My Fast for Choosing Life

Dear Israel Committee of Temple Sinai:

Today, July 15, I am observing a daytime fast, and participating a special joint Jewish-Muslim fast against violence. Today happens to be the 17th of Tammuz, a minor fast day in the Jewish tradition on the day when, in the year 70 CE, the Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem. (It is not a fast I usually observe in other years.) It is also a day during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting. A group of Israelis and Palestinians organized today as “Bokhrim B’Chayim / Choose Life,” a day of a joint fast, a day of accounting and “collective reflection, for all who feel affected by the recent fighting between Israel and the Palestinians. We hope to come together to pray for peace, an end to fighting and bloodshed and a hope that reconciliation can soon be reached between both sides.” (You can read about the organizing of “Choose Life” in this article from the Times of Israel, http://www.timesofisrael.com/aided-by-calendar-jews-and-arabs-unite-in-joint-fast/) To mark the occasion, there are events occurring in Israel, the West Bank, and around the U.S., and in addition, hundreds of Jews (who might otherwise not have fasted) have chosen to take on the observance the fast.

It is my prayer, as the missiles continue to be aimed at Israel, and as the bombing continues in Gaza, that a cease fire will be reached soon, and that a period of peace will eventually arrive for Israelis and Palestinians, Jews, Muslims and Christians. There has been so much pain in the last few weeks, an eruption of hatred and violence against one another, that our peoples need healing and the opportunity for mutual recognition of each other’s humanity. Perhaps by sharing some of that pain today, in a joint fast, we can share the experience of each other as human beings again. This is the purpose of my fasting today.

- Rabbi Andy Vogel