A Prayer for Peace

This past Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement for Jewish people, concluded over a week ago.  As it is a day of reflection, my mind wandered from the burden of current events to the more personal moments I cherished from the past. In the immediate present, I acutely sensed the world’s reaction to the Israeli invasion of Gaza, as having been a negative one.  I pondered over what had been most evident: This war has caused much hostility directed toward Jewish students on college campuses.

During all this turmoil, there has been a conflation of antisemitism and antizionism.  To clarify a point, I do not believe anyone is either antisemitic or antizionist if they disagree with some of Israel’s policies under Prime Minister Netanyahu.  I would fall under that category if it were so, as I and many American Jews, along with many Israelis, have disagreed with what Netanyahu has done.  However, to blame any person of Jewish heritage for these policies or for calling for the extinction of the state of Israel, to me, are clear acts of antisemitism.  When college students chanted free Palestine “from the River (Jordan) to the Sea (Mediterranean),” an area that encompasses all of Israel, whether they knew it or not, they were calling for the end of Israel.  This slogan and others like that are not only antizionist but also antisemitic given that Israel has served as the home for Jewish refugees from all over the world.

A giant step forward in the long history of Judeo-Christian relations occurred when Pope Paul VI, in 1965, repudiated the idea that Jews were collectively responsible for the death of Jesus.  The document called the Nostra Aetate explicitly stated that the responsibility for Jesus’s crucifixion could not be attributed to “all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews today.”  Pointing the finger at all Jewish people when Israel may go astray of public opinion bears much similarity to faulting us all for the crucifixion of Jesus.

But then my mind switched gears evoking the nostalgic memories I had of my beloved first cousin, Mike Natelson, who passed away two years ago.  We had lived together for several years before we married and, he imparted to me an appreciation of life.  

As mentioned earlier, during Yom Kippur we spend an entire day fasting and atoning for any sins we may have committed. A large part of the prayers that day consists of Al Hets (transliterated from the Hebrew to the English) that translates to: “We have sinned.”  You name it as just about any conceivable sin from corruption to bribery to adultery to slander and gossip is included in the Al Hets.  Upon reading silently each sin, the custom is to tap your heart with your right hand as a reminder not to repeat what you might have done during the year.  Sitting next to him in temple, Mike, kiddingly, always would remind me to hit myself harder and I, in gest, would take the kibbutz and tap my heart harder with each Al Het. This provided us both with a moment of levity that we could share during the gravity of the observance of prayer and fasting on Yom Kippur.  The nature of our deep feelings toward one another allowed us to enjoy these times.

On a more serious note, President Trump with the help of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Tony Blair, and Steve Witkoff has negotiated a cease fire with the hope of a lasting peace.  He has received praise from both the Israeli and Palestinian side, a miracle in and of itself.  Let us hope and pray that both Hamas and Israel abide by the terms of the proposed peace treaty between the two sides.  If they do, it will be a wonderful way to begin the Jewish New Year.