Article in The Times of Israel by Andy Blumenthal: Foes are turned into friends. Families grow rather than attend early funerals. Communities bustle and prosper rather than lie as dying evacuated ghost towns. We all become part of a community of nations working to solve life's biggest problems, instead of planning how to maim and kill each other with greater pinpoint accuracy and effect.

1. 2/25/24, 12:35 AM Imagine Peace | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/imagine-peace/ 1/5
THE BLOGS
Andy Blumenthal
Leadership With Heart
Imagine Peace
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2. 2/25/24, 12:35 AM Imagine Peace | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/imagine-peace/ 2/5
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If you’re not too angry,
And you probably have every right to be,
Can you still imagine peace?
Not a cold or warm peace,
But a genuine body-embracing peace.
A peace free not only of war but of rivalry, jealousy, and hate.
A peace anchored in respect for all G-d’s children.
There is collaboration rather than conflict.
There are plowshares beaten from swords.
There are barbecues, not bombs.
Caring bears more fruit than cruelty.
Humanity supersedes clans, tribes, or city-states.

3. 2/25/24, 12:35 AM Imagine Peace | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/imagine-peace/ 3/5
What is important is not that I win and you lose, but that we both can win.
We can win the war and win the peace.
We can feel safe not because we conquer, but because we know what it is to
safely share.
No more missiles or terror tunnels.
No rapes, mutilations, burnings, or beheadings.
No more hostages languishing, suffocating, and starving underground.
Jihad and Intifada have no meaning anymore.
Buses, schools, and synagogues are places of safety, not murderous targets.
Pizzerias are for eating, discotheques are for dancing, and malls are for
shopping.
Hospitals are for the sick, not for yet more bullet- and shrapnel-filled victims.
There is no need for shelters anymore, and all rooms become “safe rooms.”
War is a theoretical abstraction.
Terrorism is an anachronism.
Foes are turned into friends.
Families grow rather than attend early funerals.
Communities bustle and prosper rather than lie as dying evacuated ghost towns.
We all become part of a community of nations working to solve life’s biggest
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4. 2/25/24, 12:35 AM Imagine Peace | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/imagine-peace/ 4/5
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Blumenthal is a dynamic, award-winning leader who writes frequently about Jewish life,
culture, and security. All opinions are his own.
problems, instead of planning how to maim and kill each other with greater
pinpoint accuracy and effect.
If bad can change to good,
If people can find regret in their hearts,
If they can root out the rot from their minds,
If they can purify their divine souls,
Peace can come through faith, strength, and, if not forgiveness, then perhaps at
least a measure of forgetfulness.
And thus we reach the final days and the coming of Mashiach.
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5. 2/25/24, 12:35 AM Imagine Peace | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/imagine-peace/ 5/5
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