Bereshis and Shame / בראשית און חרפּה

This is a weekly series

of parsha dvarim (Tōrah commentaries) written by an orthodox atheist transsexual anarchist, with guest posts from comrades. It's the work of each generation to extricate meaning from our cultural and religious inheritance, and it's crucial that we resist the narrative that Zionism owns Judaism. We aim to offer comment which is true to the pshat (i.e. engages with the plain meaning of the text, especially when it's difficult) and uses Tōrah like a light to reflect on our modern times.

An appeal

My friend Kamal needs help to leave Gaza. He is trying to immigrate to Greece to search for his missing son, who in desperation took a small and dangerous lifeboat across the Mediterranean. Please donate what you can.

Content note

Genocide in Palestine and Zionist guilt

We've made it back to Bereshis, the beginning. As soon as we finish reading the Tōrah, we return immediately to the start.

The ceasefire in Palestine comes after almost exactly two years of war and genocide. Our core demand was met. Do we celebrate? Are we relieved? Is this a new beginning? Israel has already killed 23 Palestinians since the supposed end of the conflict. The true scale of the violence is slowly being revealed on our screens. Happy New Year.

"One day, everyone will have always been against this." Now that we have a ceasefire, will Zionists open their eyes and learn shame? Will they try to cover their complicity and hide from G-d?