Reclaiming my consciousness in the Hebrew New Year

It is now the month of Tishrei, which begins with Rosh Hashana, the holiday that marks the New Year in the lunar calendar of the Hebrew people, known to many as the Jews. 

Traditionally, this season is a time of reflection, of looking inward as the leaves fall from the trees and we lean into the hibernation of winter in the part of the earth that is known to some as the Holy Land. 

This season of the new year is a painful one for us, marking one year since the tragic 7th of October, a day that changed the course of human history, for all of us, forever. 

On this painful anniversary, we are still at war, still holding on to the belief that violence will bring us safety. 

Yet we all know that 

violence

only 

leads 

to

more

and 

more

and

more

violence

and so on and so on and so on

for generations. 

I am fortunate to have the possibility

this New Year

to find myself outside of Israel

outside of Palestine

outside of this land 

that I love so much

to which I chose to move my life

leaving behind the comfort and abundance 

of life in the US

for this desert

of dreams

filled with magical memories 

sacred stories 

of people who love a land

being held by a land

who loves her people

her people stones

her people trees

her people birds

her people Hebrews

her people Muslims

her people Christians

her people pilgrims

from all corners of the planet

who have 

walked the earth

drank the water

sung the songs

lit the fires

of prayer

in

this desert 

of destruction

ravaged by the ideologies

of blind men

who cannot see

that in their fanatic extremism

they are killing the very people

in whose name they raise the flag 

of the shield of a king 

who sang of love

What would he say about us today? 

What would my grandfather say about us today?  

my beloved Papa, who proudly wore 

a necklace that said 

Am Yisrael Chai

the nation of Israel LIVES. 

who proudly brought me to this 

desert of dreams

for the first time 

when I was 8 years old

who taught my father 

who taught me

that we are a tribe

we look out for one another

we look out for those who need help

What would he say if he knew 

about a classroom of 5th graders 

in this desert of dreams

in this desert of destruction

in that classroom

a Bedouin girl was abused

by her Jewish classmates

because she said that she felt sad

for the children in Gaza

What would Papa say if he knew that

as they bullied her

they chanted

Am Yisrael Chai?

With honor and respect

to the movement of the calendars

of the earth 

I AM RECLAIMING MY CONSCIOUSNESS in this new year. 

I refuse to continue to participate in a culture of retraumatization

a culture that teaches us

that there are victims and perpetrators

that there is someone to blame

that justice

is anything other than 

the movement and balance of the cycles of nature

those very cycles 

which govern all of life

how do you think the balance

will recalibrate itself 

in the wake of all of this violence

someone needs to be the one 

to lay down the sword

to reclaim trust

and to truly 

BE PEACE

to reclaim what it means 

to be a leader

May we remember

honoring this turn of the seasons

to listen again to the guidance of the water

to love the earth and all of her people

with generous kindness.