Bob Schwartz

In February 2024 I posted a three-book Gaza War reading list .

Did I think the Gaza War would be over by now, that Israel would have come to its senses and humanity, on its own or pushed there by Jewish communities and Jews in America?

Do I look naïve? As much as I repeat Abraham Joshua Heschel’s view on things in general and on the Vietnam War in particular—“I am an optimist in spite of myself”—no, I thought it just as likely that things in Gaza would get worse before they got better, if ever better at all. Now we know.

One of the books was by David Livingstone Smith, whose work centers on the phenomenon of dehumanization. You don’t have to be an expert like him to understand the basics. When you treat others as an inferior kind of human, or as not human at all, you find yourself free to do all sorts of bad things. You may feel it necessary to justify, excuse or lie about what you do, comforting yourself and avoiding condemnation and even punishment.

“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal” was not the invention of America’s founders. It was not the invention of the Enlightenment thinkers who inspired some of our founders. It is at the heart of millennia-old traditions that uphold the value of every human being.

Are there circumstances where that value might be weighed against other considerations? You know there are. Should that human value be the default, the great weight, the primary and starting position against which any contrary initiative should be carefully considered? Should those contrary initiatives be rare and followed by confession, humility and contrition? Of course.

Have you, have those on your behalf, treated others as less than human? What will you do about it?