In the Field

Newsletter October 16, 2023 Together, we're #keepingitsacred...

All week, I keep hearing the echo of God's words in the Torah after the murder of Abel by his brother, Cain— "your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!" Coincidentally, this is the part of the Torah that the entire Jewish community read this past week as part of our annual cycle of Torah readings.

Studying this text (and all of Genesis, Chapter 4) year after year, I had always wondered what happened out there in the field. When Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

Watching this week’s news cycle with horrific images of people being mercilessly slaughtered in the fields, I couldn’t help but superimpose this story. Brothers, going into the field. One emerging a murderer. The other, remaining there, lifeless, slain. 

And what happens next? In the Torah, this is where God enters the story. 

Adonai said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he said, “I don’t know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 

And what does God answer?

God said: “What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!”

We must always remember that we are brothers. And we are our brother's keeper. That bloodshed is painful to God. And no surprise, as God is the Creator.

Last Saturday, Israeli blood cried out from the ground. From the field. A massacre of biblical proportions. And it threw us all into deep grief, fear, despair. Many of us were triggered with ancestral trauma.

I know hearing the account of a survivor who said that the way they survived was to bury themselves under the dead bodies and body parts of others to conceal themselves was reminiscent of my own great-grandmother's account of her experience with the pogroms in Russia. She, too, had survived the terror by lying down with dead corpses to conceal herself. The horrors of this past weekend, like the horrors in my family, will be remembered and mourned for generations.

I wonder what horrors are yet to come, with more blood spilled on the ground as a land, air, and sea incursion into Gaza is being prepared. As a mass migration was already ordered. As millions of Palestinian people await their fate, will their blood be spilled and cry out from the ground? For some, it already has as they fled.

Polarization is mounting. But there are those of us who are committed to holding space for the preciousness of life on both sides of the border.

Jewish and Muslim theologians (in the Jewish Talmud Sanhedrin 37, as well as the Muslim Quran Chapter 5 of Al-Mai'da verses 32-33) insist:"Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved the entire world."

I truly hope that all of those in power can find a way to soften their hearts and realize the opportunity here. To save lives. To bring about a peaceful solution to ensure the dignity, safety, security, and human rights for all in the region. For the sake of the children, if for no other reason.

And I pray that this ends the horrific anti-Jewish and anti-Palestinian hate whipped up around the world and in America- a 300% increase in antisemitism as reported by the ADL. And most recently, yesterday in Chicago, a little boy, just 6 years old, was mercilessly slaughtered with a knife in his home, attacked for his Palestinian heritage. His blood cries out from the ground.

We must be the voices of those who regard life as precious. And stand together with those who do. For the sake of one another, and for our own sake as well.

This week, I will speak in 4 interfaith gatherings (see information below if you'd like to participate in those that are open to the public). I will pray with all my heart and soul for no more blood to be spilled. I will continue to meet with our members and those in our beloved community to strengthen one another (my calendar is here if you would like to meet: calendly.com/kitsrabbimiller). May we create and strengthen spaces working actively against more bloodshed. 

This is how together, we're #keepingitsacred...

Rabbi Heather Miller

Founder, Keeping It Sacred

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The above is an excerpt from a Keeping It Sacred newsletter. If you want to read the entire newsletter or any from our archives, please head over to: keepingitsacred.com/news 

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