Enacting Heaven on Earth - 2/25/2024

Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for coming to our fourth Kaddish, marking a month since we have started holding this community grief space. Over the past month, 3,000 Palestinians have been murdered, at least as reported by Al Jazeera, and thousands and thousands more are facing famine, injury and expulsion. The news feels increasingly bleak.  

I also feel increasingly sad and angry that American Jewish communities continue to support this violence. To get personal for a second, I had a hard call with my family this  week. My parents brought up their shame and disapproval in the “side” I have taken. They asked me to consider their position, which I pointed out, I had lived for over 2 decades. Their response to the past 141 days could not be more different from mine. They believe that this violence  is justified. I too feel shame and disapproval as they express their support for genocide, though they could never call it that. 

Sitting in this disagreement, and seeing how they use our shared religion to justify such actions highlights the spiritual disconnect that seems intrinsic to the Jewish community right now. Either people have divorced themselves from the idea that all life is sacred and can sleep easily knowing that thousands have been murdered and millions have been displaced, or they have been shunned because they believe that Palestinians deserve to live in peace and autonomy. 

This is why we are building this space here. We are drawn by a shared value - that all people are more than just bones and blood. We all have a breath of life inside us and deserve safety and love and compassion.

It is a time of deep heartbreak. Heartbreak as we watch atrocity after atrocity every day, and heartbreak of seeing our fellows justify a genocide falsely invoking the same values that bring me here in grief. It is the value intrinsic to Judaism, as well as intrinsic to other faith traditions (as well as something that is shared by those without faith who are called to action). 

To paraphrase and reinterpret Deuteronomy, chapter 30 verses 12-16 in a way that makes sense to me: Our religion, our spiritual community, our community of those gathered to mourn the murder of Palestinians, is not in the heavens. It is not in death or in some metaphorical spiritual plane where there is no genocide, famine and suffering. None of us can go up to the heavens, and observe it, and bring it back to those on earth. No, whatever version of heaven you imagine, it is very close to you. It exists in what you do with your words, and in your heart. To enact concepts of heaven down on earth is essential to this day, life and prosperity, death and adversity. For we as Jews, and as human beings must act in loving kindness and foster peace. 

It is my hope that as we continue to gather, and continue to mourn, continue to create our community and continue to fight for Palestinian peace and freedom, that we can bring in those who have lost their way. Lost their ability to act justly and with love for their fellow.