by Matthew Friedman | Nov 19, 2023 | Commentary, Gaza Journal
I was riding the train to work last week, when a man sat down in the seat next to me, pulled a Talmudic text (Hebrew text within Hebrew text) from his messenger bag and started reading. I was listening to music on my headphones, and had removed my hat, so he could see...
by Matthew Friedman | Nov 12, 2023 | Commentary, Gaza Journal
A student asked about the poppy in my lapel today after class. I explained what it was for, and that I wore it as an act of remembrance for my father, who served in the Second World War, and for all of the people who have died and continue to die in our wars. She said...
by Matthew Friedman | Nov 5, 2023 | Commentary, Gaza Journal
“We have an obligation to bear witness to suffering. Yet, if that witness is to have any meaning apart from passively registering the fact of the suffering, it must repudiate the violence that caused the suffering and speak against the power that deployed the...
by Matthew Friedman | Oct 29, 2023 | Commentary, Gaza Journal
I am diminished by the death of every noncombatant, whether they are Israeli or Palestinian. It happens that, at this point, Palestinian deaths have diminished me five times more. I posted this in social media earlier this past week, just before Shabbes, as I reeled...
