NEW YORK – Amid a growing international outcry over images of malnourished children in Gaza, American rabbis across denominations used their pulpits this past Shabbat to address the humanitarian crisis. Many expressed sorrow and moral urgency, feeling that silence was no longer an option.
Rabbis Confront Gaza Crisis from the Pulpit
The sermons reflect increasing pressure on Jewish institutions to address the impact of Israel’s war against Hamas on Palestinian civilians.
Key Takeaways:
- Over 1,000 rabbis globally signed an open letter demanding Israel stop using starvation as a weapon.
- Reform and Conservative movements issued statements acknowledging the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
- Rabbis are grappling with how to discuss the conflict, balancing moral critique with community sensitivities.
The rabbis’ messages come as more than 1,000 rabbis worldwide have signed an open letter demanding that Israel “stop using starvation as a weapon of war.” Major denominations have also weighed in. The Union for Reform Judaism issued a statement calling the situation “dire, and it is deadly,” and acknowledging Israel’s partial blame. The Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative movement cited Jewish values in urging the Israeli government to alleviate suffering in Gaza.
Despite these public stances, the topic remains sensitive within many congregations. The trauma from the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and the ongoing hostage crisis weigh heavily. Some rabbis have struggled with how to address the issue, while others embrace the pulpit as a space for moral examination and critique.
Rabbi Sarah Reines of Temple Emanu El in Manhattan invoked biblical narratives of war, stating, “This is not the Judaism we want our 12-year-olds to inherit.” She referenced Moses’ commands in a war account, drawing parallels to examine the ethical conduct of warfare. Citing Maimonides, she emphasized restraint, civilian protection, and freeing captives as “wartime priorities” rooted in Jewish values. “Are we protecting life,” she questioned, “or are we hardening ourselves to it?”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a memorial service for former U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman on July 24, 2024, in Washington.
Rabbi Naomi Gurt Lind of Gloucester, Massachusetts, confronted the Torah’s command to “dispossess” land inhabitants, finding the concept troubling in light of the Gaza conflict. Reflecting on the Hebrew root “yarash” (to dispossess/inherit), she explored echoes of displacement in Jewish and Palestinian experiences. A self-identified Zionist, Gurt Lind affirmed both peoples’ connection to the land and condemned Hamas’s actions and starvation as a war tactic.
At SAJ, a Reconstructionist synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann delivered a sermon she anticipated might be divisive. “I stand here broken-hearted before you,” she stated. “Broken-hearted by what I am witnessing … and deeply troubled by the responses I am seeing from the broader Jewish community.”
Herrmann challenged common responses to the aid crisis: denial, deflection, and moral relativism. She rooted her critique in “teshuvah,” the Jewish practice of repentance. “Israel may not be responsible for the entire systemic problem,” she said, “but it is responsible for its part in the tragedy that is unfolding.”
Palestinians receive meals from volunteers in Gaza City on July 28, 2025.
In Santa Fe, New Mexico, Rabbi Neil Amswych of Temple Beth Shalom shared an introspective message about the role of a rabbi as a public moral voice. “Why do some people need me to say what they’re thinking about Israel?” he asked. “Why can’t they do it?”
Amswych eventually signed the rabbinic letter urging Israel to change course, describing a painful internal process. He rejected “performative politics” and “black-and-white” pronouncements, noting, “Every public statement lacking nuance that I make brings some people who agree with it closer to the Temple, and simultaneously pushes some people who disagree further away.”
Even sermons not directly addressing Gaza conveyed the weight of the current moment. In Los Angeles, Rabbi Hannah Jensen of Ikar reimagined the traditional Jewish mourning period as civic grief. Referencing local wildfires and ICE raids, she drew parallels to ancient laments for Jerusalem.
Jewish men pray at the Western Wall on the eve of Tisha B’Av in the Old City of Jerusalem, on July 29, 2020.
Jensen quoted from the Book of Lamentations: “Lonely sits the city once great with people.” She concluded, “Our grief cannot be the whole story. It must move us to action.”
Action was also a theme for Rabbi Adam Louis-Klein at Kehillat Beth Israel in Ottawa. He contextualized the war within Jewish history, referencing events from 1929 to contemporary antisemitism. While not directly mentioning Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, he framed criticism of Israel as a product of antisemitism distorting truth. He urged Jews to engage with their heritage to assert themselves globally, escaping what he called “the trap of perpetual defensiveness.”
“We are not survivalists,” he stated. “We are not fighting just to persist. Our survival today is now bound to the survival of truth itself — in a world where it is once again under siege.”
