On Simchat Torah, when we were beginning a new cycle of the Torah reading, we encountered a horrific situation, when bloodthirsty barbaric terrorists murdered thousands of Jews, and many other hundreds were kidnapped, and their fate is unknown. The people of Israel in Israel and in the Diaspora are united in prayer and hope for victory and defeat of the enemy, and in prayer for the safety of the soldiers of the IDF and the security forces who work with supreme dedication to defend the people and the land and of the thousands of wounded, that God will send them complete healing soon.
When we approach reading the first portion, Parashat Bereshith in this difficult situation, we seek to find in it some kind of anchor in the face of the terrible chaos we have just experienced. Parashat Bereshith lays the foundations for universal human existence. It is not about the people of Israel, but about the entire humanity and the reality in which we exist. Precisely in such difficult moments in which the nation of Israel is in now, we read in the Parasha about the first murderer of the world, Cain. The first murder in history was a cruel ideological murder.
After Simchat Torah ended I went to check my messages and understood immediately that the gravity of the situation was not even close to the worst imaginations. Murders, rapes, torture, beheadings and hostages taken – entire villages of unarmed civilians obliterated.
We are miles away from Israel. Instead of giving into this downward spiral we immediately organized a special candlelight vigil and prayer service here in the Tiano Plaza to strengthen ourselves and our solidarity with Israel, so we felt that our voices had joined a chorus of our people around the world. All deeply affected and seeking answers as well.
The truth has finally been laid bare: Terrorists who were regularly painted as “freedom fighters” in the western media for their “just cause” were in reality always intent on committing wholesale slaughter of Jews, although this evil was now masked in the “liberation” of a people, it was an all too familiar, medieval antisemitism.
Hamas may be democratically elected and considered by many to be the popular voice of the Palestinian people, however their sole aim is the furthering of both a religious and political Jihad and committing acts of heinous violence and terrorism.
The ancient hatred of Israel and the Jewish people never faded away, it only metamorphosed and changed form to be present and “current” in each age and situation – the level of sheer hatred and intense violence seen on Saturday is something that indeed belongs in another century; bodies disfigured, children decapitated, women violated and subsequently executed – for Jews this is a familiar part of our cultural DNA and an essential element of our national identity: we remember the Romans, Greeks, Babylonians, Persians, Cossacks, Nazis and all the others who have come against us.
Our decision to dance with the Torah is in spite of these incredible difficulties and evil our people have faced over millennia. We have faced them all and despite heavy prices and terrible lessons we have seen them come and pass away like straw. God’s Torah is eternal just as we as His nation is: although wars are fought with weapons, they are ultimately won through ideas and values:
Our striving for peace and dignity cannot be extinguished, our love of humanity cannot be snuffed out, and our love of God and justice cannot be replaced. Our decision must be to stand together united without all of the possible division and fight to be part of the light in a world filled with darkness.
Am Yisrael Chai!
Rabbi Refael Cohen