Today, the window of my favorite Israeli hummus spot was spray-painted with the words “Free Palestine.” This isn’t going to be a comment about geopolitics or the war. It’s about something far more basic: the right of Jews to exist, to gather, to eat, to be.
In Parashat B’haalotecha, the Israelites are in the wilderness—tired, anxious, uncertain of where they belong. They cry out for stability, for dignity, for a place to rest their souls. The pain of exile cutting so deep, they even yearn for Egypt! God commands the people to journey, to encamp, and trudge onward when the cloud lifts—but always together as one people—Am Echad, always with the sacred center in their midst. Even in exile, we carry our center with us.
So what did the person who sprayed that message on the window think would happen? Did they believe this would stop a war? Did they think this would shame or terrorize Jews into silence? Into submission?
Why not just say what you mean: Jews, get out.
But where would you have us go?
What land do you believe we deserve? What street? What window? What portion?
Because we are here, and you will not get rid of us. Just as we were not destroyed by the Assyrians in the 8th century BCE, just as we were not destroyed by the Babylonians or the Greeks or the Romans. Just as we were not destroyed in Spain, just as we were not destroyed by the Nazis. Just as we stood at Sinai’s foot, we stand here today in 2025.
We are not going anywhere.
We still dream of sitting beneath our vine and fig tree, of turning swords into plowshares, of a world redeemed. We still believe in the promise of justice—not just for ourselves, but for all people.
To whoever painted that message, I ask you: What are you doing today to make the world better tomorrow? Today, I will pick up trash in my neighborhood, I will say hello to a stranger, I will go eat some hummus at Aviv.
Because we will keep building. We will keep loving. We will keep being.
Am Yisrael Chai.