Thinking Torah Blog

In this week’s parashah, Emor, the Torah breaks from its long list of priestly laws to tell a short, unsettling story. A quarrel flares, a man cries out God’s name as a curse, and the community escorts him outside the camp to be stoned to death. The punishment is stark, but the deeper lesson abides: when our words or deeds profane God’s name—ḥillul HaShem—we risk pushing holiness away.

That fear feels painfully familiar at the moment. For almost nineteen months, the war in Gaza has ground on, and the toll on Palestinian civilians has been staggering. I have been horrified at the destruction of Gaza. I know that has not been my focus in communication with our congregation, but it has never been lost on me that this war was causing immense suffering for the Palestinians in Gaza. Sadly, civilians die in war. Whatever the actual number of civilian deaths may be, it is surely in the tens of thousands. We can argue about who should be responsible for those deaths, but Israeli warplanes are dropping those bombs.

At first, I believed war, terrible as it is, was a just response to the horror of October 7th. A government must protect its citizens and free its hostages. Yet since the last cease-fire collapsed earlier this year, Israel’s leaders have signaled that securing the hostages is not their first concern, while potentially laying the groundwork for a permanent re-occupation of Gaza. If that plan goes forward, it will be unjust, immoral, and—through Jewish eyes—a profanation of God’s name.

Emor distinguishes between open blasphemy and the quieter erosion of conscience that still desecrates the Divine. Power can dull moral vision little by little until. Our tradition keeps asking: Does this choice sanctify or desecrate?

The covenant of mutual responsibility—kol Yisrael arevim zeh ba-zeh—binds us to the families of the hostages still in Gaza, now 587 days in captivity. Their plea from the October 8th until today—Tachziru otam ha-bayta achshav, “Bring them home now”—is directed not at Hamas but at Israel’s own government, whose first duty is redeeming captives.

Ending this war in a way that frees the hostages and avoids permanent occupation is the only path toward kiddush HaShem, a re-sanctifying of God’s name. Anything less leaves us repeating Emor’s tragedy: God’s presence slipping to the margins while human anguish fills the camp.

May we help steer Israel’s leaders toward justice. May every captive soon return home. May Palestinians and Israelis alike live with dignity and safety. And may we, watching and acting from afar, keep our own words and actions aligned with holiness.