The Healing Power of Action
A group of young Jews in Boston (Massachusetts, USA) decided to stage a rally challenging the narrative about the war in Gaza that was being put out by the local mainstream Jewish organizations. Seventy-five young people sang and chanted in front of the offices of these organizations for Tisha Be’Av.1 The two heads of the organizations agreed to meet in their offices with a bunch of young Jews. As a Jewish leader in the wide world and a young adult, I was contacted by the organizers and asked to come.
I had a lot of feelings about it. My first instinct was to “duck”2 the invite and pretend that I didn’t have time to deal with it—just as I had ignored the rally the week before. Fortunately I had a session already scheduled with another Jew of color. I brought all my feelings into that session and for the first time linked together all the reasons why I felt discouraged, hopeless, and hurt about Israel/Palestine. The contradiction3 of being with another Jew of color, and of being able to get a session about these feelings at all, led to a breakthrough for me. I feel like I have a new handle on4 how to tackle this distress. I could feel everyone who has written to the list5 urging me to fully discharge my feelings instead of disengaging from the material6 (which is how I have coped with it for the past decade or so).
Going into the meeting I still had lots of feelings but knew that I had to act. As young adults we have a lot of power to change the narrative about Israel/Palestine that is coming out of the Jewish community in the United States. We told our stories and presented our requests to the organizations and had an interesting discussion. We will take the results of it back to other young Jews in Boston and figure out what to do next.
This experience was a reminder of the effectiveness of a good session and the healing power of action! I feel rejuvenated and hopeful again. What a victory! It was also a reminder of our power as young adults and how important it is for us to raise our voices and stand up for our thinking. We can lead the Jewish people back to their true selves.
Rosa Blumenfeld
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail
discussion list for leaders of Jews
1 Tisha Be’Av is an annual fast day in Judaism that commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem and the subsequent exile of the Jews from the Land of Israel. The day also commemorates other tragedies that occurred on the same day, including the Roman massacre of over 500,000 Jews atBetar in 135 CE. Tisha Be’Av is regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendar and a day destined for tragedy. It falls in July or August in the Western calendar.
2 “Duck” means avoid, ignore.
3 Contradiction to distress
4 “A new handle on” means a new way to approach.
5 The RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of Jews
6 “Material” means distress.