Thank-you for the words & reachings, Pádraig. I have never written anything in an online forum. But I must today. May we hear Naomi Shihab Nye's deeply important poem, "Cross that Line." And hear the courageous voice of the grieving brother of Hayim Katzman, a young man killed in a kibbutz on Saturday, as he spoke in all clarity that there should be no killing in his brother's name. (Interview with Rabbi Basior on Democracy Now!)
I too wish to share something from afar, across borders.
I am in Berlin, Germany. The censorship has become unspeakable. Those who are branded criminal in their very being and/or those who speak across borders of violences are per se criminalized. (You are stopped by police if you look a certain way and wear a T-shirt with Arabic writing on it, to give just one example.) I am a Jew who has lived and worked her whole life facing injustices commited in her Jewish name. And I continue to do so today. In a voice of clarity and prayer. Because any and all expression which also speaks to the pain of those who are not Jewish has been made illegal in Berlin public spaces, some Jewish voices have been doing individual 'flash' presences in the city. I pass on to you this simple poem of' 'being prayer' I voiced on the streets of Berlin these last days, playing my clarinet, 'a jewish prayer' ( i hope the layout stays, as it is part of the piece) :
I also live in Berlin, and I’m shocked to see what is happening. I woke up feeling anxious this morning, knowing this will be another event taught in history books. Another event where students will be shocked that no political leader stepped in to mitigate. Disturbed by how so many people trusted their politicians to think this is an either-or situation and, most importantly, confused about how history hasn’t taught us anything!
In the same way, we feel shocked and disturbed these days by colonisation and WW2; students will be shocked by all this.
How can we trust our politicians when they have repeatedly served their interests throughout history? My only wish is that all my friends take time to reflect on this question.
I'm sorry, I forgot something very important: For those who do not know Naomi Shihab Nye ("Cross that Line"), she is a beloved Palestinian-American poet and teacher. Her voice is a beautiful one, crystal clear, to be heard over and over again.
'Being one's own prayer' is inspired by Rabbi Sylvia Rothschild in her book "Taking Up the Timbrel." She speaks of her work as a rabbi in terms of helping people to 'become ... their own prayers.' (p. 10)
It is moving and inspiring to read the words on this thread. Thank-you from Berlin. May we all be listening (sh'ma) and being the prayer. jk
Thank you JK for making this moment you share that I could read your words. I had no idea this was happening in Berlin. My heart is breaking at what you must be enduring, all of you there. xo
Regarding pro-palastinian demonstrations in Berlin here two quotes from Spiegel online, a reputable german news magazine, that hopefully clarify the context. To speak of unspeakable censorship when chants of "Yalla intifada" or "Death to Israel" were reportet, doesn't seem an appropriate choice of words to me.
Berlin has a very large grown Palestinian and Arab community. In my opinion neither issues of safety nor the fundemental right to demonstrate are dealt with carelessly by council and police.
"Since the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 with more than 1300 dead, there have been repeated pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Berlin, with some participants cheering Hamas. In addition, anti-Israel graffiti and Stars of David were discovered on houses. Jewish Berliners worry about their safety.
Because of feared extremist statements, the police issued bans on demonstrations. Nevertheless, pro-Palestinian groups gathered again and again over the weekend, among others in Neukölln. On Saturday evening, some very loud firecrackers were set off and slogans such as "Free Palestine" were chanted. The police repeatedly intervened and temporarily detained some people." 16.10.2023, 11.06 Uhr
"The Palestinian Authority's representative in Germany, Laith Arafeh, criticized the restrictions on Palestinian solidarity events. "I am deeply concerned about the excessive reaction to a peaceful anti-war demonstration yesterday in Berlin," the ambassador said in a statement Monday. "Free Palestine" is a call to end the Israeli occupation and uphold human rights, he added. "It is sad that these calls are being restricted in a way that goes against the values of free societies," Arafeh said.
In principle, neither demonstrations and statements against Israel and Israeli policies nor pro-Palestinian rallies are banned. If a demonstration is "anti-Israel," that is not grounds for a ban. It only becomes problematic when content is propagated that can be considered incitement of the people because it incites hatred against certain groups of people, such as Jews or Israelis. Then events can be banned or statements can be punished." 16.10.2023, 18.50 Uhr
Yes, I remember that poem. Thank you for reminding me about it. Also thanks for telling what is happening in Germany. I had no idea. The more bad things pile up the more "May we be the prayer" makes sense. Sometimes writing seems so powerless, but it can bring things into awareness.
Thank you Padraig for every single insufficient word. I am a Jew and I show up here most weeks because I am in love with the space you hold for emboldening uncertainty, the essential need to risk new language in probing and wonder. It allows space for encountering love and conflict with a kind of strength and tenderness not available most places.
I am a Jew and I am in terrible grief for my people and in gut wrenching agony at the grim propects for days and weeks ahead and what they could mean for the future. Many of us are writing poems. One of the first things I did was write a poem. What I share below is not that poem. This one is more prayer than poem. It is also insufficient language but it was what I could bring myself to express this past Sabbath.
May the mourning dove and muted fall colors
remind us suffering cannot be measured.
I stand with my people.
And I stand with all innocent Palestinians of which there are many.
I stand with Peacemakers always.
I shudder with the children, and all the vulnerable
who suffer the harms of war.
I stand with Praise and Joy in all that is Good,
and abhor rejoicing and celebration at any other's expense.
I stand against hate and political ambitions which trump humane considerations.
I stand against all enabling of and active terror which defames all that is holy.
I pray we can each increase
measures of light and lovingkindness
in this darkening world.
There are no justifiable or excusable wars.
Only inevitable wars that could have been avoided.
Dear Pádraig, thank you so for trying. I have said nothing publicly myself because finding words is so confounding. I wanted to write “finding the right words” but left out “right” because there are not “right words,” I don’t think?
There is some sweetness in this picture of you writing and re writing, a desire to contribute to the larger conversation without adding any more pain than is already palpably present. But this is the way forward, is it not? And the place of poetry and conversation and art - to bring to the ongoing conversation that is so often polemic and divisive another way, a disruption in the current story, a new thought plain. You do this, Padraig, week in and week out. Your constancy in hope, and of course, in the deep value of the poetic, is your gentle offering. I am grateful for it. And for all others who continue to offer what they can, without apology. Blessings.
Music, poetry and listening with a keen ear, listening without being ready to formulate a response, listening for the unexpressed grief that often can't be heard over the shouting.
Thank you for this Padraig..helping us all to find our way on the path that is before us, sharp stones under our bare feet. I was writing early, before I read your substack and was aware of the sacred all around me...of being at once under the canopy of sacred presence and of the intense pain I feel throughout myself. Pain is not an emotion, nor a thought. How to get to the core of our pain at this time. we use the tools we have...poets have. Thank you..
Thank you for these words, Pádraig. I'm glad too to be able to read these responses. Perhaps the words I most needed to read this past week came from a past student, a Jewish anti-occupation, anti-militarisation activist based in Jerusalem: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/dual-loyalty-2
And then also a conversation with a current student from Gaza who, while worrying day and night about his family and friends in Gaza and checking the radio for the names of those who have been killed, is trying to think of ways to help others understand the context more deeply. We ended up with the question of how to hold space for all that is happening and being felt at this moment, the multiple loyalties and heartbreaks, the trauma and the realities of injustice and power and violence. How, also and still, to hold space for connection and conversation.
For me, this has also been a week of becoming very aware of how it is not only or necessarily words about traumatic experiences that can break people but also words that capture moments of beauty and love. My Palestinian student broke down when a fellow student talked about experiencing peace in family gatherings. Another student who has lived through trauma wrote about how sad she felt overhearing a loving conversation between parents and their daughter.
At a personal level, this week has brought joy too, to do with birthdays and anniversaries and connections with people and places I love.
So much to work through re. words that hurt and words that heal, perhaps both at the same time...
“Loyalty may not be the right word. It’s dual pain, dual heartbreak, care, love. It is to hold everyone’s humanity. And it’s hard. It’s so hard to have humanity here. It’s exhausting, and it feels like time after time the world is just asking you to let go. It’s so much easier to “choose a side” – it almost doesn’t matter which side, just choose, and stick to it, and at least reduce the amount of pain you hold. At least feel part of a group and less alone in all this.”
Thank you, Ute, for sharing your former student, Sahar Vardi’s words.
Thank you Pádraig. You capture so much of our massive struggle. Yesterday, I was near tears lamenting the amount of words given over, trying to explain, but always unable to capture the depth of our collective grief. I think even in my own phrasing the horror of our time is manifest. This grief is like a great beast, like the sin that crouches at Cain’s door, that can not not captured or tamed. It can only be looked upon as it changes its face and its shape, so that it is definable only in how it changes each of us and our perceptions. When we gather and share these perspectives and experiences we note this kaleidoscopic beast that confronts us, and heal not because we have found the right words to describe it, but because we have drawn closer and held each other in body and spirit as we note the rising of a new day. There is more to say, but I just wanted to say thank you for turning me toward confronting my feelings, and reach out to others to hold and sympathize.
"...like the sin that crouches at Cain’s door, that can not not captured or tamed. It can only be looked upon as it changes its face and its shape, so that it is definable only in how it changes each of us and our perceptions." Profound Sean. Thank you.
I respond today from America, as a therapist to teens who are in a high level of psychiatric care and trying to find a path back to their old selves after trauma. I wanted to share a poem I wrote this morning on bearing witness to suffering, while also owning that I am far from the context and content of this war and have the privilege of distance. I hope to offer a perspective on the power of holding space, even years after an event.
Thank you, Padraig. Your profound honesty in the midst of horrific tragedy brings me some comfort. The small Jewish community in our little mountain town is reeling. I have one loving Pakistani-American friend who is also distressed for all the people grieving and at risk.. I brought you a fan letter when I heard you speak at Kanuga. I am grateful to you daily. Susan Lefler
I'm sorry, I forgot something very important in my comment earlier today: For those who do not know Naomi Shihab Nye ("Cross that Line"), she is a beloved Palestinian-American poet and teacher. Her voice is a beautiful one, crystal clear, to be heard over and over again.
It is moving and inspiring to read the words on this thread. Thank-you from Berlin. May we all be listening (sh'ma) and being the prayer (rabbi sylvia rothschild) jk
(sorry, I don't know how to edit an entry, so have to add a comment. i apologize if that is bad etiquette.) The reference to Rabbi Rothschild comes from her book "Taking Up the Timbrel." She speaks of her work as a rabbi in terms of helping peopleto 'become ... their own prayers.' (p. 10)
Thank-you for the words & reachings, Pádraig. I have never written anything in an online forum. But I must today. May we hear Naomi Shihab Nye's deeply important poem, "Cross that Line." And hear the courageous voice of the grieving brother of Hayim Katzman, a young man killed in a kibbutz on Saturday, as he spoke in all clarity that there should be no killing in his brother's name. (Interview with Rabbi Basior on Democracy Now!)
I too wish to share something from afar, across borders.
I am in Berlin, Germany. The censorship has become unspeakable. Those who are branded criminal in their very being and/or those who speak across borders of violences are per se criminalized. (You are stopped by police if you look a certain way and wear a T-shirt with Arabic writing on it, to give just one example.) I am a Jew who has lived and worked her whole life facing injustices commited in her Jewish name. And I continue to do so today. In a voice of clarity and prayer. Because any and all expression which also speaks to the pain of those who are not Jewish has been made illegal in Berlin public spaces, some Jewish voices have been doing individual 'flash' presences in the city. I pass on to you this simple poem of' 'being prayer' I voiced on the streets of Berlin these last days, playing my clarinet, 'a jewish prayer' ( i hope the layout stays, as it is part of the piece) :
and the child asked,
where do the sounds go,
when we no longer hear them?
and the child asked,
what does this service mean to you?
a jewish prayer
how many years
how many children
pall bearers
how many homes
how many trees
how many generations
of life
generations
yizkor, yesterday cries
tzedek, in the injustices of today
teshuvah, we turn, we turn
to face woundings in our name
marbeh, speak freedom is plural
always
may we be the prayer
now
j.k.
"may we be the prayer" beautiful. yes.
Thank you for your words. They make me cry. But to cry is to feel alive, right?
I also live in Berlin, and I’m shocked to see what is happening. I woke up feeling anxious this morning, knowing this will be another event taught in history books. Another event where students will be shocked that no political leader stepped in to mitigate. Disturbed by how so many people trusted their politicians to think this is an either-or situation and, most importantly, confused about how history hasn’t taught us anything!
In the same way, we feel shocked and disturbed these days by colonisation and WW2; students will be shocked by all this.
How can we trust our politicians when they have repeatedly served their interests throughout history? My only wish is that all my friends take time to reflect on this question.
"may we be the prayer" amein.
I'm sorry, I forgot something very important: For those who do not know Naomi Shihab Nye ("Cross that Line"), she is a beloved Palestinian-American poet and teacher. Her voice is a beautiful one, crystal clear, to be heard over and over again.
'Being one's own prayer' is inspired by Rabbi Sylvia Rothschild in her book "Taking Up the Timbrel." She speaks of her work as a rabbi in terms of helping people to 'become ... their own prayers.' (p. 10)
It is moving and inspiring to read the words on this thread. Thank-you from Berlin. May we all be listening (sh'ma) and being the prayer. jk
Thanks for your compassionate post.
Thank you JK for making this moment you share that I could read your words. I had no idea this was happening in Berlin. My heart is breaking at what you must be enduring, all of you there. xo
Thank you for sharing this poem, and for opening my eyes to what is happening in Germany.
Speak freedom is plural ... always , thank you for this, I will carry these words with me
Regarding pro-palastinian demonstrations in Berlin here two quotes from Spiegel online, a reputable german news magazine, that hopefully clarify the context. To speak of unspeakable censorship when chants of "Yalla intifada" or "Death to Israel" were reportet, doesn't seem an appropriate choice of words to me.
Berlin has a very large grown Palestinian and Arab community. In my opinion neither issues of safety nor the fundemental right to demonstrate are dealt with carelessly by council and police.
"Since the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 with more than 1300 dead, there have been repeated pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Berlin, with some participants cheering Hamas. In addition, anti-Israel graffiti and Stars of David were discovered on houses. Jewish Berliners worry about their safety.
Because of feared extremist statements, the police issued bans on demonstrations. Nevertheless, pro-Palestinian groups gathered again and again over the weekend, among others in Neukölln. On Saturday evening, some very loud firecrackers were set off and slogans such as "Free Palestine" were chanted. The police repeatedly intervened and temporarily detained some people." 16.10.2023, 11.06 Uhr
"The Palestinian Authority's representative in Germany, Laith Arafeh, criticized the restrictions on Palestinian solidarity events. "I am deeply concerned about the excessive reaction to a peaceful anti-war demonstration yesterday in Berlin," the ambassador said in a statement Monday. "Free Palestine" is a call to end the Israeli occupation and uphold human rights, he added. "It is sad that these calls are being restricted in a way that goes against the values of free societies," Arafeh said.
In principle, neither demonstrations and statements against Israel and Israeli policies nor pro-Palestinian rallies are banned. If a demonstration is "anti-Israel," that is not grounds for a ban. It only becomes problematic when content is propagated that can be considered incitement of the people because it incites hatred against certain groups of people, such as Jews or Israelis. Then events can be banned or statements can be punished." 16.10.2023, 18.50 Uhr
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Yes, I remember that poem. Thank you for reminding me about it. Also thanks for telling what is happening in Germany. I had no idea. The more bad things pile up the more "May we be the prayer" makes sense. Sometimes writing seems so powerless, but it can bring things into awareness.
I am grateful that you have chosen to write and share this. Thank-you.
Thank you for this. Thank you for playing your clarinet. Music is a beautiful prayer.
Thank you Padraig for every single insufficient word. I am a Jew and I show up here most weeks because I am in love with the space you hold for emboldening uncertainty, the essential need to risk new language in probing and wonder. It allows space for encountering love and conflict with a kind of strength and tenderness not available most places.
I am a Jew and I am in terrible grief for my people and in gut wrenching agony at the grim propects for days and weeks ahead and what they could mean for the future. Many of us are writing poems. One of the first things I did was write a poem. What I share below is not that poem. This one is more prayer than poem. It is also insufficient language but it was what I could bring myself to express this past Sabbath.
May the mourning dove and muted fall colors
remind us suffering cannot be measured.
I stand with my people.
And I stand with all innocent Palestinians of which there are many.
I stand with Peacemakers always.
I shudder with the children, and all the vulnerable
who suffer the harms of war.
I stand with Praise and Joy in all that is Good,
and abhor rejoicing and celebration at any other's expense.
I stand against hate and political ambitions which trump humane considerations.
I stand against all enabling of and active terror which defames all that is holy.
I pray we can each increase
measures of light and lovingkindness
in this darkening world.
There are no justifiable or excusable wars.
Only inevitable wars that could have been avoided.
May this Sabbath and the days ahead
bring the hostages home,
an end to needless death
and a measure of Peace.
“Only inevitable wars that could have been avoided.” That is so well said, Amy.
If all things are possible for Love, then nothing is inevitable. There might be a glimmer of hope in that?
Beautiful. Yes more than a glimmer.
Beautiful
Thanks for your post, Amy.
Beautiful. Thank you
Amy, may I share this with my little circle of friends? Your prayer-poem is beautiful.
Of course
Yes please.
Thank you.
Perfection. Thank you for posting.
Dear Pádraig, thank you so for trying. I have said nothing publicly myself because finding words is so confounding. I wanted to write “finding the right words” but left out “right” because there are not “right words,” I don’t think?
Write right.
Write wrong.
Right wrong.
Weave willow baskets.
“swords into ploughshares...
spears into pruning hooks...
learn war no more”
There is some sweetness in this picture of you writing and re writing, a desire to contribute to the larger conversation without adding any more pain than is already palpably present. But this is the way forward, is it not? And the place of poetry and conversation and art - to bring to the ongoing conversation that is so often polemic and divisive another way, a disruption in the current story, a new thought plain. You do this, Padraig, week in and week out. Your constancy in hope, and of course, in the deep value of the poetic, is your gentle offering. I am grateful for it. And for all others who continue to offer what they can, without apology. Blessings.
Beautiful response to Pádraig, Candice. Thank you for speaking words that come also from my own heart. No doubt, the hearts of so many of us.
“We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Music, poetry and listening with a keen ear, listening without being ready to formulate a response, listening for the unexpressed grief that often can't be heard over the shouting.
So true, Sarah.
Thank you for this Padraig..helping us all to find our way on the path that is before us, sharp stones under our bare feet. I was writing early, before I read your substack and was aware of the sacred all around me...of being at once under the canopy of sacred presence and of the intense pain I feel throughout myself. Pain is not an emotion, nor a thought. How to get to the core of our pain at this time. we use the tools we have...poets have. Thank you..
Thank you, Padraig, and your words for helping us all do “the unbearable work of bearing together.”
Thank you for these words, Pádraig. I'm glad too to be able to read these responses. Perhaps the words I most needed to read this past week came from a past student, a Jewish anti-occupation, anti-militarisation activist based in Jerusalem: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/dual-loyalty-2
And then also a conversation with a current student from Gaza who, while worrying day and night about his family and friends in Gaza and checking the radio for the names of those who have been killed, is trying to think of ways to help others understand the context more deeply. We ended up with the question of how to hold space for all that is happening and being felt at this moment, the multiple loyalties and heartbreaks, the trauma and the realities of injustice and power and violence. How, also and still, to hold space for connection and conversation.
For me, this has also been a week of becoming very aware of how it is not only or necessarily words about traumatic experiences that can break people but also words that capture moments of beauty and love. My Palestinian student broke down when a fellow student talked about experiencing peace in family gatherings. Another student who has lived through trauma wrote about how sad she felt overhearing a loving conversation between parents and their daughter.
At a personal level, this week has brought joy too, to do with birthdays and anniversaries and connections with people and places I love.
So much to work through re. words that hurt and words that heal, perhaps both at the same time...
“Loyalty may not be the right word. It’s dual pain, dual heartbreak, care, love. It is to hold everyone’s humanity. And it’s hard. It’s so hard to have humanity here. It’s exhausting, and it feels like time after time the world is just asking you to let go. It’s so much easier to “choose a side” – it almost doesn’t matter which side, just choose, and stick to it, and at least reduce the amount of pain you hold. At least feel part of a group and less alone in all this.”
Thank you, Ute, for sharing your former student, Sahar Vardi’s words.
Thank you Ute for sharing the post by Sahar Vardi. Both heartbreaking and heartening.
Yes. Thank you for reading. I'm really glad to have had the chance to meet her. She's such a passionate, committed activist for peace and justice.
Thank you, Pádraig. I look to the poets.
"Not cause more harm." Thank you ❤
Thank you Pádraig. You capture so much of our massive struggle. Yesterday, I was near tears lamenting the amount of words given over, trying to explain, but always unable to capture the depth of our collective grief. I think even in my own phrasing the horror of our time is manifest. This grief is like a great beast, like the sin that crouches at Cain’s door, that can not not captured or tamed. It can only be looked upon as it changes its face and its shape, so that it is definable only in how it changes each of us and our perceptions. When we gather and share these perspectives and experiences we note this kaleidoscopic beast that confronts us, and heal not because we have found the right words to describe it, but because we have drawn closer and held each other in body and spirit as we note the rising of a new day. There is more to say, but I just wanted to say thank you for turning me toward confronting my feelings, and reach out to others to hold and sympathize.
"...like the sin that crouches at Cain’s door, that can not not captured or tamed. It can only be looked upon as it changes its face and its shape, so that it is definable only in how it changes each of us and our perceptions." Profound Sean. Thank you.
Thank you for reading.
I respond today from America, as a therapist to teens who are in a high level of psychiatric care and trying to find a path back to their old selves after trauma. I wanted to share a poem I wrote this morning on bearing witness to suffering, while also owning that I am far from the context and content of this war and have the privilege of distance. I hope to offer a perspective on the power of holding space, even years after an event.
I sat cross-legged
across from her as she placed in the sand
first, a sea of smooth black stones
next, a wooden peg doll, surrounded
and then the three-headed-dog ready to pounce
from the corner.
Her shame kept her gaze lowered
and so, I lowered mine
Her voice whispered inaudible
and so, I listened to her breath
Her fingers combed the sand
as she swam in her memories
The mother in me wanted
to hold her in my arms
to let her shoulders shudder and sob
She had needed a mother, then
and now she hoped
that I might
feel the weight of the stones
and witness her courage
to write her story in sand.
Wow. Visceral. Mothers know that ache. A beautiful poem.
Thanks Sally, I haven’t written in a while, it means a lot to hear how you experienced this poem ❤️
This really touched me, Gwendolyn. Thank you for sharing your poem and for what you do.
Thanks Sam, it was healing for me to write too. I really appreciate you sharing how it impacted you 🙏
Thanks for writing and creating a space
Thank you, Padraig. Your profound honesty in the midst of horrific tragedy brings me some comfort. The small Jewish community in our little mountain town is reeling. I have one loving Pakistani-American friend who is also distressed for all the people grieving and at risk.. I brought you a fan letter when I heard you speak at Kanuga. I am grateful to you daily. Susan Lefler
I'm sorry, I forgot something very important in my comment earlier today: For those who do not know Naomi Shihab Nye ("Cross that Line"), she is a beloved Palestinian-American poet and teacher. Her voice is a beautiful one, crystal clear, to be heard over and over again.
It is moving and inspiring to read the words on this thread. Thank-you from Berlin. May we all be listening (sh'ma) and being the prayer (rabbi sylvia rothschild) jk
(sorry, I don't know how to edit an entry, so have to add a comment. i apologize if that is bad etiquette.) The reference to Rabbi Rothschild comes from her book "Taking Up the Timbrel." She speaks of her work as a rabbi in terms of helping peopleto 'become ... their own prayers.' (p. 10)