Flattening Gaza

Rabbi Misha Shulman
4 min readOct 20, 2023

In December, 1941 a gutsy American daughter of a German rabbi showed up in Times Square to protest against the US joining World War II. Her name was Judith Malina, and about sixty years later I found myself with her protesting against the War in Iraq. Despite my decade making theater with Judith and the Living Theatre I could never bring myself to Judith’s committed Pacifism. This week I find myself asking whether she was wrong to protest in 41’. In these miserable wars between nation states the only position worth attaching yourself to completely is Judith’s. So no, she wasn’t wrong. I also ask myself whether she was right to protest as she did in 41’. Again, I come up with that same answer, no she wasn’t right. We’d probably all be dead had the US not joined the war.

Clarity, it strikes me this week, is an unbelievable blend of truth and falsehood. It’s what politicians rely on, reducing reality into actionable items. Thank God I’m not one of them. I find myself simultaneously suspicious and admiring of those able to take a clear stand in this moment. The people I surround myself with are ones who tend to be attuned to the complex truths around them, who see depth and richness in the multiplicity of subjective truths out there and inside them. To “flatten Gaza,” as the Israeli leadership has vowed to do, is not just physical. It’s happening in the realm of ideas. Anyone, for example who simply says “they had it…

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Rabbi Misha Shulman
Rabbi Misha Shulman

Written by Rabbi Misha Shulman

Jerusalem born, Misha has been working at the cusp of religion, art and activism since 1999. Rabbi @ The New Shul and Director of School for Creative Judaism.