What Next | Daily News and Analysis A Rabbi’s Plea for Peace | 2025 in Review
Dec 25, 2025
In this captivating discussion, Rabbi Sarah Reines of Temple Emanu-El shares her heartfelt journey advocating for peace amid the Gaza crisis. She delves into the momentous rabbis' letter against using starvation as a weapon and explains the moral weight it carries. Addressing her lifelong connection to Israel, Sarah reflects on her early doubts about its policies and emphasizes the importance of separating emotion from factual discourse. With a plea for compassion over politics, she urges meaningful local action to sustain hope.
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Hope As A Daily Practice
- Sarah Reines frames hope as a daily, deliberate practice rather than passive optimism.
- She believes crises can catalyze significant movement because necessity forces change.
Confrontation In The West Bank
- Reines describes being approached by men in IDF fatigues who fired into the air while she was in the West Bank.
- She says the confrontation strengthened rather than weakened her resolve.
Childhood Book That Shaped Her View
- Sarah Reines describes receiving a book of Arab and Jewish children's poetry as a child that shaped her view of Israel.
- The poems taught her an early, humane glimpse of the conflict she hadn't seen elsewhere.