Jerusalem’s Stabbings Are an Intimate Crime

4 minute read
Ideas
Wolpe is the Max Webb Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, the author of eight books and has been named one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world by the Jerusalem Post.

It is reported that one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s principles was “learn how to see.” The best way to learn how to see something is to see it over and over.

Many people who have not visited Israel cannot see the situation in the country. Coming here, one learns. I have lived in Israel and been here scores of times, and yet being here now, as always, I am astonished anew at the smallness of scale. This is a country not of acres but of inches. Standing in Jerusalem, Jordan is a 20-minute drive away. Palestinian villages abut Jewish neighborhoods. It seems like you can almost touch Bethlehem from Gilo. The scale in Israel is that of a small city, not a major country.

There’s too much history and not enough geography—that’s the old lament. These days it’s deeply felt. The recent spate of stabbings reminds everyone both of the toxicity of the atmosphere and the closeness of the populations. Each day brings further incitement. Another stabbing, another attack. On Tuesday the news came in of the death of Richard Lakin, an American grandfather who was shot and stabbed in the recent Jerusalem bus attack. Several years ago he published a book called Teaching as an Act of Love. Can his murder possibly serve any cause but that of hate?

Stabbings are an intimate crime, a Jerusalem crime, if you will. They are not like drone strikes; to stab someone you look in their eyes, you smell them, you touch their clothing. And still, you aim to leak the lifeblood from their heart. At times it seems that Israelis and Palestinians are linked in a pas de deux dance of death, with no way out.

Traveling around the city, talking to cab drivers, workers, representatives of both the Palestinian and Israeli causes, certain themes emerge. Each side makes an appeal to history. And two narratives are at war—incompatible, conflicting and painful.

Israelis are convinced that the Palestinians simply do not accept the existence of the Jewish state. For example, the recent egregious declaration of the Palestinian Mufti of Jerusalem that the Temple Mount, a holy site for both Judaism and Islam, never existed and that a mosque stood on that site, despite the fact that Muhammed lived 500 years after the destruction of the second Temple, is symptomatic. The Israeli government is now adding cameras to the Temple in an attempt to prove that everything will stay status quo and both faiths will be able to worship there.

The Palestinians, meanwhile, are convinced that the Jews systematically marginalize them, often without cause. They feel a sense of permanent aggrievement. This was their home. The world is asking them to make accommodation with people whom many of them believe, on some level, to be thieves and usurpers. The echoes from the Arab world, rhetorically full if substantively empty, reinforce the idea that the Jews are evil.

When you have a cardiac exam, the doctor tells you that the measure of your health is the speed with which your heart recovers after exercise. By that measure Jerusalem is robust. The cafes are full, lovers stroll the streets, vendors—Jewish and Arab—hawk their wares in the malls and the market, guides corral tourist groups. Jerusalem has a healthy heart. Yet everyone here wonders: What is the future of two antagonistic populations who have no room to breathe, much less to divide?

Welcome to the Middle East, where tempers are short, memories are long, griefs are legion, and solutions exist only on paper. Yet this is also where both disappointment and salvation were born. “In the evening there is weeping but in the morning joy” (Psalm 30:5). We do not end in despair, rather it is a way station to redemption. Perhaps this morass will fertilize the soil and grow a garden. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Inside Gaza and Israel: Two Photographers, One War

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City
The collapsed minaret of a mosque seen from the destroyed living room of a Palestinian family's home in a building across the street, Gaza City, July 30, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Warning
Israeli airstrikes intensified over the Gaza Strip
Palestinians mourn the death of a relative who died when a U.N. school used as a shelter for internally displaced people came under Israeli shelling in the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, July 30, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
A young Palestinian girl, who was injured when a U.N. school was caught in the crossfire—Israel and Hamas blamed one another—lies on a hospital bed in the emergency room of Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, July 24, 2014.
A young Palestinian girl, who was injured when a U.N. school was caught in the crossfire—Israel and Hamas blamed one another—lies on a hospital bed in the emergency room of Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, July 24, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Casualties mount in Gaza City, Israel expands ground operation
A doctor cries while standing next to a table holding the bodies of four dead children in the overflowing morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, July 20, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Funeral outside Rafah
Three Palestinian men look at a destroyed Hamas police station, which was under construction, through a wall of a residential compound destroyed by shrapnel in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, July 15, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Israel's offensive in Gaza
A relative looks at the spot in a Palestinian home where Reza, 1, was killed by shrapnel the night before, Gaza Strip, July 19, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Destroyed mosque in Deir Al Balah
Palestinian boys inspect the damage in a mosque that was destroyed overnight by an Israeli airstrike in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, July 14, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Palestinians flee east Gaza neighbourhood
Palestinians boys watch people fleeing from the neighborhood of Shejaiya, in east Gaza City, July 20, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Rescue workers enter Shuja'iyya to retrieve dead and wounded
Two Palestinian girls run past a destroyed ambulance as they flee during a brief humanitarian cease-fire requested by local rescue forces to retrieve dead and wounded from Shejaiya, in east Gaza City, July 20, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Israeli troops move into Gaza
A Palestinian family who fled their home is en route to seek shelter at a U.N. school in Khan Younis, central Gaza Strip, July 18, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Fleeing in Gaza
A man who fled from Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, sleeps in a U.N. school that was transformed into a shelter for displaced persons, Gaza City, July 13, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Israel blames Palestinian militants for latests attacks in Gaza
Young Palestinians react shortly after an airstrike, Gaza City, July 28, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Rescue workers enter Shuja'iyya to retrieve dead and wounded
Two Palestinian men carry a white flag as they flee their homes during a brief humanitarian cease-fire in Shejaiya, in east Gaza City, July 20, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
At least 16 killed, among them seven children, in UN-run school
A Palestinian man cries over the body of his son, who died when medics say the U.N. school sheltering displaced persons came under fire, in the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, July 24, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Funeral outside Rafah
Relatives cry as they hold the body of Sara, 4, during her funeral outside Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, July 15, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Israeli troops move into Gaza
Relatives pray in front of the body of Razel, 1, during her funeral in Khan Younis, central Gaza Strip, July 18, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Israeli troops move into Gaza
A Palestinian mortician ties a knot around a sheet covering the body of a dead Palestinian man in a morgue in Khan Younis, central Gaza City, July 18, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Destruction in Gaza Strip
A Palestinian man walks past destroyed houses in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, July 16, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Destruction in Gaza Strip
Palestinians walk past an unexploded Israeli shell outside Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, July 26, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Destruction in Gaza City
A general view of destroyed buildings after Israeli attacks in a part of Shejaiya, in east Gaza City, July 26, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Christian funeral in Gaza
A Palestinian Christian man from Gaza tries to push the coffin of Jalila in a grave during her funeral on the small and overcrowded cemetery of the St. Porfirius Church, Gaza City, July 27, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Illumination flares shot by Israeli Defense forces illuminate the minaret of a mosque in Gaza City
Illumination flares shot by Israel Defense Forces illuminate the minaret of a mosque, Gaza City, July 29, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
Wounded Israeli soldiers are brought to a helicopter, near Kfar Aza, Israel, on July 23, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
Israelis look for outgoing rocket fire from Gaza and wait for Israeli airstrikes from a hill overlooking the Gaza Strip in Sderot, Israel, July 14, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
Israeli flares float down over Gaza in Sderot, Israel, July 14, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
Israeli reservists troops arrive for duty close to the Israel-Gaza border near Sderot, Israel, on the morning of July 18, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
An Israeli soldier stands on top of an armored personnel carrier close to the Israel-Gaza border near Sderot, Israel, July 15, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
Israeli soldiers sleep next to armored personnel carriers close to the Israel-Gaza border near Sderot, Israel, July 15, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
An Israeli soldier inspects a home allegedly hit by a Hamas rocket in Sderot, Israel, July 21, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
People mourn during the funeral of Dror Khenin at a cemetery in Yahud Monoson, Israel, July 16, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
The casket carrying Israeli Sergeant Adar Barsano is carried to a burial plot in a cemetary during his funeral in Nahariya, Israel, July 20, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
The grandmother of Private First Class Jordan Bensimon, cries over his casket during his funeral in Ashkelon, Israel, July 22, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
Israeli soldiers practice training missions close to the Israel-Gaza border as seen from near Sderot, Israel, July 22, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
Israeli soldiers practice training missions close to the Israel-Gaza border as seen from near Sderot, Israel, July 22, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
Smoke pours out of the ground due to an alleged campaign by the Israeli military to fill tunnels originating in Gaza with smoke to discover entrances into Israel near Sderot, Israel, July 23, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
Israeli soldiers stand near their tank while smoke due to airstrikes and shelling rises from Gaza near Sderot, Israel, July 22, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
An Israeli soldier shaves near Kafar Azza, Israel on the morning of July 28, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
Ruty Friza and Pini Friza meet with their son, First Lieutenant Ziv Friza during a 12-hour ceasefire just outside the militarized zone close to the Israel-Gaza border near Kfar Aza, Israel, on July 26, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
A soldier meets with his loved ones during a 12-hour ceasefire just outside the militarized zone close to the Israel-Gaza border near Zikim, Israel, July 26, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
A soldier sleeps next to artillery shells close to the Israel-Gaza border near Sderot, Israel, July 19, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
Used artillery shells litter the ground near Kfar Aza, Israel, on the morning of July 28, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
Civilians and members of the media wait to see Israeli attacks inside Gaza from the top of a hill on the sixth day of Israel's operation 'Protective Edge' in Sderot, Israel, on July 13, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images

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