Wisdom From My Jewish Friends

As we grow, we realise how much more there is to learn

Last time I wrote a post about the Middle East, and then extended it with further information. That included an inspiring quote by Jewish Voice for Peace.

Many of the writers I admire and follow are Jewish. I’m often humbled by their wisdom and perspective. Only yesterday I read a post by Avigail Abarbanel, and was struck by this quote:

“The lesson from the holocaust should have always been ‘never again to anyone’, and not as I was taught, and as Jewish Israeli children are still taught today, ‘never again to us’. The two lessons are diametrically opposed. The former is a universal lesson, as Hannah Arendt, a holocaust survivor herself, clearly saw. She knew that humans were the same everywhere, and that in the right circumstances anyone can become a collaborator in the wholesale oppression, dispossession, and murder of scapegoated human beings who are singled out by those in power. The history of colonialism and settler-colonialism going right back to ancient history are a perfect example. Indigenous people everywhere have been ‘othered’, and dehumanised so that they can be murdered, expelled, robbed, and exploited.”

The first part in particular seemed to encapsulate one of the ways in which things have gone wrong, and which could be expanded to apply to many cultures and situations. “Never again to anyone,” not “never again to us”. All life is sacred (and since I am a vegan pagan, I apply that to non-human life forms too).

As Jewish Voice for Peace said in my post:

“As Jews, we believe that every person is a whole world, and every life lost an entire universe destroyed.”

As I’ve grown spiritually, I have become much more interested in the positive parts of every other religion, and I often see where we agree, rather than where we disagree. At heart most religions have the same messages about our imperfection, our need to love, our extension of protection to others, and how our religion should always aim at making us better as people, not be used as excuses for evil.

Always remember, Israel is an apartheid state, not a people. The UK and USA are also nations mostly ruled by corrupt, colonialist, violent and greedy governments, but states are not the same as the people they rule. Don’t ever think that because I live in Scotland, I support or agree with the UK government’s actions! I was born into an existing situation of subjugation by the powerful. I’ll shout about the wrongdoings of the government as much as anyone else.

What is going on in the Middle East isn’t about religion. It’s about Western settler colonialism. About militarism, power, oil and resources. It’s the result of a whole history of injustices, many committed by the UK and US. And our current government’s responses and involvement are going to make that worse.

Also, every state, no matter how corrupt, will have people living within it who oppose its actions. They are our allies, who already face difficult circumstances. Acknowledge them and their bravery, don’t add insult to injury by lumping them in with those whose views we need to change.

Anyway, in order to bring forth some hope, I want to focus on a few Jewish organisations that more people should pay attention to.

A Short – But Important! – List

• Jewish Voice for Peace (I’m a member/supporter)

• Jews for Justice for Palestinians

• European Jews for Palestine (campaigning against the controversial IHRA definition on antisemitism)

• Na'amod (British Jews Against The Occupation)

• Jewish Voice for Labour (the only good part of the Labour Party nowadays, as far as I can tell; I love their slogan “Always with the oppressed, never with the oppressor”)

• Diaspora Alliance (I attended some of their antisemitism training)

Peace and love.