Israel and Hope
written on October 25, 2023
As the Hebrew month on Tishrei is upon us, it is a time of reflection and an opportunity for each of us to think about what is strong and true in our lives, despite the horrors we are facing in the daily reports on the Hamas—Israel war.
In a world around us, the autumn of 2023 is a time of “senseless hatred” filling the air from Israel to America—the ugliness of war embarking Ukraine—each war a screeching cacophony of one people’s “senseless hatred” for another.
The terror spread by extremism eats away at the human soul and in the darkness of fear, our hearts cry out words spoken by a lone prophet in ancient Israel, inspired by the Israeli singer, Hava Alberstein: Ad Matai
How long will Israel have to continue her battles of survival
How long will such battles simple be to increase death counts?
How long will it take to eliminate the “senseless hate” of the extremists?
How long O’G-d do we have before this “senseless hatred” corrupts our souls with it point and defeat our will to live?
And thus, the song goes on. A song with lyrics that ring to today, and in the past tragedies Israel has faced. For the situation happening in Israel is complex. Our hearts are in the East while we remain in the West trying to comprehend the inhumane destruction of our people.
In all this darkness, encourage yourself to see the light.
I think back to an experience I had long ago at a summer camp in Maine. Here, a Palestinian child and an Israeli child had become friendly and were interested in learning more about each other and their families. The two sat together in honest dialogue in a program called “Seeds of Peace” where they confronted their prejudices and hatreds in an effort to plant seeds of peace so that, hopefully, their grandchildren’s generation would be able to taste the fruits of genuine peace.
Idealist? Optimist? Heck, yes! But if we are ever to wrestle “senseless hate” from the hands of extremist, the time is now to try again to understand, and to be understood as we take a new view in finding our own “seeds of peace”.
To go from the “senseless hate” of both yesteryear and today, to the hopes of “seeds of peace”, will be a long and arduous journey. Like the challenges we sometimes find in our personal lives, many of the issues to be confronted can be painful and frustrating. But herein lies our hope. Do not lose faith. Do not give up. Do not ignore what is happening, remain aware, but look for light in the darkness. Like the two young boys at camp, we need to learn how to listen to each other, how to find common ground so that we can find our way to a better tomorrow.
When the great pain of a broken heart overwhelms us, our humbled and helpless selves are again forced into view. We need to exert all the effort we can to regain our connectedness to the world and others. Hopefully before too long we are able to find the love that is still in our hearts beneath the pain. Love that can bring all the separate pieces around us magically together so that can become healed once again. Compassion is reborn in our hearts when we lead with love.
Do not lose faith. Do not give up.
Do not ignore what is happening.
Remain aware, but look for light in the darkness
