A Message from the Director

Friends –

Solace for what has transpired – and continues – in Israel and its region eludes.

The details of the terrible struggle between Israel and Palestine these now – and will likely always – inspire disagreement.  There can be no disagreement regarding the butchery of hundreds of teenagers and others out of for fun in the desert, of families hunted door to door and murdered, the kidnapping of soldiers, children and the aged held for ransom.   These are acts unconscionable, comparable to nothing. 

Many of us have been personally touched by this ongoing tragedy.  Our links, personal as well as political, to Israel and Palestine are intimate, often lifelong.  It feels particularly painful to be so far from those we love, not to be able to hold them, comfort them, mourn for those lost. 

Jewish Studies at Stanford is here to express solidarity with all those singed now and soon by this ongoing tragedy.

Steve

Steven J. Zipperstein

Daniel E. Koshland Professor in Jewish Culture and History

Director, Taube Center for Jewish Studies