The Jewish people have a history of being oppressed and used as political pawns throughout time, which is taught in cultural practices. Witnessing actions against Israeli and Jewish values since 10/7/2023 has been troubling. There are calls for appropriate humanitarian responses from the Israeli Defense Forces rather than violent retaliation. The conflict raises a moral dilemma between ensuring existence and valuing human life. Spiritual beliefs emphasize that hatred should not be met with violence, contrary to the instinct for some to retaliate with force.
I have long believed that Israel was a place where the wrongs and violence and harm of the past were to be acknowledged, studied, and prevented from ever happening again. In the days since 10/7/2023 I have seen actions which go against everything I have learned to be Israeli and Jewish values.
As a cultural, ethnic, even racial group, the Jewish people have lived through episodes of both power and oppression. We have been used as political pawns, scapegoats, and the sacrificial lamb to slaughter, over history of time immemorial.
It breaks my spirit to witness the world in such a state where our people have again been placed in a situation such that we have had to choose standing up for our right to exist or maintaining our value for human life.
Nowhere in my spiritual practice have I learned that a proper response to people being misguided towards hatred from childhood is to rain fire and brimstone upon them.
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