What a great resource for people Tara. I love that you start with the posts about both wars, but lead us to others that offer help, hope, reflection and inspiration. I look forward to reading them, in order, as you've suggested.
I'm glad my post resonated with you and you were able to share it in this way. I too was so struck by the Israeli peace activists comments. Thanks again for sharing. xo
I appreciated reading and arranging this posts in a sequence that felt healing. I hope you find some things to lift your spirit - without any less concern (or prayer for those who do it) for the loved ones still missing or lost.
Tara, please take a look at what happened in Rwanda then and now. Miracles do happen, people can change.
I have a friend who remained in Rwanda during the genocide to use his white privilege and his American passport privilege to save the lives of Tutsi orphan children. He was the only American who didn’t leave and is now beloved in Rwanda for his love and courage.
When I volunteered to work in Paradise, CA, after a devastating wild destroyed the town, I saw scores of advertising signs for tree removal, lot cleanup, builders, and lawyers. I mentioned to friends that it is easier to find a trauma counselor in Kigali, Rwanda, than in Paradise.
That's wonderful about your friend. I heard very positive things from Rwanda a few years ago when a colleague was there on a Fulbright. Right after I published this post this morning, I started imagining what a miracle would look like right now on these war fronts. Change, when it comes, can be fast and sudden after generations of suffering. May it be so!
One of the downsides to my work was that I saw people and places when countries were at a low point and those images are burned into my memory. Next time I win the lottery, I am going to take a long journey to places that once broke my heart, but are experiencing positive transformations. I will probably skip some countries: Haiti, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, South Africa, Sudan and a few others where the situations are now worse than when I was last there. I don't need to be reminded of what I already know.
What to do about Israel, Gaza, and Ukraine? Look beyond them.
The horrors currently underway could be compared to the puddle that forms on your kitchen floor every time it rains. The vast majority of commentary on Israel, Gaza, and Ukraine and similar horror shows focuses on how to clean up the puddle. Should we use a mop, or place a bucket to catch the drips, throw a towel over the puddle? The debate rages. Or rather, THE DEBATE RAGES!!!
What we really should be doing to deal with the puddle is get up on the roof and fix the leak. Unless we do that, the puddling will continue without end, and will probably get worse as the hole in the roof enlarges.
At least some of us should step back from the addictive flood of horror show details in our news feed, and try to ask larger questions. Why is the horror show happening? What is it's source? Unless we know where the leak is on the roof, we're unlikely to ever fix it.
One answer: All the horror shows happening all over the world arise primarily from a single source.
Violent men.
A small fraction of humanity.
To understand how simple this is, try a quick thought experiment. Imagine for a moment that the horror shows all over the world were caused by armadillos. It wouldn't be long before someone with a logical mind would say, "We need to do something about these armadillos!" This couldn't be more obvious, right?
And yet, if the same person with a logical mind were to say "We need to do something about the violent men!" everyone wanders off, gets bored, scrolls away, changes the channel, dismisses it out of hand, couldn't be less interested.
If dear reader you are about to ask WHAT should we do about violent men, here's a place to start.
We don't need to immediately have the one true way perfect solution, or any solution at all. We just need to recognize that the most constructive activity we can engage in is to attend to the source of the horrors, the hole in the roof, the violent men.
Phil, Thank you for sharing the link to your series of essays about how to stop the nonsensical violence that keeps going and going. You write with urgency and your solution is a bold one. From Friday's PeaceLinks, this reminds me of the women and bereaved parents organizing in Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg's post. Socrates would ask how we separate the violent men from the non-violent ones, but maybe you address that in your series if I keep reading. My take on this battle is to defeat evil by tending our own lovelight, polishing the glass chamber often, and making sure it shines as far as it is in our power to shine it. This doesn't solve the problem until the contagious action reaches everywhere. In human history, that process is agonizingly slow.
Hi Tara, thanks for your reply, and your blog. I appreciate your interest in my essays. If you have questions or suggestions, happy to hear them. Whatever our various perspectives may be, it's good that we're writing on these subjects. Keep pushing the contagious action any way you can.
Thanks so much Tara for the mention and wise feedback!
What's most gratifying is how you really appreciate the place The Healthy Jew has now in Peacelinks - even though I now preface every newsletter with "THJ is joining the war effort." For millions of civilians - even those who take a clear side, which during war is often necessary (much more than in politics!) - our main battles are in finding peace of mind, heart, and body during stressful times of conflict. We fight by keeping the peace in our lives.
On my Substack, The Healthy Jew, I'm taking my little part in this battle by writing now how non-combatants can find a healthy and balanced response - emotional and spiritual - to the unfolding tragedy, and appreciate the land in which all this is happening. When the people around us are all in turmoil, the land and its plants can offer stability and refuge.
By the way, if you look carefully at the picture from my house that you mentioned and linked to, you'll notice that the windows on the building right across the street from me, which is the local synagogue, are tightly shuttered. That's the bomb shelter where we ran to six times during the happy Simchas Torah service (which is mostly dancing with Torah scrolls) when the air raid sirens announced incoming missiles. That's why the windows were closed with those heavy metal plates.
Dear Shmuel, What a harrowing time. I hear your Torah training, your Maimonides, and your prior discipline strengthening you to turn attention to the inner, emotional and spiritual battle, when you literally hear bombs from your home and have to stop everything to take shelter. I am going to tag you in my other Stack also, where I've been deciding what to do with a series of posts about attention. You may have helped me answer my question. More on that tomorrow. Your attention to plants right now is inspired. May your family come close together and your loved ones be safe. May this crisis pass soon.
I, too, was moved by the advice to live well, Tara. Often, that is where I land in the absence of any other ideas for being useful at times like these. Naiman writes, "Everyone can battle terror by shifting from distracting drama to healthy Jewish living, especially during terrible times." I'm not Jewish, but I'm still doing what I can to shift my eyes from the drama. The way it commands attention is, undoubtedly, fuel for the fire. I need to look away.
Yes, I agree with you that this is good advice for all of us, whether Jewish or not. For the rest of us, paying attention to the question "What is healthy for me?" serves, I think, just as well.
What a great resource for people Tara. I love that you start with the posts about both wars, but lead us to others that offer help, hope, reflection and inspiration. I look forward to reading them, in order, as you've suggested.
I'm glad my post resonated with you and you were able to share it in this way. I too was so struck by the Israeli peace activists comments. Thanks again for sharing. xo
I appreciated reading and arranging this posts in a sequence that felt healing. I hope you find some things to lift your spirit - without any less concern (or prayer for those who do it) for the loved ones still missing or lost.
Tara, please take a look at what happened in Rwanda then and now. Miracles do happen, people can change.
I have a friend who remained in Rwanda during the genocide to use his white privilege and his American passport privilege to save the lives of Tutsi orphan children. He was the only American who didn’t leave and is now beloved in Rwanda for his love and courage.
When I volunteered to work in Paradise, CA, after a devastating wild destroyed the town, I saw scores of advertising signs for tree removal, lot cleanup, builders, and lawyers. I mentioned to friends that it is easier to find a trauma counselor in Kigali, Rwanda, than in Paradise.
This is a great novel set in the recovering Rwanda: https://www.jenniferhaupt.com/10000-hills
Thanks. I’ll take a look.
Thank you for the tip, John! Like Switter, I'll look it up.
Another Rwanda book that helps me understand life before the genocide is The Barefoot Woman by Scholastique Mukasonga, a family memoir.
That's wonderful about your friend. I heard very positive things from Rwanda a few years ago when a colleague was there on a Fulbright. Right after I published this post this morning, I started imagining what a miracle would look like right now on these war fronts. Change, when it comes, can be fast and sudden after generations of suffering. May it be so!
One of the downsides to my work was that I saw people and places when countries were at a low point and those images are burned into my memory. Next time I win the lottery, I am going to take a long journey to places that once broke my heart, but are experiencing positive transformations. I will probably skip some countries: Haiti, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, South Africa, Sudan and a few others where the situations are now worse than when I was last there. I don't need to be reminded of what I already know.
Dear Switter, What a wonderful and healing trip that would be! I hope you get your own miracle and can do it.
Thank you Tara! I appreciate the effort you took to compile these amazing writers and articles in one place.
Thank you, Donna. They *are* amazing writers and articles, and they spoke to me together. ❤️
What to do about Israel, Gaza, and Ukraine? Look beyond them.
The horrors currently underway could be compared to the puddle that forms on your kitchen floor every time it rains. The vast majority of commentary on Israel, Gaza, and Ukraine and similar horror shows focuses on how to clean up the puddle. Should we use a mop, or place a bucket to catch the drips, throw a towel over the puddle? The debate rages. Or rather, THE DEBATE RAGES!!!
What we really should be doing to deal with the puddle is get up on the roof and fix the leak. Unless we do that, the puddling will continue without end, and will probably get worse as the hole in the roof enlarges.
At least some of us should step back from the addictive flood of horror show details in our news feed, and try to ask larger questions. Why is the horror show happening? What is it's source? Unless we know where the leak is on the roof, we're unlikely to ever fix it.
One answer: All the horror shows happening all over the world arise primarily from a single source.
Violent men.
A small fraction of humanity.
To understand how simple this is, try a quick thought experiment. Imagine for a moment that the horror shows all over the world were caused by armadillos. It wouldn't be long before someone with a logical mind would say, "We need to do something about these armadillos!" This couldn't be more obvious, right?
And yet, if the same person with a logical mind were to say "We need to do something about the violent men!" everyone wanders off, gets bored, scrolls away, changes the channel, dismisses it out of hand, couldn't be less interested.
If dear reader you are about to ask WHAT should we do about violent men, here's a place to start.
We all have the option to stand up and say...
We need to do something about violent men!!!
https://www.tannytalk.com/s/peace
We don't need to immediately have the one true way perfect solution, or any solution at all. We just need to recognize that the most constructive activity we can engage in is to attend to the source of the horrors, the hole in the roof, the violent men.
Phil, Thank you for sharing the link to your series of essays about how to stop the nonsensical violence that keeps going and going. You write with urgency and your solution is a bold one. From Friday's PeaceLinks, this reminds me of the women and bereaved parents organizing in Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg's post. Socrates would ask how we separate the violent men from the non-violent ones, but maybe you address that in your series if I keep reading. My take on this battle is to defeat evil by tending our own lovelight, polishing the glass chamber often, and making sure it shines as far as it is in our power to shine it. This doesn't solve the problem until the contagious action reaches everywhere. In human history, that process is agonizingly slow.
Hi Tara, thanks for your reply, and your blog. I appreciate your interest in my essays. If you have questions or suggestions, happy to hear them. Whatever our various perspectives may be, it's good that we're writing on these subjects. Keep pushing the contagious action any way you can.
Thanks so much Tara for the mention and wise feedback!
What's most gratifying is how you really appreciate the place The Healthy Jew has now in Peacelinks - even though I now preface every newsletter with "THJ is joining the war effort." For millions of civilians - even those who take a clear side, which during war is often necessary (much more than in politics!) - our main battles are in finding peace of mind, heart, and body during stressful times of conflict. We fight by keeping the peace in our lives.
On my Substack, The Healthy Jew, I'm taking my little part in this battle by writing now how non-combatants can find a healthy and balanced response - emotional and spiritual - to the unfolding tragedy, and appreciate the land in which all this is happening. When the people around us are all in turmoil, the land and its plants can offer stability and refuge.
By the way, if you look carefully at the picture from my house that you mentioned and linked to, you'll notice that the windows on the building right across the street from me, which is the local synagogue, are tightly shuttered. That's the bomb shelter where we ran to six times during the happy Simchas Torah service (which is mostly dancing with Torah scrolls) when the air raid sirens announced incoming missiles. That's why the windows were closed with those heavy metal plates.
Dear Shmuel, What a harrowing time. I hear your Torah training, your Maimonides, and your prior discipline strengthening you to turn attention to the inner, emotional and spiritual battle, when you literally hear bombs from your home and have to stop everything to take shelter. I am going to tag you in my other Stack also, where I've been deciding what to do with a series of posts about attention. You may have helped me answer my question. More on that tomorrow. Your attention to plants right now is inspired. May your family come close together and your loved ones be safe. May this crisis pass soon.
Looking forward to reading about attention (that could be helpful). And amen to your kind wishes!
I, too, was moved by the advice to live well, Tara. Often, that is where I land in the absence of any other ideas for being useful at times like these. Naiman writes, "Everyone can battle terror by shifting from distracting drama to healthy Jewish living, especially during terrible times." I'm not Jewish, but I'm still doing what I can to shift my eyes from the drama. The way it commands attention is, undoubtedly, fuel for the fire. I need to look away.
So appreciate this monthly offering.
Yes, I agree with you that this is good advice for all of us, whether Jewish or not. For the rest of us, paying attention to the question "What is healthy for me?" serves, I think, just as well.
Yes!!
Tara,
What a labor of love, this compilation--a roadmap where we might otherwise feel helpless, as I surely have in moments.
To remember to live while holding the sorrow is such sage advice. Thank you for this.
Thank you, Renée. As you can imagine, I appreciated the whole journey of the posts myself. :-)