When I was leaving the Israel solidarity rally at Baltimore’s Penn Station on Sunday, I walked alongside a middle-age married couple decked out in Israeli flags and holding signs calling for the return of all hostages.
Crossing the busy street, we nodded at each other politely and I couldn’t stop myself from saying, “What an incredible program. Very inspiring, wasn’t it?”
The husband nodded and said, “Yes, it sure was.” But then he added, “It was great all these people came out, but they got hundreds of thousands at the pro-Palestinian rally in London this weekend.”
What a quintessentially Jewish response, I thought to myself with a chuckle. Why look at the glass half-full when you can look at it half-empty?
Of course, I understand where the gentleman was coming from. At the risk of not sounding too much like an Israel cheerleader, I’ll say that Sunday’s local rally — which was packed with hundreds and hundreds of people in the front plaza of the railway hub — was one of the most powerful and emotional gatherings I’ve ever attended or covered. But it does get discouraging to see so many folks around the world who just don’t seem to get it about the Israel-Hamas war.
For instance, one of my Facebook “friends” recently posted a photo of the late, great Walter Cronkite, who once said (according to the meme), “War itself is, of course, a form of madness. It’s hardly a civilized pursuit. It’s amazing how we spend so much time inventing devices to kill each other and so little time working on how to achieve peace.”
Amen. No rational human being could disagree with that statement.
But as history teaches, the world is not always comprised of rational human beings, and war is sometimes a necessary evil, especially when dealing with a brutal, implacable foe. (Did someone mention Imperial Japan? The Third Reich? Late 20th/early 21st-century Al-Qaeda?)
If Cronkite did actually say that quote (which some internet commentators dispute), he might’ve been referring to the conflict and carnage in Vietnam, of which he played a significant role in helping to de-escalate in his own way.
But I seriously doubt “Uncle Walter” would’ve said that in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor — his own generation’s war — or 9/11. The fact that so many people are saying Israel should turn the other cheek after the unspeakable barbarity and butchery of Oct. 7 is, at best, misguided and, at worst, unconscionable.
We live in a time when there are too many voices, too many viewpoints and too many platforms, but not enough sechel, common sense.
I thought Baltimore City Councilman Isaac “Yitzy” Scheifer (D-5th) said it well at Sunday’s rally. “We’re confused by how anyone can justify such evil,” he said of apologists for Hamas. “We thought never again meant never again. … We all want peace in the Middle East. But today is a time for justice, and that will not be served until every member of the Hamas terrorism organization is eliminated.”
Rabbi Shmuel Silber of Suburban Orthodox Congregation sounded a similar theme. “When evil knocks down your door, you take the fight back to them,” he said. “That type of evil has no place in the community of mankind.”
That might sound like macho saber-rattling or warmongering to some ears, but the sad truth of the matter is that sometimes in life you have to fight, even if the world disagrees with you. Israel has witnessed and experienced that time and again.
We all know that war is an ugly, messy, brutal business. It’s truly heartbreaking that many innocents die because of the evil policies and activities of their governments and regimes. But to paraphrase Ecclesiastes (and The Byrds), there is a time to be silent and a time to be heard, a time for love and a time for hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
In a recent interview, Mosab Hassan Yousef, the estranged eldest son of the co-founder of Hamas, said of the terrorist organization, “They opened the gates of hell on the Palestinian people. … The Palestinian society has been hijacked by criminals, and anybody who takes their side is participating in their crime.”
On Sunday, when many of us turned out to show our support and love for Israel, more than 1,000 people attended a vigil in a church in Lewiston, Maine, to mourn the 18 residents of that city who were recently murdered in cold blood by a crazed gunman. This was reportedly the 36th mass shooting this year in an America that has seen far too much bloodshed and sorrow (and too many people sitting on their hands when it comes to gun violence).
“We will not be defined by the tragedies that happened,” Lewiston’s Rev. Todd Little said at the gathering. “Fear, anxiety and trepidation will not dictate our present or our future.”
The rally at Penn Station was a clear indication that the Jewish community will not be defined by fear, anxiety or such tragedies as Oct. 7th. A joyous quality enveloped the proceedings that, despite the tragic catalyst for the event, was infectious and intoxicating. At times, it even felt a bit like a Jewish wedding, with so much singing, schmoozing and dancing going on. (I even saw some playful young adults in the crowd taking selfies and making goofy TikTok videos of themselves.)
But make no mistake about it — no one there was confused or delusional about the gravity of the moment.
“If you were a silent Jew before Oct. 7, that’s not acceptable anymore,” Baltimore Zionist District executive director Caren Leven told the crowd. “We need to step up. You need to rise to the occasion now!”
Indeed. Achshav. Now is the time.
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