From the Rabbi's Desk

Can two truths be held at the same time? Can snow be good and bad? Can heat be welcomed and oppressive? The answer is yes to all of these. Snow can be fun to play in and beautiful to look at, while being dangerous for drivers and inconvenient for businesses. Heat can be an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors and go swimming while also being physically draining on people. It’s all a matter of perspective. How one looks at something comes from their background and their point of view, or their loyalties to one side or another.

This week we read וארא/VaEra which marks the beginning of משה/Moshe/Moses’ leadership and conversations with פרעה/Pharaoh. It also contains the first seven of the עשרת המכות/Eseret HaMakot/The Ten Plagues. These “plagues” were instruments of freedom for our people and they were immense punishments for the Egyptians. The plagues were awful and miraculous all at once. When the water was turned to blood, the Egyptians were left with no way to stay hydrated as water is an essential substance of life. For three days they had no water. At the same time, the Israelites had access to drinkable water and thus we didn’t experience the pain but saw it from afar as outsiders. This isn’t to say the plague was wrong, but what we saw and what those on the other side saw were two different things. The plague was two things at one time: a miracle for us and a punishment for them.

One thing can be two different things. Two truths can, in fact, be true at one time even when they directly conflict with each other. On October 7, 2023, the Israeli people and the Jewish world was rocked by atrocities that had no two sides. Murder, rape, terror and kidnapping do not have two equal perspectives. While one side might claim they’re fighting for their people, they have no moral right to claim such tactics can be exercised to seek freedom. Over 1,200 people were killed that day. That’s not to mention the scores that were injured. Over 250 were kidnapped. The victims included children, women, men and the elderly. The victims included Jews and non-Jews. The victims included Holocaust survivors. Nothing that happened on October 7 could be justified by a legitimate quest for freedom of self-determination on the side of the Palestinians. Anybody who says otherwise is lending support to the terrorists.

When Israel began to strike back to defend itself, we began to see multiple truths. We saw that Israel had the legitimate need to take Hamas out. It had the legitimate need to get its hostages out of hell. It had the legitimate need to bring safety and security back to its citizens. At the same time, it’s also true that there are innocent Palestinians in harm’s way. It’s true that not all people in Gaza support Hamas. It’s true that too many people have died in the crossfire and we all should mourn those facts. All these statements are true and they may or may not conflict with each other.

This past week and weekend, we learned of another time where truths can conflict with each other and yet be true. The cease fire hostage deal is both great and awful all at once. Let me begin by saying what it’s not. It’s not a “Hostage Exchange” deal. The Israelis are not “releasing hostages”. They are being blackmailed into allowing guilty people, some with blood on their hands, to walk out of prisons because they have no other choice. As moral people, and as Jews, we have a responsibility to do all we can to free our hostages held by others. That means sometimes we’re forced to make choices that are awful and hard. It means sometimes we’re forced to negotiate with a gun pointed at our heads. It means sometimes we’re forced to break the basic rule that we must never negotiate with terrorists. Watching Hamas celebrate this ceasefire as if they’ve won tore our hearts out. Watching Iran claim that the “occupying forces” are in retreat and being defeated went against all we believe in.

The reality is in their warped sense of reality, tens of thousands of dead people is a win. In their worldview, children and women and men and elderly people, Jewish and non-Jewish, being brutalized and murdered, got them a “win”. At the same time, watching three women: Emily Damari, Romi Gonen, and Doron Steinbrecher being free again to live their lives is something that made our world seem okay again. Both of these things are true at once. The Israeli people fulfilled a sacred obligation, and Hamas celebrated their “victory”. Israel brought back three innocent people and allowed 90 people, some guilty of attempted murder, to walk free. While this batch of prisoners were not the ones with blood on their hands, by the end of this “exchange”, Israel will be forced to release people who should be incarcerated for the remainder of their lives. We’ll celebrate innocent people reclaiming their lives and they’ll celebrate the release of people who have murdered the innocent. And yet, two truths will exist side by side.

We’ll celebrate redeeming our captives. We’ll celebrate our reestablished deterrence in Gaza and beyond. We’ll celebrate the ability of Israelis to go back to their lives. They’ll celebrate their “victory”. They’ll celebrate their perceived triumph over the “occupiers” and the “great Satan”. It’s an imperfect deal. It’s a good deal and a bad deal. It gets us what we need, and forces us to give too much. It’s both good and bad and that’s all true at the same time.