Post Trauma Sandwich: Postcards From Jerusalem

Dear Lab/Shul,

I spent New Year’s Eve in bed, in Jerusalem, on antibiotics for a few days to deal with some intense intestinal stuff, on top of the ongoing war’s pains and tensions. I’m sure it was connected.

I got better, and even managed to rest a little during this third tough trip in three months to be with hurting family and friends on both sides of the horrific conflict.

Although getting sick prevented me from some of the volunteering, activism and engagement I was hoping to join with Israeli and Palestinian friends, it also gave me some time for reflection…more poetic than political. I wrote a series of short notes, with personal anecdotes, scraps of conversation, and even an unpolished poem. I finished it on the plane back to NYC, and I invite you to read them, with an open heart. Feedback is always appreciated.

READ: “My 2-week Journal”:
Post-Trauma Sandwich: Postcards from Jerusalem 

Tonight the new moon of S’hvat rises in the winter sky, starting the month that in our tradition marks the very first crack in the ice of winter, a very subtle sign of spring, the change of seasons.

Tonight we mark 100 impossible nights and days since the cruel Hamas attack ignited this latest and most horrific war in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This war is devastating life in Gaza, and on the border of Lebanon and Israel, claiming countless innocent lives, and causing a severe humanitarian crisis. The devastation is  also rippling worldwide, increasing hate, sowing sorrow, breaking hearts and homes, rupturing reality as we know it, including many relationships.

This war brings up critical and crucial questions about morality and identity, complexity and compassion. We will need time and space for all of those to be discussed, with open hearts and minds.

Our community has already cast circles for us to start asking and hearing these questions, to share pains and plans, offer various ways to offer support, protest, and be part of long term solutions.

We will continue doing so in the next weeks and months, committed to each other’s humanity and to the common ground that shapes our shared destiny. 

And while the numbers can numb and words may fail to fathom the epic enormity of this tragedy which is still unfolding – we do have agency, and we have ways with which to show up with and for each other as best we can. We can and must do all we can to see each other’s tears, hear each other’s fears, to affirm each other’s humanity, to recognize the different ways with which we are responding with respect, and to raise our voices together for this violence to end and for a brave new story to start.

It’s on us to co-create the new narratives that must help heal this wound, end this war and honor our humanity in ways we find so difficult to fathom right now. Perhaps we can learn from the new moon, this sacred symbol, how to find faith in renewal, even from the depth of what may seem like endless winter.

TONIGHT, our community will circle up Downtown in NYC to welcome the first Sabbath Queen of 2024 with powerful music, prayers for peace, and a special focus on the lasting legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I’m looking forward to seeing many of you at this much-needed healing ritual gathering that will help quench our thirst for connection, hope, and inspiration. As our Spiritual leader, Shira Kline, wrote in her beautiful invitation earlier this week, honoring MLK’s life and vision:

“In the reverberations of his rigorous pursuit, we will pour from the great waters wellspring of liberation.”

What does water have to do with the quest for justice in this country and worldwide? Check out this stunning short vid to follow in the footsteps of the prophets on the journey of justice and liberation.

Following the ritual at our Community Feast, Lab/Shul’s Racial Equity and Action Delegation (READ) will facilitate an optional discussion about racial equity at Lab/Shul, grounded in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s teachings. 

THIS WEEKEND: We also invite you to take part in actualizing MLK’s vision by volunteering. See below for various ways to offer your acts of service across NYC.

IN THE COMING WEEKS & MONTHS we will continue to convene communal circles and opportunities to share our feeling and thoughts about the war, to stand in solidarity with peacemakers on the ground who refuse to give up on co-existence, and to come up with new ways for us to be in solidarity with suffering, activism for peace, and whatever works to build a better world, for all. See some of those offerings below and stay tuned for more events coming soon.

As always, we welcome all suggestions and are grateful for the ways we all show up for love and justice, peace and hope.

I end this letter with a blessing that I quote in my reflections, the Arabic version of ‘Happy New Year’, taught to me by John, a new Palestinian friend: