Like so many of you, I have been flooded by conflicting thoughts, worries, fears, and even relief since President Trump unilaterally, with Israel, began this war against Iran. To help clarify for myself all that is free-floating through my mind and heart, I began writing down every issue as they occurred to me.

Here, in no particular order – except the first bullet point, that is always upper most in my heart, and the very last – are what I have been thinking during the past week:

• I mourn deeply the loss of every American soldier, every Israeli soldier and civilian, every Arab civilian, and every Iranian civilian who have died in this war, and I pray for the recovery of the injured – more than 3000 have been killed so far and many many more injured;
• For years, it has been clear that the Ayatollah’s regime is murderous, fanatic and extremist. Iran’s leaders promised the destruction of the State of Israel according to a “Palestine Countdown Clock” that was set up in a Tehran square in 2017 and has been ticking towards 2040 when the extremist regime would destroy the Jewish State. I am thrilled and relieved that the Ayatollah and so many of Iran’s hate-filled leaders are now gone and that each day brings greater destruction to Iran’s nuclear facilities, missiles, and military infrastructure;  
• All that said, and I acknowledge the problematic contradiction in what I am saying next, from a strictly American perspective, Iran posed no immediate threat to the United States and this war-of-choice is deeply problematic. In the hands of experienced diplomats and negotiators (Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are NOT that), perhaps there might have been success in avoiding this war altogether and in reaching an agreement that contained Iran’s nuclear ambitions as did the admittedly imperfect 2015 Iran Deal negotiated by the Obama Administration and supported by Russia, China, and the EU, and was canceled unilaterally by Trump in his first administration with nothing to replace the deal even contemplated;
• Though other American presidents also started wars and used the US military against foreign nations and terrorist groups without Congressional approval, this war should have involved a full and open debate in the United States Congress per the US Constitution’s Article #1 giving Congress the authority to declare war and not the President. Trump’s amassing of half the United States military in the Middle East at the cost of billions of dollars without Congressional approval is one more serious assault on our constitutional democracy;
• Trump’s war goals are still unclear and have been from the start. His motives could cover a wide array of issues: regime change, the destruction of the Iranian terrorist network, the destruction of Iran’s nuclear materials, capabilities, and missiles, the seizing of Iran’s oil, his desire to claim victory over Iran as a personal legacy no other American President was willing or capable of doing, a “wag the dog” strategy to distract Americans from the corruption and over-reach of ICE, the unlawful expulsion of US citizens and legal residents, the corruption and weaponization of the federal judicial system against Trump’s critics, the unrelenting affordability crisis, his involvement in the Epstein sex scandal, and (forgive my lapse into this conspiracy suspicion) Trump’s possible effort to cause domestic chaos to create an excuse to cancel the mid-term elections that he knows will be won by Democrats in the House and, likely, the Senate;
• Trump has been unclear also about how long this war will continue – a few weeks, months?  
• Trump appears to have no plan for how Iran will be governed, and by whom when the war ends, and there seems to be no recognition of the remaining power of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that includes upwards of 200,000 entrenched members;
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s dangerous, but likely accurate statement last week that the US was only following Israel’s decision to go to war against Iran plays out a classic antisemitic trope that America’s foreign policy is controlled by Jews and Israel. I fear consequently an even greater level of antisemitism in the United States and that American support for Israel will become a central issue in the mid-term elections in both the Democratic and Republican Parties thereby threatening the security of the American Jewish community in ways most of us have not experienced in our lifetimes; 
• This war has shined a light on the moral hypocrisy of the far left that only days after the greatest atrocity was committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust on October 7, 2023, called the terrorist, anti-democratic, misogynist, homophobic, and brutal organization Hamas to be “freedom fighters”, but did not say a word or lift a banner of protest when the Ayatollah unleashed his military to murder between 20,000 and 30,000 peaceful Iranian civilian protesters in January. Those far-left supporters of Hamas can only be regarded as antisemites;
• Trump’s impulsive desire to go into Iran fast, do maximum military damage, and get out (as he did in Venezuela) defies the nature and complexity of Iran that has a population of 90 million people. The Iranian system is, in fact, still functioning despite the economic collapse there and the decapitation of its long-term brutal leadership. The street demonstrations have not resumed as yet. Nor has there been any significant defection by members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Iranian security services into the protesters’ ranks suggesting that the Iranian regime (in what is left of it) has no intention of negotiating an end to the conflict anytime soon, and likely intends to wait this war out and make it a war of attrition against the United States and Israel;
• Trump is likely aware of the economic and political constraints facing him here in the US, and he no doubt fears his political support in MAGA might collapse if the war goes on for too long with increasing numbers of American deaths and a rise in prices of items across the country. The stock and oil markets have not responded positively to this new American war in the Middle East. Official Washington is worried about how the regional crisis and Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz will affect global shipping and make supply chains more and more expensive, thus spiking inflation worldwide;
• All wars have massive unintended and tragic consequences, and the Trump Administration’s lack of fore-thought about what comes next in Iran is dangerous and morally and politically irresponsible;
• Trump’s M.O. is being repeated yet again in this war with Iran. He loves to destroy and leave behind a mess. It ought to be clear after his first 15 months in office that he is surrounded by incompetent appointees and advisors and a sycophantic Republican-controlled Congress who do not give him the advice, counsel, and honest criticism any President needs to make reasoned, thoughtful, strategic, constitutional, legal, and moral decisions that are in the best interests of the United States and our western alliances;
• Finally, I hope and pray that the United States finishes what it hopes to do as quickly as possible, that innocent life is spared, that pro-western leadership emerges to take Iran forward as part of the family of nations, and that this war does not inspire greater anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism in the United States and around the world.

We Jews are now between two of our holidays, Purim and Pesach (commencing on Wednesday evening, April 1). Purim reminds us that there really are evil actors out to destroy us and that we cannot be naïve to their murderous designs. Pesach reminds us that we were once enslaved by Pharaoh in Egypt and suffered mightily, but we cannot forget to be compassionate towards others. We have to be able to hold both dispositions at once, to be on guard and to sustain our empathy – often a very difficult challenge in times of stress and war.

The Midrashic literature tells the story that as the Egyptian army drowned in the Sea of Reeds in pursuit of the Israelite slaves after the Ten Plagues, the Angels surrounding God’s Throne of Glory began cheering. The Holy One, incensed by their celebration, turned to them with rebuke saying: “You celebrate while my creatures are perishing?”

Should the United States and Israeli military succeed in eliminating the threat of Iran, we Americans and Jews have every right to feel grateful that an evil empire has been removed from the face of the earth, but we also must remember to mourn the loss of every innocent life and not become hard-hearted.

I confess to holding at once far too many conflicting feelings and thoughts since this war began. However, I have confidence in both the American and Israeli military capabilities though I have no confidence in either our own American leadership or in the Israel government’s extremist right-wing leadership. I stand, nevertheless, with the United States in this war and with the people of Israel and the Jewish state, and I pray for their security. Our Israeli brothers and sisters have had enough of war.

The Psalmist (122:6) reminds us “שאלו שלום ירושלים – Sha-alu shalom Yerushalayim – Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”