A Call for Moral Clarity, Responsibility, and a Jewish Orthodox Response in the Face of the Gaza Humanitarian Crisis

(This statement was authored by Rabbi Yosef Blau and signed by many Torat Chayim rabbinic members although he is not a member and some of the others below are also not members). The humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza is one of the most severe in recent history. While it began with the horrific terrorist attack by …

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If thou must love me…

(Sonnet 14)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806-1861 If thou must love me, let it be for noughtExcept for love’s sake only. Do not say,“I love her for her smile—her look—her wayOf speaking gently,—for a trick of thoughtThat falls in well with mine, and certes broughtA sense of pleasant ease on such a day”—For these things in themselves, Belovèd, …

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Song of Myself, 18

With music strong I come, with my cornets and my drums,I play not marches for accepted victors only, I play marches for conquer’d and slain persons. Have you heard that it was good to gain the day?I also say it is good to fall, battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won. I …

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