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By Richard Silverstein,
Let’s make something clear from the start: Jews don’t have to apologize for Israel’s sins. Israelis must do that. But because I am a Jew, I cherish its traditions, and because Zionism lays claim to all Jews–I am dedicating this post to Yom Kippur. It is a day filled with majesty and awe. A day to ponder one’s place in the world. A day to be humble in the face of God and fate.
Yet today, Yom Kippur is a day of mourning; of sackcloth and ashes. A day of pondering how our people (or some of them) have desecrated their faith by slaughtering another people who worship a God not unlike our own. Genesis says that God created Man in His own image. How can Israel have anything of the image of God?
I have written this many times over the past year: the Jewish God does not commit genocide. He does not relish the death of his creatures. He recoils at those who torture in His name. Those who commit such crimes defile His name, and forfeit the right to call themselves Jews. That is why Jews and Judaism (at least in the Diaspora) must divorce themselves from Israel and Zionism. We cannot allow ourselves to be implicated in the sins (or if you prefer, “crimes”) of Zionism.
I am a Jew. I renounce slaughter. I renounce genocide, I renounce child murder. I renounce Israel. It is not a Jewish state. There is nothing Jewish about genocide.
— Tikun Olam 🍉 (@richards1052) September 28, 2024
Let’s make something clear from the start: Jews don’t have to apologize for Israel’s sins. Israelis must do that. But because I am a Jew, I cherish its traditions, and because Zionism lays claim to all Jews–I am dedicating this post to Yom Kippur. It is a day filled with majesty and awe. A day to ponder one’s place in the world. A day to be humble in the face of God and fate.
Yet today, Yom Kippur is a day of mourning; of sackcloth and ashes. A day of pondering how our people (or some of them) have desecrated their faith by slaughtering another people who worship a God not unlike our own. Genesis says that God created Man in His own image. How can Israel have anything of the image of God?
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I have written this many times over the past year: the Jewish God does not commit genocide. He does not relish the death of his creatures. He recoils at those who torture in His name. Those who commit such crimes defile His name, and forfeit the right to call themselves Jews. That is why Jews and Judaism (at least in the Diaspora) must divorce themselves from Israel and Zionism. We cannot allow ourselves to be implicated in the sins (or if you prefer, “crimes”) of Zionism.
On this Day of Days, Jews say several moving prayers which resonate in this Time of Suffering. The first is the Ashamnu (“We have sinned”). In this confessional prayer, the worshiper speaks not in the first person singular, but first person plural. Not “I have sinned,” but “we have sinned.” The congregation as a community, the Jewish people as a whole, have sinned and must repent not as an individual, but as a body. This is especially relevant in the context of the terrible sins Israel is committing on this holy day and so many others. The original is to the left and my own version addressing the Gaza genocide is to the right:
We have sinned
We have betrayed
We have stolen
We have spoken ill
We have made others sin
We have sinned maliciously
We have joined others in a lie
We urged doing wrong
We deceived
We mocked
We damaged
We denied our misdeeds
We corrupted
We strayed
We led others astray
We have murdered
We have maimed
We have bombed
We have shot
We have starved
We have widowed
We have martyred
We have stolen
We have burned
We have made homeless
We have slaughtered
We have expelled
We have degraded
We have humiliated
We have hated
We have cursed
We have abused
Another powerful prayer, U’Netaneh Tokef (“Let us speak of awe”) is a meditation on the mysteries of life and death. It suggests Yom Kippur is a the day when the Book of Life is sealed and fates are decreed for the coming year. The original on the left; my version on the right:
Who shall live and who shall die,
Who shall reach the end of his days and who shall not,
Who by water and who by fire,
Who by sword and who by beast,
Who by famine and who by thirst,
Who by earthquake and who by plague,
Who by strangulation and who by stoning,
Who shall rest and who shall wander,
Who shall be at peace and who shall be pursued,
Who shall be at rest and who shall be tormented,
Who shall be exalted and who shall be brought low,
Who shall be rich and who shall be poor.But repentance, prayer and righteousness avert the severe decree. On 10/7 Israel mourned
On 10/8 Palestine mourned. It mourns still and ponders its fate:
Who will live and who will die,
Who by fire,
Who by artillery shell
Who by missile,
Who by drone,
Who by bullet,
Who by cell phone
Who by bunker buster
Who by F-35,
Who by Apache.
Who by thirst,
Who by starvation,
Who by disease.
But justice, courage, and resistance can avert the evil decree.
As the Torah scroll burned his body, Rabbi Hanenya ben Teradyon saw its letters ascending to heaven
On Rosh Hashanah, the Book of Life is opened. Jews greet each other: Happy holiday, may you be inscribed [in the Book of Life]. At the close of Yom Kippur, the Neilah prayer, Jews are sealed in the Book of Life. Our fate has been determined for the new year.
But Palestinians have no Book of Life. They have only the Book of Death. Instead of God sealing us in His Book, Israel has sealed them in the Book of Death. I feel tremendous grief at such a chilul Ha-Shem (“desecration of God’s Name”).
The prayer Eyleh Ezkerah (“These I Will Remember”), portrays the martyrdom of ten of the greatest of the Talmudic rabbis during the Roman rebellion. It describes the tortures they suffered for refusing to bow to the brutal occupier; refusing to give up teaching Torah and passing on the tradition. Some were burned at the stake. But even in the throes of death they maintained dignity and courage:
Rabbi Hananya ben Teradyon was wrapped in a Torah scroll while he was burned alive. His students were watching him and asked him what he saw, to which he replied that he saw the scroll burning but the letters were ascending to heaven.
Compare this to these words delivered during Operation Cast Lead (2008) by the late Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, himself martyred by Israel:
“We say with full confidence that even if we are hung on the gallows or they make our blood flow in the streets or they tear our bodies apart, we will bow only before God and we will not abandon Palestine…”
Haniyeh
Ayatollah Khamenei pays respects to the martyr, Ismail Haniyeh
We Jews have our martyrs whom we revere for their holiness and courage in the face of certain death. Yet we who suffered such martyrdom, make martyrs for the Palestinian people. Their steadfastness, their courage, their willingness to die–are the same as ours.
Israel today is no different than the brutal Roman occupiers who destroyed the Temple, conquered Jerusalem and burned it to ashes. In the past year, it burned Palestinians alive, buried them in the rubble of their homes, wounded them and left them to bleed to death in the street like dogs, raped their men, starved their children, destroyed their mosques. What perverse solace can Israel take from causing the same suffering to Gaza that Rome did to us? Are we even? Can we ever be even? Will the score finally be settled when we eliminate them–something not even the mighty Romans could achieve?
On this Day of Days, Jews say several moving prayers which resonate in this Time of Suffering. The first is the Ashamnu (“We have sinned”). In this confessional prayer, the worshiper speaks not in the first person singular, but first person plural. Not “I have sinned,” but “we have sinned.” The congregation as a community, the Jewish people as a whole, have sinned and must repent not as an individual, but as a body. This is especially relevant in the context of the terrible sins Israel is committing on this holy day and so many others. The original is to the left and my own version addressing the Gaza genocide is to the right:
| We have sinned We have betrayed We have stolen We have spoken ill We have made others sin We have sinned maliciously We have joined others in a lie We urged doing wrong We deceived We mocked We damaged We denied our misdeeds We corrupted We strayed We led others astray | We have murdered We have maimed We have bombed We have shot We have starved We have widowed We have martyred We have stolen We have burned We have made homeless We have slaughtered We have expelled We have degraded We have humiliated We have hated We have cursed We have abused |
Another powerful prayer, U’Netaneh Tokef (“Let us speak of awe”) is a meditation on the mysteries of life and death. It suggests Yom Kippur is a the day when the Book of Life is sealed and fates are decreed for the coming year. The original on the left; my version on the right:
| Who shall live and who shall die, Who shall reach the end of his days and who shall not, Who by water and who by fire, Who by sword and who by beast, Who by famine and who by thirst, Who by earthquake and who by plague, Who by strangulation and who by stoning, Who shall rest and who shall wander, Who shall be at peace and who shall be pursued, Who shall be at rest and who shall be tormented, Who shall be exalted and who shall be brought low, Who shall be rich and who shall be poor.But repentance, prayer and righteousness avert the severe decree. | On 10/7 Israel mourned On 10/8 Palestine mourned. It mourns still and ponders its fate: Who will live and who will die, But justice, courage, and resistance can avert the evil decree. |
On Rosh Hashanah, the Book of Life is opened. Jews greet each other: Happy holiday, may you be inscribed [in the Book of Life]. At the close of Yom Kippur, the Neilah prayer, Jews are sealed in the Book of Life. Our fate has been determined for the new year.
But Palestinians have no Book of Life. They have only the Book of Death. Instead of God sealing us in His Book, Israel has sealed them in the Book of Death. I feel tremendous grief at such a chilul Ha-Shem (“desecration of God’s Name”).
The prayer Eyleh Ezkerah (“These I Will Remember”), portrays the martyrdom of ten of the greatest of the Talmudic rabbis during the Roman rebellion. It describes the tortures they suffered for refusing to bow to the brutal occupier; refusing to give up teaching Torah and passing on the tradition. Some were burned at the stake. But even in the throes of death they maintained dignity and courage:
Rabbi Hananya ben Teradyon was wrapped in a Torah scroll while he was burned alive. His students were watching him and asked him what he saw, to which he replied that he saw the scroll burning but the letters were ascending to heaven.
Compare this to these words delivered during Operation Cast Lead (2008) by the late Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, himself martyred by Israel:
“We say with full confidence that even if we are hung on the gallows or they make our blood flow in the streets or they tear our bodies apart, we will bow only before God and we will not abandon Palestine…”
We Jews have our martyrs whom we revere for their holiness and courage in the face of certain death. Yet we who suffered such martyrdom, make martyrs for the Palestinian people. Their steadfastness, their courage, their willingness to die–are the same as ours.
Israel today is no different than the brutal Roman occupiers who destroyed the Temple, conquered Jerusalem and burned it to ashes. In the past year, it burned Palestinians alive, buried them in the rubble of their homes, wounded them and left them to bleed to death in the street like dogs, raped their men, starved their children, destroyed their mosques. What perverse solace can Israel take from causing the same suffering to Gaza that Rome did to us? Are we even? Can we ever be even? Will the score finally be settled when we eliminate them–something not even the mighty Romans could achieve?
Source: https://www.richardsilverstein.com
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The Jewish writer in this article is 'de lu lu' and is just trying to distance himself from the Zionists. The fact is the Jews in Israel supported the Zionists all the way. As long as it was against the Gentile (Goyem), they were content to go along with everything. Rape, snipers on kids, organ harvesting on children and adults. Basically anything that was going on in their country was 'AOK' as long as it was agasint a non-Jew.
Now the concern is the Zionists have gone too far and the focus is going to come around to the average Jew. Just like the Germans of the Hallicost (if it really existed to the extend that the Jew said it did), tared the German people with the association of Hitler. So too will the Genocide of all Arabs surrounding Israel tar the Jew through association with Zionists. The world will not forgive and forget, just like the Jew relentlessly hunted-down each and every German, that they labelled a Nazi, down to the last one, no matter how old they were. My family gave up any belief in Judaism after WWII having watched what the Jews were doing in retaliation. No one can deny that there are more Palestinians slaughtered since the occupation of 1945, than all and any number of real or fabricated number of Jews that were killed/slaughtered in WWII. Ben Netanyahu even announced to the UN months before the first attack, that he was going to alter the landscape of the region, by wiping out Palestine off the map and reduce Lebanon to a fifth of it's current size. At this point no one cares who's who in Israel. Those responsible COME from Israel. That's all the world needs to know.
"the Jewish God does not commit genocide."
Has this guy ever read the Old Testament wherein their "God" orders Israelites to kill every man woman and child in some enemy tribe?
Spot on! The Jews should start with the critical revision of their own religious dogmas, especially the ones that place them over everyone else ("chosen people") by their bloodthirsty, vengeful, jealous, psychopathic and narcissistic Yahweh/Jehova "god", who desperately needs anger management treatment. If they were created in his image, this is the result.
The fake dogma of Jewish "superiority" is the root cause of all their suffering and the suffering they have ever caused to others. The mutual misery won't end until they give up their fake "superiority" and learn to respect non-Jews as equals.