On Monday my son was sworn into the IDF. I spent that afternoon protesting the Israeli government.
My stake in the future of Israel as a democratic state with a moral army is greater than ever
Rabbi Daniel Gropper speaks at a rally calling for aid to Gaza on July 28, 2025, in New York City. Courtesy of Harold Levine Photography
(JTA) — On Monday, my son was inducted into the IDF. He started thinking about joining as a hayal boded, a “lone soldier” (someone who makes aliyah alone with the intention of serving) while in high school. After his friend was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Nova Festival, his decision became clear. The time was now. As a Zionist, a rabbi, and a father watching my son come into his own as an adult, I’m deeply proud of him.
On the same day as my son was handed a rifle and a Bible and sworn in, I made my way down from Westchester County into Manhattan, to join hundreds of other concerned rabbis, American Jews, and Israeli Americans to protest outside the Israeli consulate. We called for Israel to let a surge of food and other aid into Gaza now, for the hostages to be released unconditionally and immediately, and for an end to the war. I had never spoken at a rally before, but when Rabbi Jill Jacobs of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights invited me, the time felt right.
This might seem odd. But in fact, it makes perfect sense to me that I was (and am) publicly criticizing the Israeli government when my son is serving in the IDF. My stake in the future of Israel as a democratic state with a moral army is greater than ever.
This week, we begin reading from the book of Deuteronomy. It is Moses’ swan song. In his final days, he imparts wisdom to the people of Israel. Yet it is a book of contradictions. Moses takes credit for things suggested to him in the Book of Exodus. And events that took place in Numbers are recalled differently than how they originally occurred. Things are not quite as they seem.
The same seems to be true in Gaza. Photos are shared without their full context; reports of Hamas stealing food are later revised by the IDF itself. In this blizzard of ideological fiction, how are any of us supposed to know what’s true? How are any of us to know what is the right thing to do?
Here is what we do know. There is hunger and starvation in Gaza. We need to state this loud and clear. We know that even when aid makes it in, it’s often only fit young men who have any shot at fighting for it. The aid isn’t reaching many who need it. Too many have not eaten in days. Hospitals in Gaza say they have cut meals from three a day to one.
I expect my son to uphold the concept of purity of arms that is at the heart of the IDF’s moral code. I pray that the words in the Torah, upholding the ideal that each person is made b’tzelem elohim, in the image of God, will guide him. I pray that the most often quoted sections of Torah, to care for the powerless and to love your neighbor — all neighbors — remain forefront in his mind. Everyone, especially innocent victims caught in the crossfire of this quagmire now over 660 days long, deserves freedom from want and freedom from fear.
So standing outside the Israeli consulate in New York City, I called on the government of Israel to do all they could to avert a deterioration of the crisis. I called on the government of Israel to abandon the mistaken idea that withholding aid weakens Hamas. I called on Israel to do that which is counterintuitive: Flood Gaza with food. It’s the right move morally. It’s the right move strategically.
I spoke as a rabbi who loves Israel, who wants Israelis to be safe, and who desperately wants this war to end — a Jew who desperately wants the hostages home.
Finally, I spoke as a father, who wants my son, and everyone’s children, to be safe, which I know will only happen when there is a just peace and a long-term political solution that protects the human rights of everyone in that land, no matter their ethnic, religious or national origin.
This is my prayer for Israel, and for my son: Bring the hostages home. Surge aid into Gaza. End the war.
Achshav. Now.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.
