Since October 7th, we have tuned in to news that is difficult to watch, hear, and know. War is horrible and terror is the worst, because it violates international laws of warfare. It’s all too much. Nevertheless, we have a responsibility as Jews and Jewish allies to watch, hear, and know everything we can during years of adjusting to “tectonic shifts” in the Middle East.

“Tectonic shifts” is the term used by Gadi Taub, Congregation Beth Israel’s recent scholar-in-residence. He was unequivocal about his point of view. He used words that distressed us and predictions that concerned us; but his evidence and logic were not conspiratorial. Gadi explained that in Israel, Israelis are using the word “Nazi,” to describe Hamas terrorists. People in the room physically recoiled when he said it, but when Israelis use it they are describing the indifference Nazis had for Jewish lives. The fear it creates in Israelis can’t be compared to anything else, and the responsibility of Israelis to fight it is without parallel. Unless you survived the Holocaust, or are the family of survivors, you and I cannot completely fathom the duty that Jews in Israel feel to destroy these terrorists.

Likewise, Gadi restated what we’ve already learned about Europe as an increasingly dangerous place for Jews. Only a few years ago, when antisemitism was rising in France, a French Jewish politician said, “In WWII, the pessimists went to New York City; the optimists went to Auschwitz.” Today, Jews in Israel and America account for the world’s largest Jewish populations. And Jews in Israel know that without Israel there is no place to go. They have no choice but to prove to its enemies, namely Iran and its proxies that surround Israel’s borders, that Israel is stronger than they are. First, they are, in fact, stronger than any of the proxies around it. And second, if Israel fails to protect its borders and its citizens, then there’s no chance that the Abraham Accords will endure or that Saudi Arabia will join them. Third, if Israel fails in any regard, the tectonic shifts will place Israel in a state of imbalance that could lead to its end.

How to avoid these outcomes depends on Israel’s strength and ours. I know that hearing Gadi’s lectures was difficult for some to hear. It was difficult for me to hear parts of it, too. I want more than anything for Palestinians to rise up and secure their own futures with leaders who cherish freedom, prosperity, peace with each other and Israelis, and to honor Israeli and American Jewish efforts to support them and relationships between us. Perhaps we can do both. Perhaps we can aim to resume those efforts and secure Israel’s future. But, if we can’t secure Israel’s future first, there won’t be relationships between neighbors to enjoy across any borders.

In Judaism, we’re taught to understand two sides of an issue and to hold them in balance to see their respective conclusions. If we do that, then we don’t have to shut out any source of information, except conspiracy theories. Hearing only what is comfortable protects us from what is also real; and hearing only what distresses us increases anxiety about what we can’t control. The truth is often in the middle; it’s where we have to aim our attention and also our hopes.

Gadi is right that a strong Israel means peace in the region and a weak Israel means a regional war with devastating consequences. Peace in Israel is a starting place for peace with the Palestinians.

L’Shalom,