Weekly D'var Torah

Sarah Imenu, Sarah Our Mother, whose life is celebrated in this week’s Parsha, exemplifies the authenticity and moral courage that nurtures the Jewish people to this day. It is appropriate to share the words of one of our community’s spiritual successors of Sarah as we continue to be nurtured by her example.

This week’s D’var Tora comes to us from Adath Shalom alumna, Carly, who celebrated her Bat Mitzvah at our shul and is now a freshman at Penn State. Writing as an assignment in a class about cultural exchange, I was moved by Carly’s message of affirmation and wanted to share her inspiring perspective as she makes a beautiful appeal for empathy and sees the situation in Israel in the context of the tragic parts of our history.  Enjoy!

Carly and friend celebrate affixing a Mezuzah to her dorm room.  Yeshar Ko’ach!

As a Jewish person, it is extremely difficult to watch, hear, and process the events that are occurring in Israel as we speak. I honestly don’t even know where to start sometimes since my thoughts are all over the place, but the first thing I think of and question is just why can’t we all get along and remain peaceful…

I guess this specific war stems from the battle of land and economics, but it is beyond clear that the world as a whole is just prone to hating on Jews… We see first-hand that the demographic of Jewish people around the world decreased after the slaughter of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, so we know they are constantly changing as that same attempt is being made again…I swear sometimes people have no idea why they hate Jews, they just do. That results from growing up in a house of hatred, being taught to hate us, etc., but what people really need to do is become educated and aware of their own identity and thoughts before they attempt to destroy someone else’s.

Quite frankly, I don’t care about who has more land, all I care about is the fact that innocent people are dying on both sides of the war. Maybe I’m naive to think at the end of the day everyone just wants to go home to their family and live their own life in peace, but I don’t understand why that can’t happen. It’s almost like people want to fight and want to hate. I firmly believe that I am educated enough about what’s going on and confidently know that although I am Jewish and obviously feel for those in Israel and myself at times too, I know innocent people are dying in the country attacking my own right now as well. Entire families being wiped out on both sides of this war is just disheartening and once again, this stems from pure hatred.

This act of terrorism should scare me, but it doesn’t. I am so proud to be Jewish and seeing the community come together here at Penn State during these horrific times reaffirms my pride in being Jewish. Hearing that “… thousands of people have been killed and more than one million have been displaced, as parts of Gaza have been reduced to rubble” (United Nations) is absurd to me. It’s almost as if the Holocaust wasn’t enough to show us Jews that we’re hated; we know but it won’t stop us, it’ll just unite us as it always does.

I wish it didn’t take these disturbing acts of terrorism to create such unity within a religion, but there has never been a time I am happier to be who I am where I am. I feel so extremely supported and safe here, and no protest or signs will take that sense of courage away from me. I apologize for this journal entry being so personal and I’m sorry if it comes off as political, I truly do not care about that aspect of it.

What I’m referring to and get emotional about is the constant spread of hate towards my people because all I can think about is what if that was me. What if instead of me hearing a story about a man hiding in a garbage dumpster with his friends as they were just trying to enjoy a music festival, it was me? What if I was on my Birthright trip right now and could not leave Israel and was never to be seen again?

Yes, these thoughts are deep, scary, and disturbing, but that is exactly what this situation is. So honestly, I take my apology back. I’m not sorry for being proud of who I am, and I know for a fact that all of my feelings are valid. I’m not looking for validation or people to agree with me, I’m just spreading awareness and if you feel differently than me, I encourage you to put yourself in the shoes of a Jewish person watching this go down and imagine wondering if your family, friends, or yourself would make it out alive in Israel right now.

Thank you, Carly, for your message- may you continue to feel supported by your community and to grow in your identity.  Yeshar Ko’ach!