All posts by Rebecca Michelle

Educator, traveler, reader, blogger. Loves learning, black coffee, and friendly people.
On My Mind

Where to Stand

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In my journal last night, I wrote that maybe what I’m experiencing is cognitive dissonance. My brain must have worked on this as I slept because I woke up with a structure of what to say, a structure that I’ve spent a month trying to find.

I grew up learning about a land connected to my ancestry through thousands of years and I was elated to have three opportunities to visit.

I grew up understanding that violence is not the answer, never the answer.

As an adult, I found myself teaching a course with the goal of understanding criticism of the government of this land and engaging with it to develop opinions based on critical thought rather than doctrine or dogma.

As an adult, I have maintained the stance that violence is not the way. I’ve written a blog series about peace building, a book about peace building. My stance here is not new.

I would like to think that I heard about Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israeli citizens with the same horror as everyone else. It was reminiscent of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, after all. A clear aggressor, a clear catalyst, an incredible toll on innocent people. Governments react, civilians shoulder the consequences.

But I’ve seen that there are people who don’t view a terrorist attack as unjustified, and their outrage did not mirror mine.

I live in a town that has posters of Israeli civilians taken hostage by Hamas hanging on lampposts. I live in a town that hosted not only a pro-Israel gathering in one of our many squares, but also a pro-Israel concert at the most prestigious of our theatres. I work in a school with people from around the world, and a flyer for a march supporting Gaza appeared in our staff room. My student council students have been struggling with how to word a social media post urging peace; we needed mere moments after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to do the same. But the fact that they are struggling means awareness of nuance, and I cannot fault teenagers for that.

That I live in a small town in a country with strict laws against hate speech means that I’m pretty well insulated. I’ve read about antisemitic rallies, protests, and acts rather than seen them myself. I am grateful for this. But I know people are experiencing terrible things, and it is the discomfort that comes from this knowledge that spurred this blog post.

This blog post is not about the myriad reasons over decades, or centuries, or millennia that could have led to Hamas’s terrorist attack. This blog post is not about the myriad reasons over decades, or centuries, or millennia that could have led to Israel’s response. This blog post is not about who is breaking which laws of war, committing which war crimes, or harming the most civilians.

I want to say clearly that I do not support the idea that the sides of this conflict are morally equivalent. There is a moral wrong here, and it lies with Hamas. It lies with Hamas because their founding tenant is to destroy the nation of Israel, Jewish people, and Judaism. That Hamas is waging a war based on a strategy of knowing that its Israeli opponent practices any degree of restraint should be all that needs to be said.

In terms of civilian response, I find it morally unacceptable that any voices are allowed to call for the destruction of a nation and of a specific group of people, and it is dangerous and hypocritical for this to take place under the guise of voicing support for another group. Antisemitism is loud and it is real. It is one thing to call for peace; it is another to use a call for peace for one group of civilians as an excuse to preach violence against another group of civilians.

But it would also be wrong to deny the immense toll on civilian life. I find the use of the new term “humanitarian pause” disturbing because it suggests that not only is a cease-fire an impossibility, but that it would be futile to work towards one. This new term has removed cease-fire from the language of war, thereby eliminating the concept. War is about power, and language is power.

I grew up understanding that violence is not the answer, never the answer. I believe this to be true.

After Hamas’s attack, it took me many days to decide where to lend financial support because the idea of valuing one set of human lives over another made me nauseous. In the end, I made two donations, realizing that I didn’t have to choose. Civilians are suffering and I cannot stand idly by.

I started this post mentioning cognitive dissonance. It believe it plays a role because I am a pacifist at heart and I know that this position does not work in the real world. I am admitting, here and to myself, that pacifism is not the answer. But I believe, too, that moral positions can act as a framework, and this is the way that I hope the world could be. But it is not enough to hope; one must also act.

Cognitive dissonance plays a role because I grew up in a community deeply entrenched in Jewish life and culture and I am living in a profoundly secular society.

Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort of the conflicting identities, conflicting attitudes, that I experience within myself.

The violence is wrong. The civilian toll is wrong. But in this situation, what is right? We cannot assume rational nation-states as actors because, at the minimum, Hamas is neither a nation-state nor rational. So discussions of this war cannot proceed on that basis. What is to be done with a non-rational, non-state actor? What is to be done with a terrorist organization using not only humanity but humanitarian ideals as a weapon against another actor, one that is, at the minimum, a recognized nation-state?

There is too much emotion in these questions to call either side rational. Thousands of years of conflict are anything but rational.

I do not accept any actors, state or non-state, advocating the destruction of any group of people, supporting violence toward any group of people.

We already know who pays in the end because it is already happening. We already know which nations take which sides because they have already done so.

If an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, we will all be left scarred.

And will that be enough?

Jerusalem, Israel – April 2017
On My Mind

On Action

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It seems out of place to comment on the situation (conflict? war? – When does the headline reflect reality, and does it even make a difference to the people who are there?) in Israel and Gaza, but also out of character to say nothing. There has been plenty of politics, plenty of musing over religion on this blog. But I think, or I would like to think, more focus on peace. At least, this is what I hope.

But I know that hope isn’t good enough, that the achievement of peace can mean fighting, it can mean anger, it can mean bloodshed. That the world established an international organization to keep peace after the Second World War says everything I think we need to say about what humanity can do; that the organization is toothless, impotent, rife with its own governmental conflict, gripped by fear, and therefore ineffective tells us about what world governments are afraid of – ceding their own power to do what is better for the whole.

And what we see in situations like this, in all forms of conflict, is that the people who are most affected are very often those who are least involved. Don’t we all want to come and go without fear, hug our loved ones without thinking about a ticking clock, believe in the wishes on stars that we whisper together with children?

I am experienced enough to understand that no, it’s not all as charming as this picture I’m painting, that in fact some are so consumed by rage that they have made it their life’s work to spread hate to others. But I am also experienced enough to know that while the actions of single individuals cannot stop the violence that comes from rage and hate, the actions of single individuals can cause others to stop in their tracks, to reflect, to think twice and then again.

Although I appreciate them because they come from a good place, I do not believe that “thoughts and prayers” make a difference; it is rather action that position everyday people as participants in the wider world. If one person makes the choice to do the right thing, that is one more right thing. And maybe one more leads to yet another. And maybe the realities of everyday people dawn a little brighter.

I am, as always, on the side of humanity, on the side of innocent people, on the side of what is, at the core of my being, right. Don’t we all learn to help elderly people cross the street? What I feel in my heart is the desire to wrap my arms around everyone, all of you, but I know that my circle of influence is far smaller than my circle of concern. So I stretch out my hands to those I can reach, and I hope that you, wherever you are, will join me.

Berlin, Germany – December 2021
Travel Guide

Travel Guide: Bamberg

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Bamberg is located in a region of Bayern (Bavaria) called Franken (Franconia), and the regional slang and cuisine are Fränkisch rather than Bayrisch. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Fränkisch slang really is slang – the people generally spoke Hoch Deutsch (High German) and I could understand the accent. (This was hardly the case when I visited Munich, for example, where Bayrisch is really the local language. And rest assured, I have equal problems when people speak Thüringisch from here in Thuringia. An ongoing pattern when I learn a new German slang word is to clarify whether the word is Hoch Deutsch or Thüringisch; the distinction is important for my sometime-in-the-future German language test.)

These stark regional differences make travelling even a couple hours away feel much farther, and it’s a lot of fun to hear difference forms of language, taste local beers, and experience local culture. We spent two nights in Bamberg and were delighted by what we found. The population is just a little larger than that of Weimar, but the town sprawls across seven hills. We spent our time in the old town and new old town on the opposite side of the river, going everywhere by foot, and we were pleased to see really excellent bicycle infrastructure everywhere. There were bike lanes and bike parking areas on every road, as well as pay parking in areas that would be free by us. And it definitely seemed like the population got the message! The number of people on bikes was correspondingly greater than I have seen in other German cities.

One element that makes Bamberg really special is its location where the Regnitz and Main rivers meet. There are canals that have been built to link the rivers and bridges to carry pedestrian, bicycle, and car traffic, so you’re never far from the water.

It didn’t take long to assess the wealth of this city, extending back hundreds of years. Each of Bamberg’s seven hills has a church, and Bamberg is host to a cathedral and monastery.

The old Rathaus, or town hall, is the highly decorated signal that one has entered the old town, and we photographed it at various times of day from different angles to play with the light.

We essentially stumbled into the courtyard of the old palace . . .

. . . just after a look at the city from the garden of the new.

As always, we climbed to the highest point, this time at the monastery that towered above everything, and looked down. The red rooftops all over Germany never fail to put me right back into a child’s storybook.

Another aspect of Bamberg that I really liked were the tiny alleyways that twisted into each other, occasionally broken up by the large squares that characterize many European cities. The buildings were ornate and detailed, another sign that this was a city that controlled trade and therefore amassed wealth.

Bamberg is known for its beer and Frankisch beer is distinct in multiple ways. Rauchbier, or smoked beer, is really only found there (it can stay, as far as I’m concerned) and the beer styles are somehow crisper in both colour and taste. Each pub is a brewer of its own beer and some have been operating since the 1400s. We visited the beer museum up at the monastery to learn more, and this is clearly a history that runs deep.

Additionally, a local tradition is the Stehbier, or standing beer. You walk into a brewery/pub/bar/restaurant and order a beer (or wine) to go. You pay the deposit on your glass and walk out into the street. The atmosphere was festive, though the environment was clearly entirely normal for the locals. By us, people bring bottles of beer and wine to the park. In Bamberg, you stand in the streets closed to cars. After all, taking part in the local culture is an essental part of travelling.

After two nights in a medieval town full of breweries, bookshops (I really couldn’t help myself), good food, and cheerful people, we drove about 20 minutes outside of town to climb in the famed Frankenjura. There are many reasons why this is one of the most popular climbing areas in the world, and climbing on the limestone there was a new experience. We’ll be back – after all, there’s climbing and beer.