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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg.

Good Morning,

On this day, 13 September 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shook hands with Yassar Arafat on the White House lawn. Despite all the bloodshed and pain, a degree of trust had developed between these leaders.

Weeks later Rabin was dead, murdered at a peace rally in Tel Aviv. Since then, great hopes have been struggling against lingering decline.

In the Jewish calendar, we’re in a period of reconciliation. Before we turn to God on the Day of Atonement, we try to mend our relationships with each other. The rabbis weren’t thinking about war, but of family, friends, and fellow citizens when they said: ‘Even if you only hurt them with words, apologise.’
What then about a prolonged conflict, with all the grief, pain and distrust which accompanies it? The injuries fester deep in the psyche, on both sides. It’s hard even to speak about it.

Therefore, I admire those who build bridges and open hearts. Despite all the bad news, there are many of them. There are the Israeli and Palestinian head teachers in Haifa who declared during the recent fighting that they remained jointly committed to their joint task of raising a young generation for an open society, free of prejudice. There are those who find one another because of their pain, like the parents in The Bereaved Families Forum who comfort each other because they know the pain of losing a child, and stand together in remembrance.

There are those who turn toward reconciliation precisely because they’ve seen the front line of the conflict and are desperate for it to end.

God give them strength, because they keep our hopes alive.