I had something entirely different in mind for my post this week before Saturday happened. And I considered going with my original idea except that every time I sat down to write or even so much as think about my original idea, I felt blocked by the reality of Saturday's tragedy in a synagogue in Pittsburgh. For anyone who, like me, often prefers blissful ignorance and needs a quick update: At 10:00 am on Saturday morning, a gunman entered the Tree of Life Congregation synagogue in Pittsburgh and opened fire, killing 11. Not only was the community gathered for Shabbat morning services, they were also celebrating a baby naming: Eleven lives were taken Saturday morning. Two other worshipers were injured and four officers also were injured. Among those killed: Middle-aged brothers, an elderly husband and wife and a grandmother nearing 100. Many of them had gathered for a naming ceremony, which marks the beginning of a baby's journey in the Jewish faith. What horrifies me most about this act of terrorism is how familiar it feels, how easy it has become to normalize acts of violence as if they are not just a natural but somehow necessary part of our society. I am horrified by my own lack of a response; while my friend sobbed upon hearing the news as our own Shabbat morning services came to a close, I felt stoic. I am horrified by my feeling of ineptitude, of smallness, of silence in the face of evil.
This blog is entitled Surthriving in an effort to define that unique space between being alive and living. My posts are real and important, but also occasionally tongue-in-cheek and glib. But none of that compares to what the Jewish communities at Tree of Life, throughout Pittsburgh, and around the globe are feeling today. In truth, Jews have been surthriving for millenia, defined by the anxiety that develops over generations of worrying about a persistent threat of violence, of fearing that one's neighbors will only be kind so long as it suits them. The Jewish people knows what it is to build life from the rubble over and over again, to sing and dance and laugh in a minor key, to make life more beautiful because of its fragility. Eleven died, but there are innumerable victims. Even beyond the Jewish community, whose fear and anxiety is stoked anew, minority communities throughout the country are feeling the fear. Hate crimes and violence against black, Muslim, Latinx, LGBTQ, and other communities has been on the rise for the last four years, and even that data is incomplete because of the failure of many precincts to accurately identify hate crimes or report their information to the FBI. So not only are members of these minority communities afraid, but we don't even know how afraid we should be. I keep asking myself what I can do. I do not believe I can single-handedly stop a madman intent on murder. I do not believe I can change the world through words alone, especially when my circle is increasingly filled with people who don't think so differently from me. Thankfully, I am not the first to wonder what I can do in the face of hatred, and the Southern Poverty Law Center has created a great resource: "Ten Ways to Fight Hate." But more than anything, more than voting or donating money or marching or teaching, we must combat any trace of apathy within ourselves. We must constantly, constantly, push back against the rhetoric that normalizes such behavior even as it speaks of shock and awe. We must be vigilant about checking our own biases and privileges, being constantly aware of the ways in which we, too, are responsible for hatred in the world. And must strive beyond all else, for a world in which mutual respect, tolerance, safety, and security can truly be taken for granted by all.
1 Comment
Barbara Cowen
10/30/2018 08:19:20 am
Beautiful words❤️
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AuthorNashira is a music teacher and proud Small-Town Jew who, after surthriving six years in Brooklyn for her husband's surgical residency, is finally back in Wisconsin where she belongs! At least until the end of the two-year surgical fellowship, that is. It's a wild ride, and she's ready to tell you all about it! Archives
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