Straight from the Heart
Perspectives of Heart of a Nation Board and Committee Members
Broken Hearted
Graham Hoffman, Board Member
“To say that my heart is broken would be a huge understatement. Watching the news, scrolling endlessly on social media, and afraid of the impending antisemitic acts that are already beginning to take place here and around the world… There seems to be no end to the sorrow and devastation on the horizon. Picturing the thousands of civilians killed and the hundreds suffering as hostages… haunts my dreams and fills my heart with an anger of a magnitude that I didn't know was inside me.”
Pain and Alienation
Janessa Gans Wilder, Board Member
“How do we deal with this pain of alienation? Well, the usual reaction is often to lash out on the other side even more out of our fear and pain, which, tragically, further severs the cords of connection, and inflicts even more pain on not just the other side, but deepens and reinforces our own pain in the process. Further breaks the already broken heart and widens the chasm even more. At Heart of a Nation, our hearts are truly broken by the senseless acts of terror and murders of innocents. But instead of entrenching ourselves in pain and anger, we are focusing on the roots and consequences of fear and rage, so that we can understand it and seek to transmute it.”
Anger and Helplessness
Mohammad Darawshe, Board Member
“Our Arab society is engulfed in anger, pain, helplessness, depression, and fear… Inability to actually influence events, because decision makers are leaders who don't pay attention to the masses… And fear of the consequences and repercussions of this war on our present and future reality. This is the result of those who deluded themselves, and the world, that it is possible to bypass the Palestinian issue, and find alternative economic or regional solutions in the Middle East. The strategic failure of these ideas is what brought us to where we are. The only alternative is the two state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state that expresses the Palestinian’s right to self-determination as a people. There are no military solutions, this is the only guarantee for Israel to find security.”
Safety in a Storm
Linoy Yechelli, Board Member
Empathy and Effort
Rachel Kastner, Committee Member
“Since moving to Israel, I have been a fervent believer in peace in my lifetime, focusing my efforts as a producer on storytelling in pursuit of building empathy. I studied Arabic at Columbia University to learn the language of my future neighbors. My Arabic is by no means fluent, but it has allowed me to open up dialogue; to let light into some of my interactions. This has been my way of building trust and the foundation for a better future. I have participated in peace-building initiatives with Heart of a Nation, Tomorrow’s Women, and Encounter. There are many of us doing this. Some far more than me, building careers out of it. They are my inspiration and reason for hope. Now I am heartbroken; surrounded by hatred and rage. Still, I feel a pull to engage, to connect, to write. It is as if I am looking for the universe to remind me, and those I’ve met through peace-building, of our shared values. So I’ve been writing to every Palestinian I’ve built a relationship with over the past few years. Some have replied, some haven’t. Some interactions have been positive, some have deteriorated. I pray that we do not lose faith in our common humanity. I pray, too, that we find the strength to rebuild the trust necessary to continue to pursue peace in our lifetime.”
Social Media Misleads
Aziz Abu Sarah, Founding Committee Member, quoted in USA Today article by David Oliver
“Misinformation and propaganda about the Israel-Hamas conflict… fills social media feeds and shows no signs of slowing. Some posts mention the death toll on only one side. Some ignore the civilians taken hostage. Some fail to mention Israel's occupation of Gaza. Some don't account for why Jewish people around the world grow afraid. These posts often come from those far away from the conflict, like in the U.S., who feel like they have to say something for the sake of seeming involved. But declaring support for one "side" over the other and listing out-of-context information about Israelis and Palestinians may hurt more than help your cause… Abu Sarah says. ‘It's most painful when I see people I know, people who I respect, people who I love, who have fallen for these (posts) and feel that they need to serve 'their country, their cause, their people,' whatever, by spreading misinformation. It's devastating to me.’"
Neither Escape Nor Consolation
Adi Ben Boher, Committee Member
“Another week passes without consolation. Just more and more names, innocent faces, and endless stories - horror and bravery. Trying to escape from something that doesn't let go; unable to stand still but moving without direction or meaning to any place that we reach. Exhausted from the journey; still struggling to digest our new reality, that of our friends, and of our people. The heart and head do not stop beating us with thoughts of those we know well, and those we know only through stories but feel connected to. A cruel partnership of destiny, dark scenarios alongside hope for a better future. Everything churning in our stomach, at every given moment, and in every experience. Guilty feelings come in all colors and forms. Nevertheless, I will choose to share the things that give me air to breath, hoping that they will also fill the lungs of others.”
Dreams Dissipated, Shattered
Ali Mohammadi, HeartTEC Teen Essay Competition Judge, who has fled with his family from Gaza City to Khan Yunis
“I just want to live my life as a normal teenager, and not be forced to forfeit my dreams because of where I live. I was looking forward to all my hard work finally paying off, until I woke to the sound of rockets, and the realization that they would all now evaporate like none of my hard work had ever even happened. Without electricity, or water, or telephone, or internet, my life has been paused. I try to sleep to the sound of rockets, wondering which home will be struck, my neighbors or mine. I’ve never been as desperate as I am right now. I will either die in this war, or survive with nothing. Everything my family and I have built will be gone.”
Arguments for Tomorrow
Robbie Gringras, Committee Member, taken from The Times of Israel
“All of us are full of rage, fear, and grief. We cannot expect to be able to disagree calmly as we talk these questions through. Yet we must not abandon our human capacity to think and deliberate at this moment, however agonizing. Unfortunately, tragically, drastically, crucial existential arguments are clamoring to be addressed. And they cannot wait…at root they are deeply moral with no easy answers.”
Agency and Narrative
Rabbi Irwin Kula, Committee Member
“At some point people lose their agency and become products and effects of their own narratives. For as much as we author our stories our stories have authority over us. That’s where we are now. The identity of the combatants in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict think they have agency but actually the conflict is now creating their identity…everything happening is a reaction formation/death spiral… Everything in history has taught me sometimes you must kill evil people. But killing people never actually solves the problem that made possible the emergence of that evil. That requires other forms of power - psychological, spiritual, intellectual, and moral forms of power that those involved with Heart of a Nation, and many others, have been gifted with. When this destruction ends we will need to use all of our power, with more courage and greater faith, and at greater cost to ourselves, than ever before in our lives.”
Piercing the Darkness
Kristina Mahr, Author and Poet
Van Gogh's last words were,
"The sadness will last forever."
He, who knew the dark. He, who nonetheless
painted stars within it.
And me, who knows it too. And me, who nonetheless
punched my fair share of holes within it
and shone a flashlight through them
and called them stars.
The sadness will not last forever.
I know because every day
I bloody my knuckles
in the pursuit of something I
might see by.