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As I stared at the blank sheet of paper I had so many thoughts going through my mind. Do I want to teach about Hezbollah, do I want to talk about Israel and the pager bombs? What do I even think of this action? Should I talk about the Jewish ethical tradition of war? Should I defend or accuse? Should I discuss nation-states and people-hood? Should I discuss the Torah portions emphasis on Blessings and Curses? 

All these topics I started researching, all were filled with more and more rabbit holes of information and the time was ticking by with Shabbat staring down at me…what did I need to say? What would you want to hear?  

I feel like I’ve been thinking about and learning about Israel almost non-stop for the past year. One of you once told me, “I want to come to services to get away from the news but here you are still talking about it.” Someone else shared that because of the current war and their current anti-Zionist feelings, they are “taking a break from Judaism” in general. 

What does it mean to be a spiritual leader, leading a community in crisis? Is it my role to share my passion - okay, maybe obsession - with you? Or is it my job to follow your lead? Is it my role to comfort the disturbed and/or disturb the comfortable? And how might I successfully do that anyway? 

It seems clear to me that one role of a Jewish leader is to seek out a Jewish lens, or perspective on complex issues. Not everyone will agree that we should use a Jewish lens and not everyone will agree that my interpretation is in fact THE Jewish interpretation. So, let’s look at a really tough and relevant question right now. 

Are Jews Pacifists? 

Torah is filled with Commandments about peace, and about protecting humanity, whether the basic “love your neighbor as yourself,” (Lev 19:18) or more direct “seek peace and pursue it,” (Psalm 34:15) you would not be mistaken to believe that Torah and God wish for Jews to be peaceful and for Jews to have a universal view of humanity. As reform Jews, we put primacy on the theological idea that all humans are created “betzelem elohim” in the Image of God, thereby making humans Godly and valuable. Combined with the many times Torah teaches us to love the “orphan the widow and the stranger,” it is no wonder we come to a universal understanding of valuing human life, not just Jewish life, but all of humanity. 

But Torah is not only peace filled, as we are reading in Deuteronomy at this season, we learn of many rules pertaining to the conquering of the land. God, not only is described as a God of war “Adonai Tz’vaot,” God commands the Israelites to go to battle. We know that Pikuach Nefesh, saving a life, is a command in which almost all other commandments can be broken, but Torah also teaches that killing in self-defense is permissible some even say commanded. “Lo Tirtzach” the 6th commandment (of the top ten), Christians tend to translate as, Thou Shall not kill, but most Jewish translations will say you shall not MURDER, making a distinction between justified, unjustified, and accidental taking of life.  

Not only does Torah not lead to a clear answer on War and Peace, I would say it leans towards war, with instructions for conquering Cannan, as a means to create a utopian, peaceful society once the Israelites have safely settled in the land. One might summarize this theory as war which leads to peace.  

For nearly two thousand years, all discussion of war, and Israelite army, and ethical behavior of an army, were completely theoretical. After the year 70 CE, the Israelites were in exile across the Roman Empire, with no army to dream of proper or improper behavior for. In fact, the destruction of Jerusalem and experience of exile was so traumatic, the Sages who helped create Rabbinic Judaism, de-emphasized war, and power, to help Jews live under the rule of others. But Talmud did not give up on the concept of self-defense, in multiple places Talmud teaches “if someone comes to kill you, kill him first.” 

So where do we go from here with our divided thoughts on Israel’s military might, military ethics and efficacy? Where do we go to understand the universality of all human life in balance with the nature of claiming ones own: your neighbor, your clan, your people, your family? 

Like most things in Judaism there is not only one right answer, and surely a multiplicity of opinions can be gained by looking through a Jewish lens. Some lenses will emphasize the universal, some the particular, some the peaceful, some the defensive. My wish for this community is that we see the value of finding different answers, and perhaps have some humility that the answer we came to might not be the only correct one, when we see other community members looking through Jewish lenses coming to different conclusions.  

What happens when one concludes that Israel is fundamental to Jewish identity and others conclude its actions are fundamentally antithetical to Judaism? What should we teach our students? What should we teach from the bima? I would ask, is there room for both?  

Just as Torah teaches the dichotomy that God is both a God of peace and a God of war, that justice and peace are worthy pursuits, while simultaneously commanding that all idolaters be put to the sword; so too can we modern Jews understand each other. We are human, we are filled with contradictions, sometimes I care more for those who are “like me” sometimes I care more for “the stranger,” (both are in fact commanded in Torah). This week I was struck with two simultaneous thoughts when I read about the pagers exploding in Lebanon: “Hezbollah members deserve it, AND that seems like terrorism.” Personally, I’m still coming to terms with the nuance between the two of what I think about this new action. But I recognize that what I already believe about Israel, about self-defense, about war, about aggression, about terrorism, about humanity, about collateral damage (otherwise known as innocent human beings), all these come to bear on my thought process, and my judgement of whether this action was right or wrong, justified or immoral, or somewhere in the middle. I hope you will be open to the multiplicity of opinions, and the multiplicity of methodologies to come to such opinions. Help us to strengthen our community by being open to those you disagree with, and finding a Jewish lens in their conclusions too. 

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Watch the entirety of Friday’s service here.

Temple Talk is a recap of sermons given from the Bimah for those who missed a Sermon or who wanted to revisit the words spoken at a previous sermon.