October 7. Hopeful Nonetheless
When I was a child, the important January dates were January 1 (New Year’s Day) and January 8 (my birthday).
January 2 through 7 were filler.
The January 6, 2020 attack on the capitol changed that date forever.
Similarly, September 11 used to be just another day.
Until it wasn’t.
And last year’s coordinated murder of Jews changed today, October 7, into yet another day that will live in infamy.
***
It’s not one side’s fault.
Ali Michael, PhD writes:
“Presenting this conflict as binary, as if it has only two sides, is inaccurate and unhelpful… this is not Israeli v. Palestinian. It is not Muslim v. Jew… This is about governments, terrorist groups, Hamas, illegal settlers, innocent civilians, colonialism, U.S. investment in Middle Eastern politics, Muslim Palestinians, Christian Palestinians, secular Palestinians, Bedouin people, Arab Israelis, progressive Israelis, Ultra-Orthodox Israelis… Zionists, Anti-Zionists, religious American Jews, secular American Jews… American business interests, American military interests, European military interests, Republicans, Democrats, Millennials, Baby Boomers, anti-Netanyahu factions on the right and on the left of Israel, oil companies, anti-Netanyahu factions on the left and on the right of the US, the governments of Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, peace activists, children, doctors, nurses, chefs, university professors, parents, congresspeople with their own agendas, think tanks, politicians, and more.”
***
As a child, I learned that it is not a matter of if—but when—we Jews will be blamed and they will come for us.
To grow up Jewish is to be raised as other and knowing there is always a reason to be scared.
Today, October 7, is the one year anniversary of that threat being re-stated.
***
Two weeks ago. Our Home
Annie (15) and I are on the couch, listening to the audiobook of Elie Wiesel’s Night. Her sophomore English teacher assigned this haunting memoir of a Jewish teenager in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.
We listen.
Uncomfortably.
Wiesel describes his arrival at Auschwitz and being separated from his loved ones.
It could have been me.
Her.
Us.
Our feet inches from touching, she voices blame to me for making her Jewish.
I have no response.
***
Despite today’s reminder some people in the world wish me dead because of my heritage and religion—I remain hopeful for a world at peace.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote:
“Optimism and hope are not the same. Optimism is the belief that the world is changing for the better; hope is the belief that, together, we can make the world better. Optimism is a passive virtue, hope an active one. It needs no courage to be an optimist, but it takes a great deal of courage to hope. The Hebrew Bible is not an optimistic book. It is, however, one of the great literatures of hope.”
