These have been hard weeks for many at Ipeace. The death, the suffering..the emotional weight of seeing/living War and trying to remain at Peace withourselves and our friends.
There has been quite a bit of argument, debate..some rational, some emotional from the honest depths fo the heart.
There have been
"patriots" of both sides, eager to make points for their respective sides: all in the name of "the cause". Sometimes we do so since we feel our back is up against a wall.
Below is one paragraph from a
long article and Youtube talk by Rabbi Dr. Donnel Hartman of Jerusalem who speaks, following the war in Gaza about Fighting a "Just" War and Fighting it "Justly".. Without arguing if there is such a thing as a
just war, I think Hartmans stance is something we all can learn from.
How can we at Ipeace develop this possibility to critique and listen to criticism so we can all work towards
being what we really want to be?
"I have no sympathy for many of our (Israels) critics. Nor do I accept the moral underpinnings of many of their positions.
That said, it does not mean, however, that all who criticize the war in Gaza are anti-Semites and enemies of Israel. Furthermore, because a position is mouthed by foes, it does not follow that the content is unworthy of consideration.
Quite to the contrary, I believe that we as Jews and Israelis are obligated to give serious consideration to these critiques and are bound to ask these questions of ourselves:
What do we believe constitutes a "just" war?
How does one fight justly?
We also must ask whether both the war in Gaza and our conduct there meet the standards that we want for ourselves, our people, and our country. We do a great disservice to ourselves as a Jewish people when moral discourse is limited under the guise of mistaken patriotism ..."