Israel / Palestine

We offer these texts, sermon ideas, articles, talking points, and insights about the Israel-Hamas war and its reverberating effects to make it a little easier to meet the needs of your community at a tremendously difficult time. 

We are not just meant to see the good land, but the whole of it, even what is hard to look at. And when we witness injustice, bitterness, and badness, we are meant to take up the sacred task of picking up the shattered pieces of destruction and building something good, building something worth gazing upon.

Perhaps this midrash holds out a hope that any of us can be transformed to meet the needs of the moment. And perhaps we can find a way to change the course of today’s story so it does not have to end in wholesale destruction.

We have been counting the days since October 7, counting the unbearable number of lost lives, counting the number of hostages, counting the number of people who became refugees in their own land. We count and we count and we count. And we tell a story. Each and every one of us.

In this time of inflamed passions, it’s crucial both to ensure that criticism of Israel does not cross the line into antisemitism, and to protect the free speech of those protesting Israel’s actions.

We are returning from the mountain to the plains; from our highest ideals to the practicalities of daily living; from the most fundamental expression of holiness to where we are now.

The path of peace is not an easy one; it cuts through the binary of right or wrong, victim or oppressor, hero or villain, us or them. The path of peace does not choose favorites, does not leverage one over another, does not create hierarchies. The path of peace has no sides.

This resource offers guidance for educators on where to start and some factors to consider. It is not a program in a box but rather an approach to planning whatever program your community needs.

How can we take on our own “marking of the doorposts” for this moment? What am I prepared to do, or say, to help bring this cursed war to an end? How might I “mark” myself as someone committed to the collective liberation of Palestinians and Israelis?

A collection of T'ruah's resources for Pesach/Passover 2025.