All Jewish communities, all Jewish life, all Jewish causes (GAJE included) – wherever situated on the planet – must be conscripted at this moment to the cause of fighting for Israel. Israel is us. All of us. Our past. Our present. And our future.
As we know from our history and as the horrific bloodlust of murder and mayhem last week against Israelis proved again – there are governments, organizations, and individuals whose singular, obsessive purpose is to prevent Jews from having a future. Hamas is one such organization.
Not everyone understands this. Indeed, it is hard to understand. It should be hard to understand.
But in the early awakening sunrise of October 7, Hamas swarmed across the border between Gaza and Israel and launched what it hoped would be a War of Annihilation against the State of Israel (the Jews).
A great many people gainsay or gaslight Hamas’ evil purpose despite the evidence. For example, in describing Hamas’ goals in attacking Israel last Shabbat, The New York Times wrote: “Mounting grievances fueled Hamas’s decision to attack Israel, but the nature of the surprise assault was shaped by a deep thirst for revenge built up over decades of conflict.”
This is patently false. It is a breathtaking ennobling of cruelty and sadism. Worse. It is a dangerous justification of genocide.
What grievance is calmed by the butchering of babies? For Hamas, it is the very existence of the Jewish state. A sovereign Jewish state in the Middle East offends their theology.
Thus, what fueled Hamas’ decision to attack Israel was the perceived opportunity to kill as many Jews as possible. They hoped to draw their fellow haters into the “holy” battle of finally destroying the Jewish state.
Hamas’ Charter of 1988 and its “revised” edition of 2017 make plain the organization’s single purpose and motivation. The former leaves nothing to the imagination. The latter is a fanciful flight of the imagination. The following are two brief, illustrative statements. There are many in the documents.
(1988) “Palestine is an Islamic land… Since this is the case, the Liberation of Palestine is an individual duty for every Moslem wherever he may be.” (Article 13)
(2017) “The establishment of “Israel” is entirely illegal and contravenes the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and goes against their will and the will of the Ummah (s.18)
The news and the images we – and the world – saw of Hamas’ manifesting their “mounting grievances” were sickening and frightful. Hamas aspires to deprive Israel – Jews – of its and our future. But as the late teacher, historian, thinker, Michael Brown always reminded his students: the future has not yet been written. It falls to us to write our future.
The heartbreak and the fear we felt when we saw the scenes of the slaughter last Shabbat were normal reactions of normally decent, feeling human beings.
In 2023, the Jewish People of Israel, wherever we are situated, fight back. Fighting for Israel here, now – in our community – requires us to transform our fear into anger, our anger into resolve, and our resolve into “being, knowing, doing and celebrating Jewish”.
That is our debt to the past and our obligation to the future.
Shabbat shalom
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)
October 13, 2023
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education 