Kiss Violence Away

Newsletter July 15, 2024 Together, we're #keepingitsacred...

The word for kiss, in Hebrew, is neshikah. The word for weapon, in Hebrew, is neshek. My first time in Israel, I had a disturbing encounter with some guys at Gan HaPaamon/Liberty Bell Park, who made a pass at me when I was just 15 years old. So when I’m in Israel, my guard is up.

Fast forward to my first year of rabbinical school- I went with my friend to the mall to get supplies for our apartments and I went through the metal detector to get inside. And, the guard insistently kept saying to me, “Yesh neshek? Yesh neshek?!” And in my head I’m thinking, “No, I will NOT give you a kiss!” Turns out he was asking if I had a weapon, not if I wanted a kiss!

Funny but not.

Power and violence have always been intertwined. But the ante is upped when uzis and AK-15 rifles are involved. 

Like 25 years ago when the North Valley JCC (in Los Angeles) when an Aryan nation supporter fired 70 rounds from an uzi on kids, counselors, and office workers, all of whom were wounded. They survived, but the tragedy of that day, and the memory of the postal worker who was killed by the shooter, will echo in their hearts forever.

Often now, we see headlines reporting on bullets in schools, camps, synagogues. 

And last week, shots rang out at a political rally. Gunfire. Bystanders shot and killed. An assassination almost carried out. 

Violence and more violence. From Israel to California to Pennsylvania. Arms proliferation is not making our world safer. It is allowing 20 year olds to be radicalized over the course of two years and carry out unthinkable acts with irrevocable consequences. 

Those in our Daf Yomi/ Talmud study know that the rabbis of old were meticulous in insisting that every member of society take great care- care of one another, care of our stuff, care of other people’s property. We need to be preventative and intentional. The pious, we are taught, were concerned with the destruction of even a mustard seed. All the more so with the devastation of human lives. 

But it seems that lawmakers have given an inordinate about of power to anyone with an interest in learning how to shoot, buy a weapon or ammunition. And people are buying and firing weapons to harm others. And the innocence of the victims is being stolen. 

Sunday morning, August 11, KITS will join other Jewish organizations and dignitaries to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the shooting at the North Valley JCC in Los Angeles. We will hear testimonies from victim- survivors from that day, and have time to reflect upon hate, weapon availability, and what these are doing to our vulnerable sacred places of worship and fragile democracy. 

There is no place for violence from guns or assault rifles in society. There is nothing funny about it even though the word for weapons in Hebrew is neshikot which is the same word for kisses. We need to gather together to organize our way to kissing gun violence away. This is how we’re #keepingitsacred…

Together, we’re keeping it sacred….

Rabbi Heather Miller

Founder, Keeping It Sacred

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Thanks for your interest, and thanks for #keepingitsacred...