I am not happy today. I am not sad either. I have been in this moment before. When the two warring sides put down their arms for a while. I rejoiced in that moment. And then, I was let down again as the fighting continued. Like a game of “Simon Says”: I lifted my arms up when I was told to and put them down again as he willed. A playful indoctrination. Sometimes I lifted them up when Simon said the opposite, but that didn’t really make me any less of a puppet: still reactive, still unfree. I want to be free to decide what to do with my body and my voice. And I want peace, long-lasting peace.
And so I go deeper into this moment, searching for what lies underneath my discomfort. I find there seeds, lurking in the darkness, waiting to sprout in due time. On the one side are seeds of shame and grudge, and on the other are seeds of pride and complacency. I remember those seeds from the time before I was born, inscribed into our collective consciousness. On one occasion, they were planted after the Six-Day War. They first lurked, then sprouted and grew for six years before their final bloody harvest in the Yom Kippur War. History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes. Like a symphonic recapitulation, when the opening theme returns, transformed and magnified. What was then a regional conflict now encompasses the entire world. Which opening theme do we want to recapitulate? Is there a place for a new theme? And what would be the theme of long-lasting peace?
Peace is not simply the absence of war, when its seeds are lurking all around. Peace does not come from the obliteration and unconditional surrender of your enemy. Peace is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s commandment “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”1 I marvel at the revelation and repeat it as a mantra: Peace is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s commandment “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
Another news item comes into view, this time of silent vigils held by Palestinians in Gaza embracing photos of Israeli children killed on October 7.2 The vigils were inspired by similar demonstrations held in Israel against the war of destruction in Gaza, featuring images of Palestinian children who died in the war. Those spiritual brothers and sisters form a field of peace which knows no borders. They carry seeds unto which is inscribed that wherever pictures are embraced, they will one day embrace human beings too.3 They are a testament that, unlike in olden times, we are not obliged to obey but are free to fulfil. And so the opening theme of God’s commandment in Mount Sinai is recapitulated and transformed in freedom: Peace is choosing to love your neighbour as yourself. Amen.
Written on June 24, 2025 in response to the announcement of ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
Photo awmleer
Footnotes
- Leviticus 19:18.
- “Israeli-Arab group says some Gazans displaying photos of Israeli kids killed on Oct. 7 in message of peace”, The Times of Israel, 30 June 2025.
- “Wherever books are burned, they will one day burn human beings too” (Heinrich Heine, 1823).
