Dear Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib,
I’d like to tell you a lesson we can learn from this week's Jewish Torah reading, Parashat Chayei Sarah, a section with a dream and a dispute. In the Torah we find a dream, a dream where a father, Abraham, wants to marry off his son, Isaac, to the best wife possible, who is Rebekah. In the Haftarah we find a dispute when David’s son, Adonijah wants to usurp his fathers throne and have both power and control over the Kingdom of Israel, a right that was to be passed down to another son of David, Solomon.
What about that dream today? Jews and Arabs living in peace as they did many times in the past sharing the common value of life. We read in the Mishnah (Sanhedrin 4:5), “Whoever destroys a single life is considered to have destroyed the whole world, and whoever saves a single life is considered to have saved the whole world.” Likewise, almost word for word we read in the Quran (Qur’an 5:32), “For that cause We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever kills a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind.” During the time called “the golden age of Jewish culture in Spain,” Jews and Arabs, in particular Muslims, maintained cordial and productive relationships. In Palestine, while under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Jews and Muslims lived together in peace. Imagine that time when Jews thrived under Muslim rule and Muslims thrived in partnership with their Jewish neighbors. Is that not all our dreams?
In the spirit of partnership, Abraham found a partner in the family of Rebekah to carry forth God’s promises to the world. In that same spirit of partnership, there was a time when both Jews and Muslims partnered together to improve the lives of their communities. Yet we also see that was once a dream of partnership became a dispute of individual agenda. In the story of Adonijah, who “exalted himself, saying: I will be king” (1 Kings 1:5), according to the Talmud (Sanhedrin 21b), “The term ‘exalted himself’ teaches that he sought for the monarchy to fit him, but it did not fit him.” After Solomon rightfully ascended the throne of his father David his brother Adonijah would be executed because he “sought for the monarchy to fit him, but it did not fit him,” it was never his to wear, he committed treason. Why did Adonijah have to die? He was a brother to Solomon and they shared the same father in King David. Here, there was no partnership, but a dispute that ended with a broken family and a mother who mourned her son's death.
The dream of cousins in Jews and Arabs being partners, living next to each other like it was during the “golden age” has been replaced by another agenda, which is dispute. In an age of monarchs, empires, evolving borders and a time of nationalism, there emerged the need for self-determination for the Jews and the Arabs of Palestine. The dream: a nation with people living in peace side by side. The dispute: a fight over land and peoplehood that resulted in too many people needing to die. This battle of self-determination long ago passed the boundary of two peoples seeking to live in peace. How can you make peace when you're not sure who your partner is? How can we make peace with our cousins, even if you say it is only the voice of a persuasive minority, a voice that tells the world they want us dead? How can you expect us to make peace when those who carried out the October 7th attacks tells the world that they will do it “again and again.” These are the words of a Hamas leader, Ghazi Hamad, also says that “Israel is a country that has no place on our land" and October 7th was the “first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth.” Without a word of regret or sympathy for the deaths of innocents he said, “We must remove it [Israel] because it constitutes a security, military and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation. We are not ashamed to say this." Israel does not want to dispose of and remove the Palestinian people, it's about ridding Gaza of Hamas, people who want to destroy Israel. You condemned hate and violence to all people, thank you, but you did not condemn Hamas. I have to ask why?
When I woke up on Wednesday morning I learned that you, Congresswoman Tlaib, had been censured for repeating the often chanted pro-Palestinian phrase, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” words that Jews and most of the world consider to be an anti-Israel/antisemitic trope. Congresswoman, even if you say that is not so, that is not the case for others like Ghazi Hamad who call for the death of Jews in all of “Palestine.” But what left an impression on me were the words that you spoke on the house floor; "I can't believe we have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable," further saying that "We are human beings just like anyone else." Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, yes that is true, we agree as Jews, Palestinian's are human beings like everyone else as we are fashioned in equality who deserve honor and respect. This is not so for Ghazi Hamad who said concerning the very people you cry for; “We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs."
I will fight that battle with you, Congresswoman. However you are gravely mistaken because it is not Israel, and it is not the American Government who have decided that your people are disposable. Hamas clearly sees the people of Gaza who are not Hamas as “disposable” because they are willing to sacrifice an entire population for their agenda to destroy Israel. Are you aware that they said that about the very people you cry for, your brothers and sisters? Are you aware of their plans to destroy Israel and kill Jews, not just in Israel but everywhere WE LIVE? Congresswoman, are you allowing the disinformation of evil people to dictate your sense of truth that forms your personal and professional narrative? I implore you to investigate the claims of the government in Gaza instead of attacking those who agree with you that “Palestinian people are not disposable.” You forget that we hold the same value of life as you do and want to be your people’s partners for peace. We want them to live in freedom and security from the tyranny of rule and oppression; Jews have been there and done that. I really hope you can come to see that. I really hope that is your dream also.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Adam Ruditsky
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