An Open Letter to Student Protesters: Shabbat Message by Rabbi Dan Levin
Dear Student Protesters:
I want you to know that I see you. I hear you.
We raised you to be feeling, caring, compassionate. We raised you to love your neighbor and to love the stranger. We raised you to never be silent while your neighbor bleeds. We raised you never to harden your hearts against the suffering of the oppressed. Your values are my values.
You see the suffering of the Palestinian people, and your heart breaks for their plight. Mine too. You can’t be human if your heart doesn’t ache for the suffering of innocent people.
I understand the allure of the power of protest. I understand the energy a community draws from each other when inspired to act for righteousness. It can be intoxicating.
But I am writing today because when we’re intoxicated we don’t see clearly. We act rashly without thinking, without understand the nuance, the details, without thinking it all the way through.
And you are too bright, too smart, too capable to act in this moment without curiosity. You are too old now to look at the world in childish binaries – assuming there only good guys and bad guys. You are too smart not to question all you are being taught to believe.
Because you are so gifted, with respect, I ask you to think a little harder, because whenever we take a stand, we have to know who we are standing with, and what we are standing for.'>>>
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