Rabbis Emerge as Growing Voice of Criticism of Israel's Tactics in Gaza
Rabbis Emerge as Growing Voice of Criticism of Israel’s Tactics in Gaza
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/us/rabbis-gaza.html
?quality=75&auto=webp
Ari Lev Fornari, center, a rabbi at a synagogue in Philadelphia, led a rally this month calling for the end of the war in Gaza, outside the Trump International Hotel in Manhattan.Credit...Scott Heins for The New York Times
Elizabeth DiasLisa Lerer
By Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer
Aug. 26, 2025, 12:01 a.m. ET
-snip-
Associations representing Reform congregations and Conservative rabbis — denominations that encompass nearly half of American Jews — have called for Israel to release additional aid, citing Jewish values and what one group called a “moral priority” to feed the hungry. Nearly three dozen rabbis were arrested in demonstrations in New York and Washington last month, calling for more aid to Gaza and for Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to end the war.
-snip-
Last week about 80 Orthodox rabbis signed an open letter demanding “moral clarity, responsibility, and a Jewish Orthodox response” to what they called a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Signers included chief rabbis of Poland and Norway, and the former chief rabbi of Ireland. Organizers said that more than half of those who signed the letter were from the United States.
“We affirm that Hamas’s sins and crimes do not relieve the government of Israel of its obligations to make whatever efforts are necessary to prevent mass starvation,” the letter said. “Orthodox Jewry, as some of Israel’s most devoted supporters, bears a unique moral responsibility. We must affirm that Judaism’s vision of justice and compassion extends to all human beings.”
-snip-
The deteriorating conditions in Gaza and the denial of aid to Palestinian civilians is prompting some who consider themselves ardent supporters of Israel to publicly object to the far-right government’s stewardship of the war, arguing that it crosses a religious and moral line. The Torah and Jewish tradition command Jews to feed the poor and hungry, respect the sanctity of life and show mercy and compassion.
-snip-
Elizabeth Dias is The Times’s national religion correspondent, covering faith, politics and values.
Lisa Lerer is a national political reporter for The Times, based in New York. She has covered American politics for nearly two decades.
A group of Orthodox rabbis have joined the ranks of those raising concerns, whose communities have broadly supported Israel throughout the war.