Every Life is Sacred

by Rabbi Bridget Wynne

August 4, 2025 • 10 Av 5785

If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to take just a couple of minutes to watch a video, look at photos, or listen to a doctor who has volunteered in Gaza. When I do, I’m overwhelmed by the horror that’s there, visible to anyone willing to look.

Many of the reports coming out of Gaza are almost impossible to comprehend. One Israeli journalist describes a doctor who says that tens of thousands of people, primarily children, are now “moving skeletons,” their organs failing, in the final stages of starvation. He recounts a video of a starving man, his pants held up with a rope, kneeling in the sand to collect spilled flour with his hands, saying, “I have 10 children, and they haven’t eaten anything for a week. I’m trying to sift the flour from the sand.”

Families are being forced to choose between starvation and the risk of being shot. Mothers can’t breastfeed because they are too malnourished, and almost no infant formula is available. Even medical and aid workers are struggling to help because they are too weak from hunger.

At the heart of Judaism is the belief that every human being is created in the divine image. From this, we learn three essential truths: all life is sacred, no person is more valuable than another, and every individual is both unique and of equal and ultimate value.

I’ve often asked myself, as you may have: what would I do if it were clear that thousands, even millions, of people were being starved, persecuted, or killed simply because they belonged to a group we’ve been taught to see as “less” human? Would I look away? Would I accept the lie that they are somehow inferior to “us”? Would I take whatever action I could, even if it felt uncomfortable, was risky, or would cause others to question or criticize me?

I believe what is happening in Gaza is one of those moments that calls on us to face these questions. What will we do? What might you be called to do?

I invite you to reflect on this, especially knowing that there are meaningful actions we can take right now, with little to no personal risk.

Here are just a few:

• Contact your Congressional representatives. Find their names and contact info and call, email, or send a postcard asking them to demand immediate, unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza. Many are already hearing from constituents, and it is making a difference.

• Reach out to the White House. Use this contact form to urge President Trump to push for an end to the blockade and support for the hundreds of humanitarian aid stations needed to stop this crisis. He acknowledged what he called “real starvation” in Gaza. Now he needs to act.

• Share your actions on social media. Tag your members of Congress, @realdonaldtrump, and use hashtags like #GazaIsStarving, #FeedGaza, and #RealAidNow to raise awareness and encourage others to join you.

• Write a letter to the editor. Local newspapers and online articles offer important opportunities to share your concerns. You can also post comments on relevant news articles and opinion editorials in newspapers. Here are tips on how to write a letter that gets attention.

• Contribute to an on-the-ground effort. Donate to support the Gaza Soup Kitchen, started by a Virginia-based Palestinian-American and his family in Gaza, which feeds thousands of Gazans daily.

• Show up. Look online for demonstrations or gatherings where you can join others in calling for humanitarian relief.

Each action matters. At times like these, silence is not neutral. Let us respond with the chesed – loving-kindness, and the ometz lev – courage of the heart, that our tradition calls us to live by.