Dear Judge Goldstone
As rabbis from diverse traditions and locations, we
want to extend our warmest mazel tov to you as an elder in our community upon the bar
mitzvah of your grandson. Bar and Bat Mitzvah is a call to conscience,
a call to be responsible for the welfare of others, a call to fulfill
the covenant of peace and justice articulated in our tradition.
As rabbis, we note the religious implications of the
report you authored. We are reminded of Shimon Ben Gamliel’s quote,
“The world stands on three things: justice, truth, and peace as it
says Execute the judgment of truth, and justice and peace will be
established in your gates (Zekharya 8:16).” We affirm the truth of
the report that bears your name.
We are deeply saddened by the controversy that has
grown up around the issuing of the report. We affirm your findings and
believe you set up an impeccable standard that provides strong evidence
that Israel is currently engaged in war crimes during the assault on Gaza that
reveal a pattern of continuous and systematic assault against
Palestinian people and land that has very little to do with Israel’s
claim of security. Your report made clear the intentional targeting of
civilian infrastructures such as hospitals, schools, agricultural
properties, water and sewage treatment centers and civilians
themselves with deadly weapons that are illegal when used in civilian
centers.
This is the ugly truth that is so hard for many Jewish
people to face. Anyone who spends a day in Palestinian territories
sees this truth immediately.
Judge Goldstone, we want to offer you our deepest
thanks for upholding the principles of justice, compassion and truth that are the heart of
Jewish religion and without which our claims to Jewishness are empty
of meaning. We regret that your findings have led to controversy and
caused you not to feel welcome at your own grandson’s Bar Mitzvah. We
believe your report is a clarion call to Israel and the Jewish people
to awaken from the slumber of denial and return to the path of peace.
Rabbi Everett Gendler
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
Rabbi Brant Rosen
Rabbi Brian Walt
Rabbi Haim Beliak
Rabbi Michael Lerner
Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Rabbi Michael Feinberg
Rabbi Shai Gluskin
Rabbi David Shneyer
Rabbi David Mivassair
Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman
Rabbi Douglas Krantz
Rabbi Margaret Holub
Rabbi Rebecca Alpert
Rabbi Mordecai Liebling
Rabbi Phyllis Berman
Rabbi Zev-Hayyim Feyer
Rabbi Eyal Levinson Rabbi Lorraine Chaskalson
Rabbi Doron Isaacs