It's true - I'm not a rabbi. My closest connection to the clergy is that I married the daughter of the cantor from the Reform synagogue where I grew up.
I have grown up, however, with a strong sense of right and wrong. My mother, who fled the Nazis from Austria in 1938, instilled it in me. She lost her beloved grandmother in the Terezenstadt concentration camp and gained a wariness of anyone with moral certitude.
Death from ethnic and racial conflict wasn't far from my father either. His grandfather died in the early 1880s from malaria, caught sleeping in his orange groves to protect them from nighttime raids by local Arab gangs in what was then Palestine.
Like so many, I inherit a legacy of death and suffering spanning generations. To my mind, there's been nothing "right" in the violence and death that plagued my family and the Jewish people. And I see plenty of wrong and little "right" in the never-ending spiral of violence that plagues the Israeli and Palestinian peoples today.
If my children, my young Israeli cousins and the young children of my Palestinian colleagues and friends are to grow up in a world that's any different, any better, than we've inherited - then the great challenge for both sides is to abandon the quest for moral certainty and for proof that absolute truth resides only with their people.
I condemn the rockets and suicide bombers of Hamas in unequivocal terms. I recognize (as does my organization, J Street) that Israel has the right - even the obligation - to use its military power as appropriate to protect and defend its citizens. I feel the suffering and the terror of the people of Sderot. Living in Jerusalem decade ago, I myself barely escaped a suicide bomber in Jerusalem's central market.
But I see as well the personal suffering of the Palestinian people - particularly in Gaza - and I condemn it.
The broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict is deeply complex - morally and politically. There are many victims, and enough blood and guilt to go around. One round of violence can't be viewed in isolation from the rounds that came before. And breaking the never-ending cycle of violence requires acknowledging and addressing grievances that feed the anger fueling the violence.
Recognizing this complexity is key to reconciliation between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. Without letting go of the certainty that they are each right, neither people will ever break free of the crushing, decades-long cycle of violence. How can those who believe they have a monopoly on truth make the deep and painful compromises required to resolve this conflict?
It is "moral" and necessary to challenge those in this country who see only one side of this epic conflict - both those who refuse to acknowledge the suffering of the people of Gaza and those who refuse to condemn the terror wrought by Hamas on southern Israel.
As a Jew, I am pained to read of the 1,000 people at a pro-Israel rally in a Washington synagogue cheering after a member of Congress said, "something is rotten in Gaza, and it's time to take out the trash." As a Jew, I am pained by every "Death to Israel" sign at a rally to promote Palestinian rights.
I remain deeply committed to working for the day when the two sides, the two peoples, recognize that their only future is to live in two independent states side by side in peace and security. Finding the formula for dividing this small land is their only hope to get past the death and destruction, the fear and the terror.
My inspiration, former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin famously said: "Enough of blood and tears. Enough. The time for peace has come." His absence has been so felt, his leadership so missed, for these thirteen long years.
This is neither a morally deficient view of the world - nor a naive one. Recognizing the suffering of the other is not moral equivalence, it is simply moral. And it is, in fact, the only hope for our peoples.
During these last 18 days, reason has often been lacking from the debate. People keep repeating their own views without being willing to listen to others'. People keep calling their opponents names that do not necessarily reflect the views of their opponents. Others keep spamming threads without having any real or new contribution to the debate, in a desperate attempt to dominate what's been said.
With such a level of debate, the voices of those willing to see the nuances are easy to drown in noise. To the Huffington Posters: Don't let them. Reality does consist of opposing arguments, of nuances, of differences, of right and wrong and morally difficult at the same time.
Had all been absolutes, solutions would have been so much easier to find.
Many Israelis are fighting for peace in Israel and outside they are not self-hating Jews, they just have a conscience and wanting just peace, and many if not most Palestinians feel the same way.
But even if there were peace tomorrow it will be a long, long time for many to forget the pain and horror they lived through for years.
Peace should indeed be sought through the recognition of each other's suffering and grievances instead of through dehumanization which only breeds more and more violence.
Let us hope that the children of Israel and the children of Palestine will share a future in peace, mutual respect and prosperity.
I am curious, Jeremy, is it reasonable to hope that will Israel and Gaza will coexist peaceably without major concessions from Israel? Israel must be willing to relinquish most if not all of the settlements in the West Bank and allow Gaza and the West Bank to merge as a unit and form its own government.
This leads to the issue of Israel's recognition of by Palestinian militias and resistance fighters. The legal boundaries of Israel and Palestine were delimited in UN Resolution 181 of 1948.But since the 1967 war, Israel's borders have expanded far beyond its internationally borders of 1948.
In 2006 Haaretz published a report stating that 40% of settlement homes in the West Bank were built on privately owned Palestinian property. That was in addition to state own property that was also acquired by means of laws favoring Israel's goal of increasing the number of new settlements. The paper followed up a month later with a report that Israelis were apathetic to the report.
My point is that there is no political impetus for the Israeli government to cooperate with a 2 state solution to the ongoing conflict with Palestinians.
Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Yours is the voice of reason and moral conviction that is all too often drowned by extremism. As a Jew (and a Zionist), I join you with the declaration of our great sage, Hillel the elder:
"Don't do to unto your fellow human that which is hateful unto you" and in this matter, ALL human beings must aspire.
The arrogance and presumption of Israelis and Palestinians is that they believe they can do whatever they want and their supporters will not turn away from them. It never dawns on them that the world will get fed up with their act. Through their actions, Israelis and Palestinians show that they don’t care about the rest of the world. Why should the rest of the world care about them?
The best policy toward both Israelis and Palestinians is to stop the enabling, to throw up our hands and walk away. Then, the only options left to them will be peace -- or mutual destruction.
Too many posts lately ignore the complexity of the situation.
I agree that I'd like to see a two-state solution and for the two sides to work together.
What do you think Israel should have done to put a stop to this situation without creating what's happened so far?
Do you think they should have held out for a little longer before responding to the rocket attacks in hopes that the Obama administration would put pressure on Egypt to negotiate and stop allowing weapons smuggling but at the same time help with humanitarian aid in Gaza?
Do you think Hamas' attempt to create Sharia law for the Palestinians on 12/24/2008 made the problem worse?
Thanks again.