In This Moment: The Price of War; Jews, Palestinians, the Land and the Planet

 

In This Moment Today has been a tragic day in this already tragic conflict. In the war's deadliest battlefield incident (from an Israeli standpoint), 21 IDF reserve soldiers were killed as buildings collapsed in a blast. See "Wide swath of society: The stories of some of the 21 troops killed in Gaza blast (TOI)." Click to see pdf of the whole page Wednesday's Front Pages Try again later this evening if the pages aren't appearing yet Jerusalem Post Ha'aretz Yediot Ahronot Tu B'Shevat 5784 Jews, Palestinians, the Land and the Planet Above: A field of sunflowers in Slovakia, taken from the bus of our 2017 TBE Europe trip Tu B'Shevat, which falls on Wed. night and Thursday, has shape-shifted in a number of ways over the past two millennia, with vastly different but complementary messages. To look at how the themes of Tu B'Shevat interact, see this explainer, The Four Faces of Tu B'Shevat, at the bottom of this email. Right now we need to bring together the national Zionist theme with the more universal ecological one, and incorporate the most salient aspects of both. We need to take that tight spiritual bond that Jews have for our Land and direct that passion outward, toward those who also share bonds with that Land, with other lands, and with the entire planet. Buber and Gandhi: Were the early Zionist pioneers "colonialists?" In a landmark "open letter" between two giants of the spirit, written at the outbreak of World War Two, Martin Buber wrote to Mahatma Gandhi about a topic that is sadly still being discussed today: Are Jews in the Land of Israel foreign interlopers invading an alien country (as the British were doing in both Palestine and India), or are they returning to cultivate their ancestral, sacred soil? Buber's entire letter is well worth reading, but the excerpt below responds powerfully to the "colonialist" question: Our settlers do not come here as do the colonists from the Occident to have natives do their work for them; they themselves set their shoulders to the plow and they spend their strength and their blood to make the land fruitful. But it is not only for ourselves that we desire its fertility. The Jewish farmers have begun to teach their brothers, the Arab farmers, to cultivate the land more intensively; we desire to teach them further: together with them we want to cultivate the land —to “serve it,” as the Hebrew has it. The more fertile this soil becomes, the more space there will be for us and for them. We have no desire to dispossess them: we want to live with them. Martin Buber, An Open Letter to Mahatma Gandhi 1939 A.D. Gordon was a pioneer of early Zionism, known for expressing the organic connection of the people to the land. See this excerpt from one of his essays: We are engaged in a creative endeavor the like of which is not to be found in the whole history of mankind: the rebirth and rehabilitation of a people that has been uprooted and scattered to the winds. The center of our national work, the heart of our people, is here, in Palestine. Here something is beginning to flower which has greater human significance and far wider ramifications than our history-makers envisage, but it is growing in every dimension deep within, like a tree growing out of its own seed. Here, in Palestine, is the force attracting all the scattered cells of the people to unite into one living national organism. The more life in this seed, the greater its power of attraction. . . . We seek the rebirth of our national self, the manifestation of our loftiest spirit, and for that we must give our all. A.D. Gordon, “Our Tasks Ahead,” 1920 A Shared Love, a Shared Sadness So we need to feel that deep connection to that sacred Land, and we need to do it in a way that reinforces our collective human connection to all the earth and those who dwell upon it. Here are love poems to the Land written by Zionists and non Zionists. They should be seen as complementary - not competitive - visions. We are two trees growing from the same seeds. See first this sobering reflection by the Palestinian national poet, Mahmoud Darwish (1942-2008). It could easily have been written by Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000), perhaps Israel's greatest poet - who in fact wrote the poem directly below it. Sunflowers on Kibbutz Re'im The natural beauty of the Land becomes a burning, sun-scorched funhouse mirror of the terrible toll of human suffering that has taken place amidst that beauty. A bucolic natural setting becomes a hell-scape, which is precisely what happened last October at the rave adjacent to Kibbutz Re'im. A pre-October 7 website explains that initially, the lovely, peaceful kibbutz was called “Tel Re'im” (Tel – Hill, Reim – Friends) after the nearby hill called in Arabic, “Tel al-Jama” (the hill of the friends). And then 364 were massacred. The Tel Aviv exposition center recently hosted a multi media exhibit on the Re'im massacre. Spilled blood is the closest thing to roots we have. You can see the intimate connection of land, life and death in this work by Zelda (1914 - 1984), one of Israel's great poets: The Invisible Carmel When I die, moving into a different mode, the invisible Carmel that is wholly mine – wholly the essence of joy, where the needles and cones of the pines, the flowers and clouds are engraved in my flesh – will split from the visible Carmel and its avenues of pines sloping down to the sea. Does delight in the crimson sunset come from death’s hidden nexus within me? And delight in the fragrant herbs, the moment of the water’s haze and the moment of return to the stern gaze of Jerusalem’s skies, to the Supreme over all – do these come from the hidden nexus of death? Zelda imagines becoming one, in death as in life, with her beloved Carmel forest, which she could see from her home in Haifa. That "invisible Carmel" is her afterlife, and for her, immortality is a communion with the Land. Is this heaven? No, it's Haifa. The Carmel slopes heal even as Jerusalem's sun scorches. Love poems to nature come from all parts of the world, not just the Land of Israel. Psalm 24 presents a more universal view: Rashi comments that the word "aretz" implies the Land of Israel, and "tevel" the entire world. Our narrow focus on nurturing the soil of the Holy Land must not end there, but lead to the preservation of the entire planet. Poetically, this verse is a classic synecdoche, where, in Rashi's view, the part, Israel, stands in for the whole, the planet. Earth is on loan from God and we are all its custodians. A pure devotion to just one land, no matter how singularly holy, is pointless, since God sees the whole world as being to some degree sacred and in every respect fragile. After all, the seeds that fly in the wind know no national borders. The sunflowers are everywhere, in the killing fields of eastern Europe and the killing fields of Re'im. This poem, by Chinese poet Yi Lei from the inspiring collection, Five Nature Poems by Women of Color, picks up on that theme of nature transcending borders. Not everything flying into northern Israel these days is a Hezbollah rocket. It has been estimated that over 500 million migratory birds fly over Israel every year. A large number of them make a lengthy stop in Israel's Hula Valley. They know no national borders. Over 450 species of birds are navigating these crossroads of the sky, including these cranes. Tu B'Shevat reminds us of our escalating obligations. For when, God willing, the current fighting finally ends, the hostages are released and Hamas's reign of terror ends, we will still be left with a planet that just completed its hottest year by far. We need to remind ourselves that this sacred, beautiful and tragic Land is holy to Israelis and Palestinians - and to cranes and sunflowers too. Recommended Reading In turbulent times, we must keep fighting for human rights (eJewish Philanthropy) "Teardrops in an Ocean of Indifference." (Jewdicious) - “I thought everyone pretty much agreed that the Holocaust was a stain on our shared humanity and that the Nazis were evil. I never fathomed that this could actually present as an open question" GAZA’S UNDERGROUND: HAMAS’S ENTIRE POLITICO-MILITARY STRATEGY RESTS ON ITS TUNNELS (Modern War Institute) - The sheer size of Hamas’s underground networks may, once fully discovered, be beyond anything a modern military has ever faced. . . . For the first time in the history of tunnel warfare, . . . Hamas has built a tunnel network to gain not just a military advantage, but a political advantage as well. . . . Hamas weaved its vast tunnel networks into the society on the surface. Destroying the tunnels is virtually impossible without having an adverse effect on the population living in Gaza. Hamas’s strategy is . . . not to hold terrain or defeat an attacking force. Its strategy is about time. It is about creating time for international pressure on Israel to stop its military operation to mount. . . . It wants the world’s attention on the question of whether the IDF campaign is violating the laws of war in attacking Hamas tunnels that are tightly connected to civilian and protected sites. It wants to buy as much time as is needed to cause the international community to stop Israel. Its entire strategy is built on tunnels. Arguably, no military in the world is as well prepared for subterranean tactical challenges as the IDF. But the strategic challenge is entirely different. To destroy many of the deep-buried tunnels, the IDF has required bunker-busting bombs, which Israel is criticized for using. And most importantly it has required time to find and destroy the tunnels in a conflict in which Hamas’s strategy is aimed at limiting the time available to Israel to conduct its campaign. Hamas’s strategy, then, is founded on tunnels and time. New PBS documentary ‘Nazi Town, USA’ looks at 1930s heyday of Hitler’s US admirers (TOI) Most believe Netanyahu’s wartime decision-making mainly motivated by personal interest (TOI) - Wartime survey shows Gantz’s National Unity soaring, finds public prefers both Gantz (48%) and Eisenkot (45%) to Netanyahu (32%) as PM; 46% oppose Gaza ceasefire for hostage release Poll: Most Israelis would back US plan tying Palestinian state to freeing hostages, Saudi normalization - A slight majority of Israelis would back a US plan for ending the war that would see the release of all remaining hostages, Saudi Arabia agree to normalize relations with Israel, and Jerusalem agree to the eventual establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state, a new poll indicates. In the survey conducted by the Midgam Institute on behalf of the dovish Geneva Initiative, 51.3 percent of respondents say they would back such an agreement, while 28.9% said they would oppose it, and 19.8% said they didn’t know. Ofir Liebstein, an Israeli politician who headed the Sha'ar haNegev Regional Council, was killed on October 7. As the spring anemones are soon going to blossom to beautify the stricken south, he'll be remembered in a fitting way. Temple Beth El 350 Roxbury Road Stamford, Connecticut 06902 203-322-6901 | www.tbe.org    A Conservative, Inclusive, Spiritual Community

Temple Beth El | 350 Roxbury Road, Stamford, CT 06902

In This Moment: Report from Israel; How Can We Observe Tu B'Shevat This Year?

 

In This Moment Tu B'Shevat, Now Five years ago, this JNF video highlighted the efforts of Israelis living near the Gaza border to respond to kite terrorism perpetrated by Hamas, by planting trees for Tu B'Shevat. It makes us all wonder how we can commemorate Tu B'Shevat this year and whether the response of planting trees alone was insufficient then and now. It seemed so idealistic back at the time, but now, we wonder how many of those in this video - human and tree - are still alive. The Masorti movement has developed a bilingual Tu B'Shevat haggadah specifically for this year. You can find it here. I'm hoping to share some of it over the coming days. Meanwhile, take a look at this heartrending poem written by a 9-year old Israeli from Nahal Oz. If he can still have hope, so must we. Report from Israel by Beverly Stein TBE member Beverly Stein just returned from Israel and reported on her experience at yesterday's Shabbat morning service. Below is the text of her talk and some photos that she took. In this week’s parasha, Bo, the Israelites take their first steps as a free people out of Egypt on their journey to the Promised Land. Their journey takes 40 years of wandering in the desert. David and I recently returned from a four day Hadassah Solidarity Mission to Israel, where the journey to the Promised Land took 9 hours via El Al. We went with 50 participants from 8 countries – United States, Israel, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, France, Switzerland and Canada. We went to bear witness to the atrocities that were committed by Hamas on October 7 and to show our solidarity with the Israeli people and country. We have been to a number of concentration camps, but nothing prepared us for what we saw and heard. From the minute we landed until we boarded our flight after the Mission, the hostages were with us. Their photos line the walkway in the airport; hang on buildings and fences and are displayed on billboards across the country. They are on everyone’s mind and in everyone’s heart at all times. They are being held against their will over 100 days. The reality of their agony and of the atrocities of October 7 is part of the Israeli psyche. The entire society is traumatized. A trauma which cannot begin to heal until the war is over. Everyone knows someone who was killed on October 7, held hostage or currently serving in Gaza. Bearing witness to the personal and national trauma going on combined with the resilience, maturity and open hearts of Israelis and Diaspora of all ages and backgrounds has been a life changing experience.  Our mission began with an update on the situation from Eylon Levy, an Israeli Government spokesperson. He charged us with asking ourselves “what did I do today to help release the hostages?” Mr. Levy urged us to fight back by writing letters and calling our congressmen and congresswomen, senators and the White House. Wear the dog tag for the hostages, and when someone asks you about it, tell them their story. At Hostage Square in Tel Aviv we saw a variety of installations dedicated to the missing and we heard from family members of hostages. Their stories were heartbreaking. All of them pleaded with us to find a way to “Bring Them Home Now!” The family members are meeting with leaders in Israel and around the world begging for their family members to come home. A mother of a hostage asked us to help them find creative ways to negotiate for the hostages release and to keep the hostage stories up front in the media. Like Eylon Levy she implored us to call the administration everyday saying “Bring them Home.”   At the Mt. Scopus Hadassah Hospital, we toured the brand new rehabilitation hospital, which, sadly, is now badly needed to treat the wounded. We walked the NICU that was moved from the sunny eighth floor to the subbasement in case of bombs. The hospital is taking precautions in numerous ways in case the war extends to Lebanon and missiles hit Jerusalem. A patient shared his escape with his 9 year old daughter from his home in Kibbutz Be’eri, which was overrun by Hamas on October 7. They hid in their safe room as their heard shooting and terrorists all around them and then they smelled smoke. He decided rather than being burned alive they would try to escape. Holding his daughter he jumped out a burning window. He jumped on a bike with burnt feet, and with his daughter holding on, pedaled through the fields. His daughter whispered in his ear whenever she saw a terrorist, “AZA, AZA (Gazan, Gazan)” They eventually made it to safety. He is healing from his burns. As I heard the story, I kept thinking I just can’t imagine what they went through or what they were feeling. And then it hit me, his 9 year old, the age of my granddaughter, will live with those images for a lifetime. We had the privilege of meeting with President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal. He was particularly interested in hearing from the International members of our group as to their countries’ reaction to October 7 and the current state of anitsemitism. He was shocked at the Canadians response to October 7 and the rapid rise of antisemitism there. President Herzog stressed that the challenge of antisemitism is too large for any one organization to deal with. That it required a coordinated approach. He applauded President Biden’s response to October 7 and his support of Israel. He said the Biden was a true friend. He stressed that Diaspora Jews need to stand up, speak up and show solidarity with Israel. That the Mission participants need to bear witness and tell the world what we see and hear. Michal talked about gender abuse issues and the double standard of the world on what happened to women and children on October 7. The gender based violence is difficult to deal with. She explained that Israel does not want to tell the women’s stories so as not to humiliate them, but these human rights abuses must be exposed. The “Me Too” movement meant that women were to be believed, but the UN Commission on women was silent on the issue. They are finally coming to Israel to investigate. Going forward, she said that mental health will be a a major issue for Israeli society. It’s the scar you can’t see. After visiting with the President and the First Lady, we traveled south in an armored bus wearing a bullet proof vest and helmet. Our first stop was Kfar Aza, one of the kibbutzim attacked and overrun by the terrorists.  At Kfar Aza we saw the remains and smelt the burnt wood. As I stood at the back gate, where the terrorists entered, I could see the Gaza fence and the fields in Gaza. Seeing how close the kibbutz is to Gaza shocked me. Kfar Aza was a place of peace, a place where the residents were actively seeking ways to live in harmony with the people of Gaza. The residents were trying to build bridges. On Shabbat afternoons they flew kites over the Gaza fence that had expression of peace in Hebrew and Arabic. They drove Palestinians to doctors’ appointments and employed them to work at Kfar Aza.  The kibbutz was planning to build a factory to employ the Gazans to help them have a better life and show that we could live in peace. The betrayal of this dream is devastating.   Kibbutz Nir Am, near Sderot, fought off the terrorists. HMO head of Pediatric Cardiology, Dr. Sagul Gavri, a third generation kibbutz resident and one of the fighters told his story. He is the founder of “One Heart for Peace.” The program brings Palestinian children to hospitals in Israel for open heart surgery at no cost to the parents for surgery, recovery, transportation or housing for the accompanying adult. Our daughter, Deborah volunteered for 3 months on her Hadassah gap year program with “One Heart for Peace” at the hospital in Holon. He also has trained Palestinian doctors and provided consultations for numerous patients. Not a patient, parent or doctor has reached out to him to see how he is since October 7. He wonders if any of the terrorists were once his patients.   As we stood there we heard the drones overhead and tanks and machine guns from Gaza. It was surreal. The kibbutz was lucky. When it heard fighting in the distance they realized something different was happening. The nearby fighting gave them the time to get to the armory to arm themselves and fight back. The attack was a shock to the Kibbutz. They had relied on the iron dome and the excellent technology to deal with any problem that arose. They convinced themselves that they were safe and could deal with missiles every once in a while. They will never trust again. Looking to the future, the Kibbutz has planted wheat, as Isaac did when he lived in the area. Why? Because wheat seeds grow and then you harvest them and they grow again. It is a sign of life and the future.    Our day South ended at the Memorial at the site of the Supernova music festival, where 342 were killed, many were wounded plus 40 hostages taken. The Memorial is photos of the dead and missing on poles where they fell. There was no place for them to run. They were the peaceniks who believed in peace and love. As the sun set over Gaza we heard shooting in the distance and saw clouds of smoke from the Gazan sky.   Our last day began with a Sexual Assault Panel. The IDF has a reserve unit tasked with preparing bodies of fallen soldiers for burial: a female unit for women and male unit for men. We heard from a woman who was called up and has served since October 8. She explained the process of identifying the bodies. She stressed the importance of treating the women with respect in death because they had not been treated with respect as they were murdered and mutilated. Another panelist is a law professor who created the Civil Commission on October 7 crimes by Hamas against Women and Children. She is bearing witness to the international community and has testified at the White House. The panelist asked us to please tell people what we saw and heard.    We next visited two Hadassah youth villages, Neurim and Meir Shfeyah, which are now housing some of the survivors from October 7 attacks and displaced youth from the North. At Neurim, we heard from 15 year old Mimi who lived through a 24 hour ordeal before being rescued. She found safe haven at the village. The village is working on healing the community’s souls and hearts.   Like throughout Israel, the children of Meir Shfeyah are volunteering with Israeli farmers who need workers, baking cakes for the home bound, preparing and delivering packages for the soldiers and displaced families. It was heartwarming to see something positive amongst all the ugliness we had experienced.   Our mission ended with home hospitality at a Druze village, Beit Jann. We heard from a Druze IDF reservist who explained the Druze religion and why they serve in the IDF. As with everywhere we went, he thanked us for coming to show support of Israel in these tough times.   We were thanked by everyone we saw. When I thanked a Lieutenant Colonel, he said no, thank you for coming and showing your support. I was thinking that I got on a plane but you are fighting for the survival of Israel. When the plane landed at JFK, the pilot thanked us for coming to Israel during a war and said it was really important to Israelis that we came.   As a result of our experiences, I feel a responsibility to share their stories and share what Israel is experiencing at this incredible time in history. I feel compelled to speak for the hostages and for those we have lost. Thank you for letting me share my experience with you this Shabbat.   As we fall asleep in our own beds tonight with no missiles or drones overhead, I pray for peace and the return of the hostages.  “Bring Them Home Now!” Today's Front Pages Jerusalem Post Ha'aretz Yediot Ahronot Recommended Reading From Daniel Gordis's Substack" Above is the cover of one of the magazine sections of Makor Rishon. The larger headline on the right says “My heart is torn into two.” The small words, just to the left of that read “The yearning for the days that were, but are no longer; the difficulty of living in the present, and the fear of even imagining a future. Three young widows tell about life without the love of their life.” The number of new widows in their twenties is staggering. So is the number of young orphans. These are some of the scars that this country will carry with it long after the war is over, but that, in the meantime, are actually the headline 15 Jewish House Democrats blast Netanyahu for rejecting two-state solution (JTA) Updated list of hostages  What Did Top Israeli War Officials Really Say About Gaza? (Yair Rosenberg, Atlantic) October 10, as the charred remains of murdered Israelis were still being identified in their homes, Gallant spoke to a group of soldiers who had repelled the Hamas assault, in a statement that was captured on video. Translated from the original Hebrew, here is the relevant portion of what he said: “Gaza will not return to what it was before. There will be no Hamas. We will eliminate it all.” This isn’t a matter of interpretation or translation. Gallant’s vow to “eliminate it all” was directed explicitly at Hamas, not Gaza. One doesn’t even need to speak Hebrew, as I do, to confirm this: The word Hamas is clearly audible in the video. The remainder of Gallant’s remarks also dealt with rooting out Hamas: “We understand that Hamas wanted to change the situation; it will change 180 degrees from what they thought. They will regret this moment.” It was not Gallant who conflated Hamas and Gaza, but rather those who mischaracterized his words. The smoking gun was filled with blanks. Why do media outlets love scared Jews? (Jay Michaelson, Forward) - Yes, antisemitism is spiking. But in times of crisis, it’s important to not give in to sensationalism ‘Israel’s SNL’ provides much-needed laughs to a traumatized nation (WaPo) For a deeper understanding of what is happening in Israel, I highly recommend the podcast Unholy: Two Jews on the News. This week's episode featuring Scott Galloway and last week's, featuring Michael Walzer, are extremely thought provoking. See also Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian's piece that quotes Walzer's :Just War" theory: South Africa brought the case, but one man dragged Israel into the dock at The Hague – Benjamin Netanyahu. Freedland writes: As far as Israel is concerned, it is fighting a war of self-protection. Its intention is not the destruction of the Palestinians of Gaza, but the defeat of the Hamas fighting force which killed, raped or mutilated more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel on 7 October. Yes, it conceded, that effort has cost thousands of Palestinians their lives, but that is the fault of what Michael Walzer, the distinguished philosopher of the morality of war, calls an “asymmetry trap” laid by Hamas. ...he explained that, by embedding itself and its equipment in the civilian infrastructure of Gaza – tunnels under hospitals, rocket launchers in schools – “Hamas has designed a war that Israel can only fight by killing civilians”. The Israeli lawyers in The Hague echoed that logic. Besides, they added, Israel gave regular warnings to Palestinians to get out of harm’s way, hardly the action of a state bent on genocide. As for the statements of those politicians and others, the lawyers insisted that most were fringe figures with no role in directing the war – and when, say, the defence minister referred to “human animals” in Gaza, what he meant was Hamas. Why Israel Will Never Manage to Destroy All Hamas Tunnels in Gaza (Ha'aretz) - The tunnels under Gaza preceded Hamas' founding in 1987 and the coup in which it took power in 2007. Now, after months of effort, the Israeli army might have to admit that destroying the miles of maze-like subterranean passages was never realistic. This assessment, which has yet to be voiced publicly, is shared by all levels of the IDF. From the generals, trying to plan what they call a "year of warfare" in 2024, through the brigade and battalion commanders who are spending entire weeks on the ground to destroy just one section of the tunnel system, all the way down to the combat engineering troops, who are now starting to come out of Gaza after three months of fighting with mixed feelings. On the one hand they have carried out an unprecedented number of tunnel demolition missions. On the other, they know many more such tunnels remain intact. From the River to the Sea | Israel-based News Outlet Incorrectly Translates Netanyahu's Words, Leading to Media Firestorm (Ha'aretz) - Israeli-based news channel i24's incorrectly translated the prime minister's statement 'Israel must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River' as 'Israel must have control from the river to the sea,' leading to accusations of a deliberate provocation by Netanyahu Tu B'Shevat, Then Posters from the Israel National Library Over the years, several of our TBE Israel groups have stopped at the border with Lebanon to plant trees, right under the noses of Hezbollah. We would walk right up to the border at Kibbutz Malkia, which, like all the communities nearby, now lies empty and has been struck often by rockets. But there we were, proudly bringing forth new fruits to the sacred soil. These photos from 2018 still inspire me, even as they also bring such sadness. And some more links for Tu B'Shevat: Tu B'Shevat Companion (Livnot U'l'hibanot) Flow chart for the Tu B'Shevat seder (click on diagram) The Four Types of Tu Bishvat (MJL) - The Jewish birthday for the trees has gone through several phases of historical development. See also The Four Faces of Tu Bishvat: Economic, Spiritual, National, Ecological (Benstein) Tu B'Shevat Resources from Jewish Renewal Tu B'Shevat Seder Haggadah On the Mitzvah of Sustainability Walking with the Jewish Calendar (AJU) Tu B'Shevat Source Material Tu B'Shevat and Jewish Sustainability packet See how the Jewish Voice For Peace interprets Tu B'Shevat (in 2017)  The Top Ten Most Amazing Trees in Israel: In honor of Tu B'Shvat, the Jewish Arbor Day, on February 6, a tree historian tells us about 10 of the most remarkable trees in Israel. (Israel21c) A chain of fruit and nuts stores brings an Israeli-style market concept to NYC Temple Beth El 350 Roxbury Road Stamford, Connecticut 06902 203-322-6901 | www.tbe.org    A Conservative, Inclusive, Spiritual Community