One Day

Swimming in emotion soup and trying not to drown. That is the way I have been feeling since the attack by Hamas was launched on Israel on October 7th. It took the typically prepared government and military by surprise as civilians were captured in their homes, on the streets and at a music festival, some killed, some still held hostage.

To date, four have been released.

I’m not sure how they chose who to set free and who to continue to hold captive. One of the elderly women released, named Yocheved Lifshitz indicated that they were ‘well treated,’ after she was initially assaulted when she was captured. I was musing about this with friends yesterday who thought that since her husband was still in the hands of Hamas, she had to say that. To date, according to Israel, 224 are still in Hamas custody with their beyond anxious families and friends praying for their safety and freedom.

I catch glimpses on the news. For the sake of my day to day functioning, I can’t immerse myself in it. I join people, worldwide in prayer. I am still not convinced that there is an overseeing God who takes sides in a combat like this. I am not justifying violence, except for protection. Did the Hamas terrorists who launched the attack not think the Israeli army would strike back with a matched intensity? Doesn’t God love Palestinians as much as Israelis? While I can understand the anger connected with longing for a just two state solution, was this the best advised way to claim it?

On college campuses and streets worldwide are Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Israel protests. In homes of Jews and Muslims, fear is an unwelcome visitor. I was raised Jewish and am an interfaith minister who says “Love is my religion and God is too vast to fit into any one box.” I have a mezuzah on my door post. My last name is easily recognizable as Jewish. I have an epigenetic history of persecution and anti-Semitism. My paternal grandparents and maternal great grandparents left Russia to come to America.

Here, they felt safe. Here, they hoped that the following generations would be safe. With rising anti-Semitism in this country, neo Nazi and white supremacist groups spewing hate, the 5th anniversary of the murders of people who were praying at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA, that vileness has taken root and grown here.

Last night I was on a Zoom call that I was invited to by a long time friend as a safe space for those of us who identify as Jewish (whether religious or cultural) and who want to be able to regroup and heal in the face of the Hamas attack and the Israeli response. It was apolitical, although I am certain we all had our own views about the war. Afterward, we joked about the saying, “Two Jews, three opinions.” It was meditative and prayerful. It was restorative. I slept deeply last night, wrapped in a blanket of peace. We plan to do it again.

It was perfectly timed since right before, I had an interaction in a Jewish Facebook group I had joined that I thought would be supportive. The description read, “Certainly, every human life matters, and it’s important to acknowledge and address the challenges and issues faced by different communities, including the Jewish community. Promoting equality, understanding, and respect for all is a fundamental value.” Soon it became obvious that not everyone in the group got the memo.

Someone had made a comment that they would stand by Israel no matter what they did. When I questioned that moral stance, one woman told me that if I didn’t like it, I could leave the group. Of course, I visited her FB page and got a sense of her political alignment. I commented that her response was reflective of the statement, “My country, right or wrong and if you don’t like it, you can leave it.” I prefer to change what I can and stick around. I told her that her comment was scary. She volleyed back, “That’s a ‘you’ problem.” When I challenged her to answer the other comment, she declined. Someone else told me I was a ‘self hating Jew’ and that ‘they’ wouldn’t care that I was Liberal and Progressive when they come for me. I told her that I was a self loving Jew (I am also an interfaith minister who says that Love is my religion and God is too vast to fit in any box.) who practices Tikkun Olam (repair of the world). I then left the group.

My intention is that we emulate A.J. Muste’s challenge, “There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.”

One Day. How about making it this day?