
Lori's Blog
Conversations with my Rabbi / Lori Mendel

Blog #13, Nov. 30, 2020
I left the meeting with Rabbi Ayala Samuels in a state of heightened sensibility. We had discussed the Civil Administration’s destruction of a Bedouin family. What was it? Some tin sheds, the fences for the sheep, an outhouse, it said in Haaretz.
This is a criminal act! These people now have no where to live. Is this the morality of the Jewish nation? Is this how we dominate another people? I was outraged. I know what it looked like as I had been once with a group to help put things back after the destruction.
And felt helpless against this act of brutality.
I went to sit at the ancient Caesarea synagogue that overlooks the sea to try to sort things out.
Yes, I support Betzelem, Ha Moked, Breaking the Silence…Taayush, but that is not enough! I am complicit!
But… Rabbi Ayala brought up another point: is the Israeli government obliged to support the existence of the life style the Bedouin practice? To support the situation for women in that society? Am I complicit in that, too?
And if I am in favor, or not in favor, of something the government does, do I express this? How?
In my turmoil, my cell phone rang. It was someone from the government calling me as an old person to find out if
I was living alone
Last meal I had eaten
Did I have a panic button
If I had any ailments
Did I need any help.
How confusing! How can I be against the government when they are worrying about me?