“A time for war and a time for peace.” Ecclesiastes 3:8
Why a time for war now?
A long history binds Jews and Persians together: from Cyrus, who Isaiah called “the Lord’s anointed,” to the days of the Amoraim and the Geonim. Modern Iran and Israel have no inherent reason to fight: they share no common border, and in the past they even developed excellent relations.
Yet some Shiʿite traditions have seen Shiʿism as a spiritual continuation of Israel. The Iranian Islamic Revolution does not separate religion from state, and therefore finds it difficult to accept the existence of a state called “Israel.” From its perspective, the real war is not fought on earth but in the theological heavens: who, in the end, will establish God’s kingship over the world — by the “sword of religion,” if need be?
Instead of a violent contest over chosen-ness, let us compete in doing good — as the Qur’an suggests — and walk in the ways of the Torah, whose ways are ways of pleasantness.
We are all brothers — children of Adam and children of Abraham; we are all chosen in different ways. May we be granted the merit of finding a way to draw peace upon us from on high.
At the end of the Book of Exodus, we learn that when the cloud rose above the Mishkan, the children of Israel would set out on their journey, and when it remained, they would stay in place. If only we had such a sign today. We are exhausted from war, hoping for a better future for ourselves and our region. If only we could receive a sign from above that we are heading in the right direction.
But today there are no signs. Anyone who claims to know with certainty that we are on the right path is lying. It will take time before we know whether the current war is bringing us closer to a safer Middle East.
What we do know is that we are living in a historic moment in which we are all called upon, just as we were with the Mishkan, to contribute together to building a better society, a society in which no one is left behind on the way to shelter.
If we win, it will only be together.
