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’ (Zaccariah 8:16).” We affirm the truth of the report that bears your name.

We are deeply saddened by the controversy around the report. We affirm your findings and believe you set up an impeccable standard that presents strong evidence that during the war in Gaza Israel engaged in war crimes that revealed 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.

This letter is endorsed by Taanit Tzedek- Jewish Fast for Gaza , Shomer Shalom Institute for Jewish Nonviolence, Tikkun and the Shalom Center.

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, Shomer Shalom Network for Jewish Nonviolence

Rabbi Brant Rosen, Taanit Tzedek –Jewish Fast for Gaza

Rabbi Brian Walt, Taanit Tzedek –Jewish Fast for Gaza

Rabbi Haim Beliak

Rabbi Michael Lerner, Tikkun Community

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Shalom Center

Rabbi Rebecca Alpert

Rabbi Phyllis Berman

Rabbi Michael Feinberg

Rabbi Zev-Hayyim Feyer

Rabbi Margaret Holub

Rabbi Shai Gluskin

Rabbi Douglas Krantz

Rabbi Eyal Levinson

Rabbi Mordecai Liebling

Rabbi David Mivasair

Rabbi David Shneyer

Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman

Rabbi Gershon Steinberg-Caudill

Rabbi Erin Hirsh

Rabbi Michael Rothbaum

Rabbi Benjamin Barnett

Rabbi Julie Greenberg

Rabbi Linda Holtzman

Rabbi Ayelet S.Cohen

Rabbi Jeffrey Marker

Rabbi Nina H.Mandel

Rabbi Victor Reinstein

Rabbi Everett Gendler

Rabbi Meryl M. Crean

Rabbi Sheila Weinberg

Rabbi Pamela Frydman Baugh

Rabbi Lewis Weiss

Rabbi Shaul Magid

Rabbi Stephen Booth-Nadav

Rabbi Phillip Bentley

Rabbi Anna Boswell-Levy

Rabbi Chava Bahle

This letter is supported by Taanit Tzedek- Jewish Fast for Gaza , Shomer Shalom Institute for Jewish Nonviolence, Tikkun and the Shalom Center.

If you are a rabbi and would like to add your name to this statement, send an e-mail to Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb (rabbilynn at earthlink dot net).

April 26, 2010

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