We are not ok 💔

We have been in soul-crushing turmoil since the massacre in Israel this weekend.

𝐖𝐞 – 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 – 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐤.

We are devastated for our friends and our family – and for every human being suffering because of the selfishness and hunger for power of a few in control. Israeli is a tiny country the size of New Jersey, and every Jewish person is personally impacted by this horrific attack that is beyond anything we’ve ever experienced.

We are furious with the Israeli government for this massive failure to protect our people, for putting criminals in office with no desire for peace or unity with our Arab neighbors, and for fostering the division in the country (and emboldening the terrorists who surround us) that culminated in this explosion of horror and violence and evil.

We are scared and hurt – but sadly not surprised – hearing the cheers and the justification for the unimaginable desecration of Jewish bodies. (Question: Since when did beheading babies and raping women and burning families alive and mass shooting young people at a music festival “decolonize” anything?)

We feel lonely when our friends don’t reach out – and I know it’s because a lot of you don’t know what to say, what to ask.

And I want to give you the permission and space not to know, not to do it “right”, and to reach out to your Jewish friends and clients anyway.

To post your support, to be a human with a heart and a conscience – and not to give in to the harassment of those who would make you think that doing so means you are anti anything other than hatred.

I remember I didn’t know what to say either during BLM and how it’s easier to do nothing – and stay frozen in fear – rather than make a mistake.

But the mistake is not showing up when evil is present – and hiding behind political rhetoric instead of recognizing when you are applauding and justifying horrific actions just because you have picked a political side or group to identify with.

There is so much pain in this world.

Our families and community and my clients in Israel are compiling their first aid supplies for their safe rooms, attending daily funerals, grieving for beheaded babies and burned children and raped daughters and abducted family members, donating breastmilk because of so many slaughtered mothers, desperately praying for their missing relatives, searching for places to live after fleeing from their homes with nothing, running in and out of bomb shelters, sending their children off to war, and trying to grapple with what happens next where there no good solutions.

Our people coming together to support each other, to raise funds, to send supplies, to feed each other – as the Israeli government for the first time in history continues to flounder instead of moving into much-needed action or provide leadership – is one of the few bright spots we can look to during this tragedy.

So I choose to also feel faith in humanity – and how we show up for each other (even when our governments fail us, or when people hate and harass us and when the pain is so damn deep it paralyzes us all).

I choose to also feel hope, and dream about a world where this is can finally be the lowest point and things can only get better from here and we can heal together.

I choose to show up and have the hard conversations, and cry with you, and pray and show solidarity – and also celebrate when beautiful, amazing things happen because we cannot let ourselves sink into the darkness. There is always something beautiful to connect to and for the future of us all, we MUST try.

I choose to be visibly, proudly, loudly Jewish.

We are a small, but mighty minority that have been through so much trauma and hatred and violence and vilification as a people.

Our flame will not be snuffed out.

Ever.

𝐈 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 – 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫.

We will not hide.

We will not give up.

We will love and thrive and rebuild again.

We will strive for peace.

It’s what we Jews always do.

I hope you will join us

(Picture of us the night before the attacks, with my husband – a veteran of the IDF who was part of the Israeli disengagement of the Gaza Strip in 2005 – and his parents who by some grace of G-d are safely here with us, although all of our hearts and minds are across an ocean, praying for an end to this madness, but preparing ourselves for a long road into the unknown.)