In the Beginning . . . No Peace

Israel is under attack. Maybe 1,000 Israelis are dead. Dozens may be held captive. The response will be epic. Hundreds more will die, Israelis and Palestinians. If we thought there was peace, we learned again that peace is an illusion.

Israel and those who love Israel are in shock. Emails from Jewish organizations are flooding my inbox. Facebook is filled with posts of Israeli flags. What can I add? What should I do? My answers are to be realistic about peace and be vigilant about security.

I remembered a story from Jewish literature. The Torah reading for Simchat Torah inspires the story.

On the sixth day, at the beginning of the work of creation, God created humans. The earth, just six days old, would never know peace.

“When the time came for the Holy Blessed One to make the first human being, . .  . the angel of peace said, ‘do not create them, for they will be in constant strife!’ (Bereshit Rabba, 8:8).

Nonetheless, God created humans.  The angels were right. And God was either overly optimistic or overconfident.

“Peace is an illusion. And no matter how tranquil the world seems, peace doesn’t last long. Peace is a struggle against our very nature. A skin we stretch over the bone, muscle, and sinew of our own innate savagery.” T. Kovacs

Jeremiah knew that it was dangerous to claim there is peace where none truly exists. “They offer healing offhand for the wounds of my poor people, saying, all is well, all is well when nothing is well.” Jeremiah 8:11. We have lived under the illusion that the absence of conflict was peace.

There may never be peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors. Israel must continually fight for a semblance of peace. Peace is waged on a battlefield. Today, that battlefield is Sderot, Kfar Aza, Zikim, Gaza City, and Khan Younis. Peace lies wounded on the battlefields of Israel and Gaza.

Some Palestinians also want peace. Some of them will also die. Peace is waged at the expense of the innocent. We should also weep for innocent Palestinians who will suffer. As we learned in the Midrash (from Megilla 10), as the Hebrews crossed the Red Sea, “The Egyptians were drowning in the sea. At the same time, the angels wanted to sing before God, and the Lord, God, said to them: ‘My creations are drowning, and you are singing before me?’”

Despite our despair, we need to sustain hope. Hope is the motivation to withstand assaults on peace. If peace is tenuous, then we also need vigilance. Vigilance is fundamental to forestall strife. The events of the Simchat Torah war demonstrate that Israel forgot the words of Jeremiah and Israel was not vigilant.

Once again, Israel needs us. Israel needs military support from the United States Government. Israel needs to bolster public opinion. And Israel will need tourists to support its economy.

Thank your congressmen for supporting Israel. Share your support for Israel proudly. Plan your next visit to Israel. L’Shanah Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim, in Jerusalem, the City of Peace that does not (yet) know peace.

Rabbi Evan J. Krame