What does it mean to be part of the progressive ecosystem in this moment?

Email sent to Malkhut on 10/26/2023

Dear Malkhutniks,

Another week is coming to an end, and my heart is so heavy. Israeli friends and family are attending funerals and shivas for those killed in the October 7th Hamas attack. We still await the release of the over 200 hostages, and rockets continue to fall on Israeli towns. And as I sit in grief, my heart has been shattered by the reports coming out of Gaza, with thousands of Palestinian civilians killed in Israeli airstrikes, and the increasing suffering from lack of access to humanitarian aid.

The pain is unimaginable, and it can be so very hard to discern what to do in response.

Earlier this week, Dove Kent, a progressive Jewish organizer, educator and activist whom I often turn to for perspective encouraged us in a Facebook post to remember that “an ecosystem is required for transformative change.”

At Malkhut we describe ourselves as a “progressive Jewish spiritual community.” This means that we are part of a diverse ecosystem of progressives in Queens and beyond. Malkhut itself is also a fractal, a microcosm, of that same ecosystem, with our own diverse mix of feelings, thoughts, beliefs, and activism. There are also folks on this email list who may not 100% (or at all) identify as “progressive” or who do not find themselves identifying as progressive when it comes to Israel or to this current moment.

What does it look like right now to be in this ecosystem, then, amidst the whirl of horror of the current war in Israel and Gaza?

There are those among us who are:

• calling for the bombing and the rockets to stop,
• and/or advocating for an immediate cease fire,
• and/or advocating for the hostages to be returned,
• and/or pushing for more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza,
• and/or pushing for a humanitarian corridor or pause,
• and/or pressuring Israel to follow international law and minimize civilian death as much as possible
• and/or expressing anxiety about the rise in antisemitism whether on campus, in our city, or beyond,
• and/or expressing worry about islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiment,
• and/or calling for an end to incitement by Israeli politicians and public figures against Palestinian citizens of Israel and Israel human rights organizations,
• and/or calling on Israel to prevent further revenge attacks by settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank, and to refrain from using the war with Hamas as an excuse to extend settlements and occupation.

Many of us are bewildered and don’t know what to believe, think, or say but are feeling pain for both our Jewish siblings and our Palestinian cousins. We at Malkhut contain Zionists, non-Zionists, anti-Zionists, (all of which are diverse ecosystems themselves!), and we contain those who question all of these things. We are a rich collection of questions, doubts and firm beliefs. And I apologize if in all of these lists, you don’t see yourself, because it is hard to capture our full complexity, and that’s what I love about us!

I also want to share how I have been showing up in the broader ecosystem that our community is a part of. In many ways I, and others at Malkhut, are creating a bridge, bringing the Jewish experience of this moment into multi-faith spaces where our pain might otherwise be ignored while at the same time bringing a progressive voice into Jewish spaces where compassion for the pain of Palestinians might otherwise be absent.

Without going into too much detail, our progressive Jewish presence in Queens, and my work, has made it possible for:

• two vigils for Israel in Queens to lift up the pain of both Israelis and Palestinians, due to my input and advocacy,
• Malkhut’s progressive Jewish presence to be highlighted in a meeting with Senator Chuck Schumer in a room of Queens Jewish leaders where I was the only explicitly progressive presence. I also had a moment with the senator to pressure him to help speed up humanitarian aid into Gaza.
• dialogue between me and local electeds about what progressive Jews in Queens are feeling and thinking right now,
• Malkhut leaders to be in dialogue with an organizational partner, holding them accountable regarding messaging that excluded mention of the Hamas massacre of Israelis on October 7th and helping them take Jewish experiences into account in future statements.

As Dove reminds us, this entire ecosystem, with all of its internal conflicts and inconsistencies, is required for transformative change. We are each needed–however we each show up in this moment–in order to move ourselves, each other, our electeds, and this world, to a place of healing, love, and peace.

A local Christian pastor friend of mine counseled me yesterday, referring to a tradition that runs deep in rabbinic Judaism, that the Divine can be understood as walking beside all of us, weeping along with us in our pain, our grief, and our uncertainty. I see my role right now, and our role as a sacred community, as lovingly accompanying all of us on this grief-strewn path, with all of our many “and/ors” and “both/ands”. May we be a sanctuary and a refuge and a friend to one another at this most difficult time.

With my love, and prayers for a Shabbat of pause and of peace, Rabbi G.