In this week’s Torah portion, we find Abraham’s conversation with God about the destruction of the city of Sodom and Gomorrah along with its inhabitants. God agrees if there are ten zadikim (I interpret the word “zadikim” – from the root z.d.k, just – as “pursuers of justice” because I do not believe people are inherently just or unjust but can rather be “pursuers of justice” and “pursuers of injustice, or wickedness”) in the city, the entire city will be saved.

In the end, there are, it seems, not even ten residents of the city who are willing to raise a voice of justice to save the angels amidst the mass raucous of Sodom (in my opinion, Lot also failed the test because he was willing to throw his daughters into the crowd of Sodom instead of the angels), but the principle remains. If they had raised their voices in the name of justice, God would have saved them. There is always benefit in raising a voice for justice, even if you are in the minority.

If we believe, like Abraham, that “the Judge of all the earth… will do justice” (Genesis 18:25), by raising the voice of justice for others, we can also save ourselves. And even if not, even if there is no justice and fairness in life and the world, even if we do not live in a fair reality, it is better to try, it is better to be among those who pursue justice rather than among those who throw up their hands and flow with the tide of injustice.

For three years now, Rabbi Ian Chesir-Tiran and I have been demonstrating in front of the house of our neighbor, Diaspora Minister Amichai Shikli, a far-right member of the Likud party who identifies with Ben Gvir and Smotrich in many of his views. He lives 100 meters away from both me and Rabbi Ian.

We feel a moral obligation to speak out against his views and show that he does not represent us or our kibbutz, which was founded by Jews from the Conservative movement and includes in its vision an adherence to liberal values, equality, justice, and peace, and living in harmony with our Arab neighbors. We also feel an obligation to show that we will not allow him to use our kibbutz as a refuge from public criticism. We feel the need to use our right to freedom of expression and protest to show him how we feel and to show others that he does not speak for us.

Shikli has opposed our protests from the start and has done everything in his power to silence and distance us. Until recently, we had an understanding with the police that as long as we did not use megaphones, we could protest regularly. Our protests (which included others from the community and the general area) were peaceful; they included short speeches, songs, chants, standing and sitting quietly with signs, and reading the names of the hostages. However, Shikli and his wife tried to use the kibbutz secretariat, the regional council, the courts, the police, social pressure, and social media to stop our activities.

We did not give up.

Then, two months ago, the police told us we had to move, that we were not allowed to stand in front of Shikli’s house. They said there were new instructions from above. When we refused to move, they detained us and brought us to the police station for questioning.

Rabbi Ian and I have been detained four times by the police outside the house of our neighbor, Minister Amichai Shikli. The first time was during what was clearly a demonstration, with a handful of others from Hannaton (including another rabbi, Humanist Rabbi Elad Arnon) and about twenty more people from the area. The second time, we were just the two of us sitting quietly and holding a sign, and they still detained us.

There at the police station, they handed us a document signed by the police chief of the Northern District, which said that we were not allowed to protest at all, even quietly, in front of Shikli’s house. Up to five people are allowed to protest peacefully inside the kibbutz, as long as they are not within 100 meters of Shikli’s house, the document said. Non-peaceful protests can only take place outside the Hanaton Gate. In short, we were forbidden from protesting inside our own kibbutz.

A few days later, Rabbi Ian and I decided to go out and sit quietly with duct tape over our mouths, dressed in black. We were detained then too. They claimed we were protesting. We claimed we were sitting quietly on our sidewalk, and that was our right.

Two weeks later, on Monday this week, the eve of Rabin’s assassination, we went out to sing songs of peace in the same place on the sidewalk in our neighborhood, in front of Shikli’s house. We were detained again. The police said that no matter what we did, even if we sat quietly and did nothing, Rabbi Ian and I were not permitted to be there at all, because our very presence there – because of who we are – was defined as a protest. This was a politically motivated detention, and an unlawful use of power.

Rabbi Ian and I refuse to accept these new restrictions on our democratic rights to freedom of expression, freedom of movement, and freedom of protest, and we will fight to protect these rights –for ourselves, and for others. While we are currently organizing protests at the entrance to Hannaton, outside the yellow gate of our kibbutz, where we are permitted to do so even according to these new regulations, we also continue to sit in front of Shikli’s house and refuse to move if the police arrive – even if it means being detained again and again.
We also continue to protest all over the country – against the occupation, against the organized crime homicides in the Arab towns around us in the Galilee and our government’s negligence in dealing with them, against the Jewish terrorism currently raging in the West Bank and the government’s negligence around that, too.… In general, for equality, justice, and peace.

But in our current political situation, sometimes we must also stand up for our own rights, not just the rights of others. Sometimes we are called to be a voice of justice – even if we are in the minority, and even if we are facing forces that feel stronger than us – and believe that in the end “the judge of all the land… will do justice.”

And if not, at least we raised our voices for justice, even if as a minority voice among the other voices trying to drown out and silence ours.

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Rabbi Dr. Haviva Ner-David is a spiritual companion, a writer, and an activist. She is founding rabbi of Shmaya: A Mikveh for Mind, Body, and Soul -- the only mikveh in Israel open to all to immerse as they choose -- where she officiates and creates mikveh ceremonies and facilitates workshops. Her spiritual companion clients include (but not only) many rabbis and rabbinical students from around the world. She is the author of three spiritual journey memoirs, two novels, and the co-author of the only children's book on mikveh. She is currently working on a memoir about these past two years of war, from her point of view as an activist and spiritual seeker.