Blog #13, Nov. 30, 2020

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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?