Here are my Rosh HaShana thoughts for 5786 and this year’s short vidui (confession). We have already been reciting our penitential prayers in places such as the abandoned Palestinian neighborhood of Khalet a Sidra and in front of the Finance Ministry responsible for stealing hope from Israelis living in poverty. Here in Marajam even as settlers and their cows are on Khaled Daud’s land. I will hopefully post this year’s long vidui before Yom Kippur.

The High Holy Days are an opportunity to pause, examine our actions and deeds, and to reflect on our lives and our world. What is different? What have we wrought?

This has been a particularly painful year. Hope was snatched from public housing residents when the government killed the renewal of the public housing law also know as the “Ran Cohen Law” that allowed public housing residents to buy their apartments at a price and with terms they could manage. Bedouin Israelis in “unrecognized” Negev villages were left without shelter against Hamas rockets. In the Occupied Territories the long list of communities abandoned due to State backed settler violence included shepherding communities that were in my organization’s -Torat Tzedek – area of responsibility – communities we had given heart and soul to defending such as the Khalet a Sidra neighborhood of Mukhmas and the Shaqara neighborhood of Duma.

We are now being tested. Can we bring these communities back? We are waiting for the results of a legal appeal on behalf of Khalet a Sidra, and the legal process to safely return Wadi a Seeq continues. Two US Rabbis are working to galvanize support in the US Congress for Khalet a Sidra.

I also have to say that I have personally witnessed the alarming rise of antisemitism. While tolerating argument and trenchant disagreement in the feedback to Torat Tzedek’s social media or my own, there are three things that I do not allow: 1. Holocaust comparisons from either the left or the right. 2. Calls for violence. 3. Antisemitism. Usually I hide such comments. After warning those making such posts, I sometimes regrettably block repeat offenders. A recent post of a crazed settler on my personal Facebook page went viral and there were over 1,000 comments. The work that would have been required just to hide all of the unacceptable comments was more than I had time to handle, and I was forced to hide the entire post. I could content myself with cliches such as stating that it is Israel’s actions that are inspiring antisemitism. We also see the opinion polls showing that even among Jews living outside Israel there is increasing criticism of the injustices being perpetrated against Palestinians. But the antisemitism and the growing calls for violence against not only Israelis but all Jews is real and alarming. It will not lead us to stop fighting and also talking about Israel’s human rights violations and settler violence, but I understand and share the fears that so many Jews around the world have witnessing the rising hatred of Jews. Perhaps the hatred that was always there, but is now more permissible to express openly.

Of course, there would be no reason to continue if we hadn’t also experienced successes this year. Our public housing rights center continues to successfully fight for homes for Israelis, even as Palestinians still sleep in their homes tonight with us sleeping next to them. They know they will not face settler violence alone and unprotected.

There are also causes for cautious hope. Our legal work on........

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