November 3, 2023
Dear Friends,
I wanted to share with you a few words of Torah. But first, I wanted to invite you to join us for special prayers to free the hostages tonight at our Shabbat service at 5:30. We will be saying traditional prayers for the freeing of hostages, reading the names of those held captive, and studying a traditional text that teaches the utmost importance of the mitzvah of working to free those held captive.
Our Torah portion this Shabbat is Lech Lecha, which introduces us to Abraham and Sarah. Abraham is called Avraham Avinu, meaning Abraham, our father, and Sarah is called Sarah Imeinu, Sarah our mother. Calling Abraham and Sarah our parents teaches that the Jewish people and our loved ones of all religions are one family. This is why one of the traditional prayers for the freeing of hostages begins with the words, “Our family, the whole house of Israel.” We care about those held in captivity because they are human beings, but they are also our family.
Now if we look more closely at what it means to be family, we know that family bonds can be the foundational relationships of our lives. It is those bonds that support and sustain us. But families can also hurt each other. When a parent or sibling gives unconditional love and support, it can be lifegiving. But when a family member says we are family only under certain conditions, only when we say or do what they want to hear or see, those bonds can be painful.
War is a time when bonds can be especially close. It is also a time when emotions run so high, that disagreement can turn ugly, and bonds of support turn to bonds of rupture. That is why the Talmud said that the Second Temple was destroyed because of the ruptures among different groups of Jews who disagreed with each other.
Among Jews in the world and in our community, we share many things—our grief for the atrocities committed on our people, our commitment to the safety of our Israeli brothers and sisters and the freeing of the hostages, the teaching that every person, every child, is created in the image of God.
Our Jewish family indeed shares so many values and commitments. But how to pursue those values in the world in response to the brutality of the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7th is something that Jews have different ideas about. Some think we must support the present Israeli siege and attack of Gaza as something painful but necessary if we are to ensure the very survival of Israel. Others support a strategic humanitarian pause, or a cease fire, because they feel the massive military response and the displacement and siege of over two million people is morally and strategically wrong and will imperil our security further. It is important to remember, that even when families disagree, they deserve the same love and respect. And more than that, our tradition teaches that dissent and disagreement is essential to the path to truth and peace. As Rav Kook, the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of mandatory Palestine taught, “absolute peace can only be obtained in this world through the format of a multiplicity of peace. A multiplicity of peace means that all of the divergent facets of a matter, and the understandings which derive out of study, will all be illuminated, and it will become clear how all of them have a place, everything in accordance with its value, purpose, and content.” In simpler language, at our best–we all have a point. Let’s listen to each other with respect and humility. It is at our own peril that we suppress the good faith opinions of those with whom we disagree.
We Jews are a family. And I pray that in our community and in the world, we can act according to the best and most loving ways families can act. We have endured and continue to endure enormous pain and heartbreak. We need each other in all of our diversity.
I hope you will join me tonight for prayers for our brothers and sisters who are being held captive at this moment.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Caryn Broitman