Dear Lab/Shul Family,

How many times have you cried this week?
What made you smile in spite of all this pain, reminding you that we still can – and must – find kindness and appreciation for humanity while this war rages on? 

Like so many of us, I too am struggling to not get sucked into despair while doom-scrolling, to keep hope alive for all the hostages as we demand to #bringthemhome, to mourn and protest the loss of thousands of innocent lives in Gaza, to keep offering relief and love to family and friends who are struggling in Israel and Palestine, to support each other as hatred hurts so many of us here – and yes — to try to hold all truths and narratives inside one hurting tired heart.

In today’s short note I want to:

  • Invite you to upcoming events that will hopefully help hold healing space for our tired bodies, hearts and minds.
  • Share a few brief reflections about this moment + a short video I just posted – with an ancient story about finding foxes inside sacred ruins – that can lead us on a path towards better days ahead. 

TONIGHT we’ll come together in Brooklyn to pray for peace and celebrate Shabbat at our monthly Sabbath Queen. Join us in person or online to insist that peace is possible— because peace begins inside each one of us, and within our communities – even with so many different and conflicting feelings, opinions, beliefs and truths. Shabbat, like peace, doesn’t just happen – it’s on us to show up, hug and breathe together; sing, sit in silence, sob, sip and smile and co-create a sacred circle to refuel our lives. I look forward to wishing you Shabbat Shalom tonight – a Shabbat of Peace.

TOMORROW NIGHT at 6pm, as Shabbat departs, I invite you to join me along with my wise friend Franny Silverman, a trusted facilitator and Lab/Shul Board Member, for an online session devoted to “Holding each other in relationships across political differences.” 

We are bringing back our popular Covid-era Spiritual Survival Salon Series with conversations that can help us cope and hope in tough times. This series is for Lab/Shul Partners and I hope you join us for this first session – with more coming soon. (Become a Partner today at any level to join these – and help us offer more programs to the community.)

LATER THIS WEEK, as we prepare for Thanksgiving, please be advised that our weekly Heart Circle will meet online on Wednesday 12/22 as will our Kaddish Call on Thursday 12/23.

AND – OUR COMMUNITY HANUKKAH RETREAT! coming up on 12/8-10 – will be a wonderful opportunity to come together so that we can delve in depth into many of these vital conversations; doing what Lab/Shul does best by reconnecting  to what matters most. I’m hoping to see you there!

And as wrap this week – a few brief reflections, and two links:

EARLIER THIS WEEK I traveled to DC to join the Peace Bloc at the March for Israel Rally. I went along with my friend Rabbi Misha Shulman from The New Shul, after we both wrestled whether to go and publicly “pick sides” at this complicated political moment. We went to support our families in Israel, to call for the release of the hostages, and stand with our colleagues in the pro peace camp.

We decided to go despite knowing that this march would not contain the complexity of our moral and political stands, and would give voice to speakers whose views do not represent us and our values.

We went not to choose sides, but, as one of our friends and leaders – Hadar Susskind, the president and CEO of Americans for Peace Now – wrote in this helpful op-ed published yesterday: To Choose the Side of Humanity.

I am grateful for the generosity that enables us to attend safely.
It was good to see so many who care for our families and friends and support Israel at this difficult hour. And, it was challenging to hear a lot of hate speech from some of those who attended, and to hear the crowd yell ‘No Ceasefire’ when Van Jones lamented Palestinian losses and advocated for a humanitarian pause. We stood on the sidelines, physically and ideologically, embracing those who like us carried signs that included empathy for both sides and called for peace – and those were very few.

I echo what Hadar writes:

“I have been dismayed by the unwillingness of many leaders in the Jewish community to articulate support for Palestinian lives. No matter your opinion on the righteousness of Israel’s response, we cannot look away from the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza…Call it a cease-fire or a humanitarian pause, what matters is that the hostages must be released and the bombing and rockets must stop. We must rise above rage and pain and think about tomorrow.”

And I want to share one more quote with you, from a brave peacemaker who was buried in Israel yesterday – another victim of the horrendous massacre on October 7th. Vivian Silver, of blessed memory,  is now famous for the terrible way her life ended – but she was well known and loved in many peacemaking circles – Israeli, Palestinian and global – for the past decades. Her brutal murder by Hamas terrorists is a terrible tragedy but as her son and friends said at her funeral – it does not eradicate her message of building bridges for peace — only reinforced the urgency. In one of the moving tributes to her memory, Samah Salaime, a feminist Palestinian activist who knew her well, quotes Vivian from a conversation they had a few years ago:

​“I’ve learned a lot, the hard way, about Arab-Jewish partnership, and I know that when it succeeds, it succeeds because every side understands that the justice it seeks depends heavily on the justice of the other side. Closing the gap comes from collaborative work, and not from struggling against one another.” 

In the middle of this ongoing conflict, as more and more are killed, wounded, displaced, and traumatized – we hold Vivian’s courage, wisdom and blessed memory along with all the other losses – with deepest hopes that we will work together to eradicate the hate, face the fear, and co-create a safer, better world.

And what can give us a bit more hope inside the present horror? 

Please check out this short video I posted today –  THE FOXES IN THE RUINS HELP US FIND HOPE  – another step on my ongoing @belowthebiblebelt929 journey, where ancient wisdom somehow manages to always speak to the moment, with prophetic wisdom that can help us find a path to hope even as so much pain and devastation dominate our lives.

In the days and weeks ahead – I hope we lean into gratitude, raise up hope, and healing, show up for peace in all the ways that help us all support each other and create a kinder world, together. 

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Amichai