Puerto Rican Jewish poet and activist Aurora Levins Morales poem “Red Sea”:
We cannot cross until we carry each other,
all of us refugees, all of us prophets.
No more taking turns on history’s wheel,
trying to collect old debts no-one can pay.
The sea will not open that way.This time that country
is what we promise each other,
our rage pressed cheek to cheek
until tears flood the space between,
until there are no enemies left,
because this time no one will be left to drown
and all of us must be chosen.
This time it’s all of us or none.
This poem was sent to me by a Jewish friend.
The trauma I see happening in the Israel-Palestine war is a consequence of trauma. The trauma that was inflicted on the Jewish people by the Nazi Holocaust, they are repeating on the Palestinians. Gaza is a Ghetto, a Concentration Camp. The only way to stop the continuation of the trauma is what? Can all the nations of the world demand a cease-fire instead of supporting one side or the other? I am deeply ashamed that my country is supporting the Israelis. The future looks very bleak.
I reach for Etty Hillesum, a Dutch Jew who was murdered in Auschwitz, who helped as many suffering people as she could and did her best not to hate the Nazis.
PS Today is Friday the 13th, considered bad luck by Westerners, but good luck by pagans. Friday is the day of Venus, Goddess of Love. Thirteen is the number of moon months in a year.