I spent the last 23 years of my life living by the following motto: stay the hell away from politics. I don't care much for confrontation and I never really did well with criticism. I generally viewed opinionated people as divisive and close-minded. Somehow, I managed to escape a globally-minded, liberal arts college still living in an optimistic la-la land where I could ignore what the newspapers and magazines reported and carry on with my day-to-day life in ignorant bliss.
My first year out of college gave me a reality check. My first clue that I was living in a flawed world: jobs. They didn't exist for me and they didn't exist for my friends. I thought Obama was a super hero who would swoop in and save us from all the evils that Bush had created. Turns out things are a little more complicated than that. Turns out there are a lot more players in this thing called government than just our great commander.
Do I sound naive? I was. Things always managed to fall in place for me and I don't think I had realized how quite privileged my life was and still is.
Skip ahead to the fall and I found myself employed at a not-so-local university Hillel. In all my years of college, I had never imagined myself working for a Jewish organization, let alone as a Jewish educator. I saw this as an opportunity to share the formative experiences that my university's Hillel had provided to me, to explore a potential career field and to maintain that connection to Judaism that often gets lost in the wandering years as a young adult. In turn, I found myself surrounded by bright, inquisitive, passionate students who I fear taught me a lot more than I was capable of teaching them.
Before I was hired, one of the students interviewed me and I can still remember her first question: "Israel--what are your thoughts? How do you deal with it on campus?" I racked my brain and all I could find was a big, dark empty hole. I went home a little concerned and a little embarrassed.
Is it possible to say that a year later, I still conjure up a big dark hole when I think about Israel? Although this time, its not so empty--its filled with my experience traveling on Birthright with my students, befriending an Israeli co-worker, hearing lectures by Peter Beinart and Alan Dershowitz, meeting Ivri Lider and learning about gay rights in Israel but also pinkwashing in Israel, watching the news in sadness over the killings in Itamar and then in horror at the behavior of Israeli settlers, following the uprisings in the Middle East and what that means for Israel and the plight of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit and the decisions that Israel had to make, observing the changing political climate of young Jews with the rise of and challenges to JStreet and other organizations critical of Israel, and finally the reality check of a close friend being impacted by the attacks in Eilat and that this war is not going to be solved in the UN or by the Palestinians partnering with Hamas, or by the US if our leadership (coughGINGRICHcough) keeps heading in the terrifying direction its going.
As I filled myself with thoughts and opinions on Israel from students, speakers, podcasts, writers, Israelis, Americans, Palestinians, Jews & Muslims (both secular and religious), Europeans, Arabs and political parties of a wide range of views, I only felt that big dark hole getting bigger and darker. I had never been so incapable of "choosing a side" on something in my life. Israel is a hot topic that is not just causing a divide in Israel, but also in the Jewish community, and among Americans and among the US and Israel and its allies and its non-allies. As important as this conflict is to me as a Jew, its importance can be measured on a national and a global scale as well. Human rights, democracy, terrorism, extremists, occupation and homeland: these are not foreign words to us.
What I have learned: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict sucks. It's intricate and complicated. No matter how many hours I spend scouring the web for more information, I am not going to find a solution, I am not going to pick a side. What I can do, however, is provide a platform for sharing information about the intricacies of this issue and a space for open dialogue in the hope that I can 1) stay up to date with the constant stream of news on this topic and 2) be challenged to think more critically about what I am reading and learning 3) provide a tool for curious friends to learn more and 3) shed light on why Israel, Palestine and the Middle East are so important to me and why I think it should be important to you too.
Disclaimer: I am not a self-hating Jew. I am not a Jew that blindly supports Israel. Sometimes I will post articles by clearly one-sided authors or news sources. Embrace it and challenge it. I have no political background, barely an international relations background and I am not what one would call a fluid or eloquent writer. Any concerns regarding these issues can be emailed to me privately.
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