Written by Rabbi Stephanie Shore
10.12.23
I have been in a state of disbelief since October 7, 2023. The news is constantly on, and the images are so painful. Newscasters, typically so stoic while reporting, are stunned speechless at the horrifying information they have to report.
Some reporters, obviously knowledgeable about Jewish history, are acutely aware that Jews have unfortunately experienced evil far too many times. We hear the terrifying reports likened to the Holocaust because not since the Shoah have we been the victims of such evil.
After General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, entered Ohrdruf, a subcamp of Buchenwald, with Generals Patton and Bradley he cabled General George C. Marshall, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, describing his trip to the camp:
The things I saw beggar description. … The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick … . I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to “propaganda.”
Seeing these Nazi crimes made a powerful impact on Eisenhower, and he wanted the world to know what happened in the concentration camps. He again cabled Marshall with a request to bring members of Congress and journalists to the newly liberated camps so that they could convey the horrible truth about Nazi atrocities to the American public. Within days, congressmen and journalists began arriving to bear witness to Nazi crimes in the camps.
We have all borne witness to what is happening today in Israel! The connectivity of our world allows instantaneous transmission of information. Unless you have your head buried in the sand it’s nearly impossible not to understand the gravity and profoundly heinous atrocities being committed against the Jewish people.
And yet, with all this people still manage to say absurdly stupid things, politically incorrect words used intentionally. In the past few days, I have heard the most absurd statements and justifications. I promise you I have not made any of these up. Let me share them with you and offer concise, and what I consider to be, appropriate responses in return.
Statement, “What’s happening in Israel is terrible, do you have family there? Does it matter if I have family there… AND aren’t we all one? This question is as nonsensical as asking someone who has just lost a loved one, “Were you close”?
Response, does it make it any less abominable if I don’t have family in Israel? Are you upset by the events that have transpired even though you don’t have family there? This is a cataclysmic humanitarian disaster.
Statement, there are so many silly things going on in the world today. I don’t understand why people can’t just sit down and talk it out. Silly? Sit down and talk?
Response, Silly is finding a dollar (or even better, $10!) you forgot about in your pocket. Not barbarians killing babies and toddlers in a most malicious way. Ecclesiastes says quite poignantly there is a time for war and a time for peace. Jews all over the world pray for peace in Israel. Peace for Israel is not a utopia where one lives without fear. Peace in Israel is a day when there hasn’t been a suicide bomber who has wanted to kill Jews.
Statement, I have not wanted to watch too much because it makes me sad.
Response, we are all sad. We are devastated. We are angry and we are downtrodden. However, as responsible adults, living in any community, it is important to educate ourselves about what is happening in the world today. We don’t need to inundate ourselves but we need to do our part; even if it is simply helping to educate our friends and family.
PASTOR MARTIN NIEMÖLLER, a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany. Was initially an antisemitic Nazi supporter, but his views changed when he was imprisoned, for 7 years, in a concentration camp for speaking out against Nazi control of churches. He emerged as an opponent of Adolf Hitler. He was known for encouraging Germans to take responsibility for Nazi atrocities.
Pastor Niemöller wrote:
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
Hamas is dedicated, as it is written in it’s charter, to extinguishing the existence of the state of Israel. Article 7 of the The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement says in part, “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharquad tree would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.”
Let’s not be mistaken, we are dealing with malevolent animals who will not rest. We may not be soldiers or able to affect change on grand scales however we can effect a mighty change by speaking out and educating even if it is uncomfortable to do so.
I leave you with the famous quote by Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
