As the identities of the six bodies discovered in Rafa this past weekend were revealed, the Jewish world shook with anger. After nearly a year in captivity, what did Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, Almog Sarusi, all abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7, all aged 24 to 40, do to deserve their fate? The injustice of it all reverberates as a stark reminder of the cruelty of the whole situation. As their families and friends cry out in pain, we cry with them.
This week’s Torah portion, Shoftim, is about justice. It tells us the steps we need to take as a society to create this important ideal, including appointing judges and magistrates, and not accepting bribes. But it never suggests true justice can ever be fully achieved. As its most famous verse, “Justice, Justice, shall you pursue” (Deuteronomy 16:20), tells us, we should strive to pursue it, recognizing we will rarely catch it.
In these times, it feels easy to throw up our hands and give up. But we should definitely not do so. Let’s look for inspiration in the words of Rachel Goldberg, the mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin: “In our world right now, there is nothing more frightening than choosing life. It’s an idea that will require the most brave, creative, heroic efforts and strengths imaginable for those who are willing amidst ongoing trauma, angst and suspicion to build an idea of a future. In most conflicts, there are two sides and neither side is going anywhere. So, all over the world, we have got to learn to live together or all over the world we are going to die together.”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex