Jewish mourning tied to Gaza crisis: Northampton rally invokes songs, scripture in calls for aid

NORTHAMPTON — Some 150 members of the Jewish communities that span the Pioneer Valley came out to voice their case Thursday that standing up for those starving in Gaza represents a deep commitment to their faith tradition — a tradition that stresses everyone is made in the divine image.

Feelings of anger were certainly palpable inside Northampton’s Unitarian Church at Thursday evening’s rally, as people expressed outrage at the ongoing starvation facing Palestinians in Gaza. Overall, however, rallygoers expressed other ways — collective singing and praying, as well as reading from the Torah and Palestinian poetry — to drive home their message of justice and show solidarity with those suffering in the West Bank.

“Let aid into Gaza right now — let food into Gaza right now” participants repeated melodically together in the crowded downtown church where the rally was held after heavy rain forced the gathering indoors. Led by Mare Berger, one of the night’s organizers, the crowd continued after her in singing: “Where you will go, I will go, Palestine — your people are my people,” without any instrumental accompaniment.

The Book of Lamentations, a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, is “brimming” with references to hunger, said Judi Wisch, one of the night’s speakers from Congregation B’nai Israel in Northampton. Passages from the text will be recited this weekend by the entire Jewish world as part of Tisha B’Av, the major day of communal mourning in the Jewish calendar that commemorates several tragedies, most notably the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem.

“My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within; my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city,” Wisch read from Chapter 2, verses 11-12.

“How can we as Jews read this this year and not cry out against the mass starvation in Gaza?” she asked.

Tamar Fields, co-chair of the Western Mass chapter of Standing Together, a progressive grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel, gave a statement from the organization’s leaders.

“The horror of the man-made famine in Gaza, of mass starvation, of brutal bombardment that has already killed 18,000 children, and the terrifying plight of the 50 remaining Israeli hostages is truly unbearable,” she said. “The atrocities against Palestinians are being carried out by our government, and they’re happening just an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv.”

After speakers concluded their addresses, participants had an opportunity to broadcast the signs they brought with them, one reading “starve Netanyahu,” another saying, “Palestinian lives matter,” and many of them demanding that the Trump administration take proactive measures to stop the conflict.

Among those who crowded into the church was Rabbah Riqi Kosovske of Beit Ahavah in Northampton.

“I wanted to be here as a rabbi — it’s a complex situation,” she said, and gave some nuance into the conflict from her perspective.

“We can be against the policies of the right-wing Israeli government, while also an advocate for the Palestinian people and also caring deeply for the people of Israel that’s causing so much destruction and suffering for both civilian populations, in Israel and Gaza,” said Kosovske.

Eliot Papadakos, who was raised by their grandmother who was a Holocaust survivor, took a moment to collect their thoughts before responding for comment since they were emotional following the rally.

“Right now, there are lots of people who are not surviving because of the U.S. government’s inaction, because the U.S. government will not end this genocide. And it is everybody’s duty as an American taxpayer to say stop this genocide,” said Papadakos, adding, “This is on everybody — this is every American citizen’s responsibility.”

Shel Horowitz came wearing a shirt with the message: “Resisting tyrants since Pharoah.”

“It’s interesting — the Old Testament has the first recorded instance of nonviolent civil disobedience that I’m aware of, which is the two midwives Shifra and Puah,” he said, explaining the shirt’s message.

The story of Shifra and Puah, found in the Book of Exodus, tells how the two Hebrew midwives defied Pharaoh’s order to kill all newborn Hebrew males. According to the story, they feared God more than Pharaoh and chose to disobey his decree, ultimately saving the lives of countless Israelite baby boys.

“It’s right there in Exodus — they went on strike,” he said.

He went on to explain why he chose to come out on a strike of his own on Thursday.

“I am Jewish. I have a family in Israel,” said Horowitz. “I am absolutely appalled by what the government is doing in my name as a Jew, just as I am absolutely appalled by what the Trump government is doing in my name as a citizen of the United States.

“I think we have to represent alternatives to fascism wherever it rears its ugly head, and these are two countries where it is rearing its ugly head.”

Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com.