We stood with you. It’s time to stand with us.
Last Friday, as Shabbat began at my synagogue following the week’s horrific news from Israel, a highway patrol officer arrived to guard our building, courtesy of Gov. Ron DeSantis. He took that step along with other commendable actions to support Jewish Floridians, including an executive order to rescue and provide resources to those stranded in Israel. As a rabbi, I deeply appreciate the governor’s concern for the welfare of Jews in the Sunshine State, and I share his sense of how important it is to take precautions against those who would harm Jewish people.
But at the same time he was doing that, he also said that he did not want refugees from Gaza arriving in Florida because they might turn out to be antisemitic. These are civilians fleeing in desperation for their lives. Jews, including the Jews who serve in the Israel Defense Forces, come from a tradition that cares for all life, one that asserts all life is sacred. So, respectfully, I believe his edict to exclude all Gazans from coming here is wrong.
Our hearts were torn open this week here in Florida as we watched videos and heard reports of the single greatest one-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. All of us, Jews and non-Jews alike, found ourselves flooded with reports of atrocities such as parents murdered in front of children, and children in front of parents. We learned how Israelis — and perhaps some Americans — from the very young to the very old were taken hostage. And we witnessed the sickening glorification of mutilation and massacre. Trying to offer moral justifications for those who pursue such heinous acts of annihilation is inexcusable.
Sadly, for some of us — particularly Jews who have supported progressive causes such as the Black Lives Matter movement, LGBTQ equality, fairer immigration policies, women’s rights, and who have stood by Muslims fleeing persecution — this moment leaves us wondering and worrying why some who we have supported on the political left will not now come to our defense.
Jews recognize that DeSantis is wrong in promoting a one-sizefits all demonization of Gazans, and that many Palestinians are not antisemitic at all. I myself know Jews who have Palestinian friends in Gaza. Many of the Palestinians are themselves victims of Hamas, a brutal movement that has demonstrated its willingness to treat fellow Palestinians as expendable.
Even if many Palestinians have indeed learned to hate Jews, our tradition teaches us that their lives, like our own, are in the image of the divine. Judaism’s concern to protect all human life is not only something that I share, but something that Jews of Israel and members of the IDF share. As the situation unfolds, those of us watching from here in Florida know that there will be more loss of innocent life as Israeli troops enter Gaza. But unlike those ideologues who have blamed Israel for provoking the attacks, who seek to excuse the slaughter, and who equate the response with the provocation, we recognize that the problem is not the IDF in Gaza. It is Hamas in Gaza, who embed themselves among civilians and employ a deliberate strategy to dehumanize civilians by making them a tool of warfare.
The Bible begins with the
Book of Genesis affirming that out of chaos came both light and darkness. But that does not make everything gray. Israel’s forces take great precautions to limit civilian casualties. As Israel seeks to overcome evil, some on the left will declare its military actions a disproportionate response. Our discourse and arguments cannot drown out the inner voice that urges us to define and to confront darkness.
When they came for marriage equality, I said, “love is love” because I am a Jew. When they put a foot on George Floyd’s neck, I said “say their names” because I am a Jew. When they tried to keep Muslims from legally crossing our borders, I said “no ban, no way” because I am a Jew. When they said “build the wall,” I said “love the stranger” because I am a Jew. When they said, “no masks,” I said “if you save a life, you save the whole world” because I am a Jew.
Now, a terrorist organization seeks to kill all Jews. To my progressive friends of other religions and cultures, I say this is a time to choose light over darkness, to say “never again is now” — because you are not Jews.