For the second week in a row I need to dedicate this
dvar Torah to the memory of a friend and human rights hero. We buried Ezra Nawi on Saturday night. I will write more at length about Ezra at another time. Now I will simply say that, as controversial and often falsely maligned as he was, so many Palestinians owe the fact that they haven’t been expelled from the South Hebron Hills because of Ezra. I believe that, along with his heart of gold, some of his mistakes pushed him to do good. It is appropriate that he died on the Shabbat of the Torah portion of Shemot. In it we read that Pharaoh says to the “provocatuers” in his eyes, “Moses and Aaron, why do you distract the people from their tasks,” i.e., everything was fine until you showed up. Ezra showed up. We read of the first recorded example of civil disobedience, when the Hebrew midwives refuse to obey the orders of Pharaoh. In the face of evil and injustice, Ezra refused to play according to the rules.