If God Were In The Heavens of Gaza
Avram Burg former Speaker of the Israeli Knesset turned peace activist despairs at the absence of God in Gaza. For if God could see what was being done there by those who who claim to serve him, he would speak to the perpetrators of murder and destruction like this
Let your living messiahs perish,
as the gods ye slew again and again.
there is no God any more in Gaza,
for He is buried beneath its ruins.
Only man shall require the blood at your guilty hands.Unto your last day, and after it, ye shall not be cleansed.
Your time is come;
for he that sheddeth man’s blood,
by man shall his blood be shed.
This poem/prayer is by Avram Burg former Speaker of the Israeli Knesset turned peace activist.
If God were in the heavens of Gaza,
and His ears not deafened by the shattering of life,
by the cries of the bound upon the altar of Israel,
and if His prophets were true,
not deceivers of visions,
then thus would His word come unto you:
Woe unto the uprooters of olive trees who bow thrice in prayer,
unto the plunderers who bind the phylactery,
unto the bearers of arms wrapped in fringes,
unto the kissers of the mezuzah who profane the holy.
Who hath required this of you:
to ravage and to slay, to oppress and to despoil?
Was My land an abattoir, My cradle of faiths?
Are ye my believers?
I have loathed you utterly.
Upon your sword ye stand, and by it I shall let ye fall.
Turn from Me, and I will consume you,
blotting your remembrance from beneath the heavens.
Woe unto the pilot in the skies,
whose eyes are reddened with the blood he hath shed.
Woe unto the listener in his chamber,
who heareth the voice and marketh the prey,
yet stoppeth his ear against the cry of orphans.
Alas for the gunner,
drunken with the fire of his cannon,
whose thunder covereth the weeping of mourners
in the houses he hath smitten.
Woe unto the commander,
whose heart is hardened like the stone of Pharaoh,
who lifteth you upon the altar of Moloch in vain,
for the glory of a tyrant, his wife, and their collaborators.
Woe unto the keeper of the arsenal,
who is watchful for the hour of arming,
yet knoweth not that the mercy of men is expired.
Woe unto the scribe and the journalist,
whose pen is dry and whose tongue is mute.
The blood of man crieth from the ground,
yet he writeth not.
Woe unto the ruler,
who sealeth decrees of death,
and goeth forth unto a banquet of fatness,
washing his hands in blood,
and mingling his wine with the tears of children.
Ye have become slayers,
murderers of God and of His image.
The blood of innocents ye have spilled;
the blood of war cleaveth unto your loins,
unto the sandals upon your feet.
Your voice is coarse as the voice of Esau,
and your hands are defiled with the blood of the hunted.
Of all the sons of Jacob ye remain but two:
Simeon and Levi accursed,
and the darkness of Cain is upon your souls.
Accursed be ye, armies of Cain’s successors
tormentors and rejoicers,
captains and beasts.
Even Jacob the naive hath perished by your hand;
his gentle voice is silenced,
his raiment reeks of field and slaughter,
your stolen birthright is cursed,
reeking with the stench of hunt and death.
Cursed be the night wherein your mother conceived,
and the day wherein ye were born.
no innocence abideth in your tents
I will not gather with your assembly
For your sword ye have lifted,
and the image of man and God ye have profaned.
Cursed be ye forever,
who rend your garments with a hypocrisy,
yet behold not the rivers of souls poured out like water.
Ye shall not see, nor hear, nor know, nor mourn.
Let your living messiahs perish,
as the gods ye slew again and again.
there is no God any more in Gaza,
for He is buried beneath its ruins.
Only man shall require the blood at your guilty hands.
Unto your last day, and after it, ye shall not be cleansed.
Your time is come;
for he that sheddeth man’s blood,
by man shall his blood be shed.
h/t MJ Rosenberg
Just a point, there are no such entities as gods, in Gaza or anywhere else, if there are they must be evil bastards to allow this to happen in Gaza.
What speaks to me is the idea “God needs our hands” (and hearts) to build a world that’s decent for all life (human and other). It’s a terrible responsibility for each of us.
This amazing, a psalm of lamentation that should be read at the Kol Nidre service on Yom Kippur and at the morning service instead of the prayer for the armed forces where the reader asks God to Remember the IDF, the guardians of our holy land. Protect them from all dustress and anguish, and send blessing and success to all the work of their hands.
Devastating as the acts of murder themselves.
Absolutely! I too feel that an Old Testament God would have destroyed all those in Israel who have broken every law, secular and religious. The leaders of Israel are masquerading as Jews, while defiling the most funadmental values and teachings of Judaism. They are leading a godless nation and it is time to recognise it as such. For as long as Irael is allowed to present itself falsely as a Jewish state, it will be the prime mover in any increase in antisemitism. It will also continue to exploit its supposed Jewish identity to carry out its most depraved crimes with impunity.
Many of us have been waiting to hear from Avram Berg, to hear what he has to say. Berg’s voice is important and very needed. It was so great to see him in an interview recently. He says what must be said. Thank you.