ON THE ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

I think this last year has made me harder and colder in certain ways - at times more hawkish, like my father and grandmother, who were blind supporters of Israel in any-and-everything she (Israel) did in the name of survival, no matter how extreme. I understood their position, having grown up and come out of WWll and its attendant (actual) genocide, but I would get a knot in my gut and clench my teeth whenever either of them started in with their saber rattling.

I, on the other hand, had always been a peacenik, even a pacifist, literally putting my arms at my side while taking beatings from meatheads for the way I looked in high school, out of principle.

When I was 16 I was escorted off of an El Al flight by armed IDF soldiers and interrogated for sporting a radically worded anti-war tee shirt and having a peace sign etched into the flesh side of my half-mohawk.

The John Hughes-like luxury of being a young American in the 1980s, spoiled, self-righteous, and thousands of miles away from any actual war or real existential threat never ceases to amaze me.

In most ways, I still live in that rarefied, protected bubble, thanks be.

My dad used to say “buddyboy, the world hates Jews”, and “the minute something goes wrong in the world, Jews are the first to blame”. I used to think he was being melodramatic and paranoid. Now I am less certain.

On the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas (not a liberation or resistance organization - and there’s plenty to liberate and resist in Israel/Gaza - but a genocidal Iran proxy that subjugates its own people, steals their money, then uses them as human shields and cannon fodder, not to mention explicitly calling for, and enacting, the eradication of Jews) I looked back and found a note that I wrote a year ago, blind with grief and confusion.

It felt quaint and overly-simple even then, but I guess that’s what I needed. Maybe simple is useful now, since we’re clearly as dumb as ever.

Now, it feels murky, covered in rubble, soot, and toxic dust.

Here’s what I wrote:

Authentic peace can only be sustained if all participants agree to live and behave peacefully, without force, domination, violence or humiliation.

The peace WE know -times between wars- is a temporary thing that should be given a different name.

(It’s also something I would joyously welcome at the moment..)

Maybe we should distill a handful of truly universal values that all humans share -they exist, I believe- and use those as the basis of a new experiment in coexistence.

Build out from there.

Otherwise we’re just holding our breath until the next atrocity.

And:  where is a safe place for Jews if-and-when Israel isn’t?

Over the last year I’ve heard so many compelling arguments both for and against the war that’s happening in and around Israel.

Is it the frontline of a world war between western/democratic and medieval values? Maybe.

Is it an existential war for Israel, and by extension the promise of a safe haven for Jews the world over? Definitely feels that way to this Jew.

Is it an expression of generational trauma on “both sides”, the inevitable, repetitive cycles of which can only be broken by some kind of species-wide, anti-tribal group therapy? I don’t see that happening any time soon, so..hold my beer.

In conclusion, no conclusion.

I’m looking for practical, practicable answers, which may be impossible given how scattered we are in our thoughts, beliefs, attention, priorities and intentions.

In the meantime I will try to lead with love, and continue listening for the song buried deep in the burning forest.

Thanks + love,

Craig