December 25, 2023
Dear Friends,
Have you seen the horizon lately?
This question is actually the name of an Israeli organization for Jewish-Arab partnership, founded by Shir Nosatzki and supported by the New Israel Fund that is indeed called: “Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?” And for me, having experienced so many moments of grief and dread the last few months, I have found real glimpses of a horizon in the work that Shir and her partners are doing. I want to share some of these glimpses with you, and as well as my personal thoughts about the difficult time we are in and a vision of the horizon that gives me hope.
On the day of Hamas’s brutal attack, while most of those kidnapped and slaughtered were Israeli Jews, there were also 24 Israeli Bedouins and Arabs who were murdered and 9 Bedouins taken hostage, in addition to people from Thailand, the Philippines, and other countries. What some may not know is that there were also Israeli Bedouins and Arabs who risked their lives to save their fellow Jewish citizens, including Israeli Jewish soldiers.
Shir Nosatzki understood that these stories may not be known and accessible to Israeli Jews, and that they were stories needed to be shared so that the communities could come together during this crisis rather than drift more apart. So she formed a group called “Partners in Fate” with her friend Hanan Alsanah, from Itach-Maaki (Women Lawyers for Social Justice), as a way for Israeli Jews and Arabs to work in solidarity to take care of each other during this tragic time.
“Partners in Fate” made and released two videos bringing such stories to light, one told by an Israeli Jew and one by an Israeli Bedouin, which were deeply moving to me and reported in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. In the second one, Hamid Abu Ar’ar, a Bedouin who was driving on October 7th with his wife and infant son, told the story of how Hamas terrorists on motorcycles appeared and shot at his car killing his wife at point blank range, the mother of their nine children, as she was sitting beside him. Hamid then took his infant from the back seat and fled, finding an electrical cabinet in which to hide. Hours later while still in the cabinet, he overheard other Hamas terrorists arrive and crouch behind it. He then heard the arrival of Israeli soldiers in front of the cabinet and knew they were walking into a trap. Hamid ran outside of his hiding place holding his baby, yelling to the IDF soldiers that Hamas was there and they needed to run, thereby saving the soldiers’ lives.
As Hamid was relating the story on camera, I was especially struck by something he said. Referring to the “religion” of one of the Hamas gunmen, Hamid said: “There is no meaning to this. He killed a mother, a devout Muslim, a mother of 4 daughters who study the Koran, while he does not know the Koran. So which Islam are we talking about? Can you tell me which Islam are we talking about? Our Islam does not preach this… Our Islam is the opposite of what they have done…. A change must be made. Everyone who lives in this country must be one unit. Arabs, Jews, we must be one unit. Otherwise, anyone can come in and try to infect us with hate.”
Listening to Hamid speak on the video, I was struck by his question which was also a plea, “which Islam are we talking about?” I recognized the plea, for I have often felt in my heart a similar wrenching question as I have watched the continued response of Israel, the Jewish state, to that horrific Hamas attack: Which Judaism are we talking about?
For the past 32 years, I have been privileged to teach Torah and Judaism as I understand it to children, teenagers and adults alike. The number 32, in Hebrew numerology translates to “heart.” And the Shema teaches us to love God “with all your heart, all your soul and all your might.” I take that verse, as well as the verse of the Shema which commands us to teach Torah, v’shinantan levanecha, with the utmost seriousness.
All I can offer as a teacher of Torah, is the Judaism of my heart. If I were not true to what is in my heart and soul, I would have nothing to offer. And as I stood this week during the Shabbat service before the ark and the Torah singing Etz Hayyim Hi, “It [Torah] is a tree of life to all who grasp it,” I felt a sadness at a gap between what I believe Torah and Judaism teaches, and what is happening in Gaza now.
Etz Hayyim Hi. The Torah is a path of life. And life must be protected and defended. So I have always supported the need of Israel to respond to October 7th with a strategic, targeted and moral force that would incapacitate Hamas’ military and prevent the continued rule of such a regime. But the nature of the Israeli military response in Gaza, along with the unprecedented settler violence on the West Bank, is not a path of life.
Neither is it a path to safety. I am deeply committed to the safety and flourishing of a Jewish homeland in the land of Israel. And I worry that Israel’s actions will not lead to safety for itself, for Jews around the world, or for the hostages, but the opposite. More Israelis are sharing some of those concerns, such as the Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who called this past week for a “change of direction,” and wrote in blunt words in Ha’aretz: “It’s decision time. A cease-fire with living hostages, or a forced cessation of hostilities with dead ones.”
And so it is from my love and dedication to our moral tradition of Torah, to our people, and to Israel that I share what is on my heart–that what is happening in Gaza needs to stop. Enough death, enough trauma, enough dehumanization. It is time to prioritize life—to negotiate for an immediate release of all hostages and for a ceasefire. A ceasefire would prevent more civilian deaths, preserve the lives of Israeli soldiers, enable the distribution of humanitarian aid, and allow for a process of finding a sustainable political solution that would lead to freedom and safety for all. Etz Hayyim Hi lamachazikim ba…V’chol netivoteha shalom. “It is a tree of life for those who grasp it…and all her paths are peace.”
I began with the question, “Have you seen the horizon lately?” When I read about the organization “Partners in Fate” that Nosatzki and Alsanah created, I saw a glimpse of the horizon. And I saw that a horizon is not something to be only to be seen, it is also something to be created. Nosatzki and Alsanah created a Jewish-Arab emergency relief center in the Bedouin town of Rehat, that according to Ha’aretz, “has been providing food and medical assistance to 500 families in the south, both Jewish and Bedouin, ever since.” In doing so, they, along with other organizations like Standing Together, have made that horizon a little more visible.
Etz Hayyim Hi, the Torah is a Tree of Life. That is the Torah that is in my heart. And that is the Torah I want to teach.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Caryn Broitman
