Earlier this week, I stood with fellow Jewish people of conscience from across the Midwest to speak out against Israel’s mass bombing campaign that has killed more than 11,470 civilians in Gaza, and to demand that the Israeli and U.S. governments focus on negotiating a ceasefire and Hamas’ release of hostages.
I’m an adopted child. Last year, I found my Jewish biological father. In my 20s, I considered converting to Judaism, and so this discovery only confirmed something I had always known about myself on some level. I began the process of formally converting to Judaism, and joined my local congregation. I learned about the history of my ancestors, and their escape from Ukraine and Lithuania to settle here in North Lawndale. For this adoptee, I had found another home.
When I woke up and read the news on Oct. 7, I felt ill as I read about Hamas’ brutal violence targeting Israeli civilians. In the days that followed, my unease grew as I realized that the overwhelming military response to Hamas would lead to many more civilian deaths in Gaza.
My process of conversion led me to delve deeply into my Jewish education. I learned of the concept, in Jewish law, of pikuach nefesh, פיקוח נפש. Pikuach nefesh teaches us to value saving lives above all else. In this moment of intense grief, we need to ground ourselves in that idea.
I watched the unprecedented bombing campaign rain down on a densely populated community in Gaza — one that had no easy means to escape — and I saw that it was being done in our name, as Jews and as Americans. I thought of the story of my own biological father’s family. I knew that the massive humanitarian crisis that is still unfolding in Gaza will not make the world safer for Jews, whether in Israel or anywhere.
That’s why I stood with a thousand others like me at the Israeli Consulate on Monday. I was taught that as Jews, we must speak out against injustice. I believe that as Jews, we have an obligation to stand together to ensure that our grief and devastation are not used to perpetuate war and bring about even more civilian deaths. We stood at the consulate in hopes that the Israeli and U.S. governments would hear our plea for an end to the blood-letting in our name, and that they instead focus on a negotiated ceasefire and a release of all hostages, who are currently in grave danger from Israeli bombing as well as Hamas.
As a state senator, I work with a lot of survivors of violence, particularly gun- and gender-based violence. And I work with people who work to interrupt gang violence and stop more bloodshed from happening. I remember hearing the story of a mass shooting on the West Side, and the risk of that incident escalating into more bloodshed. I remember the violence interrupters who stepped in to interrupt the cycle of retaliation and revenge that is all too prevalent in Chicago. They bonded with people who experienced violence and trauma, but they also got these survivors to take a deep breath before reacting.
It may seem naive to think de-escalation in Chicago can teach us something about the Middle East. But fundamentally, stopping this vicious cycle requires a commitment to intervention and a return to negotiation, whether by interrupters at home or diplomats abroad.
I hope that other legislators will join me and thousands of other Jewish Illinoisans in calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities as well as the release of hostages. It is time to abide by the law of pikuach nefesh.
State Sen. Robert Peters represents the 13th District.
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