I know I have written a great deal about the Israel-Hamas war and want to add two more things. On Tuesday, I shared two very different quotes about the idea of a ceasefire. I received this comment and thought it was an interesting take:
“Ascribing good intentions to both, the difference I see is purely timing.
Those advocating for a ceasefire wish to save lives now. Those advocating for the elimination of Hamas wish to save lives (presumably many more) in the future.”
I also encourage you to listen to this edition of the podcast, For Heaven’s Sake (Israel at War – Ceasefire?), with Rabbi Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi. They discuss Israel’s domestic support for the war, which remains strong despite growing global calls for a ceasefire. With mounting international pressure to end defensive action, they explore why this conflicts with what many Israelis feel is the moral, political, and military reality given the threat from Hamas.
As we approach the secular new year, many of us will make new year’s resolutions. Roger Rosenblatt wrote recently in The New York Times, “The assumption behind resolutions is that something must be corrected and improved. One vows to be better than one was the year before.” That is our promise to you. As Rosenblatt concludes, “All it takes is the proper sequence of correct discrete decisions. Decisions are resolutions with teeth.”
My colleague, Doron Krakow, CEO of the Jewish Community Centers Association (JCCA), recently wrote:
“However desirable quick fixes and immediate answers to major challenges can be, they are, more often than not, illusions. The emerging challenges to Jewish life and Jewish community do not lend themselves to easy solutions. Rather, they compel us to wrestle with them and with one another as we struggle to determine the right course.
But more than immediate action is required. We need a vision for the future, and the evolution of that vision will require a great deal of deliberation, dialogue, and debate. It will require us to come together again and again and to wrestle with ideas, with new and changing concepts, with attitudes, all in the midst of still-shifting circumstances.”
2024 provides the Jewish Federation and our Jewish community the opportunity to be even more forward-thinking and to dream new possibilities.
As I reflect back, this past year has been a year of learning. A year of helping from near and afar. A year where words truly matter. A year of knowing who our friends are. And a year of listening more and convincing less. May we all only grow from here.
Shabbat shalom and warmest wishes to you and your family for a healthy and happy new year. May we only see better days ahead in 2024.
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