Art Green has asked me to help collect signatures for the letter he wrote in response to the current situation in Israel and the Occupied Territories. I will send information submitted here to the Jewish Peace Lobby in Washington, DC which will distribute it and publicize it as an independant rabbinic initiative. If you are a rabbi, you can add your signature to this letter.

Praying for Peace,

Rabbi Shai Gluskin
sgluskin@mail.com

A Rabbinic Response To Events In The Middle East

As human beings, as Jews, and as rabbis,

  • We are horrified by the shedding of blood in our Holy Land. We mourn the senseless loss of life, both Palestinian and Israeli.
  • We are more horrified by the emergence of mob violence on both sides of the ethnic divide. We appeal to all those responsible not to inflame or use the passions and anger of young people. This is a weapon over which you will ultimately have no control.
  • We are still more horrified that blood has been shed at and because of the site holy to both Judaism and Islam. The Temple Mount is the home of peace, the place from which peace is to go forth to the entire world. This is the place of which the prophet Isaiah says "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." It is desecrated by shows of military force, by cries of hatred and the throwing of stones, and most of all by the shedding of blood.

In the face of this horror and desecration, it is time to step back and reflect.

We applaud all efforts to end violence and bloodshed. After an appropriate period of mourning we hope and pray that peace efforts will go forward.

We have learned from recent events that peace cannot be made by leaders alone. We commit ourselves to teaching and spreading receptiveness to peace and changes of attitude, especially among the youth. We long for Palestinian partners, religious leaders and educators on all levels, who will make the same commitment. We understand that it will require great courage for you to come forth. We promise to support that courage as best we can.

As Jewish religious leaders, we do not want the site of our Holy Temple to be an obstacle to peace between our two peoples. Judaism does not demand exclusive Jewish sovereignty over this site, one we are not permitted to visit in pre-messianic times. Judaism has always respected Islam as a fellow monotheistic faith. The presence of Islamic holy places on the Temple Mount in no way desecrates the Temple Mount for us and we see it as a partial fulfillment of our prophet's vision. We oppose any effort to harm or remove those shrines.

Arthur Green, Newton MA

Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Boulder CO

Roly Matalon, New York NY

See partial list of current signatories.

Please fill out and submit the form below in order to become a signatory of the letter. 

Your name:

Email address:

City:

State:

Confirm that you are a rabbi:

Add my signature to letter:

Note regarding submission: After you submit this page, you will see a thank you page that has an advertisement. I'm just using a free form processor that sells advertising to support its service. Your name and e-mail address will not go to the advertiser unless you respond to the advertisement. Pressing the submit button will NOT get you on any lists other than being a signatory to this letter.

Partial List of Current Signatories

Arthur Green, Newton MA

Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Boulder CO

Roly Matalon, New York NY

 Take me to where I can add my name!

Ted Falcon, Seattle WA

Moshe Halfon, Long Beach CA

Zev-Hayyim Feyer, Kansas City MO

Arthur Waskow, Phila PA

Elliot Ginsburg, Ann Arbor MI

Leila Gal Berner, Altanta GA

Jeff Roth, Accord NY

Mark Hurvitz, Poway CA

Michael Ziegler, Kensington CA

Randall Mark, Wayne NJ

Andrea Cohen-Kiener, West Hartford CT

Robert Gluck, Albany NY

Nadya Gross, Boulder CO

Victor Gross, Boulder CO

Margaret Holub, Mendocino CA

Philip Bentley, New Hyde Park NY

Geela Rayzel Raphael, Phila PA

Rebbeca Lilian, Chicago IL

Barbara Penzner, Boston MA

Pamela Wax, New York NY

Howard A. Cohen, Bennington VT

Barry L. Schwartz, Cherry Hill NJ

Joe Blair, Charlottesville VA

Mordechai Liebling, Phila PA

Neal Rose, Winnipeg Manitoba

Brant Rosen, Evanston IL

Shifra Penzias, Seattle WA

Ari Shapiro, Newton MA

Ayeh Hirschfeld, Portland OR

Steven Pik-Nathan, Silver Spring MD

Daniel Isaak, Portland OR

Robert Weissberg, Schenectady NY

Jeffrey A. Foust, Newton MA

Shai Gluskin, Phila PA

Sue Levy, W. St Paul MN

Elizabeth Bolton, Baltimore MD

Dennis Beck-Berman, Ptersburg VA

Daniel Aronson, Cheltenham PA

Shana Margolin

Zari M. Weiss, Oakland CA

Gerrit Locher, Groenekan, Netherlands

Reuel Karpov, Tyngsboro MA

Shefa Gold, Jemez Springs NM

Douglas Krantz, Peekskill NY

Rav Soloff, Lansdale PA

Micael Tayvah, Curacao, Neth. Antilles

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Michael Lerner, Berkeley CA

Yael Levy, Phila PA

Sid Schwarz, Washington DC

Jen Feldman, Phila PA

Shoshana Kaminsky

Sharon Kleinbaum, New York NY

Stan Levy, Los Angeles CA

David Ostrich, Pensacola FL

Sheila Weinberg, Amherst MA

Anson Laytner, Seattle WA

Richard Simon

Daniel Siegel, Boston MA

Alvan Kaunfer, Providence RI

Neil Kominsky, Lowell MA

Stephen Booth, Denver CO

Arthur L. Schwartz, Cold Spring Harbor NY

Dan Goldblatt, Danville CA

Debrah A. Cohen, West Bloomfield MI

Shaya Isenberg, Ga inesville FL

Yosef Aryeh Grodsky, Palm Beach Gerden FL

Michael Goldberger, Dusseldorf, Germany

Ohad Ezrahi, Bat Ayin, Israel

Alan Londy, Smithtown NY

Allen Secher, Chicago IL

Brian Field, Madison WI

Laura Geller, Los Angeles CA

Lavey Derby, Mill Valley CA

Seth Limmer, Armonk NY

Dovid Staloff

Naomi Oren

Tirzah Firestone, Boulder CO

Jonathan Seidel

Marcelo Bronstein, New York NY

Jonathan Omerman, Berkeley CA

Jonathan Slater, Santa Rosa CA

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Michael M Cohen, Manchester Center/Kibbutz Ketura, Vt/Israel

Amy Small, Chatham, NJ

Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus, Norton, MA

Linda Holtzman, Philadelphia, PA

Steven M Brown, Melrose Park, PA

Yael Ridberg, New York, NY

Fred Dobb, Washington, DC

Steve Segar, Cleveland, OH

 Take me to where I can add my name!