Letter to Rabbi Lau
By Mustafa Ceric
Oct 22, 2023
Yisrael Meir Lau
Former Chief Rabbi of Israel
President of Yad Vashem
Assalamu Alaikum!
Shalom Aleichem!
Your Eminence Rabbi Lau,
I begin this letter with the need to share with you the Divine message, which you Jews read in Sanhedrin 4:5 in such a way that: – He who destroys one human soul, the Scripture considers him as having destroyed the whole world, and he who saves one Israeli soul, Scripture considers him as having saved the whole world (Babylonian Talmud), while we Muslims in the Holy Qur’an, sura 5:32, read and learn that: – He who kills one innocent man, it is as if he killed all humanity , and the one who saves the life of one man, any man, is the same as if he saved the whole world.
This is a similar commandment of God for you, the Jews, and for us, the Muslims, with the fact that the Holy Qur’an reminds us that every human life, without distinction, is sacred (haram) and therefore every human life is inalienable and untouchable, be it Israeli or Palestinian.
Your Eminence Rabbi Lau,
There is another similarity between us not only regarding our common source of Musa/Moses from Sinai, but also between our life experiences. You are the surviving son of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lay, who was killed in the Treblinka death camp, Poland, and I am a survivor of the genocide in Sarajevo, a city that was under siege for 1425 days and nights, three times longer than the siege of Stalingrad, without water, electricity and food. You can trust me to sympathize with the pain and suffering of the Holocaust victims on January 27 in Yad Vashem, just as I trust you to sympathize with the pain and suffering of the Genocide victims on July 11 in Srebrenica.
Nothing is accidental in God’s providence, not even the fact that on October 12, 2023, in the organization of the European Jewish Association, I visited Jasenovac for the first time, where I discovered four victims of my surname (Cerić) in the Jasenovac Holocaust. I listened carefully to a speech by the Dutch Rabbi Benyamin Jacobs, and other Jewish participants, who strongly condemned the attack by Hamas on Israel, a gross act of terrorism against innocent Israeli civilians.
After Jasenovac, God’s providence wanted me to participate in a conference in Cairo from October 18-19, 2023, where I carefully listened to the condemnation of the Israeli shelling of Gaza, which Israel condemned to be without water, food, electricity and fuel. I saw horrific pictures of murdered Palestinian children, old men and women. All this revived in me the memory of the pictures from occupied Sarajevo, just as I am sure that the memory of Auschwitz revives in you while watching what is happen nowadays in Gaza. A sound human heart cannot feel otherwise, it cannot be indifferent to the tears of innocent children, no matter who they are. If anyone in this world understands that because they have to, it’s you Jews, because I know that you understood it best for us Bosnians in Bosnia and Sarajevo, while we suffered under the siege of Sarajevo without water, food, electricity and fuel.
Therefore, I condemn Hamas’ killing of civilians of any age or gender. It is not in the spirit of our religion of Islam based on the above quoted verse from the Holy Quran in Sura 5. I condemn the arbitrary action of Hamas, thus giving a false moral basis to the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu, who is considered by even half of the Israeli public to be fascist and evil to make bloody ethnical cleansing of Gaza and to shell everything that moves in that city until its complete destruction, that is, until the “Final Solution”. I condemn Hamas’ rejection of Saudi Arabia’s attempts to reach a peaceful solution for the Palestinian people.
But, Your Eminence Rabbi Lau, I equally condemn Israel’s targeted and indiscriminate shelling of suffering innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza and its attempt to forcefully drive them to Sinai. I condemn Israel’s targeted and random arrest of Palestinian children, women and men in the West Bank. Two evils do not make right. I ask you, what could be a greater provocation to provoke someone than what Israel has been doing to the Palestinian people for three quarters of a century? Of course, I condemn and am appalled at the crocodile tears of Western politicians and media over the murdered Israeli soldiers and civilians, while we do not hear a word of condolence from them for the thousands of murdered Palestinian children, women and men. That kind of hypocrisy is disgusting.
Your Eminence Rabbi Lau,
Do not be surprised that I am writing to you. I feel it as my duty and care for you Jews, not only in Israel, but all over the world in a similar way as my descendants took care by providing a refuge to the exiled Sephardic Jews from Spain in 1492, who brought with them the Haggadah, which Sarajevo kept and preserved in its bosom, as its trust of the first order.
I am worried, Your Eminence, because what the Israeli “invincible” army is doing to the Palestinian unconquered people in Gaza cannot bear the conscience of humanity. I am afraid of the spreading wave of Anti-Semitism in the world, but also of Islamophobia, because these are two scourges of today’s world, which have been spreading around the world for a long time, alternately, like the law on joined vessels.
Well, that’s why I’m writing you this letter to invite you to raise – to raise together – a voice against the genocidal holocaust in Gaza on the basis of the Divine commandment that: – He who kills one innocent man is the same as having killed all of humanity, and he who saves the life of one man, any man, is the same as if he had saved the whole world.
Isn’t it time, after all, for your Jewish voice and our Muslim voice to be heard, to be heard throughout the world – together as one voice:
– Let the Holy War become the Holy Peace! Amen!
– Let the Just War become a Just Peace! Amen!
– Let the art of War become the art of Peace! Amen!
– Let cursed Revenge become blessed Forgiveness for Peace – Salam-Shalom! Amen!
– Let the genocidal siege and shelling of Gaza stop immediately and unconditionally! Amen!
– May freedom, peace and security reign in the Holy Land for all people of good will! Amen!
Mustafa Ceric, Ph.D.
Grand Mufti of Bosnia (1993-2012)
