An Open Letter to the President Elect, Mr. Obama

Dear President Elect Obama,

I traveled by bus (with a broken heater) in minus 3 degrees to Springfield with my 7 year old son and 10 year old daughter to see you announce your candidacy for president. During your campaign, we traveled from Chicago to Des Moine, Iowa, Gary, Indiana, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Southwestern Michigan to canvass for you. I was proud to have you represent me in the Senate and I am proud to soon be able to call you my president.
I never wanted anything in return for my hard work, just good, honest leadership and moral direction for my country. But now I have a favor to ask of you. Please get involved in the conflict between my second homeland, Israel, and the Hamas. I know you say that there is only one president at a time, but I’m really feeling like this is a cop-out. I think you can be a powerful force for good, and I am sure no one would fault you for getting involved with the problems that will face you when you wake up in the White House on January 21st.
So you understand, I am an Israeli by choice and Zionism came with my mother’s milk. I lived in Israel for ten years, served in the Israeli Defense Force and plan to return to Israel for my rabbinic training. I was born in Chicago and moved to Israel when I was 15 to study agriculture and start my life in the Jewish homeland. I love both of my countries of citizenship, but the relationships to each is mature. I don’t think everything a person or country does is always going to be decent and just. I can love my countries and still not always be pleased with them. My Jewish understanding of this term, justice, is that it is an aspiration and an ideal, but it is also more of a journey than a destination.
I became Israeli because I wanted to be part of my people’s collective effort of creating justice in the world and shedding a light. My idealism was diminished when I witnessed the ugliness of the first Lebanon War, first through friends who were drafted before me, and then as a soldier. My idealism took a second blow during the first Intidafa, but it was successfully resuscitated during the Oslo period. The night I took my 4 month old daughter to proudly participate in the celebrations of our successes, we witnessed the assassination of my prime minister, and my idealism took another dive. This was followed by the one-two punch of the Second Intifada. Last year I defended my dissertation about peace education for Palestinians and Israelis, and my research and writing managed to increase my sense of hope. But just after I celebrated the one year anniversary of the defense, I was met with a new, critical blow to the face; this war in Gaza.
Let me be clear, I am not a pacifist. I believe that it is an obligation of all people to defend themselves, but I question the claim of self defense which Israel has taken. In the Bible and Talmud we have references to the “Bat Kol,” the voice of God, which tells us what God had really intended or desires or thinks is right. The rabbis of the Talmud, when facing the Bat Kol, claim that the “Torah is not in Heaven” and therefore the job of interpretation is left to us and not God. In other words, there is no absolute right. God is pleased and laughs when he hears the rabbis say this. The job of interpretation is now in our hands, and you, Mr. Obama, are the one among us who can take powerful action as a result of our understandings of the world.
How should we understand a war that has resulted in such disproportionate deaths between the two sides? How should we understand a war between a people with a country and military and a people who are denied both? How should we understand a war between two parties who both disrespect international conventions of warfare?
I am not a fan of Hamas. I have no tolerance for fundamentalism, terrorism or theocracy. I respect the Palestinian people’s right to choose their own leadership, and I understand that you make peace with your enemies, not your friends. I agree with you that we need to be open to discussion with even our most vilified enemies, like Iran, but I am critical of your statement, “If somebody was sending rockets into my house, where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that.”
I just read that Israel is using white phosphorus in its conduct of this war. Does this fit into the definition of “everything in my power?” What about shooting at schools?
Mr. Obama, I implore you to call for an immediate cease-fire, even a temporary one, so that we may reach a hudna, a truce, and maybe one day we can even reach an agreement on peace. I’m not expecting miracles. I am not a starry eyed peacenik that thinks we can undo all the pain and anger that has accumulated for all these years. But we are at a critical juncture in our conflict, and we need direction.
Please Mr. Obama, end this insanity and force us back to some form of humanity before both us Israelis and our Palestinian neighbors lose everything that is good about our unique cultures. If ever we needed two presidents at a time, it is now, especially when we have you to off-set the mishugas of your predecessor.

Most sincerely,

David Steiner