Unauthorized Preface:
This precedent-setting letter, in the context of its first paragraph, offers a critique of Israel’s conduct in the Gaza war regarding the treatment of Palestinians. It was signed by over 1,000 rabbis, including the rabbi of Davis’ synagogue. It does not call for a cessation of fighting, now in its 22nd month. — Alan Hirsch
Rabbinic Signers and Non-Signers Among Sacramento Region’s Largest Synagogues:
Signers:
- Rabbi Jeremy Simons, Bet Haverim, Davis (Reform)
- Nancy Wechsler, Bet Shalom, Carmichael (Reform)
- Mona Alfi, B’nai Israel, Sacramento (Reform)
Non-Signers:
- Ben Herman, Mosaic Law, Sacramento (Conservative)
- Alan Rabishaw, Temple Or Rishon, Roseville (Reform)
- Evan Rubin, Kenesset Israel Torah Center (Orthodox)
No Chabad rabbi signed the letter.
To put this in context, at the same time this letter was being signed by rabbis, the national ADL continued its fight against antisemitism by defending Israel:
“The suffering of children, in particular, should break all of our hearts and spur action toward a just resolution,” one executive posted in the last week of July. “But it’s equally vital that the international community does not fall prey to Hamas’s propaganda efforts … There is no famine and no starvation.”
Reflecting this split in the Zionist world, former head of the World Zionist Organization and former speaker of the Israeli Parliament Avraham Burg has called on Jews worldwide to “Rebel!” and join a petition at the International Court of Justice:
“A collective legal complaint against the State of Israel for crimes against humanity committed in our name and under the false banner of our Jewish identity.”
Full letter below:
A Letter from Over a thousand Rabbis Worldwide…
The Jewish People face a grave moral crisis, threatening the very basis of Judaism as the ethical voice that it has been since the age of Israel’s prophets. We cannot remain silent in confronting it.
As rabbis and Jewish leaders from across the world, including the State of Israel, we are deeply committed to the wellbeing of Israel and the Jewish People.
We admire Israel’s many and remarkable achievements. We recognise, and many of us endure, the huge challenges the State of Israel relentlessly confronts, surrounded for so long by enemies and facing existential threats from many quarters. We abhor the violence of such nihilistic terrorist organizations as Hezbollah and Hamas. We call on them immediately to release all the hostages, held for so long captive in tunnels in horrendous conditions with no access to medical aid. We unequivocally support the legitimacy of Israel’s battle against these evil forces of destruction. We understand the Israeli army’s prioritization of protecting the lives of its soldiers in this ongoing battle, and we mourn the loss of every soldier’s life.
But we cannot condone the mass killings of civilians, including a great many women, children and elderly, or the use of starvation as a weapon of war. Repeated statements of intention and actions by ministers in the Israeli government, by some officers in the Israeli army, and the behaviour of criminally violent settler groups in the West Bank, often with police and military support, have been major factors in bringing us to this crisis. The killing of huge numbers of Palestinians in Gaza, including those desperately seeking food, has been widely reported across respectable media and cannot reasonably be denied. The severe limitation placed on humanitarian relief in Gaza, and the policy of withholding of food, water, and medical supplies from a needy civilian population contradict essential values of Judaism as we understand it. Ongoing unprovoked attacks, including murder and theft, against Arab populations in the West Bank, have been documented over and over again.
We cannot keep silent.
In the name of the sanctity of life, of the core Torah values that every person is created in God’s image, that we are commanded to treat every human being justly, and that, wherever possible, we are required to exercise mercy and compassion;
In the name of what the Jewish People has learnt bitterly from history as the victim, time and again, of marginalisation, persecution and attempted annihilation;
In the name of the moral reputation not just of Israel, but of Judaism itself, the Judaism to which our lives are devoted,
We call upon the Prime Minister and the Government of Israel
To respect all innocent life;
To stop at once the use and threat of starvation as a weapon of war;
To allow extensive humanitarian aid, under international supervision, while guarding against control or theft by Hamas;
To work urgently by all routes possible to bring home all the hostages and end the fighting; To use the forces of law and order to end settler violence on the West Bank and vigorously investigate and prosecute settlers who harass and assault Palestinians;
To open channels of dialogue together with international partners to lead toward a just settlement, ensuring security for Israel, dignity and hope for Palestinians, and a viable peaceful future for all the region.
‘I am a Jew because our ancestors were the first to see that the world is driven by a moral purpose, that reality is not a ceaseless war of the elements, to be worshipped as gods, nor history in a battle in which might is right and power is to be appeased. The Judaic tradition shaped the moral civilisation of the West, teaching for the first time that human life is sacred, that the individual may not be sacrificed for the mass, and that rich and poor, great and small, are all equal before God.’ Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Radical Then, Radical Now (London 2000).
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Currently enrolled rabbinical students are welcome to sign.
To see current signers, click here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sckSNs00qYo7dFdEw0YU42AN_eadds3BuZ2VtEt8b-A/edit?usp=sharing
Jews, rebel!’: Ex-Knesset speaker calls on world Jews to take Israel to ICJ over Gaza
“Avraham ‘Avrum’ Burg, a former speaker of the Israeli Knesset, called on Friday for one million Jews worldwide to join a collective legal complaint at the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of crimes against humanity in Gaza.”
This ‘article’ is very poorly constructed. The ‘unauthorized preface’ is not needed and detracts . . . the letter can stand on it’s own. After the author of the ‘unauthorized preface’ gives their name, there is another section about who signed and who did not, followed by a reference to a ‘Zionist split’ and an ADL quote. Who wrote this section? It is not made clear, and the point of this section is muddled at best. Then the letter appears, but more as one in four sections, so it is also muddled. It’s also unclear where the letter even ends. There’s a quote from a rabbi, “Radical Then, Radical Now (London 2000)”. What is this – why is it dated 2000, and how is he ‘radical’ and why is he prould of that? Did he sign the letter? Not clear who signed, appears a link where ‘rabbinical students’ can keep adding names. Why them? Nothing is explained. Then there is a last section that appears at at the bottom after a dash that takes up a line, almost like an accidental paste. It says, “a former speaker of the Israeli Knesset, called on Friday for one million Jews worldwide to join a collective legal complaint at the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of crimes against humanity in Gaza.” Is that part of the letter or just something extra? And it seems the point of the whole piece might be to condemn Israel for ‘crimes against humanity’, as antizionists are wont to do. What a mess this article is on so many levels.
Thanks for feedback. Will fix if I post again. I was working too fast.
1. Regarding “Radical then, radical now” quote, please google the late (Orthodox) Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Chief Rabbi of UK a respected traditional mainstream Zionist. Sacks was (is) a giant in World Jewry.
2. Avrum Burg’s petition to international court on the “crimes” of the State of Israel “in our name” can be found on his substack. https://avrumburg.substack.com/
3. My ADL quote was taken from this article from NY Magazine 8/1/2025:
“Inside the Crisis at the Anti-Defamation League The group used to fight for justice for all. Its war against anti-Zionism has changed everything.”
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/inside-adl-anti-defamation-league-greenblatt-zionism-trump-gaza.html
I hope that helps. Alan
Looking beyond the hasty formatting, this letter is pretty thin gruel. Too little, too late.
I should revise what I said above to the extent that this letter is nothing more than a cover-the-writers’-behind document and will be viewed, if viewed at all, by future generations as apologist at best. What the world needs, besides a time machine, is an initiative to restore farms and homes to Palestinians, institute actual rule of law and rebuild destroyed cities and homes. Remove all of the “settlements” and restore those lands to the rightful owners. Honor water rights. Apologize with economic development and spare no expense to tend to the orphaned and maimed children providing any and all kinds of aid to bring them into some sense of adulthood. That would be a small start and something Israel could have and should have pursued 70 years ago. Is it ever too late to do the right thing? That is how history will judge.