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The Israeli-Hamas Conflict Is Hard. How We Talk About it Matters.

November 12, 2023 by Dan Schatz

These thoughts began as a social media post, shared with a few friends. I publish it with trepidation because it wades into difficult conversations, and is a bit more raw and a work in progress than my typical writing, but it’s on my heart and I think it’s time. I hope you’ll bear with me and “pardon the dust.” Please forgive me if I don’t get everything right; I’m still learning here, and I’m trying to keep my ears open to listen.

My concern is the way we talk about the war in the Middle East. At the outset I acknowledge my place as a person of Jewish descent who grew up Unitarian Universalist, and for whom Jewish culture and heritage remains an important part of my identity. I am also a pacifist who opposes violence as a solution to problems, and a supporter of a just two state solution in Israel and Palestine. I believe in Israel’s right to exist and the Palestinian right to be free from oppression and occupation. I believe firmly that human rights must be honored, even when it’s hard, and I believe they have not been.

What I have to say is this. Friends, we need to be careful with our language. 

We live in an era in which both Islamophobia and antisemitism are burgeoning. This was true before the events of the past month and it remains true. Many people have legitimate reason to feel attacked and afraid, and the way we express our care for one another and our demands for justice can either alleviate or exacerbate the situation.

For example, much has been made recently of the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – so much so that it led to the censure of a US Congresswoman (a cynical move I disagree with, especially as the charge was led by people who frequently traffic in antisemitic tropes). I understand why the slogan has caught on – who doesn’t support freedom? But many who are new to it and are repeating it today don’t understand that it has frequently been employed to call for the eradication of Israel and the destruction of Jewish (not just Israeli) people. While the slogan predates Hamas and has been used with various intents through the decades, it is widely known as a Hamas rallying cry. That means that many Jews will hear “From the river to the sea” and interpret those words as an expression of support, not for justice for the Palestinian people, but for the actions of Hamas. And they will feel attacked and afraid. To many, it’s like seeing someone wear a swastika or wave a confederate flag. There’s a palpable, physical fear. Again, that’s not what most people I’ve seen using the phrase intend – but with so many words available, wouldn’t it be better to choose ones that don’t strike mortal fear into grieving people’s hearts? Why choose to express ourselves in ways that we know are hurtful? Whatever our intent, impact matters, and there are other ways to express our support for justice.

People are afraid right now – Muslims and Jews. The language we use to express our care matters, so we should use language with care. Otherwise, whatever our intent, we shouldn’t be surprised when our words are experienced as antisemitic or Anti-Muslim. From a purely practical point of view, if we don’t want to be thought of that way, we need to be clear, careful and caring in our choice of words.

If we talk about this war as a conflict between “Jews and Muslims,” or even “Jews and Palestinians,” we’re not being careful or caring in our speech. If we equate opposition to Israeli government policies, or anger on behalf of the innocents killed in Israel’s attack on Gaza, with antisemitism, we’re not being careful or caring in our listening. If we equate anger at the brutality exhibited by Hamas, and a lack of trust in Hamas, with Islamophobia, we’re not being careful or caring in our listening. At the same time, if we we equate ignorance of history and the context of words with hatred of one group or the other, we’re also not being careful enough. 

There are multiple layers of history and hurt tied up with these issues, including the positions of both Jewish and Palestinian peoples after World War II. That history, and the dynamics of privilege, race, and religion may be perceived very differently depending on one’s lens. There is a risk of conflating the injustices of the settler movement with the existence of Israel itself, or confusing the antisemitism of Hamas with the current outrage expressed on behalf of the people of Gaza. These issues are complicated and hard, and few of us understand them all.

Not every person of Jewish or Muslim descent will see things the same way – and if we assume that one person speaks for an entire religion or people (especially when they’re saying what we want or expect to hear), then we’re not being careful enough.

What do I believe? I believe that Netanyahu is a dangerous figure who is using the Hamas terrorist attack to get away with horrific human rights abuses and shut down any possibility for a peace he has never wanted and the two state solution which is so desperately needed. I also think Hamas is a brutal and repressive organization that has proven itself capable of the worst kind of dehumanization, and that by its actions it has abdicated any credibility or right to power. I do not believe that Jewish people should have to answer for the crimes of Israel or that Muslim people should have to answer for the crimes of Hamas, or that decrying the actions of one means supporting the actions of the other. I believe people should be free to express differing opinions and positions. I believe we should listen at least as much as we speak. I believe we can love more than one group of people at the same time. 

I also believe – I know – that Muslim and Jewish people alike are suffering right now. Jews and Muslims have been killed over this – not just in the Middle East, but here in the United States. Synagogues and mosques in my neighborhood and probably yours have received threats. People are hurting and terrified.

And I know that pretty much everyone in my life cares deeply about that reality. We all know many people are in deep pain, and none of us want to make it worse.

Friends, we need to be careful with our language.

  • image by Wickey-nl

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A Note About J. K. Rowling

June 22, 2020 by Dan Schatz

Two weeks ago, J. K. Rowling published a blog post justifying recent anti-transgender tweets, in what many have called “a transphobic manifesto.” Just nine days later, a US Senator used that essay as justification to block The Equality Act, which would have added sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of classes protected from discrimination under federal law. In doing so, he demonstrated the real world consequences of Rowling’s betrayal.

I understand the word “betrayal” seems harsh, but it is apt, because in her essay, tweets, and insistance that transgender women are not really women, Rowling has betrayed the values she taught a generation of young people. The Harry Potter books emphasize respect for difference and standing up to bullies, but Rowling has used her prominent position to ridicule transgender people. Make no mistake – to deny the reality of a person’s lived experience – which Rowling does repeatedly – is to dehumanize them.

The books emphasize truth and honesty, but Rowling makes blatantly false claims about Maya Forstater, a think tank consultant whose expired contract was not renewed, due to her repeated harrassment of transgender people while at work.  In a 26 page opinion, a judge ruled that it is “a sleight of hand to suggest that the claimant merely does not hold the belief that trans women are women.  She positively believes that they are men and will say so whenever she wishes….  It is a core component of her belief that she will refer to a person by the sex she considered appropriate even if it violates their dignity and/or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment…. The approach is not worthy of respect in a democratic society.”  Dishonestly describing Forstater as a woman fired for her opinions rather than her behavior, Rowling reveals her agenda. She is looking for an excuse to portray Ms. Forstater – and by extension herself – as victims of an overzealous “politically correct” agenda. Rowling portrays the views of anyone who criticizes her, or questions her denial of transgender identity, as “misogynists” and opponents of free speech – a claim of victimhood made in the process of actively harming some of the most vulnerable people on the planet.

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Rowling introduces Dolores Umbridge, whom she later described as “one of the characters for whom I feel the purest dislike….  Her desire to control, to punish and to inflict pain, all in the name of law and order, are, I think, every bit as reprehensible as Lord Voldemort’s unvarnished espousal of evil.”  Sadism aside, Umbridge’s defining characteristic is that she detests “half breeds” and “part humans.” In other words, Umbridge’s hostility springs from an inability to conceive of beings who are in any way ambiguous – a half-giant, a centaur, a werewolf, or the child of muggles with magical powers. For Umbridge, everything must stay in its neat little category, and to stray from that category is to betray all wizarding kind.  Against that backdrop, Rowling’s anti-transgender statements seem jarringly familiar – and a betrayal of one of the strongest and noblest themes in her writing.  

Rowling, the wealthiest author in the world, complains that she has been “canceled” several times. I’ve never been completely sure what that means, but I, for one, have no wish to “cancel” J. K. Rowling. If some people wish to stop reading her books because the author’s attacks on transgender personhood make them feel sick, I certainly understand. This is someone who has described transgender identity as a “costume.”

I suspect that part of the reason Rowling’s essay makes so little sense is that her views on transgender issues are at odds with some of her own cherished values. These are the values she wrote into her books, and that she continues to express even as she dehumanizes people she claims to support. It’s hard to get past prejudices, and Rowling’s struggles are normal and human. Unfortunately, because of her position of power, they are also deeply damaging, despite her repeated assurances that she has transgender friends and believes in transgender rights. (It’s hard not to wonder how those transgender “friends” felt when they read Rowling’s essay. I wonder if they spoke to her about it – or if she still takes their calls.)

The good news is that Harry Potter fans have learned the novels’ lessons far better than the author. Members of the Harry Potter Alliance – an international group dedicated to social justice – created the project Protego!, with over a thousand actions small and large to aid the transgender community – including a series highlighting transgender authors and a “Marauder’s Map” of gender neutral restrooms. (Many of these resources are still available through the Protego Tool Kit.) The leaders in the Harry Potter Alliance trace their activism to the lessons they learned through Rowling’s work. This is the gift of these books – they are bigger than any one person, even their author.

Maybe it’s time for J. K. Rowling to reread her own novels.  She might learn something.  She might even rediscover herself.

First trans solidarity rally and march, Washington, DC USA

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We Are Counted Not as Numbers, but as Names

May 27, 2020 by Dan Schatz

Tonight we received confirmation of 100,000 known deaths in the United States to COVID-19. The news is heartbreaking, not least because so many of these deaths could have been prevented if leaders had chosen to act differently, and because so many more preventable deaths are likely. So my heartbreak is tempered with anger.

But today, my overhwleming feeling is grief.  Some who died were people I knew, repsected, admired and loved. Some were neighbors. Some were artists. Some were strangers who, in ways most of us will never know, made this world better with their living. Each one of them had a name, a story, a family, and a community.

638px-Aids_Quilt

The AIDS emorial Quilt in Washington, DC

In 1985, a group of activists started The Names Project, creating a giant quilt, with panels made by families and friends of AIDS victims.  Today the quilt has over 200,000 panels, each representing a name.  Seeing the quilt on display for the first time at the National Mall inspired Cathy Fink to write the song “Names,” which she and Marcy Marxer recorded in 1989.

And I know that my name could be there
And I feel the pain and the fear
And as human love and passions do not make us all the same,
We are counted not as numbers, but as names.

Cathy’s song remains, after all these years, one of the most powerful I know.  With her permission, I’ve made a quick home video of the song.

I’m going to keep singing this one, hard though it is to get through without tears.  I need those tears; I think we all do. They help us hold on to our humanity, and as deaths contnue to grow, they remind us that “we are counted not as numbers, but as names.”

Screen Shot 2020-05-27 at 10.30.14 PM

excerpt from The New York Times

 

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An Open Letter to Congressional Republicans

January 12, 2019 by Dan Schatz

Dear Congressional Republicans,

You’re not helping.  And you know it.

The course you are choosing through this shutdown – now the longest in history – is damaging to our country, our democracy, millions of federal workers and contractors, and millions more who depend on them.  And it’s costing the government billions.  All for the ego of Donald J. Trump.

Of course, you could stop this at any time – simply pass a funding bill and override a veto – but choose not to, perhaps for fear of being on the wrong side of a Presidential tweet, or of a primary challenge.  Satisfying your base seems to you the only way to protect your job.

It won’t, though.  The longer this shutdown drags on, the more lasting damage will be done to our country, its citizens, and our economy.  The longer you ignore your constitutional responsibility to act as a check on the President, the more the public will see and name the cowardice at the heart of your inaction.  When you are blamed for a collapsing economy, for suffering farmers, for the inevitable resuts of long term security lapses, you will find yourself discredited, out of office, and out of power.  

And for what?  A border wall?  Very few of you actually believe a wall would do much to slow illegal immigration, or that it will ever be finished if it is ever started.  So why is it?  Why are you dragging your feet?  The Senate voted to fund the government, by unanimous acclamation, before Christmas.  The House was ready to do so.  Why not do so now?

Are you waiting in the hopes that loyalty to President Trump will garner you favors?  One has only to look at the history of his “friends” to recognize that Donald Trump feels no loyalty to anyone but himself.  Are you doing it out of fear?  This situation will not end with a Presidential victory.  Sooner or later the pressures will become too great, the hungry too many, the news too awful, and you will vote to reopen the government, whatever the Presidential consequences.  Are you doing it out of principle?  You know better than most that the cost of this shutdown goes against everything you claim to stand for, and that the longer it goes on, the less secure we all are.

So I implore you – not only for the sakes of federal workers, contractors, their families, all who depend on them, our national lands, our economy, and all of us – but for your own sakes.  Stop the bleeding before it becomes fatal.  End this shutdown.  Vote to fund the government.  Stand up to a bully.  Do what you know is the right thing.

Do it for your country.  Do it for your party.  Do it for yourself.  You might even get reelected.  You’ll certainly be thanked.

Sincerely,
Dan

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Stolen Children

January 11, 2019 by Dan Schatz

As of this week, 130 migrant children taken under the cruel practice of child separation have yet to be reunited their families, and despite court orders and stated changes in policy, children continue to be taken from their families, sometimes for no reason beyond a prior immigration violation or the inability of their parents to produce a birth certificate.

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US government photo

Almost 15,000 children remain imprisoned in detention centers and camps.  Almost two dozen have died there. Others have been abused.  All have had their freedom and their childhoods stolen.  Migrant children seeking asylum have been subjected to tear gas.

But for the most part, we’ve stopped hearing about the cruel treatment of migrant children and families.  News stories have become hard to find.  It is as if, having heard it all before, the public has grown accustomed to the reality of state sponsored cruelty to children. We have stopped paying attention.  Instead, we are consumed with the ludicrous proposal to erect and maintain a wall across thousands of miles of rough terrain, and with alarmist falsehoods about terrorists coming over the southern border (they are not).

Policies that persecute migrant children are not new in the United States, but they have been taken to a new level.  We cannot allow ourselves to forget or to turn away from the pain these policies cause, or to imagine the problem is solved simply because we are not hearing about it.

This is what has been in my heart these last few weeks, and as so often happens, the words and melody of a song came to mind.  In this case it was an old song, written by Robert Lowry in 1877:

Where is my boy tonight?
Where is my boy tonight?
My heart o’er flows for I love him, he knows
Where is my boy tonight?

Over and over, those words ran through my head.  I sang them through tears, until at last I found myself adapting the old words into something quite new:

Where is my stolen child tonight
The child that I love so dear
To save his sweet life we came in flight
But they took him away in tears                                         

Chorus:
  Oh, where is my boy tonight?
  Oh where is my boy tonight?
  My heart o’er flows for I love him, he knows
  Oh, where is my boy tonight?

We came here alone, afraid and poor
My child playing at my knee
No face was as bright, no heart so pure
And none was so sweet as he

Oh, could I hold you now, my child
Six months we’ve been torn apart
Oh, could I hear your voice so mild
And heal my poor breaking heart

Bring me my stolen child tonight
Please look for him where you will
And if he should come into your sight
Tell him I love him still

  ¿Donde está mi hijo?
  ¿Donde está mi hijo?
  Se rompe mi corazón, por que lo amo
  ¿Donde está mi hijo?

On the night that President Trump declared a “crisis of the soul” at the border, I sat in my living room and recorded a simple video of this song, as a reminder to myself and others of our real crisis of the soul.

Where are the stolen children tonight?  What will we do to return them to their families? How will we change as a people because of what we have done?  How will we end the cruelty, and make sure that we are never again complicit?

Where is my boy tonight?

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This Rose

November 21, 2018 by Dan Schatz

Two years ago we planted a rose bush outside the front window of our little house. It was a tiny plant, but it’s grown remarkably, and this Summer roses bloomed all season. In the Fall, when the trees around us turned such glorious colors, its blossoms remained. When winds finally blew the leaves from the winterberry, sassafras and redbud, still there were roses.

The season has begun to turn again, and although a few leaves still dot the landscape, it is very much winter outside. Our trees are silhouettes; the undergrowth brown, the sky gray as often as not.

This morning, during an early snow, I looked from my window. One bright pink rose clung to its stem, blessed and beautiful.

I thought of the song by Carolyn McDade:

And I’ll bring you hope
When hope is hard to find
And I’ll bring a song of love
And a rose in the wintertime.

I know it’s early yet. I know the flower won’t last through Christmas, if it even lasts the week. But it brought comfort, a reminder that life and loveliness remain even through the cold. I thought of the struggles so many of us face this time of year – ambivalence over the holidays, family squabbles, seasonal depression – and I remembered the simple blessings that help us make it through. I thought of the constant stream of negative news in the nation and the world, the stress and tension that come simply from living in such times – and I remembered the good news, the progress hidden beneath the negativity, bringing hope when hope is hard to find.

I remembered the rose.

This rose will be gone in another day or two, I’m sure. But the hope it brought, its reminder of the wonders of earth and the kindness of community, will not fade. It will remain with me all winter, and like this rose, will live and grow until one day it blooms again in all its glory.

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Speak Out and Act Up

October 27, 2018 by Dan Schatz

On Wednesday of this week a man fueled by hatred attempted to enter a Black church in Louisville, Kentucky, only to find the service had ended and the doors were locked. Instead, he went to a nearby supermarket and began shooting at African Americans.  This week a far right extremist sent bombs through the mail to the critics of his favorite politician. And today, a man walked into a synagogue in Pittsburgh and reportedly shouted “All Jews must die” before opening fire and murdering at least eleven people.

These are not isolated incidents. They are symptoms of a society whose leaders increasingly give comfort to White supremacist ideologies, lending their tacit and sometimes explicit support.

Violent extremists are frightening, but mercifully few.  What is more concerning is the fear and hatred that finds traction among ordinary people who themselves are afraid for their livelihoods, or their ways of life, or their place in a world that is changing. Because extremism depends on on corrupting the intentions of basically good people, it cannot prevail in the end. It is always overcome in the end, not with guns or fists, but with integrity, justice and truth.

It is up to all of us to counter this movement. We are not helpless, but we have to take responsibility. We have to counter the narratives of hatred and fear. We have to speak out and act up. We have to come together to change the leadership of the nation. And yes, we have to vote.

I am grieving today, and I am angry, but I am also determined.

We have power. It is time to use it.

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Turn and Face the World

September 28, 2018 by Dan Schatz

In a service at the Unitarian Congregation of West Chester a few weeks ago, just before Yom Kippur, I spoke about the Jewish spiritual practice of teshuvah – turning in the heart. How do we turn, I asked, when the failings belong to all of society?

Today those failings are more in evidence than ever. Women and others who report sexual assault continue to find themselves ignored, blamed, and belittled by privileged men in power. Children continue to be separated from their parents at the border, even when the children are United States Citizens and the parents legal asylum seekers. Evidence of global climate change and our failure to address it is greater than ever.

In the pain of the news, I find myself coming back to the that service. Here are some of those words.

“There is a natural instinct in the face of overwhelming grief to cover our eyes with our hands. When we’re mourning, we tend to turn away from what is giving us pain and find whatever is most comfortable. A friend, a prayer, a song, a comforting phrase, we find something, anything, to take us away from the agony of the moment. It makes sense that we would do this; it’s part of being human.  We need to do this sometimes. As we grieve, eventually and slowly we allow ourselves to confront our sorrow, and we emerge wistful, perhaps wiser, certainly more empathetic. It is a healing process.

“In the grief of global and societal injustice, we naturally turn away, because it is our human instinct to do so, and hard truths cause us pain. The spiritual practice of turning bids us to uncover our faces, open our eyes, and turn back towards the pain.  

“Abraham Joshua Heschel once said that ‘prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehoods.’ And he put those words to practice, marching in Selma with Dr. King and so many others. When he came home, he said, ‘I felt like I was praying with my feet.’

“I want to ask us to turn and face realities we would not like to admit, to accept the leadership of those who are most directly affected by those realities, and to pray with our feet. I want to ask us to let go of whatever stands in the way of this work, to forgive ourselves and ask forgiveness whether we think we need to or not, to forgive others whether or not they have yet completed their own turning. I want us to look into our hearts, so filled with goodness and love, and remember why we care so much for other people, and this sacred earth.

“Then, we take that love, that goodness, and let it feed our living in the world, as we give ourselves to the work before us.”

Members of the Unitarian Congregation of West Chester vigil in support of survivors of sexual assault.

 

 

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When Is the Right Time, Speaker Ryan?

February 15, 2018 by Dan Schatz

Dear Speaker Ryan,

This week, a 19 year old man walked into a high school and murdered 17 people, wounding countless others. In response, you said this is not the time to talk about gun laws.

“This is one of those moments where we just need to step back and count our blessings….  We need to think less about taking sides and fighting each other politically, and just pulling together. This House, and the whole country, stands with the Parkland community.”

I’m not sure what “step back and count our blessings” means in the wake of the grizzly murder of 17 teenagers and teachers.  Perhaps it is meant to stand in for the now discredited “thoughts and prayers” Congressional leaders have offered so many times in the past.

While I understand that special cases make bad law, this is not a special case.  This is normal in the United States of America.  According to the Gun Violence Archive, 30 mass shootings have resulted in 58 deaths and 124 injuries in the first 45 days of 2018 alone.  In that same time, there were 1806 gun deaths and 3126 injuries.  69 of those reported deaths and injuries were young children.  331 were teenagers.

So my question is this.  When is the right time, Speaker Ryan?  How long a pause in the bloodshed is required for Congress to begin addressing its cause?  You speak of mental illness, but every country in the world has mentally ill people; among Western nations only the United States experiences violence on this kind of scale.  Blaming the problem on the mentally ill distracts from the true causes of violence while perpetuating a hurtful and harmful stereotype.

The issue, Speaker Ryan, is easy access to guns.  The issue is a lack of any form of training or licensure to own a deadly weapon, widespread legal ownership of assault weapons, a lack of universal background checks, and above all, a Congress beholden to the National Rifle Association.  (Last year you personally received $171,977 from that lobby, more than $90,000 more than the next highest recipient.)

So I ask again, when is the right moment?  The longest we have gone between mass shootings in 2018 has been three days.  Would that be enough time to “count our blessings?”

If it is not, then I submit that you do not “stand with the Parkland community,” nor any community that has suffered such an attack.  You do not stand with the over 150,000 American students who have been witness to a school shooting.  You do not stand with the vast majority of the American people, who overwhelmingly support universal background checks and an assault weapons ban.

More importantly, you do not stand for life.

How long, Mr. Speaker?  How long must we wait?

In faith,
Rev. Dan Schatz

 

photo by Elvert Barnes

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January Morning – a poem

January 23, 2018 by Dan Schatz

photo by Dan Schatz

Each morning
in winter
I walk to the old dogwood tree
that stretches over the front yard.

I am waiting for a sign.

Through the earliest days
there is nothing to see
more than January ice,
hard against the ground,
then mud
as snows melt,
then ice again,

but one sunny morning
comes something new.

Powerful and green
daffodil shoots
begin to work their way above the soil.

Winter will be a long time yet.
More snows will come,
and ice
and cold
and April will seem distant.

Do not be afraid.

Hope will
push through
frozen ground,
always,
and forever.

Dan Schatz
January 23, 2018

 

 

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