14 of us just returned from our Emergency Volunteer Project trip to Israel. While we spent most of our time in Israel cooking for and feeding IDF soldiers on military bases and harvesting fruits and vegetables on Israeli farms that have lost their employees due to the war, we did spend one day on Kfar Azza. That experience, and these three photos, pushed me to write this letter to a friend of over thirty years.
I share this letter – removing all personal information – because I know that I am not the only person who, in the aftermath of October 7, has discovered that some of the folks we’ve called friends don’t really have our backs. It’s an unsettling aspect of this direct attack on our people. For those who have experienced this, keep in mind the lesson from Ecclesiastes:
“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to her that is alone when she falls, for she has not another to help him up” (4:9-10).
While several of us have learned the hard way who is there to lift us up, we now know who our true friends are, and we’ve discovered some more on the sidelines who have stepped up in incredible ways, lifting us higher than we could have ever imagined. As a result, we’ve removed some weak links and are now so much stronger.
Dear friend of over thirty years,
Earlier this week, this is just part of what I saw in Israel – what is left of a quiet street on Kfar Azza, a kibbutz decimated by Hamas terrorists. Look at these three photos.
On the left you see a boarded-up window at the firebombed home of Doron Steinbrecher, who just appeared in a Hamas propaganda video released from Gaza. On the right, a truly disturbing image of what is left of the home of Nitzan Libstein z”l. Nitzan was killed in the hail of gunfire and grenade-induced inferno that consumed him. He was the son of Ofir Libstein z”l, a leader in the community and the man who showed me around the kibbutz when I visited in 2021. Ofir was also killed on October 7, along with Nitzan and other members of his family. In the center, you see an image of the street Nitzan and Doron called home, along with many others who were butchered, tortured, raped, and/or kidnapped on October 7.
While I want you to look at these photos, I need to stress that the horror of October 7 is not captured in them. They only capture two homes on one street in one neighborhood of just one kibbutz that was thrown into chaos on October 7. The chaos is seen across the region on other kibbutzim, in cities, on farms, and in open spaces, like the field where the Nova Music Festival was held. These pictures do not capture the emotional trauma inflicted upon the surviving residents of Kfar Azza, the surrounding communities, and everyone who calls Israel their home. They fail to show the despair and torment of those whose loved ones were massacred and/or taken against their will into Gaza. The picture of Doron’s apartment doesn’t express the fear her neighbor, who somehow survived, shared with us. She said: “We need to bring Doron home. It’s almost 4 months. It will be hard to get her an abortion.” Despite everything they do not show you, look at these photos.
I need you to look at them because at the end of October, after sharing with you my disappointment, confusion, anger, and sadness over your lack of any communication with me after October 7, you heartlessly dismissed what you referred to as my “point of view.” You told me that my feelings about October 7 made you and others feel uncomfortable. By pushing my “point of view,” you said, I was being disrespectful – imposing this “point of view” on others who think differently.
Others who think differently…
I need you to look at these photos because they do give you a horrid glimpse of what “others who think differently” want: “from the river to the sea…” These photos capture what this antisemitic chant looks like – the destruction of Israel. Are you one of the others who thinks differently?
If I totally misread who you are and what you stand for, asking you to look at these photos will just be another offensive way I’m pushing my “point of view.” But, if not, if the moral compass I thought guided you is still clinging to life, perhaps these pictures will jumpstart it and allow you to realize that my “point of view” is reality, one that can only be dismissed by those who hate Israel, Jewish people, me, and my family. If this statement makes you uncomfortable, if you find it disrespectful, shame on me for misreading you for so many years.
If, when you look at these photos, it speaks to your soul and allows you to grasp the severity of your moral failure, I will take some solace in knowing that by imposing my “point of view” on you, you’re no longer one who thinks differently than those who know the difference between good and evil.
If these photos serve as a wake-up call, I do not want an apology. I simply ask for one thing: teach someone else the truth. If you do that, you’ll pick up just a few of the shattered pieces you added to this chaos, and the load will be just a bit lighter for those of us working tirelessly to lift up our Israeli brothers and sisters.
“These are the things that you shall do; Speak every person the truth to their neighbor; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates.” (Zechariah 8:16)
Leave a Reply