Rabbi Menachem Creditor
I just spoke on the floor of the ASUC meeting pouring out my soul,
admitting my fear, asking the student senators to call upon my Jewish
community to stand with them in working towards a Palestinian state.
But I was one of a very few people wearing a blue sticker in a sea of
green stickers. I don't feel safe. I don't feel affirmed. I don't
feel safe. I don't feel safe.
I tried my best to share how vulnerable the Jewish community is, how
afraid for my children I am. But I'm surrounded by green. And I feel
suspicious eyes on my kippah. I am with some brave members of my
shul. But why must it take bravery to go to my local university?
My shul is a strong, safe, holy place, down the block from this very
hall. Special people call it home: Jewish, not-Jewish, believers,
skeptics. I affirm an Infinte number of Faces of God, including the
Muslim faith. Why do I feel surrounded by green, as if the color is
outside of that Infinity, or that I'm being pushed outside of that
Infinity myself?
This is a circus, to be sure. But it's not surreal - it's real.
Tonight, it's green. And I feel alone, and marginalized, and scared.
I miss the safety and pride that fills my Jewish heart in Israel,
despite all that needs to be fixed there.
Singing Hatikvah is not a political act - it's an affirmation that the
Jewish soul yearns, that we refuse to lose hope. But boy is this a
hard thing right now.
I am in the green West, but my blue and broken heart is in the East.
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Sent from my mobile device
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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
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