Going into Friday night thinking about being a Jew. As if I can not think about it any other day.... First, make no mistake, being a Jew means being compassionate & grieving the loss of 1 life as if it were a world unto itself. It is! So, I grieve for the many lives of people in Gaza who have died as innocents, only G-d knows who they are, in recent weeks in this war. I grieve even for the terrorists...why...not for their death but for their life...what is more of a waste of life than to use it to terrorize others? I grieve for the Israeli soldiers who have to kill in this war because war makes killers of people who would otherwise never dream of raising a hand let alone a weapon to another person. (Yes there are always outliers but our culture is one if Chesed the Hebrew word for kindness). I grieve for those in Gaza who think they are fighting a holy war who have allowed themselves to become killing machines for hate and dont even realize. I honor those who stand against a terrorist government and a culture that prepares their children to die rather than live. They are truly courageous we need more of them! I grieve for my people...Eyal, Gilad and Naftali whose brutal deaths tragic exponentially on their own, escalated the already disastrous cohabitation of Jews and Palestinians and Arabs. I grieve for the IDF soldiers killed in battle for their very existence, for the civilians caught in cross fire, for the children of my friends in Israel whos childhood summer is stolen running to bomb shelters and deafened by blaring sirens, I grieve for anyone who hates, I grieve for the leaders whose lives are devoted to trying to fix this hell, I grieve for the fact that being a Jew means at times more than most realize, being a target of hate and violence and having to be willing to lay it all down as Daniel Pearl did of blessed memory when they asked him if he was a Jew before they cut off his head in Pakistan. I am a peace loving people loving person but tonight I grieve and on regular days I grieve for all that came before this recent escalation- there are many. I dont want war and I dont want self defense to be necessary but it is. So tonight I add to my grief, prayer for Hadar Goldin, kidnapped in Gaza to be returned well and safe and for his 2 fellow soldiers who died when he was taken, I grieve for you. And for myself I wear my Jewishness as a religion, a culture and a philosophy with purpose. I pray for peace and I accept with honor my life as a Jewish woman. I think that pretty much lays it all down. Peace. Meir Weingarten Susie Baumohl
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 22:34:12 +0000
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