As I write these words from the Lower Galilee, there is a heavy silence in the air. A foreboding calm. The calm before the storm. We are bracing for some unknown attack from Hezbollah or Iran, or both, in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of a Hamas political leader in Iran and a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon.
The fear and foreboding fit the season. This week was Tisha b’Av. It’s a day of mourning that commemorates the anniversary of so many tragedies — including sieges, wars, destruction, and devastation in Jerusalem during the Temple eras.
According to custom, we begin the communal process of consolation on the Shabbat after Tisha b’Av. After fasting and grieving, it is time to move on. To return to our daily routines and to resume our everyday lives. To help mark the transition, we will read from chapter 40 of Isaiah’s prophetic book, which begins with God’s plea to comfort the Israelites: “Nachamu nachamu ami” – “Comfort, oh comfort My people.”
This year, though, is different. Who can be comforted right now? I am too steeped in the Book of Lamentations (1:2): “Bitterly she weeps in the night, her cheek wet with tears. There is none to comfort her of all her friends.” Despite Isaiah’s predictions (Isaiah 2:4), nations are lifting up swords against nations. We still know war.
Ten months have passed since October 7. Our trauma is still raw. As we await more bombs and drones, 115 people kidnapped from Israel by Hamas are still being held hostage in Gaza. Old and young. Men and women. Whole families. Netanyahu continues to sabotage negotiations for a ceasefire that would bring them home. Israel has killed tens of thousands of Gazan civilians. Old and young. Men and women. Whole families. A Hezbollah bomb launched from Lebanon killed 12 children and teenagers playing in a soccer field in the Golan Heights. A new report by B’Tzelem details abuse and inhuman treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees by Israeli soldiers since October 7. The list goes on and on.
Now is not the time for consolation, Isaiah. Now is the time for strength and encouragement.
This Shabbat, remind us again what it means to be righteous people worthy of God’s blessings:
“Learn to do good. Devote yourselves to justice; Aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; Defend the cause of the widow” (Isaiah1:17).
“Share your bread with the hungry, and take the wretched poor into your home; When you see the naked, clothe them, and do not ignore your own kin” (Isaiah 58:7).
Now is not the time for despair, Isaiah. Now is still the time for action.
From the north to the south, from the west to the east, Rabbis for Human Rights and its members are leading by example.
We are organizing interfaith marches for peace.
We are taking to the streets to demand a ceasefire and the return of the hostages. Now!
We are traveling to the South Hebron Hills to help Palestinians threatened with settler violence.
We are traveling to Israel’s north to help extinguish forest fires and harvest abandoned vinyards.
We are supporting one another. Old and young. Men and women. Whole families.
We won’t stop.
We can’t stop.
The stakes are too high.
Our work is not in vain.
Our work will not be in vain.
As Isaiah reminds us: “The work of righteousness shall be peace. And the effect of righteousness, calm and confidence forever” (Isaiah 32:17).
Peace.
Calm.
Confidence.
And I’ll add: Equality. Social Justice. Shared Society.
Forever.
“Do not be afraid” (Isaiah 7:4, 8:12, 10:24, 35:4, 37:6, 40:9, 41:10, 41:13, 41:14, 43:1, 43:5, 44:2, 44:8, 51:7, 54:4).
We can do it.
We will do it.
We must do it.
Together.
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Rabbi Ian Chesir-Teran was ordained in 2014 at the Jerusalem campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He served for 9 years as the Rabbinic Educator in Israel for T’ruah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. Ian made aliyah from South Orange, New Jersey in 2010. He is a member of Kibbutz Hannaton in the Jezreel Valley, where he lives with his husband Daniel and their three children, Eliezer, Yonah and Tamar.
The fear and foreboding fit the season. This week was Tisha b’Av. It’s a day of mourning that commemorates the anniversary of so many tragedies — including sieges, wars, destruction, and devastation in Jerusalem during the Temple eras.
According to custom, we begin the communal process of consolation on the Shabbat after Tisha b’Av. After fasting and grieving, it is time to move on. To return to our daily routines and to resume our everyday lives. To help mark the transition, we will read from chapter 40 of Isaiah’s prophetic book, which begins with God’s plea to comfort the Israelites: “Nachamu nachamu ami” – “Comfort, oh comfort My people.”
This year, though, is different. Who can be comforted right now? I am too steeped in the Book of Lamentations (1:2): “Bitterly she weeps in the night, her cheek wet with tears. There is none to comfort her of all her friends.” Despite Isaiah’s predictions (Isaiah 2:4), nations are lifting up swords against nations. We still know war.
Ten months have passed since October 7. Our trauma is still raw. As we await more bombs and drones, 115 people kidnapped from Israel by Hamas are still being held hostage in Gaza. Old and young. Men and women. Whole families. Netanyahu continues to sabotage negotiations for a ceasefire that would bring them home. Israel has killed tens of thousands of Gazan civilians. Old and young. Men and women. Whole families. A Hezbollah bomb launched from Lebanon killed 12 children and teenagers playing in a soccer field in the Golan Heights. A new report by B’Tzelem details abuse and inhuman treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees by Israeli soldiers since October 7. The list goes on and on.
Now is not the time for consolation, Isaiah. Now is the time for strength and encouragement.
This Shabbat, remind us again what it means to be righteous people worthy of God’s blessings:
“Learn to do good. Devote yourselves to justice; Aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; Defend the cause of the widow” (Isaiah1:17).
“Share your bread with the hungry, and take the wretched poor into your home; When you see the naked, clothe them, and do not ignore your own kin” (Isaiah 58:7).
Now is not the time for despair, Isaiah. Now is still the time for action.
From the north to the south, from the west to the east, Rabbis for Human Rights and its members are leading by example.
We are organizing interfaith marches for peace.
We are taking to the streets to demand a ceasefire and the return of the hostages. Now!
We are traveling to the South Hebron Hills to help Palestinians threatened with settler violence.
We are traveling to Israel’s north to help extinguish forest fires and harvest abandoned vinyards.
We are supporting one another. Old and young. Men and women. Whole families.
We won’t stop.
We can’t stop.
The stakes are too high.
Our work is not in vain.
Our work will not be in vain.
As Isaiah reminds us: “The work of righteousness shall be peace. And the effect of righteousness, calm and confidence forever” (Isaiah 32:17).
Peace.
Calm.
Confidence.
And I’ll add: Equality. Social Justice. Shared Society.
Forever.
“Do not be afraid” (Isaiah 7:4, 8:12, 10:24, 35:4, 37:6, 40:9, 41:10, 41:13, 41:14, 43:1, 43:5, 44:2, 44:8, 51:7, 54:4).
We can do it.
We will do it.
We must do it.
Together.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rabbi Ian Chesir-Teran was ordained in 2014 at the Jerusalem campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He served for 9 years as the Rabbinic Educator in Israel for T’ruah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. Ian made aliyah from South Orange, New Jersey in 2010. He is a member of Kibbutz Hannaton in the Jezreel Valley, where he lives with his husband Daniel and their three children, Eliezer, Yonah and Tamar.