Rabbi Jason Sobel’s Powerful Response to War in Israel: ‘Don’t Meet Hate with Hate’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Rabbi Jason Sobel shares a powerful reminder of prayer and the power of God amid the war in Israel.
“It’s easy when you see this level of evil to hate,” Sobel said on TBN, “but God warns us, ‘Do not hate your brother.’ In the very next verse, it goes on to say, ‘You will love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.’”
“Yeshua said, ‘Know the truth, and the truth will set you free,’ and what breaks my heart in this situation is the degree of hatred that is being perpetrated,” Sobel shared in a YouTube video. “There is no justification for attacking women and children and the elderly…We need to pray at this moment in time against the fear, against the lies, against the hate so that truth and love can prevail.”
“We cannot hate our brothers. We have to love them,” he continued. “I believe part of demonstrating that love is not just praying for the deliverance of Israel, but we need to pray for those in Gaza, those in Hamas, those in Hezbollah, that God would open their eyes, that He would turn their hearts towards Him. No person is too difficult to come to knowledge of [God] and find salvation.”
“We must remind ourselves that it isn’t our power that matters, but God’s,” Sobel wrote on Instagram. “He is not only omnipotent, He is all-knowing (omniscient). We are not called to understand all of His ways as much as trust the goodness of His heart.”
“Our hearts need to break for the hatred in those individuals’ hearts, and we don’t come in the same spirit – you don’t meet hate with hate – you have to come in an opposite spirit if you want to defeat that spirit which is we have to come in love against it, and we have to pray for the innocent Palestinian people that are suffering as a result of this aggression by the radical militants,” he added.
Rabbi Sobel’s calling to a higher standard is a powerful reminder of the radically different life God’s people are called to live. The Bible’s call to show love to all people in all circumstances is profound in a time of war, yet its message remains unfaltering.
So many heroes of the faith lived out this message, showing love to their adversary whilst protecting themselves and their families. Pray that Israel can continue to live out this message today as they fight.
Movieguide® previously reported:
Oscar winner Jon Voight shared scripture amid the recent attacks on Israel, something the actor calls the “Hamas Holocaust.”
On his X page, the actor shared a message from the Old Testament to provide hope.
“Let me read something for you,” he began. “Israel, I love you. Israel will stand tall for the land of its sacred soil. These sick-minded beings have been evil since birth; they’re trained to destroy. God’s power, along with the Israeli army, will end this destruction and the power of this evil. It will be destroyed once and for all so the Jewish people can be in peace, live in safety — to live life. L’Chaim.”
“Let me assure you by the almighty power of God and the power of Moses, who once stood in the power of evil forces, that this is the Holocaust,” Voigt added. “It’s the horror that was witnessed by the Jews of Auschwitz, and I have come now to warn the evil ones that God will show truths again. He shall win this war for His people, as when Moses was able to lift the Red Sea.”
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