Top Stories Tuesday 03 Dec
Aron’s Israel Peace weblog on the logic of occupation, Yom Kippur and the religious meaning of Israel:
One of the things we are always taught on Yom Kippur is that we are only pardoned for sins against God. To be forgiven for sins one commits against a fellow human being, one has to seek out the wronged person and ask their forgiveness personally. As I sat in synagogue this Yom Kippur, I thought about all my sins of commission and omission. The families whose houses we entered without permission. The parents whose hearts were filled with panic as we took their sons away blindfolded and bound. The children who cried as we banged on the doors of their houses in the middle of the night, shouting “Jaish, Jaish(army, army).” And most of all, I thought of that teenage boy, suspended in terror from a pole on a minaret. Where could I find them all? How can I ask their forgiveness. In fact, for me, there is no atonement.
That evening, as the service closed, the whole congregation stood up and began to sing Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem. It got me angry. Why were they singing this political song in a religious sanctuary? Now I left the service totally depressed. Not only did I no longer believe in the old god. I no longer believed in the new god, either. For me, there is no redemption.