To My Israeli Family and Friends, and Their Defenders

Some of you know that I have already published a letter to non-Jews explaining what it’s like to be Jewish in these times. I then published a letter to my Palestinian friends and to their defenders. And now perhaps most delicate of all, I feel a need to turn to my own people. I need to address Israelis and other Jews as well as our stalwart defenders to help mobilize us to hold on to hope, to do the work of self-defense, but also to preserve the possibility of a future that will allow us and our neighbors to thrive so that all people can participate in that better tomorrow.

This message is nuanced and difficult, which means unpopular in our time of stark and extreme cancelling. But we must relearn to listen to each other, to glean insight even from those with whom we don’t aways agree. I know that I am no expert in security and military affairs. I am a rabbi; my responsibility is to harvest Jewish morality and ethics out of our sacred literature, to distill wisdom from our practices and our history, and to apply those insights to the issues of our day. There is surely no more pressing question for us than this conflict and Israel right now.

I open with the words of this week’s Torah portion, as Judah addresses his brother, Joseph, and says to him, “Let your servant, I beg you, speak words in your ears.”

Let me speak words in your ears now.

As Israel pursues the just cause of its own defense, having been assaulted brutally and unconscionably by Hamas crossing over its border, assaulting its civilians, raping women (and men), murdering children, grandparents and others, ruthlessly and without exception; and as Hamas still holds about a hundred hostages, civilians who deserve their freedom, I want to affirm that military strength and strategy is essential to achieve certain crucial short-term goals: survival, defense, security.

Other such goals of this conflict entail bringing the hostages home, preventing any future border crossing attacks, dismantling the billion-dollar Hamas military infrastructure of tunnels and weaponry throughout the area, stopping the ongoing flow of arms and money to foster terrorist attacks and the terrorist ideology, and creating conditions that make plausible some self-governance in the West Bank and Gaza that does not involve Hamas or terror.

But at the same time as we impose these objectives (and here’s the tricky part my friends), we also have our own work to do. I believe, as a rabbi, that strategy and morality work hand in hand advancing the long-term goals: our thriving and the thriving of our neighbors.

You cannot have one without the other. We need to open to a conversation not only about how we survive in the short term, but also how we thrive in the long term. Fortunately for that conversation, there is a rich Jewish tradition of just war theory. How does one conduct a war ethically? What are the ethical goals one hopes to attain?

The first area demanding our focus is to expand the work of reducing civilian casualties. There have been so many Palestinian deaths and injuries. Indeed, there have been too many Israeli deaths, injuries and terror. All such casualties need to be reduced to the maximum extent of our capability. Whatever we can do (and this is not just the responsibility of Israel; this is the responsibility of Hamas and Hezbollah and the Palestinian Authority), whatever we can do from our side to ensure that civilian casualties are minimized remains a mandate for us, both as the demand of our tradition and as sound strategy to prepare for tomorrow.

Second, we need to ensure that there are adequate supplies of food, water, medicine and housing for the civilians in Gaza who must be terrified right now, living as they do both under such a brutal reign of Hamas (with their use of civilians as shields and hospitals as military barracks) and the devastating consequences of Israel’s response. Because we can, we have an obligation to respond. I’m aware that this obligation should be shared by the Arab countries in the region, by Hamas and Hezbollah, by the Palestinian Authority, but the fact that they are not stepping up to their duty doesn’t mean we should not be stepping up to ours. 

I’m aware that this obligation should be shared by the Arab countries in the region, by Hamas and Hezbollah, by the Palestinian Authority, but the fact that they are not stepping up to their duty doesn’t mean we should not be stepping up to ours.

In addition to those two short-term goals that need immediate implementation, we also must do the work of assuring a livable tomorrow. That means eventually, not now but eventually, the only ultimate solution will be two people living side by side, both with security and dignity. To be able to achieve that now, when there is no one to turn over the occupation to, is not possible. But we need to keep our sights on what might unfold as possibility tomorrow if we act wisely today. We need to occupy (since occupy we must) in a way that maximizes an optimal future. That involves, first, equal law applied equally. For example, anybody who burns down anybody’s harvest should be prosecuted, tried and sentenced, and then they should do time. Regardless of whether they are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Israeli, Palestinian, and regardless of the identity of the victim. equal law applied equally to all

It turns out that this radical idea is one of the great innovations of Torah law, making it unique among ancient near eastern law codes. The crime itself is what matters, not the status of the criminal or the victim. Anybody destroying other people’s property, or crops, or homes, or cars should be arrested, prosecuted, sentenced and serve time. That applies also to those who attack farmers, villages, playgrounds. This doesn’t require new legislation; it just entails applying the current laws equally.

In a similar spirit, there needs to be greater access to equalize quality education, health care, jobs and shelter that allow for everyone in the region to raise their standards of living, invest, and better their children’s lives. People need to be able to live with hope, which requires being able to feed their families and to live with dignity. Toward that end, there must be facilitated processes to authorize new residential units (and to add to existing home units) so that Palestinian families can live in their own homes with their own extended families. There must be equitable and efficient procedures in place to process those requests with an eye to security but also dignity.

There needs to be greater attention to the administration of the border crossing, one that attends to Israeli security and to Palestinian dignity. The way people are handled as they travel to their jobs is crucial to their sense of who Israel is in the region and in their lives. For many Palestinians, it is their most frequent interaction with Israelis, and shapes their impression of who Israelis are.

Another interaction that needs to shift: Administrative detentions should be the exception. And any holding or incarceration should be accompanied by a swift and fair trial, complete with the provision of a defense attorney to represent the accused.

There have been calls for a Marshall Plan, not only to develop Gaza but the West Bank as well. Maybe the world’s nations can lead the way to assure that such funds are used for their intended purposes rather than being siphoned off by Hamas and Hezbollah, that they’re used for the benefit of the civilians within Gaza and the West Bank so that they are all able to thrive and that all the boats rise.

There are four key points to guide us forward: First, Israel and Israelis are not going anywhere. We have a right to security, peace, and dignity and we will have it. Second, Palestine and Palestinians aren’t going anywhere. They also have a right to dignity and peace and security and a future. They are not going anywhere. Third, there is no long-term military solution. There are essential things that only the military can provide, but, fourth,  long-term the only way to move forward is for us to speak to each other, honor each other, to listen to each other and then find ways for Israelis and Palestinians to live together, side by side in their own secure and democratic nations.

Don’t give up hope, dear ones. Don’t walk away. Don’t turn this struggle into a “one-people-has-to-lose-for-the-other-people-to-win.” Israel and Palestinians deserve hope and a tomorrow of peace. We all do.

Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson, a Contributing Writer to the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, holds the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean’s Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles.