A Call for Peace on a Solemn Anniversary

                                                               Vivian Silver with a Palestinian Friend

Too long have I had my dwelling
    among those who hate peace.
7 I am for peace,
    but when I speak,
    they are for war.

Psalm 120: 6-7 NRSVue 

What do we think and say on this first anniversary of the cowardly and brutal attacks in Israel by the Hamas terrorist organization. On October 7, 2023 1200 people died, most of them civilians going about everyday activities or sleeping, More than 300 were concert-goers in a remote part of the Judean desert. About 250 people were taken hostage, with 100 still in captivity, probably in terrible conditions. 

In the 364 days following this calamity we've seen Israel retaliate in Gaza and the West Bank with a ferocity that has killed at least 42,000 Palestinians, including thousands of children who are not fighters and have no political affiliation. 

As much as I find this response reprehensible I want to be focussed on the lost lives of that first day, including a Canadian/Israeli peacemaker named Vivian Silver. Born in Winnipeg, Vivian had lived on a kibbutz adjacent to the Gaza Strip for 50 years and was tireless in her efforts to build relationships with her Palestinians neighbours. All these murders were senseless, but her death was such a reminder of the folly of violence. 

The CBC reported on a memorial held for Silver this past December: 

Silver, 74, was remembered as a tireless advocate for peace, a bridge-builder, and a women's rights advocate. She was born in Winnipeg and moved to Israel in 1974, where she devoted her life to peace work.

"She was fierce for what she believed in, in any setting and in front of anybody," her son Yonatan Zeigen told CBC ahead of Thursday's memorial."She had this duality to her, that she was small and also seemed fragile and sensitive and soft, but she was also very assertive, and she had a really strong centre and even stubbornness."

Since her death both of Vivian's sons have continued to uphold the message of peace and understanding their mother spoke and upheld in practical ways. In a CBC interview this past week son Yonatan offered: 

Retribution is — I don't know, it's a disgusting concept. Because what is our interest? What do we want? Do we want secure lives? Do we want to feel secure? Do we want well-being? Is that achieved by retribution or does retribution just give us a very temporary sense of a catharsis. That's it. Does it promote our security? No, it does not. And we have seen it again and again. Every time we kill the biggest monster, a bigger monster emerges. And every time we build the wall an inch higher, they find ways to get around it, because no wall is high enough and no weapon is sophisticated enough. The only way for us to be secure is to transform our enemies into our partners. That's the only way to have secure lives.

In this past year we have been well aware of the trauma experienced by Israelis with family members living between Haifa and Tel Aviv. One Sunday they were chatting outside their church when they heard the siren for incoming rockets and saw Iron Dome missiles intercepting them. They moved back to the United States a few months ago but in those first months they lived in a state of constant wariness.

There are rallies in Israel today calling for a ceasefire to facilitate the return of hostages but they have been severely limited in size by a government determined to quell legitimate protest. 

 We were in Israel in April of 2023 and on the trains we would see young soldiers, lots of them, male and female, in their teens. Some were on their phones, others talking loudly together as teens are inclined to do, yet in uniform and sometimes with weapons at their sides. Now they are warriors who may have taken part in unspeakable horrors themselves, ordered to treat others as less than human. An entire generation will never be the same. 

This is a day of mourning in so many respects and once again we are called to pray for the peace that was Vivian Silver's lifelong commitment yet seems so elusive in this "Holy Land." 

                                                            Memorial Service in Israel today