February 2024

Shalom Sha’arei Shalom,

I hope this note finds you well. It has been several months since beginning my tenure as the Rabbi of Sha’arei Shalom and I wanted to share with you some of my recent reflections considering current events.

I find comfort in the empathy of this prayer by Rabbi Tamara Cohen, based on the following verse in Lamentations:

“Look carefully and see if there could possibly be pain like my pain, like the one bestowed by You upon me.” (Lam. 1:12)

Dear God, help us look,
look closer so that we may see
our children in their children,
their children in our own.

Help us look so that we may see You –
in the bleary eyes of each orphan, each grieving childless mother,
each masked and camouflaged fighter for his people’s dignity.

Dear God, Divine Exiled and Crying One,
Loosen our claim to our own uniqueness.
Soften this hold on our exclusive right – to pain, to compassion, to justice.

May your children, all of us unique and in Your image,
come to know the quiet truths of shared pain,
shared hope,
shared land,
shared humanity,
shared risk,
shared courage,
shared peace.

In Sh’Allah. Ken Yehi Ratzon.
May it be Your will.
And may it be ours.

Empathy for shared pain and loss becomes so elusive when justice summons war.

Appreciation for another’s hopes and dreams becomes more evasive as each drop of blood spills.

These are my feelings since October 7th. Some of them anyway. What are yours? What have you learned these past four war-torn months? What hurts? What feels right? What is confusing? What is clear?

I hope you’ll join us Thursday, February 8 at 7 pm for a conversation about Israel, its war with Hamas, and possible paths forward. Click here to sign up. I look forward to welcoming you on Zoom.

In the meantime, I recommend you read this article by Yehuda Kurtzer of the Shalom Hartman Institute. The article embodies what Dr. Kurtzer and SHI call aspirational Zionism, a responsible celebration of Israel that demands both a fierce love & loyalty AND an expansive moral imagination & accountability.

Am Yisrael chai! Hope to see you soon.

-Rabbi Craig Marantz