It’s no secret that I love books. I love reading, I love learning, I love getting lost in a story, fiction or non.
Anna Amalia Bibliothek, Weimar, Germany – October 2022
I love how books feel in my hands, how they smell, how new ways of seeing the world ever so gradually reveal themselves. I love bookstores, used, new, antique, and I cannot walk in without buying something, anything, even if it’s not a book.
Singapore Library @ Orchard, Singapore – May 2021
(I have a hard time with the many bookstores in Weimar because only one has books in English, but I have bought something at each of them.)
As a frequent traveller, I’ve learned to love the convenience of e-readers and have read thousands upon thousands of pages on the tiny screen of my phone. I often feel a sense of panic when I don’t have a book on me, and my digital library is a comfort, particularly in airports.
Housing Works Bookstore Café, New York City – March 2018
I have sought out bookstores on my travels, retreated to libraries when I didn’t have anywhere else to go.
Riva del Garda, Italy – April 2022
So I was immediately touched when a book appeared in my mailbox last week, a volume smaller than my hand and so old that I was initially afraid to open it. German fairytales, I recognized from the title. The text inside was from long enough ago that even if I could discern the words from the intricate type, my rudimentary German would certainly not be up to the task of translating.
New York Public Library Main Reading Room, New York City – December 2016
But wait – a book in my mailbox?
I sent a message to the person I suspected would be behind such things. The response led to reaching out to four more people and then, with some prompting, returning to the first. It wouldn’t be the first book we’ve shared, after all.
Julian, California – December 2017
It’s incredibly dear, really, gifting a book. It means knowing someone well enough to know what speaks to their heart, or their soul, and to know that there are so many people in my life who have given me books is an astonishing feeling.
Budapest, Hungary – May 2023
And it brings me real joy to return the gift, whether through beautifully illustrated books for children, carefully considered volumes for friends and family, or the booklist I finally put together after years of requests from psychology students.
Atlantis Books, Santorini, Green – October 2018
But a book in my mailbox? A book printed in Vienna with original illustrations, but unfortunately lacking a publication date?
A book slipped into my mailbox, no additional details, was a first, and I am honoured.
The Strand, New York City – November 2016
“What are you reading?” isn’t a simple question when asked with genuine curiosity; it’s really a way of asking, “Who are you now and who are you becoming?” – Will Schwalbe
Many, many years ago, the father of a dear friend told me, “You know, Becca, you need to make sure it’s the right person in the right place at the right time.” I don’t remember the context, but I remember being in the kitchen at the family’s home, one of those wonderful places that never seems to change, no matter how many years go by. I’ve forgotten everything else about that moment, but I’ve always held onto those words.
That’s what was in my mind when I received a call full of uncertainty and doubt. And after listening and affirming what I’d heard, that’s what informed my response. The voice on the other end remained doubtful and uncertain but sounded a little less torn, a little less fraught.
After hanging up, I thought about what I’d felt in my body while we talked; you’d told me what you were feeling in yours. The equanimity I had experienced and continued to experience assured me that I’d given the most honest answer I could, and I believe you heard that.
I hope your mind quieted and that you slept softly. To look around, consider whether the circumstances are right, and make a choice can be scary – and that’s how we know it’s important.
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
Photos, travels, musings, and ideas on education by someone trying to make the world a better and more peaceful place
By Rebecca Michelle 