoral care for our rabbis and cantors, to offer public webinars that dive into the complex topics surrounding this moment (including a webinar today in which I was in conversation with Eric K. Ward, an expert on white nationalism, antisemitism, and democracy), and to offer Jewish resources that speak to this moment. We continue to call out rising antisemitism, including in my appearance on the NBC News special “Epidemic of Hate: Antisemitism on the Rise” yesterday evening, and to distinguish real antisemitism from valid criticism of Israel.
18-year-old Yaela David, whose brother Evyatar was kidnapped into Gaza, told the Times of Israel this week as she walked to Jerusalem: “We are going to keep on until our voices make the whole world tremble.”
We must do everything we can to amplify those voices as we continue seeking wholeness, humanity, and abundant blessings.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Jill Jacobs (she/her)
CEO, T’ruah
