Maybe some of you, like me, woke up today feeling worried about the world before glancing at the phone for recent news updates. The news update are never nice. They remind us of the hell thats there outside our walls in a world roiling with hate and violence. And that’s the “conventional” news.
Do you also ponder how social media has so effectively served as a platform for hate, for anti Israel and antisemitic lies, distortions, manufactured news while the “real” news broadcasts some garbage assertions by Elon Musk that social media could have prevented the Holocaust?
Do you ponder how so many people who are not Islamic fundamentalists nevertheless celebrate the hatred of our Western Culture, shrieking for “global intifada” yet not realizing that there is no room for diversity of thought or behavior in a society ruled by Hamas or its ilk.
Could today be the day the UN High Court will proclaim Israel is guilty of genocide? What’s next in the docket of the haters? How do we stand up to this psychological terror? Just turn off the phone? Maybe.
Or maybe ask some tough questions. Be brave and ask “why did the ANC bring this allegation forth? What does the ANC have to gain?” Or, “Why does Hamas continue to use civilians as human shields? Why do they still hold babies hostage?” Or, “why do haters of free speech use free speech as their shield?” Or HOW DO WE LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT?
A little critical thinking goes a long way.
A little critical questioning cuts the big bad dream into a pile of sawdust. A little action puts the power back into our hands.
Action makes things better
The “news” and its implications used to make me depressed. Sam and I had a long conversation about how these thoughts lead to feelings that he claims are “like” depression but which are not actually depression. Are you depressed or do you feel is if you were depressed? Thin line if you ask me. But more to the point, depression can be attributable to unused strengths. In other words: Inaction.
I feel so lucky to have visited Israel at this time because I do not find these thoughts make me depressed. I saw how people in Israel are dealing with these “depressing” thoughts and scenarios. They’re Acting! They’re doing something to make things better. Not just coping. Acting.
I feel strongly connected to Israel because we are powerfully connected as Jewish people and burden of our history is mutual.
This morning Sam and I started the day with our usual list of questions/worries and he asked, “what are people feeling in Israel each day?” Of course I have not talked “everyone” but I heard over and over again descriptions of how they have had to fight off feelings to just shut down, fight the urge to not be social, not allow themselves to to not leave the house.
But are they feeling depression? Sam queried.
I suspect that label could be applied to many of us in the US, Canada, UK, France, South Africa and many other “civilized” places right now. I think depression is when there seems to be no options out. On October 7 Israelis confronted a “no options” scenario and were forced to act on it.
The civilian responses to the terrorist attacks were spontaneous. They could not wait for a government response. There was a desperate, immediate need. Hundreds of thousands of them. People in Israel, and at a wider level the People of Israel saw the emergency and acted in an incredible, unprecedented communal response. There was nothing else to do.
Back to my first days in the south, I visited Mitzpe Ramon, in the high Negev. If you look at your map you will see Mitzpe is far southeast of Otef ‘Aza. Please keep in mind that in Israel “far” means more than an hour drive.
As the terrorist attack unfolded people in Mitzpe immediately took in people escaping the horrors. By the next day, survivors of the attacks, entire communities were being transported to safer regions. Many survivors had only the clothes they were wearing as they escaped. Some in pajamas, many blood stained. There was no government response to provide civilian aid at the beginning. All military and police capabilities were focused on the eliminating the threat of the 3,000 (!) terrorists within Israel’s sovereign borders. So individuals responded.
In this short film you can see the immediate response in Mitzpe. Not only volunteers donated, gathered and distributed to meet the needs of over 3,500 displaced people. My new friend Camilla Butchins also volunteered her filmmaking talents to document the efforts. And now this center has been dismantled and volunteerism continues to morph to meet the emerging needs of over 200,000 internally displaced Israelis.
Camilla’s brother, Craig, also based in Mitzpe normally runs jeep tours and glamping in the Negev. He used his vehicles during the crisis to transport people and goods. Along with others who are aware of the needs of their Bedouin neighbors he reached out to lend a hand at this most awful time. Keshet CEO, and Bedouin Culture Preservation Program Leader, Ezray Keydar, quickly responded to help his neighbors.
Ezray Kayder
He realized that when there is danger the Bedouins will culturally respond by scattering from group compounds into the safety of the desert. And that is exactly what happened on Oct 7th. He along with others from Mitzpe sought out their neighbors to bring food, water and supplies. They headed south along the two lane highway south into the desert. The road that has many large culverts to allow flash flood waters to pass safely under the desert road. There they found their Bedouin neighbors and potentially saved lives.
The story repeats itself. Not hundreds of times. Thousands of times. In acts large and small, in individual and communal responses. I’ll discuss it more in future posts because it makes me incredibly proud. Israel is a country that acts.
0Comments
Add Comment