There are many beautiful traditions within Judaism that have been passed down to me. The Judaism I have inherited comes with deep inquiry, a sense of awe, and a demand that it is a civilization to be grappled with. Often, this takes the form of Midrash, a type of discussion that transverses centuries, as people confront text that is ancient and make it mean something in the present. What follows is from the book of Ecclesiastes 3, verses 1-8, which is a famous text that many of you will recognize as variations in a song Turn Turn Turn that Peter Seeger, the Limelight’s and the Byrds made famous in the 50’s and 60’s.
“Everything has an appointed season, and there is time for every matter under heaven
A time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot”
There is never a time for starvation. Never.
The biblical verse continues: “There is a time to cast stones and a time to gather stones”
So let me cast a stone: What is happening in Gaza is an abomination. I love being Jewish, but I do not support what the Israeli government is doing to the people of Gaza. Saying it does not make me antisemitic. Just like being against the actions of my own government doesn’t make me anti-American.
The verses continue …
“There is a time to be silent and a time to speak.”
This is a time for speaking.
And one thing we can say together is there is never a time for one nation to starve the people of another. Never.
