Is Israel fighting a just war? Rabbi Cosgrove reviews the Jewish laws of war to provide us with a vocabulary for understanding and defending Israel’s response to the Hamas terror attack of October 7.
I liked that part about asking why people are holding the state of the Jews to a standard different than they would any other nation. Well said. I thought the whole purpose of Israel was so that Jews would have a safe place to live after world war 2. Thank you for this sermon, Rabbi.
Brilliant! To resort to a language that isn't natural to me: Let this message go forth to all the congregations in America, including my own, which has been lax in taking a well-considered, humane approach to the profound questions that defensive war raises. Rabbi Cosgrove represents all thoughtful Jews everywhere.
Hi, Jew by choice here -- thanks so much for this lovely sermon -- I learned a lot. Prior to this lovely service, I didn't realize that in Torah and the Talmud we are taught to deny food, water, and medicine to one million children and pregnant women. Additionally, now I understand that the lesson of the millenia of Jewish suffering is that the world was evil and wrong to make us refugees, but thankfully halakhah carves out an exception when we need to make others into permanent refugees. Now I understand that Jewish values include throwing unconditional support behind an openly fascist government, but just pretending not to hear when representatives of that government make genocidal statements on a seemingly daily basis. I fear that I missed the passage in the Mishnah calling upon us to defend the slaughter of innocent men, women and children, or the passage where Rambam sanctions stripping down old men, journalists, doctors, and children to their underwear and parading them through the streets as a form of humiliation. I now understand that the true meaning of "never again" is that it never happens to us, but we have no obligation to worry about creating mass graves for the children of our enemies. Thank you so much for enlightening me about the true meaning of tikkun olam. I thought repairing the world means fighting for justice, but I now understand that it means that “[t]here should be two goals for [our] victory: One, there is no more Muslim land in the land of Israel" and two "[a]fter we make it the land of Israel, Gaza should be left as a monument, like Sodom” as Likud MP Amit Halev said. When Netanyahu calls the people of Gaza "Amalek" and IDF soldiers are filmed singing and dancing to genocidal songs as they fight "the children of the dark," I now understand that I am called upon as a Jew to celebrate and defend this righteous and holy war. Because we are Jews, and therefore we are different than the Islamists who declare a Jihad against Israel. Thank you for correcting my misreading of Elie Wiesel, because my impression was that he would have a problem with Aryeh Yitzhak King, deputy mayor of occupied East Jerusalem saying the people of Gaza "aren't human beings and not human animals. They're subhuman and that's how they should be treated. Eradicate the memory of Amalek, and never forget.” Thank you Rabbi, your words resonate with such overwhelming moral clarity in these terribly confusing times.
Thanks for these info, Rav. We cannot close ou😢😢r eyes and ears for all these cruelties. For a few minutes I ve got the info that more than 50 hamas leaders took their refues out of Gaza in Judea& Samaria! Can that not be more dangerous for Whole Israel, while world leaders are feading them and giving them weapons to defend themselves against Israel's authorities and be dangerous for nations who want to occupy Jerusalem and the Jewish State . The Heavenly Accord is watching them, while we are praying! Blessed be He!
Your sermons are always good rabbi. But jewish people should remember not everyone is antisemitic, many stand beside jewish people and condem the terrorific attacks they suffered.
It is not only people on social media or Palestinians criticizing the state of Israel. There are many Jews like myself and even mandatory IDF conscripts that have served who have their own issue with the state. I respect you and love you so much as a Rabbi. But you say the world treats Israel with a double standard when I disagree. I think in order for there to be a double standard, there first has to be an equivalence. No other state is like the state of Israel. No other people have their own state for their own people. The United States does not bar immigrants from migrating to the United States or bar them from becoming American. Israel should be a land where all people can coexist just like America is a land where all people can coexist. Even in the United States where all people coexist together there is still hatred and discrimination against minority groups. On the day of 9/11 my father saw Muslims being dragged from their homes and beaten simply for being Muslims. We as Jews can no longer pretend that this type of extremism does not exist in Israel with people like Itamar Ben-Gvir. It is our failure to address the extremism in our governments that have caused extremism in another. I am half African American and half Jewish from my mother. When black people talk about Nat Turner's slave revolt we condemn his senseless violence. Most of Turner's victims were not slave owners, but were innocent women and children who had no say in the matter of slavery. His act was pure evil and unjustifiable, just as Kane murdering his brother was evil and unjustifiable. But us pointing out that extremists like Nat Turner would not exist were it not for the sin of slavery is not us attending to justify Nat Turner's evil. I think if we as Jewish people can come together and take more time to listen and understand the concerns of those who are not Jewish, it shouldn't be very difficult to tell the difference between antisemitism vs constructive criticism.
The World has no right telling Israel not to defend itself against the threat from all sides from all directions and the world Muslims hatred over their religion and Christianity is Real and growing in strength… 🙏 Shabbat ? Amen
