The Israeli military is preparing for a possible ground invasion in Gaza, as it pounds the
coastal strip in retaliation for the unprecedented weekend attack on Israel by Hamas. Here
in Montgomery, we talked to local Rabbi Scott Looper to get his thoughts. He is the rabbi at
Montgomery‘s historic Temple Beth Or, and many of his close family members are currently
living in Israel. I sat down with him today to talk about how he’s dealing with the worry
and uncertainty of having those he loves the most in the middle of a war. Rabbi Looper has
been in constant contact with his two sisters living in Israel. Looper says, "I was
talking to my older sister and she was watching her granddaughter Saturday and then an air
raid siren goes off, so she had to take them to the bomb shelter. That’s when reality starts
to set in and everyone feels endangered."
He gets teary-eyed as he talks about how his sisters Heidi and Kari and his four nephews
and many other relatives are living in a battle zone. Looper says, "I mean I love them and
so what are you gonna do? I have this intense fear - one of my nephews is called up in the
reserves...the other ones haven’t been called up yet but it’s just that you know that’s
my peace. That is my family." His nephew Litan has already been called up to help the Israeli
ground forces because of his past military training with tanks. Rabbi Looper says the love
his congregation and community has shown him here in Alabama has helped him stay strong.
Looper says, "That’s where we gather our strength so I think that in terms of comfort,
it is people reaching out and being able to have conversations. That has helped a lot."
Looper believes antisemitism has become a greater threat, and he encourages people to have
conversations with each other, no matter how hard it might be. "We have to get out of our own
little echo chambers are all little places at safety and the people who nod their heads 'yes'
every time we say something, and when they say something, we nod our heads 'yes' as well.
We need to be able to be with groups where we want to nod our heads 'no', but we stop
ourselves, and we need to really listen to what people are saying." Last night Temple Beth Or
joined with the other Jewish congregation here in Montgomery, and they held a Service of
Consolation so that people could gather together and talk and support each other.
If you’d like to donate to help people rebuild their lives, contact the Jewish Federation of
Central Alabama at jewishmontgomery.org.
