Gaza Fast

No, not "Gaza First". That was the 1993 lead-in to the Oslo Accords.

I'm talking about a no-food activity by Rabbis.

No, not against the disengagement and not for Jews.

For the Arabs of Gaza.

Here they are:

Clergy Supporters of the Fast for Gaza

Project Coordinators:
Rabbi Brant Rosen (Evanston, IL)
Rabbi Brian Walt (West Tisbury, MA)

Web Developer:
Rabbi Shai Gluskin (Philadelphia, PA)

Rabbinical Minyan:
1. Rabbi Rebecca Alpert (Philadelphia, PA)
2. Rabbi Leonard Beerman (Los Angeles, CA)
3. Rabbi Haim Beliak (Los Angeles, CA)
4. Rabbi Tirzah Firestone (Boulder, CO)
5. Rabbi Everett Gendler (Great Barrington, MA)
6. Rabbi Linda Holtzman (Philadelphia, PA)
7. Rabbi Steven Jacobs (Los Angeles, CA)
8. Rabbi Ellen Lippmann (Brooklyn, NY)
9. Rabbi Arthur Waskow (Philadelphia, PA)
10. Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman (Madison, WI)

What's the story? Here:

Ta'anit Tzedek - Jewish Fast for Gaza is an initiative that seeks to end the Jewish community's silence over Israel's collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza.

Initiated by Rabbis Brant Rosen and Brian Walt, Ta'anit Tzedek began with a commitment by a minyan ("quorum") of rabbis to engage in a fast in order to support relief efforts, to call for a lifting of Israel's blockade of Gaza and to support all efforts toward a substantive resolution to this dire humanitarian crisis.

Did they ever fast for the residents of the area, the Jewish residents, who suffered the Qasams?

This is a Rabbi?

Well, this is the thinking of one Rabbi Paula Marcus of Santa Cruz, CA

The 17th of Tammuz marks the beginning of 3 weeks of mourning that Jews commemorate because of all the calamities that befell the nation between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av (Tisha B'Av)...The 17th of Tammuz came and went. This year, as the day approached I could not decide if I would fast. Did I want to commemorate the day that the walls of Jerusalem were breached? What would I be mourning? My relationship with walls has changed.

...I hadn’t been in 10 years and looked forward to reconnecting with the Western Wall. We had tickets for the tunnel tours. I had been away for so long and I’d heard of the new excavations under ground. As we walked the submerged wall under the Muslim quarter I felt my internal wall strengthen. I wondered how the people living above ground felt about the excavations taking place below. And when I ran my hand against the ancient wall, I was numb to its power. My own wall had grown so thick.

...When I saw the invitation for his fast, I felt a crack in my wall. My heart began to soften as I considered how I might use this fast to prepare for Tisha B’Av. This fast was a way to say no to the walls that prevent humanitarian aid from reaching the people of Gaza.

In the end, I fasted for half a day on the 17 of Tammuz. I fasted for my loss of idealization of the Western Wall and all it represents. I fasted for the suffering of Jews and Palestinians who are unable to see beyond their walls...

This isn't thinking.

This isn't a Rabbi.

This might not be a true Jew.

Not because of the political stance and the ideological position. That I can comprehend.

No, it's because of her crooked reasoning, her lack of logic and total insenstivity ot the reality of the situation.

Someone like that surely can't really be Jewish.



(Kippah tip: BT)