My whole being is stricken with terror,
while You, ETERNAL One—O, how long! . . .
I am weary with groaning;
every night I drench my bed,
I melt my couch in tears.Psalms 6:4, 6-7
Perhaps like you, I have spent much of the weekend texting with friends and family in Israel, who have spent the past few days running into their safe rooms as Iranian missiles rain down on the country. Since Friday, at least 21 Israelis have been killed and over 600 have been wounded.
I am praying for comfort for the families of those who have been killed, for refuah shleimah for the wounded, for the safety of everyone in the country, and for this war to end as quickly as possible. I am also praying for the safety of civilians in Iran, who did not choose this war, and who have suffered dire consequences for protesting their own government. Already, there are reports of over 400 civilians killed in Iran, and another 600 wounded. I also pray for their families.
It’s clear that Iran obtaining nuclear weapons is a real threat to Israel’s security, and that Israel has achieved some military victories in this long-planned operation.
But it’s also clear that Netanyahu’s government does not provide trustworthy information, that they would love to distract the public from what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank, and that they believe, as Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard put it, that “every problem should be solved through force.”
Thousands of years ago, the Psalmist taught us:
Kings are not delivered by a large force;
warriors are not saved by great strength;
horses are a false hope for deliverance;
for all their great power they provide no escape. (Psalms 33:16-17)
Both Iran and Israel are governed by people who don’t care about their own citizens and who prefer military escalation to seeking alternate pathways to safety. We can’t ignore the fact that this current escalation might have been avoided if Trump had not withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, after a vigorous campaign by Netanyahu to dissolve it. In fact, the JCPOA is proof that negotiations are possible, that force is not the only option. The U.S. must provide a diplomatic off-ramp from the current dangerous path.
Crucially, we can’t allow this new front to pull our attention away from ongoing suffering in Gaza and the West Bank, where the situation continues to deteriorate. Just today, a reported 34 Gazans were killed while trying to collect food at a distribution point operated by the disastrous and deadly U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund. Meanwhile, 53 hostages are still being held by Hamas, abandoned by their government. We must continue to lift up their plight, even though it has left the front pages.
Nor should we ignore the systemic inequality in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, where not every family has a bomb shelter to retreat to. (In Tamra, a Palestinian town near Haifa where four members of a family were killed by an Iranian missile, only 40% of residents have a bomb shelter or safe room and there are no public shelters.)
In the United States, much of the right — including and especially within the American Jewish community — has jumped into full-fledged support for this war. On the far left, some brush off Iran’s threat to Israel and show no sympathy for Israeli civilians. We continue to insist on the common humanity of Israelis, Iranians, and everyone in the region, that all people deserve to live in peace, and that deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime.
I know that many of us are also terrified that antisemitic violence will increase in the wake of this war. This weekend, someone threw a brick painted “Free Palestine” through the window of the Butcherie, the kosher grocery store in Brookline, MA, where my own family shopped when I was growing up. In Europe, governments have warned of attacks on Jewish institutions. And of course we are all still reeling from the murders at the Capital Jewish museum and the firebombing of a hostage gathering in Boulder, CO, a few weeks ago. Let’s be clear: it is antisemitic to hold Jews accountable for the decisions of the Israeli government.
Even as our attention is turned to Israel and Iran, we are also paying close attention to the unfolding crisis in the United States, in which ICE is detaining our immigrant neighbors on the street, in their homes, and in their workplaces.
Undocumented immigrants are being arrested at mandatory immigration check-ins, children and parents are being forcefully separated, and communities are being torn apart. When President Trump deployed National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles to suppress peaceful protests against ICE there, I was proud that T’ruah rabbis were part of the faith-led movement for immigrants’ rights and freedom of speech.
This weekend, we saw millions of Americans rise up to protest as part of the No Kings protests across the country. T’ruah rabbis and their communities were there too, many sporting their “Resisting Tyrants Since Pharaoh” shirts and placards. Though leaders without our best interests at heart may benefit from an us-versus-them mentality, this week’s parashah teaches that “You and the stranger shall be alike before God.” (Numbers 15:15) Americans of all backgrounds, including our Jewish community, are refusing to be silent as this administration deports our neighbors and shows contempt for the rule of law.
This is a scary moment. On top of everything I have mentioned, we are also seeing increased political violence, including the horrifying killing of a Minnesota state senator and her husband and the wounding of a state representative and his wife, as well as a shooting at a No Kings protest in Salt Lake City on Saturday.
No matter what, we will not stop fighting for what is right. Even as we may be tempted to wallow in despair, we will continue to speak up for the humanity and the rights of all people — in the Middle East and here in the United States and beyond. Thank you for refusing to give in, and refusing to set aside your moral compass.
In solidarity,
Rabbi Jill Jacobs (she/her)
CEO, T’ruah